by Desmond Thornton | Jul 1, 2025 | Home Inspections
There’s something they never tell you when you start a business in the real estate industry:
If you tell the truth too clearly, too consistently, or too unapologetically, you’ll pay for it.
I’m not talking about mistakes. I’m not talking about being wrong. I’m talking about the price of being right, and saying it out loud.
I’m a home inspector. That means my job is to uncover what others can’t see—or won’t admit.
Over the last 12+ years, I’ve learned something hard and undeniable: This industry doesn’t reward thoroughness. It punishes it.
I Didn’t Lose Business Because I Was Incompetent. I Lost It Because I Told the Truth.
Let’s call this what it is: a culture of suppression. Not openly, not in writing, but in real time and in subtle sabotage.
I’ve been boycotted. I’ve had agents throw away my marketing the moment I walked out the door. I’ve had gatekeepers block me at front desks. I’ve had agents smile at my face, take my cards, and never once use me, not because of my quality, but because I was too “picky.”
You know what “picky” really means?
It means I caught something they didn’t want to deal with. It means I told the truth before they had a chance to spin it. It means I didn’t let a broken HVAC or a cracked foundation slide just to keep a deal moving.
And for that, I became a threat.
The Gatekeepers and Their Gatekeepers
This industry doesn’t just have one level of protection. It has layers.
The receptionist who throws your cards away. The agent who keeps you off their “preferred list.” The broker who sets up pay-to-play relationships.
I’ve been told, implicitly and explicitly: if you want consistent referrals, you better play the game.
Smile more. Write less. Say it gently. Don’t be so clear. Don’t disrupt the sale.
But if I have to water down the truth to be accepted, I’m not interested in playing.
I was raised differently. My grandmother taught me to treat people right, no matter their color, income, lifestyle, or circumstance.
You know what treating people right looks like in real estate? Telling them the whole truth before they spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on what might be a trap.
But the system doesn’t want that.
It wants illusion. Smooth closings. Fast commissions. No questions.
The Ethical Mask
The real estate industry wears ethics like a badge. But I’ve called the state before. I’ve asked, “Is this legal? Is this right?”
And every time the answer came back:
Well, based on the wording… it checks out.
Wording.
Not character. Not conscience. Not truth.
Just words arranged to look like integrity.
Meanwhile, the buyer is under pressure. The seller is confused. And the inspector is standing in the middle, holding the only truth that nobody wants to hear.
And sometimes that truth gets you sued. Or threatened. Or cut out.
All for doing the job they hired you to do.
These Aren’t Hypotheticals. These Are My Stories.
Some inspectors wouldn’t dare say this out loud—because honestly, this could be career suicide.
One time, we were hired for an inspection. The buyer did everything right: researched us, scheduled, and confirmed. We sent the standard notice to both agents, letting them know we’d be on-site, and to please make sure we had access to the crawlspace, attic, and panel.
Then we got a call from the buyer: confused, frustrated. The listing agent had said the seller refused to allow me—specifically—to inspect the property.
But the seller didn’t know me. They had no contact from us. The only possible source of that information? The listing agent. And this wasn’t the first time this agent had done this.
I took it to the state. Because buyers are supposed to have freedom to choose their inspector. But in that moment, the truth wasn’t allowed in. And I lost the job.
Another time, after conducting an inspection, the seller (or their agent) called us, angry. They wanted to know why we said such “bad things that weren’t true” about their home.
But it’s not their report. It belongs to the buyer. Legally and ethically, we can’t discuss anything unless the buyer gives us permission.
I calmly explained that. They pushed. They demanded. They threatened. I refused.
I got a one-star review for doing the right thing.
Another scenario? We finish an inspection, the buyer walks away, and a new potential buyer comes through their agent asking if they can have the report.
Again no permission, no sharing. The law is clear. But I’ve watched inspectors across the country break that rule under pressure—and set themselves up for lawsuits just to stay in the good graces of an agent.
This system makes it easy to do the wrong thing. It punishes you when you don’t.
So I stopped playing. I kept inspecting. I kept telling the truth.
And if that means being boycotted?
Let them.
Because I’d rather be boycotted for telling the truth than celebrated for protecting a lie.
And if you’ve ever been punished for doing the right thing, know this: you’re not alone either.
