Inspectors exempt from Denver County Stay at Home Order

This is from the list of essential businesses that are exempt from the stay at home order.

“Professional services, such as legal, insurance, accounting, real estate, and tax preparation services, including ancillary and supporting services;”

Inspectors may continue there inspections under this order it seems for now. We are now sending out this email to the listing agent, buyers agent, and our clients:

"Hello this is Rick Moore and I own Sherlock Homes Inspection & Appraisal, LLC. I would like to start off and thank you for your confidence in our services for such an important investment.

It has long been our policy to recommend our clients and referring agents attend the last hour of the inspection for a walk through as available. Since inception my business policies have always revolved around the safety and well being of our clients, referring agents, property owners, and our inspectors. We are currently living in a different world right now and we are adjusting our policies to meet the best interest of those individuals, as well as to cooperate with our political leaders & medical experts recommendations. At this time we are requesting that you do not attend the inspection and continue to practice social distancing as much as possible until the COVID-19 epidemic has passed.

Please note we will be wearing respirators, safety glasses, and surgical gloves through the entire inspection. We are exposed to a lot of people in the course of a normal week. Thus our policies revolve around protecting those we are reporting to, those who may suffer from lack of due diligence on our part, and our inspectors We will continue to monitor the situation and adjust our policies as such. Should our inspectors become sick, we will unfortunately have to cancel the inspection.

We are also requesting the listing agents advise us to any health issues in the home they may know of. Obviously if there is a concern of COVID-19 at any residence we are scheduled to inspect, the inspection must be postponed until the quarantine period is met.

I apologize for any inconveniences this may cause, unfortunately we have no other options than to adopt these polices at this time. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns you may have.

Best Regards & Stay Healthy,

Rick Moore, BA CPI
President Sherlock Homes Inspection & Appraisal, LLC
[http://sherlockhomesco.com]
(970) 481-7977"

Protect yourself ladies & gentlemen, if you did not already have a small stock of N-95 respirator mask or cartridges, I suggest getting some when they become available. This is something we have long kept 15-20 of sitting around for when somebody was sick in a home, or when we go into a really nasty environment.

Regards,

Rick

3 Likes

From my perspective: I’m on immune suppressant drugs for the rest of my life after kidney transplant. There are thousands like me whom I see at clinics I must attend every couple weeks. We have no immune system left!

PPE protects you from getting stuff, but that’s it. Unless you replace or disinfect at the property your inspecting, you’ll be one of the biggest spreaders of this crud, to the world around you and your family,

We really have little perspective on preventative procedures (unless you inspect meth labs on a daily basis). My wife is a nurse and her normal habits freak me out now. I had to run her coughing sister out of my house. No babies allowed beyond the mailbox! I have become Sheldon Cooper (Big Bang Theory)! I got sick two times just going to a local hospital. Once for surgery on my AV Fistula (Dialysis access) and once for a blood test. Almost had to cancel my transplant. The second took 5 weeks to get rid of after transplant. My wife draws my blood at home now.

I recommend you have everyone involved in your inspection that entered the house sign a form (owner, agent, client) answering the five entry questions your asked when entering any medical facility. It will make people think more seriously about you going in there.

I am not a crazy person yelling “It’s the end of the world”. I think most of all this shutdown crap is just that. But considering what a Home Inspector is required to do in their job and the high probability of your daily activities infecting your own family, you should take a moment and think about this before you head out to do a $350 Home Inspection.

Just saying…

5 Likes

David,

I don’t disagree with you in your situation, as I see it you have no other choice. However; for us that is not going to work we are not going to hide from COVID-19. We will practice our due diligence and move forward. This is not a safe industry, we are exposed to many different environments during the course of a normal week anyhow. We have done meth houses, with the proper PPE of course, a gang house that I wasn’t sure we would get back out of in one piece, mold infested properties, vermin infested properties …

We are not scared, because we are smart, well educated, and very experienced in dealing with toxic environments. I have never had a safe job in my life, there have always been inherit risk and I wouldn’t have it any other way. My whole family is on the front line of this pandemic with our careers, we cannot hide from it or we will starve. As is your family, if your wife is a nurse you have 100x the risk I do right now! As well I personally feel I have an obligation to my clients and our referring agents to continue operating

For the record $350 for an inspection? I wouldn’t leave the house for $350 pandemic or not.

