As professional home inspectors, our main job is to identify, interpret, and explain the physical condition of the house that our clients are thinking about purchasing. We supply them with a report that is intended to provide them with enough information to make a sound decision regarding their purchase.
While the main portion of our job is fairly straightforward (documenting our observations and explaining their significance), it is only one part of a multifaceted undertaking. While we are performing the inspection, the buyer is trying to navigate indecision and uncertainty while attempting to make what is likely to be the largest financial decision of their lives. At the same time, the real estate agent is attempting to guide what is essentially a financial transaction to an acceptable outcome for everyone involved.
In order to compete in a crowded industry, a professional inspector must work hard to develop competence in various disciplines, most of which are thought to lie outside their realm of expected experience. While most people would not expect a home inspector to be well-versed in psychology, having a working knowledge in that field, for example, would enable the inspector to understand how people perceive risk, process unfamiliar information, and respond to uncertainty. Adopting another’s vantage point, the ability to think about what is happening from the point of view of the other people involved, the buyer, seller, or Realtor, provides us with a framework for applying those insights to the inspection process.
Armed with only the knowledge and experience of the construction industry (e.g., plumbing, electrical, roofing), an inspector would soon find themselves at a competitive disadvantage. Inspectors who work hard to develop interdisciplinary competence, becoming knowledgeable across multiple areas, are often better equipped to provide both a useful inspection and a better overall experience for their clients.
The experienced inspector understands what a deteriorating roof, an aging HVAC system, or cracking of the exterior brick wall means within the larger context of the real estate transaction. By thinking about things from a different perspective we are able to recognize that our buyers, lacking the same level of experience as we have, are likely to interpret our findings through a different lens. Being able to view the situation with a buyer’s mindset, recognizing that they are likely to have little familiarity with the home-buying experience, can provide us with additional insight into why a buyer might interpret the inspection report differently than what the inspector intended.
Similarly, finding common ground with others involved in the transaction can play an important role in mitigating the sometimes-contentious relationship between the inspector and real estate agent. Rather than viewing one another as inherently conflicting voices of authority, acknowledging their shared goals enables their mutual client, the home buyer, to make a more informed purchase decision.
As I have previously argued when discussing the importance of compassion in the inspection process, attempting to see things through another’s eyes and finding common ground from which to work allows us to approach our jobs with empathy. Rather than simply adopting the buyer’s viewpoint and changing the technical findings to accommodate their feelings, this approach allows the inspector to communicate their inspection results with an understanding of how that information is likely to land and tailor their delivery to match each individual buyer’s mindset.
If you don’t know what you want to achieve in your presentation, your audience never will.
Harvey Diamond
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Thanks, Joe
