Hiring a Home Inspector

[Marcel Gratton]

A CMHC document titled *Hiring a Home Inspector* posted at:

http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/co/buho/buho_001.cfm is also being circulated to home inspectors.

Below is a sample letter in protest and encourage all to participate.

To: media@cmhc-schl.gc.ca

Re: Hiring a Home Inspector

Dear Kristen or Julie,

Kristen Scheel
Media Relations Officer
613-748-4632
Julie Girard
Media Relations Officer
613-748-4684


As a Home Inspector and customer of CMHC, I was quite dismayed that included with my last order was a pamphlet entitled “Hiring a Home Inspector” wherein your Corporation endorsed one specific trade association.

As a taxpayer, CMHC customer and a certified Canadian home inspector, I was shocked to read that CMHC would align itself in recommending one trade association over another.

There is another association of Professional Home Inspectors in Canada, the National Association of Certified Home Inspectors (NACHI) with over 600 Canadian members from coast to coast and over 9900 members nationally.

By being a member of this association, we are subscribing to a stringent Code of Ethic, Standards of Practice, and ongoing educational requirements.

Your article on the topic makes us sound like we shouldn't be in business nor deserve consumer’s confidence.

As a Canadian taxpayer, I find that a government-funded corporation’s use of MY tax dollars being used to malign an organization to which I belong to & which adheres to a strict code of ethics & standards of practice is unfair.

CMHC should not be recommending one association but rather all Canadian Associations.

I am requesting that you immediately consider altering your website and documents relating to “Hiring a Home Inspector”

Thank you.

[rcooke]

Originally Posted by mgratton

A CMHC document titled *Hiring a Home Inspector* posted at:

http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/co/buho/buho_001.cfm is also being circulated to home inspectors.

Below is a sample letter in protest and encourage all to participate.

To: media@cmhc-schl.gc.ca

Re: Hiring a Home Inspector

Dear Kristen or Julie,

Kristen Scheel
Media Relations Officer
613-748-4632
Julie Girard
Media Relations Officer
613-748-4684


Thank you.

Great Thanks for the info ....... Cookie

[Roger A. Frost]

Great letter Marcel

Thanks for the "heads up"

[rwand1]

Mr. Lloyd President of OAHI and Secretary of CAHPI has informed members to go to -

http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/col/buho/buho 001.cfm

Mr. Lloyd states that CAHPI is mentioned promenently at the CMHC site. Further he is alleged to have posted, "The half hour accreditation association's members are planning a letter writing campagn of protest. No doubt it will be the 2 or 3 members who know all that will be the only letters that are sent."

This is yet another example of Mr. Lloyd abusing his positions. He has long been on record as an outspoken critic of Nachi and has used his position and CAHPI-OAHI resources to do it. His alleged post also runs contrary to the CAFE forum rules!

Mr. Lloyd paints with a very wide paint brush as we know there are many dual member of Nachi who are also members of CAHPI-OAHI.

Before Mr. Lloyd throws rocks and insults I think he should resign. After all this person has illegal disposed of Mr. Allen contrary to the established rules of which he is very familiar (supposedly), nor has he been able to account for the financial irregularities as per his fiduciary duties.

Mr. Lloyd needs to be held accountable for his lack of leadership, direction and his obvious bias in his statements. I guess this explains the ignorant and negligent attitude with Mr. Lloyd and his posse denying members rights they have no business denying.

Claude why is it that the people around you are incompetent and continually prove they love to power trip?

Yes I think we should all prove Mr. Lloyd wrong and send a letter to CMHC.

I also think CAHPI-OAHI should follow its own rules and expunge the post of a zealot. This is the same group that removed a months worth of posts from the CAHPI-OAHI site to silence its critics. Mainly Cam Allens side of the story and the call for a full forensic audit. Mr. Lloyd seem earger to keep the skeletons which he help create from public view and membership accountability. There sure are a lot of eager conspirators in CAHPI-OAHI.

Mr. Lloyd why hasn't your BOD and Committees explained to the members about the serious financial irregularites?

