@Sarah; I was as stunned with you that the inspector was quoted in that manner. I can’t imagine a professional inspector taking that kind of position. I’m not surprised you wold take the high road on this though!

@Matt I have to admit that my feelings are that you are right – We’re going to see more of this in our business, but I agree with Sarah – too much of what he wrote is either disingenuous or carefully planned to make himself seem a “good guy” . I think we may be looking at a new, and nasty , form of negotiation.

@Kristal Thanks for your comment – and I agree Hopefully he doesn’t get to use that axe once its been ground.

@Frank ; Thanks for your perspective. It is really comforting to hear that this sounds out of line , especially from a Pro like yourself. The practice here is not different then where you are, and other then the statement in the post, we have no information that the inspector really said that.

I’m torn about just answering the post in the comment thread, so that a perspective reader could be informed that the statement attributed to the inspector falls well outside the norm for the industry – which leads me to conclude that the statement was made up by the buyer for their own purposes, or at the very least, is a mis-quote or misunderstanding.

Actually, this situation has been discussed by a Realtor and myself, although we had not actually seen it occur. Our thoughts dealt with the fact that a seller or their representative would need some great SEO to have their information about the property show up before any disgruntled potential buyer. I would not directly deal with the person, but I would have some honest posts about the home explaining your side, which deal with the bad, but focus on the good aspects of the house. Then work to have it show up for keywords about the area and address. If this person persists, then speaking to lawyer about what could be done. The fact of the matter is that every home from newly built to older ones will have problems found by an inspector, and a buyer has to see what matters to them.

Going online to “warn” others about a property is above and beyond the call of duty. This is more like ax grinding…

I am not sure the Buyer is really off base, they are probably thinking they are doing a public service by warning folks this house has issues. ALL HOUSES HAVE ISSUES. Even new construction has issues… That’s some the buyers need to be better educated on.

I say again… Buyers venting out Sellers and their listings are going to become more and more popular…

Inspectors in my area are so careful with every word out of their mouths. “don’t move in” and “they fix” make me wonder if the buyers translated things a bit in their favor.

Saying the seller “skipped” repairs “probably hoping they would continue unnoticed” sounds too catty for me to give the buyer’s words much weight anyway. I wouldn’t respond.

Sounds self serving to me. Or as if the buyer is trying to punish the seller. Is the seller aware of the post?

The buyer should move on and find another home IMHO.

It will be fun to watch this.