Coming Soon in Part 6: The Good Faith Test. When Truth Becomes the Advantage!
by Desmond Thornton | Jun 24, 2025 | Informational Material
There’s a moment when silence becomes too costly.
The real estate industry has protected that silence for decades—layered it in timing, wrapped it in contracts, buried it beneath phrases like “as-is” and “buyer beware.” But now, the silence has started to echo. And that echo sounds a lot like regret.
Buyers regret skipping inspections.
Sellers regret deals gone sideways.
Agents regret the lawsuits they never saw coming.
Inspectors regret being used, then blamed.
And underneath it all is a question nobody wants to ask out loud:
What if we’ve built this entire process on the wrong foundation?
The Timing Problem Wasn’t Just a Flaw — It Was the Design
In Part 3, we looked at why pre-listing inspections failed. It wasn’t because they didn’t make sense. It’s because the system was never designed to support them.
Sellers feared disclosure. Agents feared control loss. Buyers were trained to wait.
But what if we flipped the script?
Not just by changing *when* the inspection happens—but by changing *who controls the truth.*
Because right now, the buyer isn’t protected. The seller isn’t protected. The agent isn’t protected. And the one person who tells the truth—the inspector—is often punished for it.
So what if we started from scratch?
Imagine a World Where…
The seller could authorize an inspection
*Without paying a dime upfront!
* The report **wasn’t theirs**—so they weren’t legally responsible for disclosure
* The agent **couldn’t filter or delay** what was found
* The buyer could **review the inspection** before making an offer
* The inspector was free to tell the **whole truth** without fear of retaliation
This isn’t fantasy.
This isn’t rebellion for rebellion’s sake.
This is **a system that honors transparency by design—not just principle.**
And it does one thing the current model never could:
> It breaks the cycle of pressure.
Buyers Deserve a Clear View Before the Pitch
Right now, buyers are asked to fall in love with a home *before* they know what the challenges are with it.
They tour it. They imagine their life there. They compete with other offers. And only *after* they win do they learn whether they just bought a dream—or a disaster.
That’s backwards.
Imagine a buyer seeing the report first. Understanding the repairs. Knowing the history. Evaluating the investment. Then deciding if it’s right. That’s **what due diligence was always meant to be.*
And if the house isn’t right? They move on—without losing earnest money, wasting weeks, or feeling betrayed.
Sellers Deserve Simplicity Without Liability.
Sellers, especially in high-stakes markets, are often told to stay silent. Don’t ask. Don’t test. Don’t disclose.
But what if they could green-light an inspection without seeing the results? No responsibility. No liability. Just an opportunity to attract serious buyers who already know the truth—and want to buy anyway.
The best part? The seller doesn’t have to pay unless a certain number of buyers fail to purchase the report. And even then, it’s the buyer—not the seller—who purchases the data. This shifts the financial burden away from the seller, unless the market shows no interest.
No more fear-based silence. Just clear, simple distance between the seller and the findings.
Agents Deserve Protection for Doing the Right Thing.
Agents shouldn’t have to walk the ethical tightrope. And inspectors walk one too—not ethical, but relational. We’re expected to protect the buyer, tell the truth, and still earn five-star reviews and future referrals from agents who may not want to hear that truth.
They shouldn’t have to choose between a transparent deal and a fast paycheck.
They shouldn’t be punished for connecting buyers and sellers to the truth.
This system gives them cover. It removes the conflict.
No more gatekeeping. No more backroom pressure. Just clean deals that close smoother, faster, and with less drama.
Builders Deserve a System That Honors Their Craft.
Builders face enormous liability pressure from post-sale surprises. Even when they build it right, poor timing or bad inspections can lead to lawsuits, delays, or reputation damage.
With this model:
* Builders can opt into a third-party inspection before listing
* Buyers see what’s right and what needs attention without finger-pointing
* Transparency becomes an asset—not a weapon
Pride in construction meets pride in honesty. The builders who stand behind their work now have a system that stands with them.
And Inspectors Deserve to Be Truth-Tellers, Not Scapegoats
The inspector has one job: tell the truth about the property. But in today’s system, that truth often gets filtered, suppressed, or weaponized. Inspectors have been blacklisted for doing their job too well. Others have been sued for what buyers didn’t read. The report—meant to be a safeguard—becomes a source of blame.