[rwand1]

BTW

I would also strongly suggest that in addition to sending your letters to
Kristen Scheel, Julie Girard, you also CC

Mr. Douglas Stewart
Vice President of Policy and Planning

Mr. Ken Ruest
Senior Researcher
Policy and Research

Mr. Stewart and Mr. Ruest are aware of the statements coming out of CAHPI-OAHI/National spokespeople of record.

[Douglas Cossar]

Letter sent!
Cheers

[Mario A. Kyriacou, CHI]

Marcel

Maybe collectively we CAN affect change!!!

Thanks

[George A. H. Luck]

It would also be a good idea to send this to your local MP. It is time we got this ball rolling and getting the political branch motivated is the fastest way to obtain change at C.M.H.C..

[rwand1]

Mr. Lloyd President of CAHPI-OAHI, CAHPI-National Secretary has been kind enough to post the following..


Prefacing the NAHI statement is the opinion of Mr. Lloyd:

NACHI Agrees to Settle NAHI Lawsuit

To all NAHI Members:

The Board of directors is pleased to announce that the National Association of Certified Home Inspectors, INC. ("NACHI") has agreed to settle the federal lawsuit filed by the National Association of Home Inspectors ('NAHI") and the pending dispute over NACHI's application to register certain trademarks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

As a matter of background, on March 10, 2004, NACHI filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to register a "NACHI" logo. NAHI filed an opposition to this application before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board based on the loklihood of confusion and mistake with NAHI's name and logo. On April 26, 2006, while the trademark opposition was pending, NAHI also filed a lawsuit against NACHI in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan. In that lawsuit, NAHI alleged that NACHI's use of the terms "National Association of Certified Home Inspectors," "NACHI" and the "C.R.I." infringed upon and acted to dilute the value of NAHI's trademarks. In addition, NAHI alleged that NACHI, on its own account and through its founder, Nick Gromicko, had repetedly published defamatory statements regarding NAHI and its members. NAHI also alleged that NACHI had engaged in unlawful practices and tortious conduct by manipulating internet search engin results and making false statements concerning NACHI and the qualifications of its members, including statements that NACHI "certified" home inspectors are the most educated and best trained inspectors and that NACHI does not have multiple levels of membership.

In response to NAHI's Complaint, NACHI asked the Court to dismiss NAHI's case or, in the alternative, to transfer the case to Colorado. This request was denied by the Court as being without merit, and the case continued in the Eastern District of Michigan where it was filed. After recieving NAHI's evidence during discovery and taking the deposition of NAHI's Executive Director, Mallory Anderson, NACHI agreed to a number of NAHI's demands, and in return, NAHI agreed to dismiss its pending lawsuit. A summary of the agreement to settle the case as well as the pending issues before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board is as follows:

* NACHI has agreed to change the name under which it does business to InterNACHI. It will keep its legal name of National Association of Certified Home Inspectors on its articles of incorporation and for the sole purpose of its current legal obligations/contracts and the few instances where it has been named in state legislation and rules. NACHI will not use "National Association of Certified Home Inspectors" or "NACHI" for any commercial, marketing, or publicity purpose and instead will use "InterNACHI." Over time, this change should put an end to the repeated confusion between NAHI and NACHI caused by the similarity between the names. NACHI has agreed to act to immediately effectuate the name change on all of its websites, letterheads, and marketing materials. The parties agreed to allow NACHI members time to make the transition to InterNACHI, but it is expected that NACHI members will act in a reasonably prompt fashion in doing so.

* NACHI will amend or withdraw its trademark application for its "NACHI" logo now pending before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that was opposed by NAHI. NACHI may register its current house logo with InterNACHI in the logo instead of NACHI. This resolution effectively provides NAHI with all of the relief that could have been obtained through its opposition filed with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.

* NACHI has agreed to give up any claim to the CRI (or C.R.I.) designation. NACHI may still use "Certified Residential Inspector," and NACHI will not object to nAHI's use of the CRI mark or the designation of "Certified Real Estate Inspector."

