Myths of Home Inspector Licensing

[lcapaul]

Originally Posted by jschulte

That's a likely story. Sometimes disclosure is not enough.

I still don't feel bad enough for your clients to agree with licensing, though, they made the bad decision.

Its's amazing how Inspectors from Missouri seem to know so much about Inpectors and Politics from places more than 1,000 miles away, and how they can determine the quality of another inspectors work by whether or not the agree with his views. Simply Amazing, but hey, They are From Missouri!

[jschulte]

I'm not saying you do bad work. I'm saying you have a conflict of interest, whether disclosed or not.

Conflicts of interest do not change geographically. They do not change based on political views.

If it helps you, I've only lived in MO for 3 years and it would have been a conflict where I came from.

[Richard L. Bennett]

Lewis

We all are just a mouse click away - not a 1000 miles -- get real and knowledge is open to all not just people in your home state.

Today someone in the Mid East can know more about you then your neighbor

Your state is an open book

Are you trying to put someone down with emotion or knowledge?

rlb

[lcapaul]

Originally Posted by jschulte

I'm not saying you do bad work. I'm saying you have a conflict of interest, whether disclosed or not.

Conflicts of interest do not change geographically. They do not change based on political views.

If it helps you, I've only lived in MO for 3 years and it would have been a conflict where I came from.

To get really techinical its a conflict of interest for an inspector to take referals from any realtor, especially constant or numerous referals from the same realtor, yet many inspectors do that. Many inspectors pay a fee to be on a realors referal list, that's not ethical either, especially when they don't inform their clients of their financial relationship with the realtors.

Read this message board, look at the NACHI Mall, all the little "gifts" that many inspecotors use in attempts to influence realtors, there are Inspectors who, if they don't do repairs themselves, who refer clients to relatives or friends, some get $10 or $20 back for refering clients to certain companies.

I don't refer clients to anyone other than a Qualified Licensed Professional in whatever field is required, let the Realtor find the help they need, that's why they earn the big bucks.

My sister would rather see a deal killed than to sell a house that was dangerous or had thousands of dollars of hidden repairs, she won't refer or even hand out brouchures for an Inspector she doesn't trust to represent her clients, I won't take a referal from a Realtor I don't trust or one that asks me to "adjust" a report, in fact if I run into one of them, I will make a complaint directly to his or her broker and to the Realtors Association.

In two years I have gotten 3 inspections from my sister, and one from the internet where she was the listing, not the buyers agent, in the past 6 weeks I have done 8 Inspections from referals of the same Realtor in another city, where do you draw the line, on the inspections I have done where my sister was involved I repeatedly ask the client if it of any concern to them and offer to refer them to another NACHI Inspector.

Look in your Sunday paper at the Real Estate section, and in local Home Seekers etc magazines, see how many Realtors Homes are for sale and listed by the Realtor who will likely say The Listing Agent is the Seller/owner of the property.

In my Home area I can run into ethical conflicts everytime I turn around, Coeur d'Alene isn't a big City, my family has been here for more than a hundred years, I went to school with many orf the Real Estate Brokers in the area or with their fathers or mothers.

If my sister was directly referring me instead of handing out a bunch of brochures, especially if I was her "main" referal, that to me would be a conflict of interest but she lets her clients pick and warns them of our relationship, she sells a hell of a lot more houses than I get inspections even from all the agents in her office.

It probably is a conflict, but its one everybody is informed about, and so far the only one with any complaint have been a seller who had to pay a few thousand to an electrician.

My goal, and that of many others is to cut out all realtor referals completely, that's harder to do in a low density population area like here, I'm getting more inspections in Spokane from my website, Nachi's Find an Inspector and Inspectionzone every week, today I just jumped my internet marketing to a higher level, hopefully by this summer I won't need realtors.

I'm retired from the Army and another Government agency so I don't need to count on the HI business for my income, if I were to get too busy it would interfere with my fishing and sailing, then it wouldn't be worth working.

I lived in Missouri for three years when I was a Drill Sergeant at Ft. Leonard Wood, we lived just outside Rolla, it was a miserable 3 years, not because of Missouri but because of the crap that was going on in the late 70's, and the Humidity, the only place I'd ever been that had its own disease, the Missouri Crud, or ARD- Accute Respritory disease, people almost dieing of pneumonia in July and August. It was a relief to get back to the 80 and 90% humidity of good old Fayetteville, NC

[Joseph Burkeson, CMI]

Originally Posted by jbushart

It would break my heart to write a report that killed his deal.