This model fixes that. It makes the report neutral. It makes the inspector a resource, not a risk. And it gives the buyer full access to that truth—before emotions, negotiations, and pressure cloud the picture.
The Answer Was Never Just an Inspection. It Was a Shift in Power.
You can’t fix a system with Band-Aids.
You have to rewire the incentives.
You have to remove the pressure.
You have to start with **honesty—not marketing.**
What’s coming next isn’t a product. It’s not a pitch.
It’s a philosophy.
A protocol.
A system that already exists.
It’s called the Good Faith Inspection Program — and it’s patent pending.
And it’s going to make a lot of people uncomfortable.
Because it doesn’t protect the old way. It protects the truth.
**Coming Soon in Part 5: The Cost of Truth — When Integrity Gets You Boycotted**
by Desmond Thornton | Jun 16, 2025 | Home Inspections
Why Pre-Listing Made Sense But Still Failed
The Market Mismatch: Buyers Choke, Sellers Stall
We live in a real estate world ruled by one unstable king: the interest rate. It rises, it dips, it shifts day by day—pulling the buying power of everyday people up and down like a yo-yo.
One week you’re qualified. The next week you’re not. On Monday, you shop confidently. By Friday, you’re second-guessing everything.
This market doesn’t encourage pause. It doesn’t reward strategy. It pressures buyers into knee-jerk decisions driven by fear and limited options. And in that pressure cooker, buyers often skip the one thing they need most:
Clarity before commitment.
Pre-Listing Inspections: The Simple Solution That Never Took Root
On paper, a pre-listing inspection seems like the answer:
The seller gets ahead of the issues.
The buyer walks in with eyes wide open.
The buyer walks in with eyes wide open.
But it never caught on. Why?
Pre-listing inspections didn’t fail because they were wrong. They failed because the system never wanted them to succeed.
The Real Reasons Pre-Listing Inspections Never Became Standard
Let’s name them, clearly and unapologetically:
Reason #1: Sellers Don’t Want to Know the Truth
Once they know, they must disclose. And that means giving up leverage, facing repairs, or losing negotiating power.
Many sellers choose plausible deniability over transparent responsibility.
“I’d rather not know what’s wrong, so I’m not required to say.”
Reason #2: Sellers Don’t Want to Pay for a Report That Helps Someone Else
Sellers see the inspection as a buyer benefit. So they don’t want to spend $500–$600 to “do someone else’s homework.”
If the deal falls through, it feels like wasted money.
“Why would I pay to tell them what’s wrong with my house?”
Reason #3: Listing Agents Are Trained to Avoid It
Many agents are taught: control the deal by controlling the timing. That means don’t invite inspections until you’re under contract.
They worry that upfront findings could:
- Kill momentum
- Lower offers
- Increase liability
“Let’s wait to see what happens before we inspect anything.”
But this mindset is deeper than just caution; it’s control. Some agents go as far as to say they won’t allow buyers to purchase an inspection report until the property is under contract.
Think about that: buyers, who may fall in love with a property, are actively discouraged from getting critical information because the agent wants to protect the deal’s timing.
It’s not just risky, it’s reckless.
Instead of owning the truth, they bury it inside the timeline and gamble with everyone’s trust.
And on the other side? The seller is unwilling to do the homework, and the buyer is told they can’t. The result is a strategic stalemate built on fear.
The Fallout: Lawsuits, Distrust, and Broken Faith
What’s the result of this resistance to transparency?
Lawsuits against agents, inspectors, and sellers
Buyers are losing trust in everyone involved
Sellers confused and angry about last-minute repair demands
Agents stuck in a cycle of damage control
“The entire system was built on timing, not truth.”
“When your deal depends on what’s hidden instead of what’s known, you’re not in business, you’re in danger.”
Why Pre-Listing Inspections Will Never Fully Work
Even with all the logic, pre-listing inspections will never become standard because of one core reason:
The system was never built for truth; it was built for leverage.
Sellers don’t want to lose control.
Agents don’t want to increase liability.
The system doesn’t reward transparency.
It rewards speed, perception, and control of the narrative.
And that’s why, even in a market that’s dying for clarity,
pre-listing inspections remain optional, underutilized, and misunderstood.
by Desmond Thornton | Jun 10, 2025 | Home Inspections
The collapse of trust in real estate wasn’t caused by one scandal. It’s been a slow erosion—chipped away one waived inspection, one silenced disclosure, one misled buyer at a time.
