2,400 Home Inspectors in Missouri

General Inspection Topics Legislation, Licensing, Ethics & Legal Issues
1

WOWIE Guys - Oh is this cool or what. ANYTHING to get us licensed

Legislators NOT worried about paying for the HI Bill because we’re told Realtors have supplied them NEW information. We now have 2,400 Inspectors in MO. That is UP from their estimated GUESS of 475 in 2008 /

Home Inspector licensing bills included “fiscal notes”. Both assumptions below come from the " Legislative Research- Oversight Division" and both were signed off by the same CPA, Director Mickey Wilson CPA.

Amazing that home inspectors have increased 5 times in the same approximate period according to the State of MO!

HB 1291 fiscal notes, 2012.
“According to DIFP, they assume the board would be similar in size to the board for Psychology. Based on a projection from the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center, it is estimated there will be approximately 2,400 licenses. In addition, a 3% growth rate has been estimated.”

[FONT=Times New Roman]HB 2228 fiscal notes, 2008
“Officials from the Office of Secretary of State (SOS) - Business Services assume that approximately 475 applications for registration will be received the first year, with a 10% growth in the base number of applicants in home inspectors every year thereafter. It is further assumed that 10% of the base year applicants will not renew in year two.”
[/FONT]

2

Almost forgot the other part of the Fiscal Notes:

The projected revenue reflects an initial licensing fee of

It is also important to note, that once the fees for the board are established by rule

[/FONT][/size]It is assumed that all fees collected would be deposited into the Missouri Home Inspectors Fund and that all expenses would be paid out of that fund. It is assumed no revenue will be generated by the Missouri Home Inspectors’ Board in the first year, therefore, expenses incurred by the board will be paid back to the PR Fees Fund by a lending board within the division, pursuant to section 324.016, RSMo. It is estimated payback of any outstanding loans would be made in FY 2016. However, should the number of licenses largely vary from the number estimated above, the licensure fees will be adjusted accordingly."

GOSH how could the FEES differ with 2,400 inspectors in MO

3

Home Inspectors are generally Poor Businessmen.
They jump into the Business when the market is down believing they will profit considerably
The State should capitalize on that business ignorance and collect the FEE.

:slight_smile:

4

Check Florida out!

5

We had a similar Bill in PA
Republicans understand the monetary value of a dollar.
Democrats just look at the cost of printing another dollar
:slight_smile:
(there is a difference)

6

They said that there were 1,500 in Kansas at the time HI bills were being introduced. It ended up being 160.

It is sad how lawmakers believe lies, so they lie themselves, trying to make the voters and home buyers “feel good”.

Lawmakers must realize that, in Kansas, most of the chairpersons and committee members have now quit, or were voted out.

Lawmakers have to be stupid. We then will turn to twitter, and other social web sites, to let the world know what is going on, and with names attached. Bank of America tried to charge their customers $5 ATM fees, and people spoke, and they woke up.

Stupid is as stupid does.

7

If a politician’s lips are moving…
he or she
is lying…
what part of that is misunderstood?

8

When licensing first was proposed here in WA, the numbers given to the legislature were based on the number of Pest Inspectors since most Pest Inspectors were Home Inspectors. The initial number was 1300.

As of May 04, 2011. 572 Active, 22 Approved for exam, 36 expired, 34 cancelled

As of Feb 13, 2011. 549 Active, 12 Approved for exam, 56 expired, 46 cancelled.

Cancelled means expired more than 90 days. After one year they disappear.

Numbers go up and down. I have been getting calls asking about schools and training. It seems people are not just blindly believing the “Make $85k per year Part Time” line of BS that some schools spew.

9

You are suggesting that is not true???
:slight_smile:

10

No, it’s not true. Here’s a blurb from a British Columbia master franchisor:

According to Williams, it usually takes about three to four months from the day a new franchisee signs their final paperwork to the day they do their first home inspection. During that time, they undergo rigorous training, including 10 binders of home study materials, and an intensive two-week boot camp in Halifax.

After the boot camp is over, the new franchisee is ready to become a licensed home inspector – a must in BC.

“They can walk back into their business after boot camp, do an inspection on day one, and put a cheque straight into the bank,” Williams says.

Once they’re up to speed, A Buyer’s Choice franchisee can do 600 inspections per year at about $450 per inspection – creating a gross income of $270,000 per year.

11

Since there are no building codes in most all counties of Kansas and Missouri, and most are all having budget problems and are cutting code enforcement officers (or have none at all), the states will have to require home inspectors to inspect the homes several times during construction phases, and at $500 per inspection. We will be the ones doing the final also, before the home can be sold or occupied.

Since home inspectors will be licensed in Missouri, our say is final. With no state wide building codes or licensing of any trades people or contractors, all builders and home owners will need to get home inspection approvals of any home building or repairs and up-grades made to any home. Siding installations, HVAC replacements, roof replacements, home remodels will all have to get home inspector approval. Any home being insured will have to be checked by state licensed inspectors to check for insurabliity of the home, since insurance agents will have no state license to do so.

12

I don’t get how they know this if there is no licensing already to keep track. Nobody from that data research has called to talk to me.
It is all crap. They say real estate agenst want better “customer protection” for their clients but three out of five inspections I get come from an agent " on behalf of their clients." If they are doing the scheduling and recommending you why would their clients “customer protection” be in jeopardy?
Frankly I think Real Estate agents should have to attend a minimum of 8 hours of CE a year in home inspections. That would protect Home Inspectors better and actually generate some healthy conversations between Real Estate Agents and HIs. There would be a mutual goal: a better educated customer who feel like all parties involved had their best interests in mind.
I am just amazed how these seasoned agents have learned very little about what a home inspection really is and what our purpose is. If I have to hear an agent talk about “B” vents one more time…

13

Peter -

Read some of the other Posts on this.

