TOPIC: Mandatory Inspections

Gentlemen,
A topic was brought up on the SEO thread today about what States if any, have a law making inspections mandatory. It is my feeling that if there was ever a topic to stand behind and push as hard as possible it is this one. I know in New Jersey there is no mandatory statute, but it is urged to do so by many Attorneys and some Real Estate agents. The State of New Jersey requires the Home Inspector to complete 140 hrs. of live classroom training, 40 hrs. of unpaid field training (16 inspections @ 2.5 hrs. each) with a licensed Inspector, pass the National Home Inspectors Exam, pay $500.00 every two years for your license, complete 40 hrs. of CE courses ( 24 live classroom and 16 can be online or correspondence) and deal with the unending bureaucracy that NJ has to offer. I am in no way whining about this because I signed on to it. The question I have is what is NJ doing for me?  I (and I will go out on a limb and say “WE”) will spend countless hours tweaking a web site, post back and forth about link trading for SEO, but if inspections are not mandatory, do ya really need to be at the top of the Google search page. I know that that last statement was a little extreme but it was to make a point.

The Home Inspection School that I attended put out a statistic that they said was from the NAR stating that 77% of all residential real estate transactions utilized the services of a Home Inspector. In New Jersey there are 845 active licenses for Home Inspectors. Some of them are Architects who do not practice, people who let their insurance lapse and do not inspect, etc. All in all it boils down to about 650 actual practicing Inspectors statewide. With the close to 50,000 home sales in NJ in 2008 (yes 18% were new homes) the 77% just doesn’t add up. Guys weren’t that busy nor do I think that many licenses could be that busy.

I would like to challenge everyone who posts on this board to do as Jay said in the SEO thread and lobby your State Senator by phone, mail, e-mail, carrier pigeon, paper airplane, or any combination thereof. You can just Google search State Senate and look for your State. Sending your representative an e-mail takes about as long as trading a link with someone. If anyone knows if their State has mandatory inspections that would be nice to know since there would be a precedent set. If you know anyone in the real estate field that shares your concerns, start a petition politicians pay attention to numbers.

To be in control of our own destiny like this is very powerful and as long as it is not abused, we can control pricing, and the amount of work that’s out there. If 77% of all sales transactions really used a Home Inspector, there is plenty out there for all. There would be little need to worry about competition.

I will be contacting my representatives tomorrow.

Good Luck,  Drew 

We don't have any licensing requirements currently in Florida, but they have been talking about it.  Supposedly they are going to require this in 2010.

The structure of what is going on in NJ is why I am not up there anymore.  Lived in Bridgewater and moved 4 years ago. 

I agree that we need more structure, but with the state of the industry, I am not sure exactly what is going to come of this. 

Hey Drew;

I'd like to see the NAR raw number data that led to the 77% inspection ratio.  Here in California, I rarely hear of a transaction without inspection.  Most agents want nothing to do with a transaction without home inspection and termite inspection services prior to close.  They just have to much liability.  I'm even finding multiple inspections of the same REO property and quite often.  The two houses I did today in Mountain House both had prior inspections from other buyers.  The reports were provided to my client by the listing agent, but he wanted them re-inspected anyway...

It may be very different in your part of the country however...

I have not been able to locate the data from the NAR. This figure is what the home inspection school that I attended put out there and attributed it to NAR. My point is that in 2008 650 inspectors could not possibly have done upwards to 35,000 home sales. ( roughly 77% of 50,000). Although Home Inspection has been around since the '70s it still an industry that is a little under the radar. Attorneys have sort of lobbied their way into the Real Estate transaction so why can't we.  ;D

Do you know if it is mandatory for a HI in California? That could be the precedent we need.

We don't have any licensing requirements currently in Florida, but they have been talking about it.  Supposedly they are going to require this in 2010.

The structure of what is going on in NJ is why I am not up there anymore.  Lived in Bridgewater and moved 4 years ago. 

I agree that we need more structure, but with the state of the industry, I am not sure exactly what is going to come of this. 

Florida passed a HI licensing statute last year but with the shortfall in budget etc...we won't see them hit the 2010 implementation date. Besides, what was passed was a joke...no teeth...just a way to collect our money. It is up to us to police our profession. The good news is that the pretenders are all going away, leaving us to ride out the storm. We are still seeing buyers forgo the inspections and signing waivers...mostly because the realtors don't know the first thing about introducing and discussing the HI, plus a lot deals are bank owned with AS IS contracts with right to inspect. Buyers have no negotiating power and feel the HI is not worth it....their mistake (what they don't know CAN and WILL come back to bite them.) I feel a responsible license/regulation is called for with professional HI input and participation...unfortunately that usually won't happen when politics are involved. Time to get off and stay off my soap box....sorry.  :-\

No state requires an inspection. Only a few cities and counties. Houston will be requiring Energy Audits for all purcheses starting in June.