In Part 1, we looked at the systemic failures that brought us here: inflated commissions, hidden agendas, and transactional pressure. But if there is one domino that triggered real consequences for everyday people, it was the breakdown of due diligence.
The Consequence of Waiving Inspections
In 2021, 1 in 4 buyers waived the inspection contingency, according to Zillow. That was the height of the post-pandemic buying frenzy. Fast-forward to 2024, and although that number improved—dropping to 14% in some quarters—the waiver rate still climbed back to 22% by early 2025, according to NAR’s Realtor Confidence Index.
The reasons? Competitive offers. Agent pressure. A warped perception that inspections are obstacles rather than protection.
But the results of waiving due diligence aren’t hypothetical. They’re real. They’re costly. They’re life-altering
“We didn’t skip the inspection to win. We skipped it—and lost anyway.”
Case 1: The Termite Infestation
A couple in Arizona bought their dream home. Just three days after closing, they discovered an active termite infestation. Despite having multiple inspections, the issue had been concealed or overlooked. It took tens of thousands of dollars to remediate. And the emotional toll? Immeasurable.
Case 2: The Agent-Endorsed Blind Spot
One Reddit user shared that their agent urged them to waive inspection in a competitive bid. The home passed appraisal. They bought it. Within six months, mold, grading issues, and roof problems surfaced. The inspector they might have used had been dismissed as “too thorough.
Case 3: The $100,000 Lesson
In a high-value transaction, a buyer lost their $100,000 deposit due to closing day confusion and legal pressure. There had been no inspection, and post-sale findings led to regret and resentment. The agent had recommended moving forward quickly to “beat other offers.”
Seller Disclosure: The Half-Truth Trap
It wasn’t just buyers who were misled. Sellers, too, were coached into silence.
In the pandemic boom, many agents advised sellers to avoid pre-listing inspections and to disclose as little as possible. Why? Because full transparency was framed as a liability. Sellers feared scaring away buyers. Agents feared losing commissions.
But withholding known issues comes at a cost. Disclosure lawsuits are one of the leading causes of post-sale litigation. Sellers who thought they were protecting themselves may end up in court, paying for problems they didn’t fix and didn’t reveal.
> “Disclose less, close faster” was the mantra. And that mantra is now costing people everything.
When Inspectors Became Inconvenient
Inspectors, once the neutral third-party truth-tellers, became a political pawn in the deal process. Many agents began recommending only those who would “keep it light.”
> “Don’t use him—he always kills the deal.”
When inspections become a threat instead of a safeguard, the system isn’t just broken. It’s actively endangering people.
And that danger shows up in:
Surprise foundation issues
Undisclosed roof leaks
Faulty wiring and fire risks
Water intrusion and mold
The System Logic Is Backwards
Here’s the real flaw:
Inspections come in the middle of the deal.
By the time the inspector is called, the buyer is emotionally committed, the seller is mentally out the door, and the agent is already spending their commission.
If the inspection is clean: everyone wins.
If it’s not: it’s a warzone.
It creates a high-stakes, emotional, zero-sum game. Someone has to lose—or bend—for the deal to survive.
And what gets lost? Trust.
> “When inspections became a liability instead of a lighthouse, the shipwrecks multiplied.”.
The Hidden Cost: Lawsuits, Regret, and Cynicism
Every skipped inspection, every pressured disclosure, every buyer who felt tricked becomes a future cynic:
Less likely to trust the next agent
Less likely to refer friends
More likely to file lawsuits
And yet, we wonder why real estate professionals are seen as untrustworthy?
This isn’t personal. It’s systemic.
A Hint at What Comes Next
Due diligence didn’t die by accident. It was squeezed out by greed, fear, and false urgency.
But it can be resurrected not just by going back to old practices, but by redesigning the sequence, shifting the power, and bringing transparency to the start of the deal. Some agents have quietly admitted that the timing of the inspection is the real flaw. What if we changed the timing
What if inspections happened before the first showing?
What if the buyer could see the truth before the pitch?
> Because inspections aren’t the problem
They’re the only part of the process still telling the truth.
by Desmond Thornton | Jun 3, 2025 | Home Inspections
Over the past few years, the American real estate industry has undergone one of the most significant reckonings in its history. What was once seen as a stable, reliable path to homeownership and financial growth has become riddled with distrust, lawsuits, and systemic flaws that are now impossible to ignore.
