InterNACHI buys back another home after the inspector's E&O insurance company denied the claim

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I often see InterNACHI members recommending E&O insurance sales companies despite never actually having had to submit a claim to those insurance sales companies. These inspectors say goofy things on social media like “They have great customer service.” Well until you actually file a claim, you don’t know how they are going to treat you.

Guess what? It happened again. An InterNACHI member from Utah thought it was wise to buy E&O insurance from an inspection-industry insurance sales company that was also based in Utah. Ooops.

The member got into a pickle with his clients after they allege he missed a couple issues on an inspection at 1032 N 450 W, Brigham City, UT 84302-1545. So, he turned it over to his E&O insurance sales company. His E&O insurance sales company promptly denied the claim leaving the inspector high and dry. His poor clients, Matthew and Kaylee Lalumia (who have a toddler), tried to resolve their claim, but the inspector’s insurance sales company refused to help at all. They simply denied the claim and left the home inspector vulnerable to a forthcoming lawsuit without any money to cover his legal defense costs.

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Luckily, the InterNACHI inspector participated in InterNACHI’s "We’ll Buy Your Home Back" Guarantee.

I’m pleased to announce that as of this morning we purchased Matthew and Kaylee Lalumia’s home back for full price: $578,500. Here is a copy of the appraisal: https://s3.amazonaws.com/uploads-east-1.nachi.org/page-uploads%2F2023%2F02%2F1675455648141-Utah-appraisal.pdf

We saved this young family from financial ruin and saved the home inspector’s career.

We are having a bunch of repairs and upgrades made to the home this month. We’ll be spending upwards of $125K on improvements. The home will then be offered to InterNACHI members at a discount along with all the inspection and repair reports.

Remember, these insurance sales companies aren’t really insurance companies in that they are only shlepping some other underwriter’s product - an underwriter that you’ll never be allowed to talk to when you have a claim. InterNACHI’s insurance company is an actual insurance company (not just a branded program), owned by InterNACHI, and run in-house for our members. And I’m here every day!

“He’s a great guy” is something every customer says about the salesman who sold them something. Please stop recommending insurance sales companies that don’t have our backs… or yours.

Instead, walk into the light: InterNACHI Insurance and “We’ll Buy Your Home Back” Guarantee.

Relative links:

Engineer’s inspection.

Engineering report.

Foundation repair proposal.

Appraisal.

Realtor dot com link.

InterNACHI insurance.

“We’ll Buy Your Home Back” Guarantee.

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This is great!!

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Wow, that’s great!
What’s the name of the insurance company nick I’m sure it could help us inspectors make a wiser a informative decision when time comes. Thanks!

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What is the reason the E&O claim was denied?

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That is because … until they have been raped by an insurance company and can no longer pass tapered feces … home inspectors shop for insurance by the cost of the premium without reasoning why certain companies are cheaper than others. Think of the “free” home warranty.

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Not hard to figure out. ASHI recommends them. LOL

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Certainly, you are not inferring that your insurance company will never deny a claim. Right? After all, you don’t buy back every house for inspectors participating in the buy back program. There is criteria that you apply first, correct?

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I’m highlighting the stark difference between two companies that are often lumped together by home inspectors as “insurance companies” and often judged by only the customer service they provide when attempting to sell or renew a home inspector’s policy, not their claim handling.

Members of our industry make little or no distinction between a for-profit insurance “sales” company that shleps another underwriter’s products - an underwriter that has the final say over the claim, an underwriter that the inspector is at the mercy of when a claim is filed, an underwriter that the inspector can never actually even speak to…

… AND…

InterNACHI’s in-house insurance company which is an actual insurance company, which doesn’t just shlep another underwriter’s products, and which I have full control over when a claim is filed.

I suspect you can grasp what I’m inferring. But this case highlights it nicely.

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I am more concerned that the inspector missed so many items… :grimacing:

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The expensive one, a foundation issue, was not his fault IMHO. We’re having it repaired this month, and having some upgrades made. We’ll then will put the home up for sale to InterNACHI members at a discount.

Oddly, many of the home we buy back are then purchased by other InterNACHI members as investments.

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Indeed; however, inspectors should also know that they have duties under their insurance contracts (aka “policies”) that must be performed to obtain coverage, that not all insurance contracts provide the same coverage, that cheaper is not better, and that your “buy back” program is not a guaranteed replacement for E&O insurance.