* Nick Gromicko will not use NAHI's name or acronym in discussions on NACHI's website, although he may do so in other forums, such as in discussions and talks. Nick Gromicko and paid employees of NACHI will not make disparging remarks about NAHI. NACHI will remove all offense material from its website about NAHI and as requested by NAHI in writing. In return, NAHI has agreed that NAHI's paid staff members will not make disparaging remarks about NACHI.

* NACHI will remove all NAHI home inspectors from its email lists, except for those who are also members of NACHI. If a NAHI member or NAHI requests, NACHI will remove any NAHI names and email addresses missed in the initial purging. Gromicko and NACHI have also agreed not to mine NAHI's website for email addresses.

* NACHI has agreed not to use NAHI's name, including the phrase "national association of home inspectors," in meta tags or hidden text on its websites. After NAHI's lawsuite was filed, NACHI removed NAHI's name from its meta tags, which stopped NACHI from comming up first in search engines when a search was made using the terms "NAHI" or "national association of home inspectors." This agreement will prevent a reoccurrence of this Internet search engin manipulation.

* The parties agreed to the dismissal of the pending lawsuit with prejudice and without costs or fees to either party and a release of all claims that were raised in the litigation. This relaese does not include events or issues arising out of or related to the application or interpretation of Act 114 in Pennsylvania and as to wheather NACHI members are qualified to perform unsupervised inspections under Pennsylvania law.

* This settlement was put on he record, and i is at this time an enforceable settlement agreement. The parties agree that a written setlement agreement will be dreafted incorporating the above terms and that any dispute arising from the settlement agreement will be resolved under Michigan law.

As the above terms make clear, in agreeing to settle its lawsuit, NAHI was able to obtain a substantial number of its objectives in filing the lawsuit and its trademark opposition. The most significant of these accomplishments are the required change to NACHI's name, the prevention of the use of meta tags and the hidden text to manipulate search engine results, and the cessation of negative and inflammatory statements by Nick Gromicko. In deciding whether to settle the lawsuit on these terms, the Board of Directors took into account the additional monetary costs that would be incured in taking this case to trial, the liklyhood of success as to each of the remaining claims, and the ability of market forces to correct other percieved deficiencies in NACHI's business model. In weighing these factors, the Board of Directors determined that the settlement has produced a significant victory for NAHI and its members, that market forces will continue to act to correct the remaining percieved deficiencies in NACHI's business model, and that the funds that would have been expended in continuing to litigate the remaining issues can be put to good and profitble use in continuing to grow the NAHI name and the business of its members. In sum, the lawsuite has led to an excellent result for NAHI, and it is time to turn NAHI's attention to other maters.

We would like to thank all of the NAHI members who contributed to this result, both through monetary contributions and the collection of supporting evidence. In addition, we would like to thank our Executive Director, Mallory Anderson, and the entire NAHI staff for their hard work and dedication in this matter.

Sincerly

Evert Rawlings, CRI
President
National Association of Home Inspectors

Post remarks as stated by Mr. Lloyd:

hmmmmm..... To bad you did't litigate this Mr. Wand. After all you have no trouble informing the masses about your supperior knowledge of the laws and how to interpret them.

Claude, I think you have a problem. Mr. Lloyd clearly cannot follow the rules. First it was his complete contempt for the by-laws by throwing out Mr. Allen, ensuring a months worth of posts were removed, now he thumbs his nose at the CAFE forum rules to show just how incompetent he is. Clearly Mr. Lloyd has issues and known biases given his positions and he is in a conflict of ineterest. Has he declared his negative bias attitudes towards Nachi members before assuming his role as Secretary of CAHPI-National?

[rwand1]

Amazingly Mr. Lloyd has picked up my contacts at CMHC and provided them to CAHPI-OAHI members. Wants the members to send CMHC letters of congratulations for doing a good job at promoting CAHPI. The only problem is CMHC didn't recommend CAHPI only that it was responsible for putting the National together.

