Alan Fastman is a Home Inspector for Helpful Home Inspectors, LLC, in Wallingford. Alan has been a member of the Association since 2003 and currently serves on the Association’s Affiliate Member Forum and chairs the Affiliates First Task Force. He served on the organizing committee and as a sponsor for our 5K “Run for Home” benefiting Habitat for Humanity and as a sponsor and volunteer at our “Golf Classic” to benefit the American Cancer Society. A member of the RPAC 99 Club, Alan is an active member on the RPAC Committee having participated again this year in the successful RPAC telethon.

Please share with us your background and your career track.

In middle age, I discovered what I wanted to be when I grow up – a home inspector. I had enjoyed a rich and varied career track leading up to that moment, starting as a carpenter contractor in 1971. I was a sub-contractor for custom residential construction, renovation and addition and a prime contractor for renovation and addition projects. In the 80’s, I stopped swinging a hammer and assumed control of my family’s retail business. Since then, I’ve been privileged to serve as chief of staff and senior advisor to two members of the Pennsylvania Senate and to guide two non-profit organizations, as executive director, through critical periods of growth and adjustment. As a home inspector, I have returned to my roots, so to speak, in residential construction.

What can a buyer expect in a home inspection?

That’s a great question, because having realistic expectations is an important requisite to finding satisfaction with the inspection and the inspector. A buyer can expect the home inspector to come with the knowledge, training and experience, as well as the integrity and honesty, needed to provide an objective evaluation of a home’s readily accessible areas and conditions. He or she cannot expect the inspector to come with x-ray vision or a crystal ball. REALTORS ® and home inspectors should encourage buyers to read and understand the Standards of Practice by which the inspector will conduct the inspection and the Inspection Agreement. These documents explain the scope of the inspection as well as its limitations and exclusions. Whenever possible, the inspector should make these documents, along with the inspector’s Code of Ethics, available to the client prior to the inspection date and should make him or herself available to answer the client’s questions.

Inspection contingency deadlines can make or break a transaction. How can a REALTOR ® assist their client in meeting these deadlines?

The simple answer to the question is to have the buyer contact the inspector immediately after signing the agreement for sale to schedule the inspection at the earliest possible date and time. There is more that a REALTOR ® can do, however, prior to the signing, to help the client avoid a rush to deadline. Discuss the process early in your relationship with the client, including inspection contingency options, what inspections - in addition to the home inspection - may or may not be needed, how to select an inspector and how to benefit most from a home inspection. Having thought about these issues and having selected an inspector in advance, the client will not spend the first few days of the contingency period wrestling with these questions. Encourage your client to adjust his/her schedule, if need be, to accommodate the first available date and time for the inspection, to allow as much time as possible after the inspection to gather any additional information needed and to respond to the seller prior to the contingency deadline.

What are your thoughts on pre-listing inspections?

Sounds like a great idea to me. Seriously though, while it is the exception rather than the rule in our marketplace, I understand it to be much more common in other areas of the country. Pre-listing inspections inform a seller and a seller’s agent of the issues most likely to be raised during a buyer’s pre-purchase inspection. Armed with this information, the seller may opt to make repairs, or to disclose the defects and adjust the asking price accordingly. Either way, the potential for deal-breaking discoveries at the tail end of the sales process is reduced.

As an Affiliate Member, what value do you see in the organization and why should REALTORS ® consider Affiliate Members for their service providers?

As it is said, “ A rising tide lifts all boats”. I believe that when committed professionals come together to strengthen their industry, everybody benefits. As the Association strengthens the industry, Affiliate members strengthen the Association. As a REALTOR ® made stronger through Association, it makes good sense for you to consider Affiliates First.