Why Home Inspections Don’t Kill Deals (And Actually Help You Sell Faster)

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Show Summary

In this conversation, Randy Russ, owner of 1836 Home Inspections, discusses his journey into the home inspection business, emphasizing the importance of pre-inspections, building trust in a competitive market, and the role of relationships in securing business. He shares insights on navigating challenges, the significance of education and certifications, and his future goals for growth.

Resources and Links from this show:

• • • Investor Fuel Real Estate Mastermind
    • Investor Machine Real Estate Lead Generation
    • Mike on Facebook
    • Mike on Instagram
    • Mike on LinkedIn
    • 1836 Home Inspections Website
    • Randy Russ on Facebook
    • Randy Russ’ Phone Number: (817) 382-2111

  Listen to the Audio Version of this Episode

  Investor Fuel Show Transcript:

  Randy (00:00)
  I would say this, know, a lot of people see home inspectors and they roll their eyes. Okay, we are who we are. We’re there to scrutinize. get it. ⁓ But at the same time, we’re not there to kill the bill. You know, that’s not our job. Our job is to report what we see. And if the client can live with what we found, then fine. If they can’t, then they can make negotiations, you know, on the home or walk from the house.

  Quentin (01:56)
  Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds, and I’m excited to be here today. We have another fantastic guest and he’s going to talk about home inspections. And listen, I need you to understand that what he does is going to help with leveraging your selling of your property. If you do what he’s telling you to do, he is going to help you leverage selling your property. And so I’m very excited.

  for this gentleman to tell you all about what he do. And so I’m gonna introduce you guys to Mr. Randy Russ. Mr. Randy, how you doing today, sir?

  Randy (02:33)
  very well. Thank you very much, how you doing?

  Quentin (02:36)
  Oh man, I’m doing great doing great. Thank you for being here and look man, I’ll be honest with you. I want to dive in. I want you to tell the people what your main focus is these days. I want you to maybe give us little bit of origin story about how you got into you know, business that you’re in. I would love to know that. And then, um, when you are in the world, tell us who you are in world, man, what market you operate in. So sir, you got the floor.

  Randy (03:01)
  All right, thank you very much. It’s a pleasure to be here. ⁓ My name is Randy Russ, the owner of 1836 Home Inspections. I service the Dallas, Fort Worth and beyond area. ⁓ I have a radius of about 200 miles. I’ve set myself a radius of about 200 miles. So that covers anything from Wichita Falls to Waco, from Abilene to Tyler. So that’s a pretty big area that I try to get into. ⁓ I got into this, it was kind of a natural…

  progression for me. I used to build homes right out of high school. I built doors and windows. I framed homes. I did foundations. I did a lot of that work. You know, worked for Lowe’s, a commercial desk for a lot of years as well. My last job was at a very large home improvement company here in the state of Texas. So the number one home improvement company in the state worked for them for 13 years. So this was kind of a natural progression for me. I felt like that was going nowhere. So was ready to open my own business.

  ready to get things started. I ⁓ joined a thing called a hit American home expect the training and got the hours that I needed and now I’m a professional home inspector here in the state of Texas.

  Quentin (04:11)
  I love it, man. I absolutely love it. Um, I’ll leave up the name 1836 home inspections. Is that correct?

  Randy (04:20)
  Yes sir, 1836, home inspections.

  Quentin (04:22)
  Please tell me about the name if you don’t mind. did the name come from? I thought if ready for me, it stands out 1836. I love saying that. So where did the name come from?

  Randy (04:33)
  The name was actually chosen. I am Texan through and through. And of course, you’re not from Texas, but anyone listening or watching the podcast that is from Texas should automatically know 1836, March 1836 is the year that Texas declared independence from Mexico and became its own country. And then of course, in 1845 became the state in United States.

  Quentin (04:53)
  Here you go. love it, man. 1836. Absolutely, man. So listen, I’m going to pick your brain a little bit on strategies, right?

  So I would love to know some core business strategies that you found that has been helpful, but I’d also love to know some personal strategies that has helped you, know, as you, you know, grow in business and grow in life. Like know some people do cold plunges, some people go to the gym. So like, what are some core business strategies and core personal strategies?

  that you found that’s really helped you out in business and in

  Randy (06:14)
  No, business wise, it’s all about getting around the right people, ⁓ meeting the right people, whether that be real estate agents, ⁓ know, insurance agents, even title companies, you know, those kind of people are integral to getting me what I need, which is client, ⁓ you know, they’re the people who are instrumental in the sale and the transaction of a home. So those are the people that I really try to meet.

  try to get with and I spend a lot of time if I’m not inspecting a home, I spend a lot of time driving around to different offices and meeting different people. And it’s been very fruitful for me and, you know, trying to break into that industry. And, you know, yeah, those people are a big part of my business strategy. And personally, you know, ⁓ I’ll come out and say it. I am an unapologetic Christian. I pray a lot for my business.