It didn’t start with the pandemic, but that’s when the cracks widened.
The Commission Crisis
For decades, home sellers were routinely told that a 6% real estate commission was the “standard.” What many didn’t realize—and weren’t told—is that this figure was fully negotiable. In some cases, commission rates reached as high as 8% to 10%, particularly in high-demand markets and during the post-2008 recovery years.
Behind the scenes, there were growing concerns of anti-competitive practices. Those concerns culminated in one of the most high-profile legal challenges in real estate history: Burnett v. National Association of Realtors, which resulted in a $1.78 billion jury verdict in 2023. The lawsuit alleged that NAR, along with several of the nation’s largest brokerages including Keller Williams and RE/MAX, colluded to maintain inflated commission rates by requiring home sellers to offer buyer agent commissions as a condition of listing on the MLS. RE/MAX and Keller Williams settled separately for a combined $242 million.
This was a turning point. It exposed how systemic the lack of commission transparency had become—and how many sellers had unknowingly overpaid.
The Pandemic Pressure Cooker
When COVID-19 hit, housing demand skyrocketed while supply dropped. Interest rates hit historic lows, creating a hyper-competitive market. Many Americans, stuck at home, started reassessing their living situations. Some invested in home improvements and cashed out at record-high home values—particularly homeowners who had purchased during the 2008 financial crisis.
In this frenzy, buyers were told that to win a house, they had to waive their protections: skip home inspections, bypass financing contingencies, and agree to “as-is” purchases. Many did so, thinking they had no other choice. This wasn’t just aggressive negotiation. It was institutional pressure wrapped in urgency and fear.
When Inspections Became Optional
Home inspections were never meant to be optional. They originated to protect consumers—especially buyers—from unknowingly purchasing homes with significant defects. Over time, inspections became a pillar of due diligence: a process of uncovering the truth before finalizing a sale.
But during the pandemic-era housing surge, inspections were framed by some agents as a liability. They were labeled deal-killers. Buyers were told: “If you want the house, you need to waive it.”
In 2021 alone, nearly 1 in 4 homebuyers waived their inspection contingency, according to a Zillow Consumer Housing Trends Report. That number climbed even higher in competitive markets.
Sellers Left in the Dark—And the Line
Sellers, meanwhile, were encouraged to do the opposite of transparency. Many were told not to get pre-listing inspections, or to limit disclosures, to avoid scaring buyers away. While technically legal in many states, this approach opened both sellers and their agents up to future liability.
Why? Because non-disclosure of known issues is the most common cause of post-sale lawsuits in real estate.
The Systemic Flaw: Timing
The biggest flaw in the real estate transaction isn’t bad actors—it’s bad timing.
Inspections usually occur after the buyer has made an emotional, financial, and psychological commitment to the home. At that point, the seller is ready to move out, the agent is waiting on their commission, and the buyer is one bad sentence away from buyer’s remorse.
If the inspection report comes back clean, the deal moves forward. But if it uncovers significant issues? Now the deal is hanging by a thread. The buyer has to decide whether to walk away, renegotiate, or take on a risk they didn’t sign up for. This puts everyone in a compromised position—and trust crumbles.
The Real Cost of Hidden Risk
These aren’t theoretical problems. They are real, documented, and deeply embedded in the way real estate is conducted in America today. From antitrust lawsuits to waived inspections, to sellers being coached on what not to say—this is a culture-wide pattern.
Buyers are blindsided. Sellers are misled. Agents who want to do the right thing are often outshined by those who bend ethics to meet quotas.
And yet, at its heart, real estate should be about one thing: helping people make safe, confident, life-changing decisions.
The Transparency Imperative
Transparency isn’t just a buzzword. It’s the medicine the industry desperately needs.
When buyers know the truth early, they make better decisions. When sellers are honest up front, they reduce liability. When agents operate with integrity, they don’t just win deals—they win loyalty.
Pre-listing inspections, open data access, and visible documentation are not threats to the deal. They are the foundation of a deal worth doing.
The truth is: real estate isn’t broken because of people. It’s broken because the system rewards silence and punishes clarity.
It doesn’t have to stay that way.
