[AtlasBarfed]

"Good" real estate agents are interested in moving as many houses as quickly as they can, to gain as much vig revenue as possible.

"Good" real estate agents from the buyers perspective would be slowing down sales, reducing the overall price they make a percentage on anyway (which is why fixed rate for a "class" of real estate would work better) as a disincentive.

Why would a real estate agent dissuade someone from buying something? They can compartmentalize/offload the moral responsibility to the inspector (which are pretty hit or miss too).

[ergothus]

> Why would a real estate agent dissuade someone from buying something?

Story time!

When I was looking at buying my (now current) house, I had a realtor on my side, and my wife actually found the listing (no knock on the realtor there - my wife was just that on top of things) and the house was actually for sale from a realtor at the same company as my realtor.

As we were doing the inspection, I had questions about the pipes (lots of trees, and I knew of some horror stories). I was told the required inspection only covered the house itself, and the pipes would be someone else. My realtor was careful (IMHO) to not dissuade me in any way, but neither did she encourage me. I could tell she wasn't excited about me getting the pipes inspected - in part, I would later find out, because anything bad I discovered would then legally have to be disclosed to future prospects, whereas ignorance was a shield. So she was not a very useful source of guidance for getting this thing done.

But I did get it done, and when the result was a clean bill of health (the inspector showed me the video and was remarking that the pipes were basically pristine, which was amazing for 30+ year old concrete pipes) she was suddenly much more enthusiastic about the inspection. All smiles and congrats and saying what a good decision it had been.

It was a revelation into the incentives involved. To think what might happen to someone else with an agent who would cross the ethical line instead of just being unenthused.

[MertsA]

More than just not wanting to know about problems agents want to avoid any liability for when the home inspector misses something and it comes back to cost the buyer after the sale. Agents nowadays, at least at the franchise that I am familiar with don't want to recommend a particular inspector, they'll list a few decent ones and leave all of those decisions up to the buyer. They also try to avoid being present while the home inspector is there. There's just no reason to take on any added liability when there's no reward for it.

That's also not just hypothetical either, we've been sued a couple times as a brokerage because one of our agents recommended a particular inspector who missed major termite damage.

[tres]

and the inspector is financially responsible for exactly the cost of the inspection.

No more.

I think you've really hit the nail on the head here. There's a built-in conflict of interest for the agent in every transaction.

They are rewarded by moving inventory, not serving their client.

[StillBored]

I've forgone the home inspection during the most recent transaction. In the previous few houses, I've found things immediately after the sale, which the home inspector didn't find. OTOH, they find tons of trivial things that frequently don't matter (or are just plain wrong).

And of course, while they might be able to tell you if they find termites, or foundation problems, they aren't actually doing a deep analysis, so they will themselves tell you to get an engineer or termite inspector if your concerned about those things. AC/mechanical problems are in the same boat. The inspector will tell you something like "the AC is 15 years old, but has a 15 degree drop" (something you can discover yourself in 30 seconds with a picture of the nameplate) and a thermometer. Actually measuring the subcool/superheat, no way. The latter will actually give you a good idea about the state of the machine.

Making the seller pay for a home guarantee for the first year is probably a far more effective way to spend money. Although again, don't use them until you know whats going on. Your AC gets warm, they are just as likely to send a guy that looks the other way, pumps a 1/2 lb in the system and kicks the problem down the road a few months.

[rhizome]

The Principal-Agent Problem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principal%E2%80%93agent_proble...

[smileysteve]

> and the inspector is financially responsible for exactly the > cost of the inspection. > No more.

And gets more business the more time he stamps yes for the realtor.

(also true of the broker and appraiser)

[honopu]

They might know the house will not appraise for what they're trying to buy it at, so it'd be a non-starter without additional substantial down payment that they might not have. there's non-permitted additions, construction is suspect, insurance will be crazy due to proximity to ocean bluff, etc.

[muhneesh]

Totally agree - my original post was too kind. I share your sentiment.