  I pray a lot for my family and what this business can afford us. And so I spend a lot of time personally in that aspect.

  Quentin (07:24)
  Absolutely love it man. I pray right before we came on this show every for every show I say holy spirit. I say holy spirit God, you know because as you know, it’s bigger than just us right like So we don’t know what kind of seeds were cleaning right so I definitely Absolutely. So listen as you was building 1836 Have you faced any type of adversity like, you know, has it been smooth sailing?

  Has things happened with that, pivot is fast? Like, has there been any adversity as you built?

  Randy (07:57)
  You know, I think the one thing that surprises me the most as far as the adversity part of it, I didn’t realize right off how much capital it was going to take to get this running. Now there’s not a lot of overhead, but there’s a lot of tools that you have to buy. You have to buy software. have to buy all that you have to have your schooling. You you can’t just say, I’m a home inspector. You know, in state of Texas, they’re very, very regulated. So.

  ⁓ I had to have a certain amount of hours ⁓ education. I had to take a national and a state test. And that’s the other thing too. I know you have people watching this podcast from other states other than Texas. Be real careful when you’re picking a home inspector because not all states have the same requirements that Texas does. Texas is very consumer friendly. ⁓ And so with that, we have to be

  on our toes at all times, continuing education, just the education to start with. ⁓ Those things are very serious here in the state. There are other states, ⁓ I won’t mention any of them, but they don’t have any standards at all. ⁓ You can apply for ⁓ a license to be a home inspector. ⁓ There might be some exam requirements, but there’s not any real schooling requirements. There’s even some states that don’t even require you to be licensed.

  It’s you have to be careful. Whoever you pick as your home inspector, goodness, please make sure that they have their schooling in the in there at least certified. Yeah.

  Quentin (09:30)
  Yeah, no, great. mean, I think that’s a great nugget. And it actually leads into a question. other than state to state, what really separates home inspectors from home inspect? Like, there a good home inspector, average home inspector, know, expert home inspector? Like, what separates the degree of a home inspector?

  Randy (09:51)
  Yeah, so when you’re looking at home inspections and you’re going to choose to have that home inspections, I would say, look at

  look at their presence online, maybe even don’t worry so much about how much it costs to get that inspection done. Make sure the person that’s doing ⁓ it knows what they’re doing. Ask the right questions, questions that pertain. You can Google all kinds of questions to ask a home inspector.

  but just make sure that you’re vetting that person. ⁓ Make sure that they are the right people, right person for you. And what sets one inspector apart from another inspector ⁓ is simply experience. ⁓ I just started my business, like I said, in April. So as far as home inspections go, I don’t have that much experience, but as far as building a home and knowing how that home is supposed to be built and knowing what the codes are, those things right there, those are invaluable.

  Again, just another next step for me, very simple to move into the home inspection bit.

  Quentin (11:28)
  Gotcha, gotcha. I’m gonna tell you for me what stands out about you, because you know, we talked a little bit behind the scenes. You were talking about how many hours you put in to make sure, you know, you become a certified home inspector. So for me, know experience, you know, I have on your side right now, but integrity, clearly hear that your integral approach to making sure that you do this the right way. And so for me,

  where you may not have the experience yet. think for me, the integrity that you have goes a long way. And I think that for me is a distinguished factor right up front is like listening to how you’re preparing to go into this business. I just want to add to you that I see that clearly, you know, the integrity that you have going into this business and building this brand. So let me ask you this, what’s the next real goal for 1836 home inspections?

  Randy (12:23)
  Man, you know, the next goal is just to grow this company. You know, right now I’m a single inspector. You know, I’m a one man operation. In the next, you know, the five year plan for 1836 is to grow this business to where I need a couple of guys, you know, maybe team up on a home or send them to other homes, you know. So that right there is the ultimate thing. But in the short term,

  ⁓ is to just grow this business and get the name out there, get recognized. When people see the yellow shirt, ⁓ this is the uniform I wear, I don’t wear any other, this is what I wear. So when they see the yellow shirt or they see the banner behind me, they see that on my truck as well, that same thing is on my truck. They see that coming, they know who it is. And that’s what I want.

  Quentin (13:14)
  I love it, man. Again, integrity and I that. I hear your vision too. This color is going to be synonymous. Y’all going to know when y’all see this colors. My wife went to Carolina A &T. So those are their colors. So I’m very, very aware. They’re all around my house. In my kitchen, they’re everywhere. So yeah.

