Full Text Ammended Kansas HB 2315

[Gary Farnsworth]

Link to new Kansas HB 2315 with changes.

I am disappointed.

http://www.kslegislature.org/bills/2008/2315.pdf

[James H. Bushart]

The deletion of the "board" should be enough to get ASHI to join the fight against the bill, you think?

[Gary Farnsworth]

I think they went backward. The board was eliminated. And the provision that states "inspector shall be prohibited to perform or offer to perform for an additional fee any repairs, remodeling, ......" was taken out. That goes against any national home inspection agency ethics. I believe the only hope we have now is that the secretary of state complains, and will not want to handle the bill, and it gets killed by senate vote.

[Michael Larson]

Originally Posted by gfarnsworth

I think they went backward. The board was eliminated. And the provision that states "inspector shall be prohibited to perform or offer to perform for an additional fee any repairs, remodeling, ......" was taken out. That goes against any national home inspection agency ethics. I believe the only hope we have now is that the secretary of state complains, and will not want to handle the bill, and it gets killed by senate vote.

Find out who was behind having this stricken. Something smells.

If the bill is about "consumer protection" the removal of the repair clause makes that a lie.

[Dan Bowers, CMI]

Hey - Lets get real here. The whole Bill is/was a lie from day 1. This is not consumer protection, its about realtors shifting liability off themselves.

Kansas does not have madatory state disclosure; does not have madatory mandatory building codes in over 87 counties; does not have mandatory code inspections; does not have mandatory testing / licensure of tradesmen, home builders, or contractors; Kansas State Laws exempt 1 & 2 family houses from the engineering and architectural laws AND we have letters from the state Board of Engineering stating they have no jurisdiction over an engineer or architect performing a home inspection; NONE of those groups have mandatory E&O insurance OR other fiscal responsibility required to get a license; the Kansas small claims court can award a consumer up to $4,000 without having to use an attorney; NONE of the other groups mentioned INCLUDING realtors, etc are PROHIBITED from using limit of liabilty clauses.

Like I said - its about shifting liability and control by realtors and control of the industry by 1 group of HI's.

[Paul Sabados]

HOLY CRAP!

This is getting wackier by the day. They removed the no repair language, removed the board set up and giving control to the Secretary of State Now how many Under Secretaries, Assistants, Aides and regular secretaries do you think its going to take to staff this clusterflock? Poor KAREI group, thought they had the board all sewn up, tasting the power and making a target list. The "Bird in the hand, that was worth two in the bush", just flew over the CUKOO'S NEST with this one.

Question to Ethic's Committee, If I offer a non-standard, non-NACHI SOP pre-list inspection for 49 bucks, offer construction and repairs services for higher profitable fees, am able to work the plan and charge for extra's that come up for more dollars and profit will I be hearing from you? Actually, I believe that since Kansas is 90% rural and small town, that was changed to aid the part time inspector that is also a contractor. And, since 90% of the area is absolutely under no licensing restraint or code enforcement it keeps them around. Even better it takes pressure off of the State to mandate to the county and local govs into code enforcement.

There is absolutely NO CONSUMER PROTECTION in this current draft, other than for the TRIAL attorney's, the ambulance chaser's job just got easier. Somebody pass the prosac bottle please arrrrgh

Paul

[Gary Farnsworth]

Now, it goes to the ways and means committe. What a merry go round this is. What's next?

[Charley L. Bottger]

[quote=gfarnsworth]Now, it goes to the ways and means committee. What a merry go round this is. What's next?[/quote]

I think you guys have a circle jerk going on and the jerks are looking for a pivot man. Paul described it best cluster F

I have always been a proponent of licensed professional no big secret on my part. I read your link to the proposed bill as I am only 28 miles from KA and have done a few inspections in your State. As written that bill surely is the worst piece of garbage of any bill out there. All I can say is I am glad I live in Ok.

[Paul Sabados]

Push has come to shove. Kirk Stalcup, from Kirk Stalcup Real Estate Investment Group, Inc is using this letter as a mass email campaign to all listed on the KAR rent roll. I hope the paper that people are using to print this out on, is nice, soft and two-ply because thats about all it is worth. Typical gray area speak being spoken.

Send a letter to the following decision maker(s):
Your State Senator (if you live in Kansas)

Below is the sample letter:
Subject: Please Support HB 2315
Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],
I am writing to ask you to please support House Bill 2315. Ho use Bill 2315 would require all home inspectors operating in the state to register with the Secretary of State's office and meet certain registration requirements.

Under current Kansas law, there are absolutely no requirements that an individual must meet to offer his or services as a home inspector to members of the public. If an individual wanted to offer home inspections in this state, all he or she needs to do is to simply place an advertisement in the yellow pages. There are absoultely no requirements in place that will ensure that consumers are receiving services from a qualified individual.
This state already regulates many professions that provide services to members of the public. These regulated professions include numerous professions that range from accountants, real estate licensees, attorneys and medical professionals to hair stylists. Surely if the Kansas Legislature has decided to enact some form of regulation on all these other profession s, it is also important to regulate a profession that provides services to consumers who are making the most substantial financial commitment in their lives in the purchase of a home.

This legislation requires no additional funding from the State General Fund. Instead, this act will be completely fee-funded through registration and renewal fees from home inspectors registered under the act. Modeled after several existing registration statutes for professions of similar size, it is estimated that it would cost no more than $20,000 to $30,000 per year to operate this registration system.

Furthemore, this legislation will not significantly increase the cost of home inspections or decrease the number of home inspectors operating in this state. Evidence from the 32 other states that regulate this industry shows that the price of home inspections will not significantly increase or that the number of home inspectors will not significantly decrease. In fact, numerous s tudies have shown that the number of home inspectors has actually increased in states where similar legislation has been enacted.