Another point is that an E&O provider refusing to pay the homebuyer is not a claim denial. I suppose that they are also refusing to cover the inspector in the event he was sued, as well. If so, it could be due to his failure to comply with his part of the contract (failure to promptly notify the carrier when he first learned of the claim against him, failing to have a signed inspection agreement, etc.).

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If that is indeed the case, whose fault is it? the reason was not given to us.

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When the insurance provider denied the claim (if, indeed, they denied the claim rather than simply refused to pay money to the homebuyer), they did it in writing, and in their letter to the inspector they cited the language from the policy and policy provision they used to deny it. The inspector may or may not have shared that with Nick.

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So I’m a new inspector and am currently looking into insurance for my company and asked for recommendations specifically on two top inspector insurance companies. I only got responses for ipro. Which I thought internatchi endorses as well. I watched a webinar where Ben had ipro on talking about inspector insurance.
Maybe we’re talking about a different company? I don’t get why nobody wants to say their name🤨

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I’ll tell you a funny story: Yesterday morning I got up at 6AM (that’s a big deal to me as I don’t get up very early ) and drove up to Fort Collins, CO for an InterNACHI member. He got sued and the court date was yesterday. I went to help him win. The courthouse is on La Porte Avenue where there is basically no parking and so I showed up 5 minutes late (another thing that’s a big deal to me as I’m almost never late for anything). I walk into the courtroom and can’t find the inspector. Unbeknownst to me, the court system there does something first, before we all go into the courtroom - They force us into a little room (Room 403) with a mediator and try to get us to settle. I didn’t get up at 6AM to settle, I wanted to win and take my legal case record up to 53 and 0.

The only time I’ve lost in court was in Mississippi. My record then was 49 and 1. I lost about $700K. I had to appeal it because the loss put use of infrared cameras by home inspectors in jeopardy. Anyway, in Mississippi to appeal, you have to put up 125% of the judgment into escrow with the state. So in 2022 I put up a ton of cash and filed the appeal. After 7 years, I won unanimously on appeal. More about the case here: Nick Gromicko Wins Seven-Year Legal Battle to Protect Home Inspectors' Right to Use Infrared Cameras - InterNACHI®.

Anyway, that put me back to 50 and 0. But the state kept the interest (about $20K) on my money I put in escrow. So I went after them for that and won that back. That put me at 51 and 0.

And then I won two more cases since then for members where I was the only person who testified. That put me at 53 and 0.

I really wanted yesterday’s case to go to trial because the boxer Floyd Mayweather is 50 and 0, but he is now doing exhibition fights (he’s done 4 since retiring). And so he passed me up again. I can’t let Mayweather beat me.

Anyway, I drove all the way up there and they stuck us in a little room with a mediator. The mediator got the two parties within $1,000 of settling - The InterNACHI member was willing to pay $1,000 short of what the plaintiff was willing to accept. At that point it was a standstill and mediation failed, so we were going to trial next, that very day. Yippie!

I wanted to go to trial so bad because of this competition with the boxer, Floyd Mayweather, but I realized that it was in the best interest of the InterNACHI member to settle. Bummer. So I pulled 10 crisp $100 bills out of my BMF wallet and handed it to the plaintiff. She grabbed them. Case over.

My point of this story is that if you want someone handling your claim who has your best interests at heart, I think that person is me. Yes I said it. So go here: We got your back. - InterNACHI®

P.S. I slept till 10AM today to make up for yesterday.

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Yep. Nick tee’d this one up nicely. They denied his claim, we won’t! Of course there is no way to know this without details. I am happy for the family…maybe. They could be money grubbing “sue everyone” every chance they get kind of people.

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Not saying that this family falls into this category, but you know that the ones that threaten to sue the inspector AND interNACHI, there will be some “paper shuffling” going on. :wink:

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You need to make sure Ben Garrison tells these stories as well.
Question, if I get $200,000 E&O and $200,000 GL and get a E&O claim for $50,000 does it come out of one “pot” so now I have 150,000 in both E&O and GL left?
Per Elites policy which I haven’t read but will if I can?FWI that is how it was explained to me.

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True. Hence my point: Don’t assume you can know by judging the way you are treated when being sold a policy. And certainly don’t steer fellow members to a company based on the way you were treated when sold a policy. Keep your mouth shut unless you can talk about how you were treated when you filed a claim. “He’s a great guy” is something every customer says about the salesman who sold them something.

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Still wondering why the “claim” was denied? :thinking:

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