Another State Considering Licensure?

Gary Smith · 05-20-2007, 05:07 AM

Home buyers seek help
Law looks to regulate inspectors

I am still amazed at how many states continue to turn a deaf ear the licensure...

In this article we hear the same stories, same problems, same issues...just different names attached...bla, bla, bla.

FHA recommends a qualified inspection...
Buyers (who have been taken in by inspector "sharks") have proof they are NEEDED...the stories are nationwide!
The National Association of Realtors endorses the inspection process and it's qualification requirements...
Etc, etc, etc...

And still the non licensed states, for some funky reason, feel "they have homes and homeowners" that are different? Very interesting...very interesting indeed.

G

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Deleted Account · 05-20-2007, 05:55 AM

Could it be that the fact that licensing has been an abject failure everywhere it has been adopted and in some very dire cases has fallen under the authority of the state Realty board?

Licensing solves nothing and thankfully from some very expensive research that has been conducted by ASHI we know now that licensing has never lived up to its billing nor has it ever fulfilled any of its promised benefits like raising the bar or protecting the public.

I suggest you become educated as to the folly home inspector licensing has been in our country and get back to us with your findings.

Gary Smith · 05-20-2007, 06:25 AM

As a child that crawls before walking ... home inspection industry is pulling up and holding on to the table.

I can only speak for the state and local area in which I do business and in Mississippi licensure has helped with public recourse. At the very minimum Mississippians have an ear when they feel they have been taken down the road.

I have no doubt we (the industry) can do better...after all...we are here discussing the issues. I hate to think of not having the freedom or the desire to improve.

I don't have the answer...but I am still amazed at how rules makers and "public employees" (those who are voted to serve as representatives) can continue to turn a deaf ear to situations that may hurt the public. Allowing just anyone to do the work we do is not smart.

_______________________________

How do you see it? I have had some time now to read many of your writings on this subject and find the pitch and tone of your notes to be quiet interesting reading to say the least. You certainly have passion. If not a license - How can we assure the public safety? After all we are judging public safety in our profession. If no uniform way of information gathering and reporting...how do you see the profession working the best?

G

Deleted Account · 05-20-2007, 05:28 PM

Gary,

Here is the deal, I no longer debate home inspector licensing in public forums, to do so would provide you with a platform and give the perception that there might be some merit to licensing when there is none. Today, I choose instead to only make a statement and stand by it, mostly its for those folks who are on the fence.

Conversing with a die-hard licensing proponent like yourself is a lot like trying to herd cats.

Joe.

imported_John Smith · 05-20-2007, 05:57 PM

Ahhhh, the great licensing debate. As a licensed Professional Inspector in Texas, heres my take:

1. Tough test, reasonably tough requirements for license. 16 hours of continuing education. - Seems reasonable and offers some level of quality for the client using your services

2. Going through some issues at the moment with E/O insurance requirement amendment.

Guarantee your getting a high quality inspector. No, but no profession is perfect. In all professions, there are those individuals that just barely passed their requirements. Ask a lawyer what the failure is on the bar exam. A lot have taken it more than once.

ASHIs spin on licensing - Gee I wonder what their interest is in that? Thats like the democratic party denouncing tax breaks. It requires them to give up some power.

I took the NACHI test before I became licensed in Texas. Sailed through the NACHI test, the Texas exam was much, much more difficult. Did it make me a better inspector. Absolutely. I studied a lot of hours to get my license and am proud of it.

**Thom Walker** · 05-20-2007, 06:57 PM

[quote=imported_John Smith;6339]Ahhhh, the great licensing debate. As a licensed Professional Inspector in Texas, heres my take:

1. Tough test, reasonably tough requirements for license. 16 hours of continuing education. - Seems reasonable and offers some level of quality for the client using your services

2. Going through some issues at the moment with E/O insurance requirement amendment.
"Some Issues?" What is it going to take to get the picture painted? This is THE issue for your business. You just don't realize it yet. Inshorance (misspelling intentional so that they aren't linked) couldn't be mandated were it not for licensing. And the type of inshorance being mandated does not guarantee the consumer any protection. All the benefits may likely be consumed in your defense. Whatever is left is what is available to the consumer. And from personal experience, I can tell you that you had damned well better hire a separate atty to watch the Inshorance company's Atty. He is there for their protection, not yours. Yes, I have been sued, not by Client, but by the Realtor because her Atty spotted the deep pockets of my (at the time) Inshorance Company.

Guarantee your getting a high quality inspector. No, but no profession is perfect. In all professions, there are those individuals that just barely passed their requirements. Ask a lawyer what the failure is on the bar exam. A lot have taken it more than once.
A more significant question to ask a lawyer is why, if E/O Inshorance is so important for consumer protection, are lawyers not required to carry it?

ASHIs spin on licensing - Gee I wonder what their interest is in that? Thats like the democratic party denouncing tax breaks. It requires them to give up some power.
I'll ignore your ill informed political stance. If the facts can't change your mind, my opinion certainly won't. I would remind you that this is State where it has been a very long time since Dems have had any say in anything. Back to the topic, ASHI has been a major proponent of licensing for a very long time, irrespective of study results they publish now. They have helped to create a scare scenario that made licensing a hotbed issue for pols trying to make names for themselves and for inshorance company's that need new markets. ASHI is first and foremost a business and they will act first in their own best interests.

Before you dismiss me as some sort of anti licensing goofball; I have been a proponent of licensing and still am. However, in Texas, the licensing test has been dumbed down as to be meaningless. I cannot imagine how easy the ASHI test is, if what you say is true.

In Texas, another provision of SB914 is to decertify any school whose students don't pass the State licensing test at a rate of 55% or greater (100 students, 55 or more pass on the first try) So now, we're carrying the teach to test philosophy into our trade schools.

In Texas, there have been 253 complaints against Inspectors OVER TEN YEARS. There have been 53 disciplinary actions OVER TEN YEARS. Yet somehow that idiot in Plano (he's not a Dem) has seen fit to argue, against all evidence, that E/O is necessary to protect the consumer from all these unscrupulous, incompetent, LICENSED inspectors.

Go to the thread on Alert Texas Inspectors and write a letter tonight. It has a far bigger impact on your career than arguing the merits of licensing with Joe.