How Great Agents Prepare Buyers For Home Inspections

The home inspection report should never be a surprise, but for many buyers it still is and that’s when fear takes over. We dig into why a thorough inspection is a buyer’s best protection, even when it “finds too much stuff”, and how that detail turns into a real plan for budgeting, repair order, and safer move-in decisions. 

We share what the best real estate agents do differently: they set expectations before the inspection with a simple “driveway speech”, show clients what a real report looks like, and promise to review it together. That small step prevents the classic meltdown where a buyer sees a long document and assumes the house is a disaster. We also talk about how to sort findings the right way: prioritize safety issues and major systems, then decide what to request, what to monitor, and what to handle after closing. 

Then we zoom out to the bigger industry shift. With platforms like Opendoor and the ongoing influence of Zillow style marketplaces, parts of the transaction are getting automated, and more agents are feeling the squeeze. Our takeaway is direct: if you’re an agent, your long-term edge is not access to listings, it’s trust, clear communication, and repeatable systems that create referrals. If you’re a buyer, you deserve guidance that makes the inspection feel empowering, not terrifying. 

If this helped, subscribe, share it with a friend buying a home, and leave a review with your best tip for staying calm during the inspection process.

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Transcript

Why Thorough Inspections Matter

SPEAKER_01 0:00

All right, Laura, you said you have something you want to do.

SPEAKER_02 0:04

Okay, so this is picking up on our last podcast where we were talking about agents and how some agents don't use us because we're too thorough. So we actually Which is what they said to us. Which is what they've said to us, like to our faces.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

You find too much stuff.

SPEAKER_02 0:19

You find too much stuff. Which, okay, so I'm sorry, if I'm buying a house, I want to know exactly what's going on with this so that I one have an idea for budget. I have my little honeydew list. I know how I have to fix things and kind of what the order is on that. If you don't have a thorough inspection, or if you don't even have an inspection, you're walking in blind. You're making the largest purchase of your life, walking in blind and not knowing what you're going to have to fix. So, that having been said, a lot of the agents that use us that do well have very good reputations. They've been in the business for a while. They have a very steady client base built up. They get referrals from their clients because they treat their clients well.

The Driveway Speech That Calms Buyers

SPEAKER_02 1:03

One of the things that I've noticed, all of them have told me that they have some type of a, we call it a driveway speech. They have something similar. Well, they'll sit their clients down and they'll talk about the home inspection and they'll be like, listen, you're going to have this large document. It's going to terrify you at first. It's not a problem. We're going to sit down. We're going to go through that together. We're not going to look at things that are going to be under, you know, like 500 or 1,000 to fix. We're going to look at the larger ticket items or we're going to look at safety items and we're going to make our list together. And then they will walk them through that whole process. It's not a shock to them because those agents will pull out reports and say, here, this is what this company's reports look like. Be prepped for this. You will have something similar. So it's not a shock when the client gets our report and they don't go, I don't want this house. Like, like the one agent that I had, like, and this has been a long time. I mean, like, the agent of the buyer. The agent called me.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:07

And we had done an inspection, and she had called the client up to go, hey, um, we need to sit down and talk about the um the report so that we can come up with the request to remedy. That's how long ago this was. And those are coming back. Those are coming back. And so what ended up happening was the client was like, What do you mean report? And she said, Well, they did the inspection, we've got the report back. And she's like, Well, there shouldn't have been a report. I don't want the house because the agent didn't talk to her about this, you know, there's no house that's perfect. You will have a report. In the 24 years we've done this, there have been two houses, both were condos, that did not have a summary because they were that clean. Only two in 24 years. Your house is going to have a report.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

Yeah, and our summary only has like major. Not even it will have a major, but even just you know, things that hey, a little more important that you absolutely should take care of. That's all I think that goes on on the summary report.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

So that having been said, you you can learn to work work with your clients and explain them and develop your driveway speech and you know, print off some of the reports that we have online, show them to your clients. You don't like I know some that will even put the report, like they have a um, like a prep binder that they just hand their their buyers and it has our reports in it. And so when they get to that section, you know, like they'll sit down and they'll talk about it with them. And that's you know, when they do their driveway speech, and they, you know, you will get a report similar to this. You will blah, blah, blah. And that client is prepped. There's there's no culture shock, there's no hesitation, there's no problem because they knew this was coming.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

Yeah, this is where agents skilled can so it to be forewarned is before armed. You're mentally ready for this. Where agents can stand out in that they are able to communicate effectively and consistently, like, hey, there are gonna be issues with the house, and we will get through those, and we will we will get the important

When Buyers Get Shocked By Reports

SPEAKER_01 4:29

things taken care of. We'll figure out a plan to fix all these things so you can move into this house that you obviously like and you you like you like to own. Um, with uh in the future, and I was what you told me, eighteen hundred real estate agents have uh like put their license in escrow.

SPEAKER_02 4:47

I don't know if it was in escrow or if they just resigned. It it the statistic didn't say, but there's about 18 at least 1,800 agents that were off of the Columbus board. Um, because there was like 10,000 and it was down to like eight something.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

So it so agents are struggling.

