This article appeared in the Sunday Denver Post - I sent the link to Nick in hopes he can educate this gentlemen - he writes alot of real estate stuff every week -
Please see Page 2R in Sunday, December 13, 2009 issue of The Denver Post
What does this mean, when I click on your link?
Greg, I can’t open your link, however YOU should call him. YOU are an inspector in his area. Try to get him to interview YOU or have him do a story about something YOU are an expert in. I’d be happy if no one ever printed InterNACHI in a real estate story again if it meant they mentioned YOU. Don’t promote InterNACHI ever, we have nothing to sell the public. Promote YOU. InterNACHI wants YOU to get the publicity. You might want to offer to write a column of YOUR local paper. Here, use these articles. They are all yours: www.nachi.org/articles.htm
http___digital.olivesoftware.pdf (161 KB)
Sorry - try this - just read the first article at the top -
Nick - My local paper? - I know you get the Denver Post up in Boulder - and this article wasn’t about me - it was about all the NACHI members in CO. And if he is syndicated it goes all over - that is why I sent it to you - He mentions ASHI and NAHI, not a particular inspector - his advice says hire someone from ASHI or NAHI to get an inspection - that is what burned me - the organizational endorsement.
I was looking through the archives and now see it is just an advertisement.
He can say what he wants.
Successful inspectors often have the characteristics of a good salesperson. Selling your affiliation to a client instead of selling YOU is often an indication of self doubt.
Erol - self doubt is NOT something I suffer from - I close 8 of 10 calls even after I tell them I am one of the most expensive - but if they check your web site and it says NACH, they don’t call, or if they look at the ASHI or NAHI site for an insepector, then they don’t call - And it really isn’t an ad - he writes quite often in the whole real estate section - it is the advertisement section for real estate - like the want ads - people still read and pay attention.
Greg,
I don’t recall mentioning your name in my post. I’m trying to get some of the newer members to overcome the affiliation barrier. If buyers are not calling because of a logo on a web site they sound like trouble from the get go. Agents in specific areas may not call without an ASHI logo but in my opinion, so what?
Hey just put down “Inspected to ASHI and the even higher NACHI SOP”.
Sounds like you should write a letter to the editor (great opportunity) , but after you are done explaining (like I have to over a million REALTORs) that ASHI is a known diploma mill that anyone can join online in 30 seconds or less with nothing more than a credit card, try to push YOUR inspection business (not your association). At least get your company name in there with you as President.
There really are only 2 types of inspection trade associations if you ask me (and they are opposites): Those that use the association’s money to promote their members… and those that use their member’s money to promote the association.
Heck, 1/2 our websites don’t even mention InterNACHI anywhere on them.
I use to get quite a bit of work from the ASHI inspector locator because I was the only listing for my zip code. However, I don’t recall ever getting an inspection because I had a logo on my site. Logos in my opinion are great for attracting a certain type of buyer. What that type is I don’t really know.
Nick, something you just don’t get.
Sometimes by promoting the association you DO promote the members. Especially in areas where the other association has brainwashed the public and their advisers (agents) that they should NOT hire an inspector unless he/she is ASHI.
By not doing so, you HURT your members in those areas. I can promote me until the cows come home, but for every inspection I book, there are 200 out there that never call because I am not on the ASHI list…
Sad but true!
Well, I agree, there are old bitties out there who are vocal about using diploma mill ASHI members. I leave them alone for the most part until their inspector gets a complaint (InterNACHI fields all the consumer complaints regardless of inspector association). Then I hammer the old bitty by offering to help the client sue the agent for negligent referral. Any agent that fails to check to see if the inspector is a member of a known diploma mill is guilty of negligent referral and the founder of the world’s largest inspection association is willing to say so, under oath. Word’s pretty much out. We now have many more agents fearful of referring a member of diploma mill ASHI than there are old bitties that do. That’s all I really wanted. To put the odds in InterNACHI’s favor and make anyone who joins ASHI lose more jobs than he/she gains from that membership. With each new complaint, and each new settlement, the odds get even better.
The agents that look for the ASHI logo to avoid it… you never hear about.
I’ve sent more emails with the link to ASHI’s 30-second online application https://www.homeinspector.org/join/application/default.aspx than ASHI ever will. Agents have a professional and fiduciary duty to their clients to recommend the best inspectors based solely on merit: www.nachi.org/agentduty.htm Any agent who fails that duty should pay for all the repairs to fix the defect that their inspector missed. That’s my story, I stick to it in deposition after deposition, and word has spread.
I’ve been in this business for a couple decades now and it used to be that everyone recommended ASHI. I was a member myself. But this litigious society we live in, combined with my email campaigns, have made the few old bitties left… vastly outnumbered by the agents who like to keep their money.
Funny… I know you believe this. But you should really jump on a plane and do some office visits out here. It’s not a few “old bitties”. It’s the ODD agent who even knows that there are other inspector groups than ASHI.
It’s not whether the agents know about ASHI, it’s what they know about ASHI… I’m making sure they know what they need to about ASHI to fulfill their fiduciary duty to their clients. The table has already turned (more avoid ASHI out of fear than recommend ASHI).
Now I can’t take full credit for the table turning. Three other strokes of luck are also responsible: One is ASHI themselves. I direct a million agents and consumers a year to ASHI’s own 30-second, shazam! online application. The other thing that is helping is licensing. Once a state adopts licensing, most brokers, fearful of negligent referral claims, instruct their agents to point their clients to the “list of licensed inspectors.” And thirdly, lawyers are thrilled to learn that my testimony “Any agent that fails to make sure the inspector their client is using isn’t a diploma mill ASHI member is responsible for paying for all the repairs in the home in my opinion.” is available to them at no cost ;-).
There are now more agents quietly avoiding ASHI than there are agents vocally recommending them. ASHI IS A DIPLOMA MILL and nothing can stop that truth from spreading on its own (I’m just helping it along), and making the odds worse and worse for the diploma mill inspectors. As each day goes by, ASHI membership does more harm than good. Get some entrance requirements ASHI boys, before the tide gets too strong to turn back.
Mark -
Your RE community has been in bed with ASHI since 1984 that I’m aware of. Thats a hard gate to crash / Let alone knock down.
It wasn’t that hard. ASHI’s own JOIN button on their own website https://www.homeinspector.org/join/application/default.aspx and mass email made it pretty easy. Of course again, I give some credit to plaintiff’s attorneys who love to claim negligent referral and tap the deeper pockets. 
And when they do, I’m here to help them make their clients whole again.
I like that bob. that is great.:mrgreen:
What mass e-mail was that, when did it go out, what did it say, and who did it go to?