How to Recognize a Soft Home Inspection Report by Jim Bushart.

Excellant read!

J.B is an excellent writer.

Jim has always told it like it is. Just the facts, fair and balanced, no spin.

thanks for posting Nick, well written, good article, Jim.

Thank you.

Glad someone said it.

Now in Missouri, HI laws are going to be introduced; again. They have tried for years to get HI laws implemented.

Why are the RE’s so persistant? Are there home builder laws waiting?

Are there contractor rules and regulations being introduced? Heck, no.

RE’s, the MAR, all want the same, soft, basic, minimum standards and report writings that Kansas has. Licensed inspectors, particularly ASHI inspectors, write only soft, basic, minimum reports, all to appease the agents, so homes will sell, so they will make money. Hardly anything gets written on these reports. Now, the agents and their cronnies want to do them by law.

Sad that home buyers will be getting the shaft, as every Kansas home buyer that hires a soft, basic report writing HI, all recommended by sub-par agents that want to sell sub-par properites to unsuspecting home buyers.

And lawmakers cannot figure out why home sales are the way they are. Lawmakers have children and grand children. What inspector or inspection do they want on their family homes for their future? Duh.

Clueless.

Soft reports are written as a matter of choice by the inspectors who write them and have nothing to do with licensing laws that exist or don’t exist, from my observation.

Correct. Consumers need to look for the ASHI logo and avoid it. If their real estate agent recommends an ASHI inspector, the consumer should fire that agent and find a competent real estate agent.

EXACTLY!

That is a well written post!

Great article and observation… BUMP to the top.

Agreed! I don’t know all the state laws regarding home inspections, but my assumption is that they create a minimum standard. I’m not sure how they’d limit any inspector from exceeding the minimum.

Are there rules in some states saying what a home inspector must exclude, or items they may not inspect? I’m not really referencing other licensed trades, but limitations that would make reporting be soft or minimalistic?

My bet is that some feel encouraged to just meet the standard because they can, some contractors do the same and build to minimum code, the good ones build to a higher standard. The same goes for us.

All good points about the SOP, but a home inspection report that has been “softened” is done so without regard to any standard of practice or other inspection standard associated with licensing or otherwise - since a “soft” home inspection report has more to do with HOW the conditions of the home are presented rather than WHAT conditions are presented or how they are inspected.

One could do a quick and basic inspection in 45 minutes … and write an accurate and unbiased report of what he was able to observe in that short period of time while another inspector can spend 4 1/2 hours inspecting an 800 sq ft house on a slab and write a report that “softens” the observations in the manner(s) described in the article, IMO.

The “softening” of the report begins and ends at the point where the inspector communicates his observations … no matter how detailed his inspection and information gathering process may have been.

Excellent Read!

Good luck with that one Nick because there wouldn’t be many Agents left.

Do you really think Jim was referring to ASHI Inspectors as the one’s who write soft reports in his very true & unbiased article?

Both associations have good Inspectors & not such good Inspectors. Only one has proctored exams as a requirement to become “Certified”.

All Realtors know ASHI yet most have never heard of NACHI. Why?
And don’t blame the Inspectors.

Instead of bashing ASHI & it’s Inspectors, it would be to your advantage to embrace them & work with them towards improving the industry as a whole.

One of the CMI in town depicts Jim’s statements to a tee. He is not a NACHI member though. A designation does not make you a good or bad inspector. It’s is an individual choice.

… A designation does not make you a good or bad inspector. It’s is an individual choice.
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yes sir.

James I never make articles like this or write them however I agree with every word presented in here and CMI, RHI, OAHI, NACHI, ASHI, CAPHI, CANNACHI, or any organization have ones that will do Soft Reports. At least I hope that we can toughen the Consumer Services up so the minimums introduced into Ontario do not follow the less stringent path and the Real Estate Agents either have no say or very limited say on the decisions.
As many know there are many stakeholders involved so it should prove to be interesting for Ontario.

No, it was a direct shot at Recall Check and its users. True or not.