Hello all,
I’m pretty brand new to the field of home inspections and particularly new to internachi. I actually have two questions if anyone has the time to share their experience and/or knowledge. I’m from Texas, so I’m unable to get licensed through internachi, however, there are a ton of CE courses approved by TREC. First question is, does it matter if I proceed with taking CE courses right now if I’m not yet licensed? My financial situation doesn’t exactly allow me to jump into a school like “Champions” right now (or any other TREC approved schools) so I thought for now, I’d gain as much knowledge as possible by taking as many CE courses that I can. One of the first videos I’ve seen when trying to start a course is walking me through the process of entering my state license # (which I obviously do not have). My concern is not getting the TREC credit I’ve earned because I dont yet have a license. Second question is the path to take. I’ve seen the extensive list for TREC approved courses within internachi, and I’m curious if it matters in which order I should take these courses or if going straight from top to bottom would suffice?
TIA
Welcome Stanley!
Someone from TX, familiar w/TREC, will chime in soon.
Thank you Larry!
Looking forward to it.
CE courses are “Continuing Education” courses, and NOT Primary Education courses.
CE’s do not apply until you are licensed and performing your “re-education” to stay knowledgeable and up to date on industry topics, so you are able to Renew your License.
With that being said, you should take all the education you can muster to learn the trade, whether you get credits or not! It can only better you as a (potential) inspector in preparation for your licensing education.
Question: if you cannot afford your required education, how do you expect to obtain all the other requirements such as insurance, and all else required to operate a business??
My father used to say, “If you’re bored, learn something.” This was instrumental in keeping us from ever telling him we were bored!
I know that doesn’t apply, just thought I’d throw that in. Learn as much as you can from any source you can get your hands on. That includes courses that say CE. You will learn whether or not this is something you really want to do.
Good luck!
“Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!” Charles Coburn as Mr. Dingle in " The More the Merrier" 1943
best to get it from the horses mouth & not their ass
i (when i was licensed) & other’s found it’s best to directly contact trec with all ?s & concerns & requests for interpretations of their or others tx licensing rules
oh I absolutely plan on it tomorrow. Unfortunately, I wasn’t curious during their normal hours of operation so I figured I’d introduce myself and see what some experts had to say. Thank you for being straight with me though.
That’s great info Jeffrey, thank you!
As for your question, I guess you could say I’m in no rush. I was actually just introduced to the home inspection field about 3 weeks ago. Since then, I’ve had nothing but excitement and anxiousness to get it rolling because I know it’s what I want to do. Unfortunately, the bulk of my money is tied up in previous commitments so the couple of grand to go to a school like AHIT just isn’t ideal right now. That’s not to say things wont change in a couple of months. I don’t plan on having my own business in the next couple of weeks so I’m not concerning myself with everything required to operate a business right now. The education is the sole priority for the time being. But I do appreciate your concern.
Thanks Robert!
Words from the wise are always appreciated.
If you read the TREC website, you might think that you have to first become an “apprentice inspector”, then “real estate inspector”, then finally become a “professional home inspector”.
Instead of that, you can take state-certified classwork and skip right to being a professional home inspector. Much quicker, although it may be the more intensive & expensive route. AHIT & Champions are two schools that I know of. I went through champions, I think they were pretty good.
like other have mentioned, CE credits will do you no good at this point. your first goal is to get licensed. do that.
Good to know, thank you. I initially planned on going the professional route immediately. I’ll be making some calls this morning, starting with TREC as some have suggested.
Did you jump right into CE courses upon obtaining your license?
I did, mostly because I wasn’t very busy at first and I was hungry to continue learning.
There is no reason to be paying $50/month for an internachi membership at this point, In my opinion.
Save your money and join champions or ahit. do that and then come back here after your licnesed. much more efficient use of your time.
Champions lets you pay 50% at first to get started in the coursework, then the other 50% is required before you get your license, fyi.
Where in Texas are you located?
You are absolutely correct!
You shouldn’t be paying a subscription rate for anything, ESPECIALLY when you are new to the industry and finding your way.
IMO, when a newer inspector combines all of their monthly fees together, and has 2+ slow months in a row, it is the beginning of the end for their business!
Don’t fall into the trap of Subscription Services… you will likely live to regret the choice!!
Fort Worth.
Makes sense. I initially started internachi because putting up the money for an AHIT type school wasnt an option, so I figured it would only benefit me to cram my head with whatever knowledge I could through internachi until I was in a better situation to pay for school. The $50 a month for knowledge seems great, but I now realize I would likely have to retake the courses once I’m actually licensed for it to count for TREC.
Going into the inspection business is expensive, if you don’t have the money for school, you definitely don’t have the money for tools, insurance, marketing, reporting software, scheduling software, website, etc. I spend about $20,000 when I started getting everything I needed to succeed. and marketing is the one thing that never ends. Clients need to find you and know who you are to hire you, So it’s non stop with the marketing, Some is free, most is not.
you can also just take the internachi CPI test for free to see where you are at knowledge wise without even being a member.
Absolutely, I like your style.
There is lots of free stuff on youtube.
The following is a search result for “how to inspect” within InterNACHI’s youtube channel.