Finally, it will not be overly difficult to become registered as a home inspector under this act. When you compare the requirements under this legislation to the requirements to become a member of other state-regulated professions (attorneys, medical professionals, real estate licensees, real estate appraisers and even hair stylists), it will be comparatively simple to become registered as a home inspector in this state.

I wholeheartedly support this legislation and would ask you to please support HB 2315 so that consumers are protected to the maximum possible extent from home inspectors who fail to meet certain basic requirements.
Sincerely,

Kirk Stalcup

A little sidebar to the main page of his letter, he decided to add this little tid-bit

This state already regulates many professions that provides services to me mbers of the public. These regulated professions include numerous professions that range from accountants, real estate licensees, attorneys and medical professionals to cosmetologists and athletic agents. Surely if the Legislature has decided to regulate all these other professions, it is also important to regulate a profession that serves consumers who are making a major financial commitment in purchasing a home.

He seems to have left out the part about, homebuilders/contractors and all of the sub-contractors ARE NOT regulated by the State of Kansas and can erect the biggest pile of dung, call it a home and put a for sale sign out on the front of the property. Nor, does he indicate that 87 of the counties in the State and/or cities within those counties have an enforceable building code and inspection system inplace or even care.

Like I said earlier, if you print this out use soft paper for your pleasure and enjoyment. Hey, I think they found the pivot man for the circle jerk

Paul

[James H. Bushart]

I sent this to Kirk and his pal with KAR:

Kirk,

I've read, with much amusement, your tripe as to how much better off the world would be if some of your liability could be shared with the home inspector.

Now, let me share something with you to pass on to all your fellow real estate salesmen who think they are going to benefit by this bill.

If your legislators are foolish enough to follow your advice and actually license home inspectors in a state with no building code, licensed contractors, and licensed builders....here is what you are in for.

The home inspector who inspects your buyer's home has the final word. No more recommending "experts" in the field, since no other party but him actually holds a state license or registration.

Accordingly, so that he will not endanger it, he will be extra detailed in his inspection and report leaving absolutely nothing to chance or to be uncovered at a later date.

It is best for the inspector to over state than under state the seriousness of a defect, to protect himself from liability and especially since there are no other contractors qualified to refer to.

In other words....your clients will hear the darkest side possible of every defect that could possibly be found. Your efforts in placing $10,000 worth of liability on a $350 fee paid inspection will result in many, many lost real estate sales commissions as you scramble to shed a positive light on reports that highlight each and every defect uncovered during the inspection in immaculate detail and in a manner that ensures that the client is fully informed of the most severe possibilities that could be derived from them.

Our Missouri chapters will be publicly supporting, monitoring and encouraging Kansas home inspectors to protect themselves to the farthest extent possible from any harm that could come to them from the KAR's slick and underhanded way of shifting the responsibility belonging to real estate salesmen onto home inspectors.

This bill, should it become law, will kill more deals than you can ever imagine.

Regards,

James H. Bushart
President, Missouri Chapter of the National Association of Certified Home Inspectors

[Nick Gromicko]

That is brilliant. I never thought of that. Every report is going to look like it was written by the buyer's Dad. What agent wants that?

[Nick Gromicko]

"Deal Killer Kirk"

[Gary Farnsworth]

James,

All of us thank you for your kind hearted letter to Kirk. Perhaps a list of e-mails to all of the Ways and Means committe members would be great so we can send them our opinions, or should I say, realizations. Realtors, consumers, lawmakers will not realize that inspections will go from several pages to hundreds,and will/can take days to deliver back to the buyer. Have the buyers and realtors analize the report then. 10 days will not be long enough to negotiate a deal. Perhaps, that is what the attorneys want. Law makers have no idea what they are getting into. Any way you say it, the consumer/buyer loses. It is hard for me to get law makers to understand that we work for the buyer, and no one else. Why are there so many other special interest groups that want this bill? Where are the consumer voices? Wake up Kansas, get real!!!!

[Nick Gromicko]

And what many don't know is that a tough report doesn't kill deals... a tougher report than expected does. I was an ABR for years. A buyer only puts in an offer after he/she has toured the house a couple times and forms an expectation of what the inspection report will say. The inspection report either confirms what the buyer thinks about the home, comes in better, or comes in worse. The latter of course is what is responsible for killing deals. Now, if a potential buyer puts an offer on a handyman special, he/she expects the report to come back as sort of a C-. When it comes back a D-, there is a problem. Same as when an A+ comes back a B+. What this law will do is cause report tone deflation. It will cause A's to be B's and B's to be C's and so on. All agents prefer the reverse... or synchronization between report and buyer expectation at very least. This law will waste more agent time (lower the average dollar they earn per hour worked) than anything they could ever imagine.

[Dan Bowers, CMI]

"Folks you have a water stain on the wall. I tested it with a moisture meter and its dry on the surface, however there could be hidden damage or deadly mold lurking inside the wall cavity. Therefore because of the new Kansas POS Bill-2315 that would dump up to $10,000 of liability on my head per each inspection, I feel that the wall cavity should be opened prior to the end of your inspection contingency period to search for any unseen damages AND we recommend a mold test be undertaken immediately before I leave the property".

"Folks there is a 3" long and 1/32" inch wide crack in the drywall over the door header of the rear deck door. This could be a sign of potential soil instability AND we recommend having a licensed geo-technical engineer ........ prior to the end of the inspection contingency".

"I'm sorry folks due to HB-2315, we no longer turn on the range, disposal or dishwasher. They are not in our SOP and we take NO CHANCES on taking extra liability. If that concerns you, maybe your realtor will check them".


Oh yeah, I can feel it coming on.