SPEAKER_02 5:04

Agents are struggling.

SPEAKER_01 5:05

Well, I think a lot of agents, new agents, don't realize that it's it's actual work. The good agents actually are I mean, they're they're good workers. I mean, they they have to market themselves, they there's a lot of things that they need to do. It's basically a business, yes, and they have expenses that they need to deal with and to track. So a lot of them are are failing, but I think it's gonna be harder in the future for agents because there are systems coming out that you can buy houses and not use real estate agents.

SPEAKER_02 5:38

Open Door has been doing that. I think they have their own in-house. So if somebody goes through open door, that's you know, it's all done in-house now. There's a couple of other ones.

SPEAKER_01 5:51

Was Zillow doing something like that also?

SPEAKER_02 5:53

I think Zillow was hiring.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

I remember I remember doing presentation. This is like 2012, 2011, 2012, and I go, hey, you guys are gonna be uh replaced.

SPEAKER_02 6:03

Zillow's out for you.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

And we got laughed at. And everybody's like, well, there's a couple people like, yep, yep. And then most people are like, well, whatever.

SPEAKER_02 6:12

Nope, we got laughed at by the majority.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

A lot of agents want to keep putting their money to Zillow to get those leads. I think Zillow is uh Zillow took all your money, and now they're doing their own. And I think didn't it National Associated Realtors or maybe was it realistate.com, realtor, realtor, realtor.com sold that website to Zillow.

SPEAKER_02 6:35

I mean it to Zillow?

SPEAKER_01 6:36

I may be incorrect.

Tech Pressure On Real Estate Agents

SPEAKER_02 6:38

I know they sold it. They don't own it anymore, but I can't remember who they sold it to.

SPEAKER_01 6:41

Well, those ones that got sold.

SPEAKER_02 6:42

Yeah, the realtor. Yeah, I think it was realtor.com.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

I think it was realtor.com. Somebody may want to double check that one.

SPEAKER_00 6:50

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SPEAKER_01 7:16

But anyway, all the systems coming out. Agents gonna be less and less important for making the transaction happen. So the buyer is gonna need a guide to go get through all this.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

So I think if you sell now. Yeah, start working on that now. How can you best serve your client, even if you're not getting maybe who knows what's gonna happen? Maybe you have to do a reduced commission and you coordinate everything for them. I mean, their system is coming out, like was it buy sell me?

SPEAKER_02 7:50

Sell by me.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

Sell by sell by me is a new thing that's coming out, and they're they have all the parts and pieces to make it happen. As a real estate agent, you need to be aware of this because you I mean I hate to say it, but you are replaceable.

SPEAKER_02 8:07

And you need to make it so that you're not. You need to start setting up your systems now, you need to start getting word of mouth out there, you need to get your reputation.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

This could be a whole podcast right there. Are our real estate agents replaceable?

SPEAKER_02 8:21

And what can you do about it?

SPEAKER_01 8:23

So that but anyway, you you need to make sure you are meeting and serving your clients' needs.

SPEAKER_02 8:29

And don't try to shortchange them because in this day and age with the internet, with AI, with all of that, it it's just a matter of time before people find out and they stop using you. You you know, it used to be before internet, you'd have a crappy agent, and I'm thinking of the one dude in in Dayton. And um He'd he'd have people come every few years, and you know, like he'd do so many, like two or three a year, and but that was it. Like he'd been an agent for like 30 years at that point and had never gotten beyond

Reputation Systems And Referral Flywheels

SPEAKER_02 9:02

that because he didn't do a good job. So word of mouth wasn't there. But you occasionally had people that found him, and so they'd use him and then realize, well, crap, he kind of sucked, and then they wouldn't refer him, and then that that was just how he got people, like they didn't know what was going on with him. You don't want that. You as an agent want to make sure that your name is out there and that it's tied to a good reputation, it's tied to systems, it's tied to education, it's tied to things that make you important to your client.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

Well, as a real estate agent, your your it's your booking past business is gonna be like your ramp upward to get more referrals because as you build people, the number of people who use you, really like you, and will recognize you as well as that grows, so does your business. But you got people, if you I mean, if we like any business, if you treat every single customer like crap, they're not recommending you. So you're constantly getting this you know, you know, the blind squirrel theory, even a blind squirrel occasionally finds a nut. That's where you got these crappy uh agents or home inspectors. They will occasionally, you know, somebody will contact them to do business with them, but they're stuck to keep the lights on, but they're not putting that, they're not stacking those all the past clients to ramp them up, or it's not happening.

SPEAKER_02 10:22

We know an agent out of the Dayton area who has done this so long and so well, he literally sends out two emails a year to his past clients, and that's all he needs for business for the whole year. Just two emails, and that's all the marketing he does now. And he's he's got that reputation, he's got that foundation, and that's all he needs.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:46

And that should be your goal.

SPEAKER_01 10:49

Do a good,

Final Takeaways And Goodbye

SPEAKER_01 10:50

honest, thorough job for your for your clients. So anything else, Laura? Is that about it?

SPEAKER_02 10:54

I think that's about it, baby.

SPEAKER_01 10:55

All right, thanks, everybody. Bye bye.