I completely agree with your assessment of this new tactic for getting business. It makes me think of ambulance chasing.

Don’t feel bad, I just recently learned of it myself. I am a former home inspector, yes Old School, getting my start in the late 1970’s and working up until about 5 years ago. Now I am an instructor, charged with educating the next generation of home inspectors as well as providing the necessary continued education required to keep their license up.

As I am sure most real estate agents already know, they are not highly thought of, the general population distrust them and have contempt for them. This contempt has spread to the new breed of home inspectors, who really seems to despise them.
During a recent round table talk several inspectors all from the same franchise asked me what it would take to break the “Good Ole Boy” bond between real estate agents and inspectors. I pretended I did not follow their question, and they went on to say “come on, you know some agents have preferred home inspectors, they have em in their pockets”. I explained to them that the Real Estate industry is a very “personal” industry and that they would have to forge a bond with agents by earning their trust. This remark was met with sighs and laughter. That is when they told me about implementing the After Sale Inspection Company.

As the story was relayed to me, Billy Bob (not real name) and his partners vested a lot of time and money in trying to gain inspection business from this one Broker’s Company which had close to 40 agents.
Over the course of two years, they had joined their required preferred vendors list at a tune of $50.00 a month, they had performed no less than three free inspections for different agents, so they could evaluate the work, they spoke at two of their meetings providing the breakfast or lunch, and they also provided a discount on any inspections they would receive from this company…. They never received one paid inspections from them in a two year time frame and went on to say it would take 6 or 7 inspections just to break even.
He also explained it wasn’t just this company, he felt that the vast majority of “them” worked the same way.
So he and his partners, one of which was and still is a real estate agent, started following the listings in that particular companies territory. When a property sold, they would send the new owner a welcome package along with FREE AFTER SALE INSPECTION, to ensure they got what they bargained for. (I saw their welcome package and brochure, if I just purchased a home I would take them up on their offer)
They then perform a detailed home inspection going step by step through the Standards of Practice, they leave nothing absolutely nothing to chance. They focus on areas that are often over looked as well as items they can easily “date” as existing damage and or pre sale existing damage. They will then sit down with the client and compare the two inspections reports, the one the home owners paid for and theirs. If there are obvious errors and omissions, they advise the new home owners to file a lawsuit naming everyone involved in the transaction. They then offer there services as an expert witness, this is how they get paid.
Billy went on to say, he will request the attorney to subpoena other listing of those in questions to see if the same inspector or agent are involved.

I for one am glad I am out of that part of this industry, society as a whole is more litigious than ever, people are so quick to sue and now you have people who know the industry and are members of the industry carving out a new niche by turning on those who should be thought of as allies.
I don’t agree with their tactics but I understand their frustration. They are out to create a new demand for home inspectors and use their home inspectors license.