Yesterday I had the great idea to go online to one of those direct websites you see so many commercials on every day.? My goal was to save on Auto Insurance and as the character identified on all the commercials said, just name my own price.? Okay, it's worth a try I felt.
After punching in all the details online and telling the site what price 'I wanted to pay,' which was about 35 percent of what I was paying with my 'bricks and mortar' company locally, I got a quote and was ecstatic!? I was saving half of what I was paying!? Or so I thought.?
As it turns out when I got the policy I had just purchased and was looking over it I realized that while state government minimums of coverage were there, to "get my own price" as I say the website intuitively did not ask me if I wanted actual 'replacement' coverage for comprehensive and collision damage to my vehicles!? That's right, if in an accident I might have been able to pay for the other driver's damage, if my fault, but my car had no replacement or repair coverage at all!?
This morning I went back in and added those needed coverages and replacement costs and to my surprise and dismay I really didn't save that much at all.
This leads me to my next story.? The other day a new listing client called me to say that a previous FSBO (For Sale By Owner) Buyer they were working with whom they had a contract with on their property had walked away from the deal due to the home inspection.? I asked what had happened and apparently this Buyer, who also had no Buyer's Agent, had been scared off over things that the home inspector said that in my experience were opinions not facts and things that typically when a Realtor is involved can help soften the typical "general blunt remarks" that many a home inspector?can and will make?and true their comments to lower Buyer alarm during a home inspection.? The key that I see is that your typical home inspector does not temper their remarks at all!? They are like ER doctors.
You know, you have seen it yourself I am sure.? If you go into the ER for a splinter, the ER doctor is typically going to tell you every single thing that 'could happen' all the way down to Gangrene.? Same way with home inspectors.? I had one once tell a client due to a hairline crack in the brick on a side of this house that 'while it was most likely settling that would go no further,' he went on to say that the 'worst that could happen' was that the Buyer one day might have to strip the brick off the 'entire side of the house and rebrick!'? I asked him what was actually needed today in reality, reminded him how he said it had probably settled as much as it had, and the home inspector said, "oh, all you need is to get a little mortar at Home Depot and fill it in."
True up the opinions.? Yes, that is my point.??I have heard many times inspectors?comment on and 'predict to the year of needed replacement'when an older model?HVAC unit might have to be replaced, yet that same unit was inspected to be?'working at perfect efficiency,'? I also know of houses where HVAC units have worked for 30 years and are still going.? You can't predict this stuff and you certainly can't be alarmed by what the emergency room doc says without getting a specialist's opinion.? This is why for me, I always get my Buyers a licensed contractor to come back after the home inspection is done, to give an expert opinion as part of due diligence.? Even home inspectors will tell you that they are generalists.
That's right.? Most people think that due diligence is just the home inspector's inspection of a house.? Actually it is this plus getting possibly an HVAC Contractor, Plumber, Roofer, or?Framing Contractor to come back out and take a look at the inspector's comments.
This lowers the level of alarm and at the end of the day if it keeps a sale in place when you need to move by getting you to a closing rather than keeping that existing mortgage clock ticking each month, then just like my attempt at saving what I thought would be 'tons of money' through buying auto insurance direct to find it a wash, I think it easy to show that my fees to market a home or work with a buyer are very much worth it! Especially in this market where Buyer's are few. If you have a Buyer walk away and it takes another 3-4 months to find another one, what does the added cost of mortgage payments, not being able to move when you need to for reasons of family need, or other cost you?
On the Buyer's side of the equation, it more clearly defines the problem in having that Buyer's Agent bring licensed contractors to give opinion to add to what the home inspector said.? I have seen many a home seller who was not enamored nor impressed with a home inspection to believe there was a problem! Yet a good Buyer's Agent will have these additional expert licensed contractors report?their findings to add to the home inspection and give it some validity.? If this got the Buyer a new HVAC unit or a radon mitigation system when the seller felt there was no issue because of their technical expertise and experience dealing with common problems and home inspection issues, and keep in mind the Buyer's Agent is paid by the Seller and free to the Buyer, would it make sense 'not to use one?'
If I had taken the policy without reading the coverage details a little closer I would have thought I had saved myself a ton of money! I would have been blissfully naive and felt I had beaten 'Big Auto' yet at the first accident I would have seen how false that state of Nirvana would have been.?
My mistake?would have been over trying to save a few hundred bucks every six months, but that collision would have cost me thousands of dollars!? When you don't have experience in a certain area, especially when you don't work with things like auto insurance or work full time in buying and selling real estate every day of the week, it may not be worth it to buy direct or sell FSBO.
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