Real Estate Professionals may sometimes view home inspections as troublesome... even as a "necessary evil".  The reason for this is that most properties are not perfect, and a home inspection will likely turn up at least a few problems.

Depending on the severity of the problems discovered during the inspection, the potential Buyer may have second thoughts.  This appears to be a no-win situation for a real estate agent, who has usually invested a great deal of time in matching the Buyer to the Seller.

There are two ways to look at this:

1. Real Estate Agents, like Home Inspectors, are in the service business.  Among the many valuable services they provide is guiding their clients through the usually daunting and stressful process of buying or selling a home.  Most Buyers want to be aware of the condition of the property before they negotiate a price.  The Real Estate Professional is in a position to guide the Buyer to a reliable inspector.

2. Perhaps a more pro-active approach is to recommend that the Seller obtain a pre-listing home inspection.  By identifying problems ahead of time, the Seller has the opportunity to correct issues that could turn out to be last-minute deal-breakers.

In many cases, if a pre-listing inspection is available, the Buyer will waive another inspection, although it's entirely possible that he or she will want another independent home inspection.  But the chances of finding anything serious will be greatly diminished by having a Seller's pre-listing inspection performed.

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