Mr. Lloyd goes on to state the following:

I find it rather amusing to listen to the rederick of Raymond Wand.
The poor lad is always complaining that no one is giving him or the 1/2 hour acreditation association any information. Both Bill Mullen and Claude have offered much information only to be insulted and slapped in the face by a few who cannot see the forest for the trees. They then hide behind the words they have speewed and make outlandish statements that no one has tried to educate them. I have made a post to let the members know about the CMHC article. Mr. Wand has once again taken offence to the fact that we want to keep the members up to speed on what is happening. Further to this Mr. Wand thinks that because someone makes a statement that is in total disagreement to his ideals that they should resign from a position. Mr. Wand is always spouting off about irregularities that are supposedly happening with the finances of the Association. Everyone that attended the AGM recieved the financials and the Auditor is quite happy. By the way the auditor has full access to the books to come to his conclusions unlike Mr.Wand. Unfortunatly Mr. Wand thinks so highly of himself that it appears that he seems to think that whatever he says is the gospel. Mr. Wand constantly yaps about the way business is carried out in the Association. What he fails to understand is that association not only carries on business by the bylaws they also carry on business by the policies and procedures. It is unfortunate that his short sightedness causes him this problem.
Also interesting is that Mr. Wand feels that he can constantly attack anyone whenever he wants, but it is not acceptable to defend yourself. Mr Wand, I know you will post this on the other message board, because this is the type of person you are. Your constant attacking the members of the board and the Association has become a joke to the membership. In my opinion you unfortunately have lost most of your credability by your actions. And by the way your supposed inside source on the association must be your imaginary friend because I do not see that you have many as more and more are laughing at you. You Mr. Wand should seriously look into another line of business perhaps that of a commedian, you seem to be good at that sort of thing judging by the laughs that you recieve.

Oh by the way Raymond, Mr. Ruest and Mr. Stewart are well aware of the dribble that comes out of your mouth as well. So once again tell some one who cares what garbage you speew.

Another thing Raymond you seem to think that you can talk for me regarding association membership. I personally have nothing against people belonging to a credible association like OAHI/CAHPI Ontario and belonging to a marketing group. Who knows the marketing group may even help them in their bussiness dealings.

[rwand1]

http://www.nachi.org/mallorytakeseverylastdollar.htm

[rwand1]

Mr. Lloyd here is some additional info you may find useful. You see, the facts aren't as you have portrayed them.

http://www.nachi.org/pascum.htm

[rcooke]

I do hope OAHI soon gets their Money problem settled .
When two yes Two Financial sectaries quit in mid term and one writes a paper like the white paper it is obvious some one is trying to hide some thing when they refuse to have a proper audit.
Some time in the future we all should be able to help one another instead of the way it is now.
It is inevitable for OAHI too survive they must get the internal strife fixed.

[rwand1]

Mr. Lloyd is trying to tell the members the virtues of following the by-laws, policy and procedures. I guess he should know considering his conflicts of interest seem to be the furthest thing from his mind.

Heres is an idea, Mr. Lloyd rather than boring your members with more of your embellished facts maybe you should come here to the Nachi site and debate the facts as told by me which you take issue with.

And please stop getting someone else to write your replies, their spelling is really bad.

[rwand1]

Oh by the way Raymond. Mr Allen was not thrown out. He refused to sign a confidentiality agreement that is required by a policy. His refusal to do so constituted a resignation.

Once again you have shown that you do not have a clue about things with in the association by making a remark about the removal of posts. I would suggest that before you make a slanderous statement that you may want to get the facts straight. Making up your own story and saying it a number of times does not make it the truth even in a delusional world.

Is that right? Well Mr. Lloyd you should brush up on legal renderings on that issue. Policy does not trump by-laws. The by-laws are quite clear as to the options as to recall of a director.

This is not the first time you have used underhanded tactics to achieve your wants. You did the same thing with reporting us of those who have the right to use CHI. You were proven wrong on that issue because your pigheadness refuses you to recognize your legal requirements. Now you should come clean about my membership upgrade refusal contrary to the by-laws and in contravention of OAHI solicitors.

Don't try and paint me as the vilian in your attempt to exonerate your involvement in mismanagement. Hypocrite!