It was a DICTATED policy handed down from NAR to the individual states real estate boards 10 years ago. And they use the same spiel with legislators in every state. Impossible to have same problems in EVERY state.

The numbers often come to legislators or their staff THRU helpful groups that have EXTREME knowledge of home inspections / The Realtors

14

One other thing that some of you may not know … 20 years ago in Missouri to become a real estate agent in Missouri you took a 40-45 hour long class that taught you to pass the state test (1 hr of law, 1 hr of finance, 2 hrs of math, etc, etc). Home, Termite, Environmental Inspections were NOT part of the training (I know because I took the class).

About 5-6 years ago Missouri changed their real estate laws AND now to enter the real estate business someone has to take a 48 hr class teaching how to pass the licensing exam; THEN they go and take (and PASS the exam) THEN once that is done the have up to 12 months to take a 24 hr class discussing the actual practice of real estate. In talking to several groups that teach these classes I’m told that **they can spend UP TO 30 minutes discussing the various types of inspections **in a real estate transaction.

IS THAT FREAKING AMAZING OR WHAT ???

We are allowing people with **MAYBE 30 minutes of home inspection training **to write state home inspection laws AND tell legislators what should / should NOT be part of those laws AND more importantly these PEOPLE are being allowed to consult and counsel home buyers and sellers regarding the results of our Inspection Reports, whether to get inspections or not, what to repair or not, what to negotiate for or NOT

I think everyone is aware this is NOT a Missouri thing / That the NAR back around 2000-2001 set up about 10 legislative goals for their long range program AND licensure of home inspectors was one of them. These goals were then passed down to the individual state board of realtors AND most state realtor groups started pushing them. When asked why the answer was simple - Their corporate attorneys had told them that in case of a law suit IF they could say - - “OH we didn’t know he was a bad inspector, the STATE deemed him qualified and gave him a license” - - This lowered their chances of being sued. ???

BUT even with the Realtors huge war chest for political contributions AND members to provide votes for legislators, you can’t just waltz in to a State Legislator and tell them you want to license another profession to LOWER or SHIFT your own professions liability, SO you gotta have a STORY. What is amazing is we’ve heard the exact same story in state after state, Home Inspectors HAVING hundreds of complaints; NO way to resolve a complaint WITHOUT licensure, etc, etc. KANSAS is a great example - - 2 years after inspector licensure the state has had 2 complaints for a valid reason (not the Realtors whiny … he stayed too long, he was so picky, 2 weeks after he was here the A/C quit SO he must have done something to hurt it AND we want him to pay for it, he KILLED my deal, etc, etc).

This ought to be criminal.

Dan Bowers, CMI, ACI, CRI

15

The reason why Realtors do not know anything is because of the wonderful state law in Missouri only requiring real estate agents to attend 12 hours of education every three years. In the last few years, Missouri has reduced the licensed sewer inspectors’ education requirements to only 12 credits every three years also. It is bad enough I got to deal with Realtors who do not know anything, but I also got to go behind sewer inspectors who do not know anything also. Sad but true.

16

Nor will they.

Today, the ASHI paid lobbyist (Pat Strader) roamed the halls and visited each member of the Standing Registration and Licensing Board asking for them to vote in favor of the bill that ASHI (with MAR’s money) is using to empower a few of their past presidents with seats on a board. Tomorrow is the Executive Committee meeting in which they are hoping to have their bill passed by the committee and sent to the floor for a vote.

Much is being done behind the scenes by people on every side of this bill, but it is completely wrong to think that those pushing for legislative control are just the used house salesmen.

This bill puts money into the pockets of people wanting to sell education as well as tests. Wannabe mentors are pushing for it, too.

You would be surprised to know how many home inspectors there are who are actively working to sell out the profession so that they can spend the last five years or so of their working lives as vendors to home inspectors instead of being home inspectors.

Don’t believe everything you read on the message board. This is not where the real action is, right Harry?

17

…and they wanted the same thing in Kansas. Educational providers were to score big time. I did not happen, and never will. Our profession is going down, and will be run by the real estate agents. Basic, cheap reports are now the norm. Lawmakers who pushed these laws into play are now mostly gone, voted out of office, and living off the kick-backs of the lobbyists and special interest groups.

This is actually the largest scam in U.S. history, and will never be investigated because lawmakers leave before it can happen. The NAR is laughing loudly behind our backs, not only to us, but to the lawmakers themselves because they are sucessful in implementing the scam.

18

I keep thinking that this bill will keep coming back and coming back until there is some sort of licensing. I asked the question before: Does not a time come when licensing is inevitable ,and you should fight for the strongest legislation possible to keep out the realtors, appraisers and everyone else and make sure that language does not allow for cheapo, lite inspections?

19

NO! Like my Daddy told me when I was a kid playing with snakes in the barn lot. If you keep on playing with snakes, sooner or later you will get bit.

20

Let me explain the Executive Committee Meeting process in Missouri. The Chairman of the committee decides on if the bill will get out of committee so it can be scheduled to go on the floor. From what I have been told, it is usually happens in somebody’s small office, most of the time the members of the committee are not even there. The chairman makes the decision, no matter what the other committee members think, so if all depends if lobbyists have him bought and paid for or not. Which we can tell by what he does with the bill.