The Other Dave

Regarding who pays our fee- I think it is very important that it be very clear who our client is. Most times, that is the buyer. In my view, at all times the client should be considered to be the person who signs the contract, unless we have very clear information from the buyer that his Realtor is authorized to pay on his behalf. In instances where my client (buyer) has an agreement to split the fee with the seller or a Realtor, I still explain that I need to be paid in total by the buyer, to avoid any confusion as to who I am working for. The buyer can be reimbursed by a third party after the fact. I don't want any dissatisfied client or third party raising any future concern about to whom my loyalties are owed. I wouldn't want to defend myself in court against a buyer who believes I was in kahoots with a Realtor or seller who paid me for the buyer's inspection.

Brandon- It's worth mentioning that here in Oregon when repairs are made by a contractor to facilitate a real estate transaction the contractor's automatic one year obligation to his customer through the Construction Contractors Board applies to the buyer. I have often found that when I point out to an unqualified contractor that he is warranting his work to be satisfactory to the buyer that he suddenly decides he doesn't want the job or the liability. I further explain when asked by that contractor to engineer the project that I do not provide supervisory services. Don't let yourself be sucked into telling him how to do his job, it's a no win situation for you. I make it clear that he is responsible for evaluating the problem, devising a fix and accomplishing that fix. If he is not comfortable with that he should not be doing the job. I also explain the contractor's responsibility to my clients and their agents. This often has the effect of the buyer and his agent insisting that a qualified specialist be hired to do the required work. When they fail to heed my advice, at least they can't blame me for the unsatisfactory work down the road when the fix fails.

Brandon- It all boils down to this: - You identified a problem. - You did (or at least should have, and I assume you did) recommend that a qualified drainage contractor be consulted to evaluate/recommend corrections/perform corrections as he deemed appropriate while warranting his work to the buyer. At this point, like the Lone Ranger, your work here is done, and you can ride off into the sunset. If you choose to be further involved in the process ( can you say re-inspection?) you may become helplessly sucked into the seller/contractor/buyer/Realtor tar baby. Sometimes we do it as a service to our customers. When we do, sometimes is costs us time and frustrations we should not have to endure. Your level of involvement is, however, your choice. I know, I've been there countless times. Often I provide a level of service above and beyond the call, but not always. As they say, there are none so blind as he who will not see. You can spend a lot of time trying to lead blind men to the light.