  Randy (13:34)
  afraid both colors.

  Quentin (13:35)
  Yeah, you go. Absolutely. Um, so I want to talk to you a little bit about relationship building. I love how you talk about driving around the area. You know, you built yourself, you know, 200 mile radius. Um, it seems like our relationship building is important to you. So just want to get your perspective on, know, in relationship building important to you, how important is it to you? Has it impacted you? I would love to talk about relationships.

  Randy (14:03)
  Yeah, relationships are everything in this business, you know, because if you don’t have the trust, you don’t have the relationship, you’re not going to get the business. ⁓ You know, you have to know the real estate agents that are calling you to order this home inspection. ⁓ And you have to understand that you’re not necessarily working for that ⁓ real estate agent. You’re working for their client. And, you know, your job is to, you know, just report what you see.

  Our inspections are non-invasive. We have to, it’s what they call a visual non-invasive inspection. So on the surface, what we see, now I do use a thermal camera. I use a sewer scope. So those are things, tools of the trade that I use to kind of see things that you can’t see just with the naked eye. And that gives me an idea of what’s going on with the house. those kinds of things help build those relationships when you can provide that to those clients for that real estate agent.

  those are the things. And then you get word of mouth. You know, have real estate agents talking to people, talking to each other all the time. Hey, I need a home inspector. My guy’s busy. Well, listen, I got this guy, you know, he’s, he’s pretty decent dude, you know. So it’s word of mouth. And those were there. That’s where those relationships come in.

  Quentin (15:59)
  Absolutely, Mr. Randy, is there anything that hasn’t been said that you would like to say? Anything about your business? Any word of inspiration, motivation, education? Like is there anything you feel like the viewers may benefit from? Now is your chance if you want to leave that nugget.

  Randy (16:17)
  Yes, of course. And I appreciate the opportunity.

  I would say this, know, a lot of people see home inspectors and they roll their eyes. Okay, we are who we are. We’re there to scrutinize. get it. ⁓ But at the same time, we’re not there to kill the bill. You know, that’s not our job. Our job is to report what we see. And if the client can live with what we found, then fine. If they can’t, then they can make negotiations, you know, on the home.

  ⁓ or walk from the

  And my job is to help the real estate agent close the deal. ⁓ But I’m held by a standard by the state of Texas to report what I see ⁓ in that aspect. ⁓ I would also say this, ⁓ don’t skip on a pre-listing inspection. If you’re gonna be selling a home, please get the inspection because the buyer is definitely gonna get his inspector. You need yours as well.

  ⁓ Because you need to know what that inspector is going to find. And if it’s something serious enough where you can actually fix it before you list the home, then that takes down some of their negotiating power. ⁓ So you want to get as much as you can from that home. If you flip the home, if you’re an investor and you’re looking to get the top dollar for that house, get the inspection so that you know what’s going on with that home before the buyer’s inspector sees it.

  Quentin (17:33)
  I think that’s a great nugget and I hope people walk away with that. Like you said, listen, you’re gonna help with the leverage of sale. I’m not here to kill the deal. That’s not what you’re here for. We’re here to help you. And so I think that’s a great message for people to retain. Let’s stop rolling our eyes at inspectors. Inspectors are our friends. ⁓ So I hear you loud and clear. was the record. Listen, man, if someone wanted to reach out to you,

  Randy (17:53)
  She knows it!

  Quentin (18:02)
  connect with you collaborate and learn more about what you’re doing. What’s the best way from the reach out to you,

  Randy (18:08)
  Absolutely. You can visit my website and you can get me a message from there. That’s www.1836homeinspections.com. I am on Facebook. You can look me up there. It is also 1836 Home Inspections. And you can call me 817-382-2111. And that is a dedicated business line.

  Quentin (18:31)
  Beautiful. But listen, man, I love the way you’re building a business. Like I said, I stand by, I can see the integrity, your through line. And so I know you’re going to be successful. Thank you so much for coming by, sharing, telling your story. Definitely. you for your perspective. I really appreciate your perspective. And I think you added enough value to this episode for people that might have a mind shift around when it comes to home inspection. So I appreciate you being here today.

  Randy (19:01)
  So thank you very much for having me. I do appreciate the time.

  Quentin (19:04)
  Absolutely. Well, listen, y’all got the value for Mr. Randy. You know how valuable his specs are. He’s added to the value and out the specs above it. So please check out Mr. Randy. Please also make sure you are subscribed. You do not want to miss out on these amazing conversations that we continue to have with people just like Mr. Randy. So sir, I thank you again. And to everyone else, we will see you on the next time.