Three texts to the buyer's agent, word for word
The exact messages a home inspector sends the agent at booking, at report delivery and thirty days after closing. Copy them, change the names, save them.
The buyer's agent is the person who decides whether you get the next inspection, and most inspectors talk to her twice: once when the appointment is set, and once when she forwards the report with twelve questions the buyer asked her instead of you.
Between those two moments she hears nothing. She finds out the inspection is done when her client panics about the water heater. She finds out you were good when the deal closes and nobody complains, which is the same thing she finds out when you were merely fine.
Three texts fix that. Each one takes under a minute, each one lands at a moment she is already thinking about the house, and together they turn you into the inspector she recommends without being asked.
Text 1: at booking
Send it within ten minutes of the appointment going on the calendar, whether the buyer booked or the agent did.
"Hi [agent], this is [your name] with [company]. Confirmed for [address] on [day] at [time]. [Buyer first name] is set. I will plan on about two and a half hours, and the report will be in both your inboxes by 8 p.m. that night. Anything about this house I should know going in?"
The first three sentences set an expectation and put a time on the report, which is the thing agents complain about most. The last question is the one that matters. Agents know things: the seller disclosed a roof repair, the inspection objection deadline is Thursday at noon, the buyer's father is coming and he is difficult. You want all of it before you ring the doorbell, and no inspector has ever asked her.
Text 2: at report delivery
Send it the moment the report goes out, to the agent, separately from the buyer's email.
"[Agent], report for [address] just went out. Three things worth your attention before the repair request: [item], [item], [item]. Nothing I would call a deal-breaker. If [buyer] is rattled, have them call me and I will walk through it, no charge."
Keep the three items consistent with the report. You are summarizing, not adding, and the summary has to match what the buyer is reading. If there is something you would call a deal-breaker, say that instead, plainly.
This text does two things for her. It gives her the short version she needs to write the repair request, before the buyer has read forty pages and found the wrong thing to fixate on. And it tells her you are the inspector who does not scare buyers out of houses, which is the exact reputation that gets an inspector onto an agent's list of three.
Text 3: thirty days after closing
Set a reminder when the report goes out. Thirty days later, send this.
"Hi [agent], hope [address] closed smoothly. Two quick things. If [buyer] ever has a question about anything in the report, they can text me anytime, no charge. And I have Tuesday and Thursday mornings open the next two weeks if you have anyone under contract."
The first half makes you a resource she can hand to her clients for years, which is worth more to her than a gift basket. The second half is the ask, and it is an ask for a booking, not a favor. If you want a review from her, that is a separate conversation, once a year, in person, and the reasons an agent review carries more weight than a buyer's are in the reviews guide.
The rules that keep this working
One text per moment, never a paragraph. The examples above are the maximum length. Cut, do not add.
Same template every time. Save all three in your phone or, better, as automations in your inspection software so they go out without you remembering. A text you have to think about is a text you skip on the third job of the day.
Nothing between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. Schedule the delivery text for the morning if the report goes out late.
Never text a summary you would not put in the report. The report is the record. The text is a courtesy.
Track it. One line per inspection: agent name, three texts sent, next referral received. After ninety days you will know which agents send work and which ones just send questions.
Why this matters more in this trade than most
Across 27,687 home inspection listings, the median company has 4 reviews and 30.2% have none at all. 58.8% list no hours. That is a category where most of the work moves by referral and most inspectors are invisible online, so the agent's recommendation is the whole marketing plan. An inspector who is easy to work with, answers fast and never surprises anybody gets recommended. An inspector the agent has to chase for the report does not, however good the report is.
The speed part is its own topic. If the agent texts you at 4 p.m. on a Friday about a Monday inspection and hears nothing until Sunday, the first two texts on this page never get the chance to work. The missed calls guide covers what to set up so that never happens, and the calculator puts a dollar figure on the inspections you are already losing to it.
Automated agent texts and missed-call text-back are both part of the free 14-day trial, any service, no card. Text or call (385) 526-5050.
Steven has spent the last several years running growth campaigns for local service businesses, home inspectors among them, and builds the benchmark datasets on this site from public Google listings. About the editor