I've never known of a home inspector who killed any deal, investigations after the fact have always revealed that the house had committed suicide long before the inspector ever arrived on the scene and he only participated in a postmortem autopsy. Thats my story and I'm stickin' to it!

[James H. Bushart]

Originally Posted by jburkeson1

I've never known of a home inspector who killed any deal, investigations after the fact have always revealed that the house had committed suicide long before the inspector ever arrived on the scene and he only participated in a postmortem autopsy.

I have to remember that one, Joe. Thanks.

[lcapaul]

Originally Posted by rbennett

Lewis

We all are just a mouse click away - not a 1000 miles -- get real and knowledge is open to all not just people in your home state.

Today someone in the Mid East can know more about you then your neighbor

Your state is an open book

Are you trying to put someone down with emotion or knowledge?

rlb

Sure you can find all the names of the Washington State Senators and their addresses and emails on the Internet, along with their voting records, but can you find out from down there in Florida, who and what influences them or the connections to different organizations, and local businesses who either like them or hate them. There's alot of information out there, but still "All Politics are Local", some knowledge you can't find on the internet.

I could probably find the same information about all your politcians there in Florida, but would I know how to make the system work there? or would you know how to make it work here?

Can someone from Florida or Missouri really know what the local politcians in Washington are feeling or what they might do from seeing their History and how they have responded to past Media events? I doubt it. Florida works one way, Missouri another, and Washington still differently.

People here, especially those of us who have dealt with Washingotn politics before, have a better feeling of what Sen. Spanel and Kolle-Welles will do than people from 1000 or 3000 miles away, just like you know more abut your local politics than we would.

The "putdown" as you called it was about people 1000 miles away telling me that they know more about Washington politics than I do, without ever doing business here or ever having been involved in the crap here, they claim to be experts, and some can even tell what kind of Inspection someone does from so far away. That is pretty amazing to me. I don't claim to be an expert on Washington Politics, but I can, and have made a lot of waves there over the past, too many , years.

I have my own opinions over licensing, you have yours, James has his, the difference is that James and many others think that their' opinions are the only ones that matter, I'll defend mine, but I also tell all the Washington Inspecotrs involved to write to their Senators and voice WHATEVER Opinion they have, for or against, every one has that right, and my opinion is no more important than anyone elses, at least that's my "opinion" for now.

[rwand1]

Lewis

Have you noticed how some are vehement against licencing but never offer alternatives to self regulating bodies that are not open to outside scrutiny? How do you effect change and ensure accountability if self regulating bodies won't do it?

James what are the alternatives if not licencing?

[James H. Bushart]

Originally Posted by rwand1

James what are the alternatives if not licencing?

The alternative?

In our country, Ray, we do not seek "alternatives" to government control. Being free from government control is our natural state. Only under the most dire of circumstances are Americans willing to exchange that freedom for control by their government.

The "alternative", as you put it, is to remain in control over our own businesses.

The consumer remains in control of the market by selecting home inspectors who compete for their business. Through that competition, inspectors are forced to continue to improve their skills and competency to stay in business...unlike licensed states where, once the minimum standards for licensing are met, all inspectors are considered "equally competent and qualified".

Licensing solves nothing.

[Harold E. Miller]

Originally Posted by jburkeson1

I've never known of a home inspector who killed any deal, investigations after the fact have always revealed that the house had committed suicide long before the inspector ever arrived on the scene and he only participated in a postmortem autopsy. Thats my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Joe, I love that one! I think I will use that if you don'y mind.

[Dan Bowers, CMI]

Lewis -

I feel your pain. I spent a week in Waynesville 1 night in a blinding snow storm when the heat in the motel went out. And the next day met with many of the locals. Interesting place - they seemed to be about 26 yrs behind the rest of the state or even the world in their thoughts or daily events.

Raymond -

I think the alternative here in our state would be for us to follow the same stringent regulation path of the home builders and contractors.

[lcapaul]

Originally Posted by dbowers

Lewis -

I feel your pain. I spent a week in Waynesville 1 night in a blinding snow storm when the heat in the motel went out. And the next day met with many of the locals. Interesting place - they seemed to be about 26 yrs behind the rest of the state or even the world in their thoughts or daily events.

Raymond -

I think the alternative here in our state would be for us to follow the same stringent regulation path of the home builders and contractors.

It could have been worse Dan, you could have been caught in the motel room in August with the AC out, as far as being 26 years behind, I would put them even farther than that behind the times, and I can see on this board that some of them must have moved East.