Why Jeremy Fishnick Is Both a Realtor and a Licensed Home Inspector (and What It Means for You)
A few years into inspecting houses, I noticed something. I'd crawl out of an attic, hand a buyer a report with forty photos in it, and then watch their agent shrug and say "well, that's up to you." The agent wasn't being lazy. They just didn't know what a sagging rafter or a double-tapped breaker meant for the deal. I did. That gap is a big part of why I, Jeremy Fishnick, ended up holding both a Wisconsin real estate license and a home inspector license, and keeping both active.
Short answer: I'm a licensed Realtor and a licensed home inspector because the two jobs cover each other's blind spots. The inspector in me knows what's wrong with a house; the agent in me knows what that means for price, negotiation, and timing. For you, it means fewer surprises, better offers, and a listing that's ready before buyers ever walk through it.
Two licenses, two businesses
On the real estate side, I run Fishnick Realty Advisors, brokered by LPT Realty. On the inspection side, I run The Complete Inspection, which Google lists as Complete Inspections LLC at 411 N Adams St in Lancaster. Both are licensed in Wisconsin, both have five-star Google ratings, and both have kept me busy across Grant, Iowa, Lafayette, and Crawford counties for years.
I've inspected hundreds of homes in this part of the state. That number matters less than what it represents: I've been in the basements, attics, and crawlspaces of the exact kind of houses you're looking at, in the exact towns you're looking in. Lancaster, Platteville, Cuba City, Boscobel, Dodgeville, Fennimore. Stone foundations, block foundations, poured walls. Knob-and-tube that somebody half replaced. Roofs with three layers of shingles. I know what's normal here and what isn't.
What it means when you're buying
You get an inspector's eyes at the showing
Most buyers fall in love with a house, write an offer, and then find out during inspection that the sewer line is clay and the furnace is on borrowed time. By then they're emotionally committed and the negotiation gets ugly. When I'm your agent, I'm looking at the house the way an inspector would during the first showing. I'll point at the efflorescence on the basement wall and tell you what it usually means. I'll tell you the water heater is older than it looks. You still need a full inspection, but you'll walk into it with far fewer surprises.
You write a smarter offer
Knowing the likely repair list before you write the offer changes how you write it. Maybe you come in at a price that already accounts for the roof. Maybe you keep the inspection contingency tight because you've already seen the big stuff. Maybe you walk away before spending money on an inspection at all. That's what Abel C. meant when he wrote in his review that "information is a powerful weapon to have when negotiating a home sale or purchase." I agree with him.
You understand the inspection report
Inspection reports in Wisconsin tend to be long, and they flag everything. A buyer sees thirty items and panics. I can read the same report and tell you which three actually matter, which ones are maintenance, and which ones are the inspector covering themselves. That's a real advantage when you're deciding what to ask the seller to fix and what to let go.
One point of fairness: when I'm your agent, I still recommend you hire an independent inspector for the formal inspection. My job in that moment is to be your advocate, not your inspector, and you deserve a second set of eyes anyway. I'll walk the house with you both and translate.
What it means when you're selling
I know what the buyer's inspector will find
This is maybe the biggest advantage for sellers. Before your home ever hits the market, I can walk through it and tell you what's going to show up on a buyer's inspection report. Then we decide together what to fix, what to disclose, and what to leave alone and price around. No more deals falling apart ten days in because of something we could have handled up front. I wrote more about that approach in this post on pre-listing inspections in Wisconsin.
Your condition report is better
Wisconsin sellers fill out a Real Estate Condition Report, and what you put on it matters. An inspector's eye helps you be accurate and complete, which protects you after closing. I'm not your attorney, and for anything legal about disclosure you should talk to one, but I can help you see your own house clearly.
Repair negotiations go faster
When a buyer's inspector flags something and the buyer asks for a $5,000 credit, I can usually tell you whether that's reasonable or whether the item is a $300 fix. That keeps negotiations grounded in reality instead of fear, and it tends to keep deals together.
Where the lines are
I want to be clear about what I'm not doing. I'm not using my inspector license to scare buyers away from other agents' listings, and I'm not using it to wave off real problems on my own. The inspector's job is to describe the condition of the house accurately. The agent's job is to help you make a good decision with that information. Both jobs depend on being honest about what's there, and my reviews on both sides depend on it too.
If you want to know what I'm looking for when I walk a house, I laid it out in what a home inspector looks for in southwest Wisconsin. It's the same checklist whether I'm wearing the inspector hat or the agent hat.
Why I didn't drop one of them
People ask why I don't just pick one. Inspection work is physical, it's seasonal, and it pays less than a closing. The reason I keep it is simple: every inspection I do makes me a better agent, and every transaction I work makes me a better inspector. I know what buyers actually care about because I've watched them react to reports. I know what inspectors actually find because I'm the one finding it. Give up either one and the other gets weaker.
Reviews like the one from Jaspreet S., who mentioned my "thoroughness in ensuring every inspection was done properly, leaving no loose ends," tell me the combination is working. That's not a brag. It's the whole point.
Talk to Jeremy
Whether you need an inspection on a house you're buying, an agent who can read a basement, or a pre-listing walkthrough before you sell, call or text Jeremy Fishnick at 608-732-2564 or email [email protected]. You can also learn more about the whole operation at jeremyfishnick.com. Either hat, same guy.