Good luck to you, stay healthy.

Rick

1 Like

Again, it’s not about you or me. According to the information the government is providing us, this is a biological warfare pandemic, not a toxic environmental condition where you can simply protect yourself and walk away.

The point I was trying to make is that you can very easily (and most likely will) bring this virus home with you. I don’t think anyone would really give a crap if you decided to go to work and contaminate and kill yourself. People do it every day.

Again, can you trust the government? This may not be anything, but it sure doesn’t look like nothing at the rate of spreading. You probably didn’t undergo NBC training in the military, and do not realize that you must protect yourself and then you must more importantly protect others from what you got yourself into.

This post is not directed at you specifically. I just want people out there to realize the full scope of what is involved. And most importantly it’s about your family’s welfare.

1 Like

David … I’m 73, diabetic, 3 heart attacks + heart bypass, gunshot wounds from Vietnam + COPD + agent orange leaves me working with 51% lung capacity AND short of breath getting dressed sometimes.

I hear your words and am trying to heed them. Our local Board of Realtors put out a nice flyer today.


KCRAR recommends that its members and others in the real estate industry refrain from face-to-face real estate practices, unless absolutely essential, until Stay at Home Orders are officially lifted.

Under local Stay at Home Orders, business related to the closing of current transactions would be considered “essential” in nature and allowed to proceed. That said, it is recommended that as much of this business as possible be done without in-person contact by utilizing available technologies.

  • Property inspections necessary for the closing of transactions remain allowed, however, extreme caution and regard for social distancing guidelines must be exercised in any face-to-face interactions that are necessary in the completion of the inspection. It is recommended that when possible, the home inspector be let in the property by the listing or buyer’s agent while practicing distancing of 6 ft. or more. Consultation after the inspection should be done by phone or online to avoid physical contact.
  • Property appraisals necessary for the closing of transactions, purchase, refinance, etc., remain allowed, however, like inspections, extreme caution and regard for social distancing guidelines must be exercised in any face-to-face interactions that are necessary in the completion of the inspection. It is recommended that when possible, the home appraiser enter the property individually.
  • Most title companies have implemented new guidelines for closings including limiting attendance at those appointments to only the buyer and closing representative. Please contact the title company for updates on their policies.
  • During this time it is recommended that buyers and sellers negotiate a credit in lieu of repairs or postpone completion of repairs until local Stay at Home Orders are lifted .
  • Virtual final walk throughs are also encouraged at this time. If this is not possible, limiting the number of people in the home during the walk through is advised.
  • Open houses and broker tours are prohibited , and the ability to input or search for both have been disabled within the Matrix system until further notice. Existing Open Houses through April 30 have been inactivated, and Heartland MLS data vendors have been informed to remove Open Houses from display within their systems.
  • In the event that an in-person property viewing is deemed critical, the showing should be restricted to only the actual signer of the lease or sale agreement , and social distancing guidelines and best practices must be followed, such as use of hand sanitizer, gloves and booties to cover shoes. Listing agents should ask sellers to turn on all lights and open all closet/cabinet doors to keep touching to a minimum. Buyer agents should leave the house as it was found and wipe down all doorknobs, light switches etc., with a disinfectant wipe if contact is necessary. The overlapping of showings is prohibited, and a minimum of 45 minutes should be scheduled between all showings at a property. In the event that an in-person showing is necessary, we highly recommend that brokers require completion of a Hold Harmless Agreement to minimize risk. KCRAR will be providing a template agreement in the coming days.
  • An optional COVID-19/Coronavirus Addendum is now available on KCRAR.com, dotloop and FormRUs. This universal form can be used as an addendum for delays resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic .