A real estate broker and longtime member of the Missouri Real Estate Commission has recently voiced her opinionthat the requirements for licensing real estate salesmen in Missouri is too low.
So…let’s add all this up.
Missouri has no licensing requirements for electricians, plumbers, HVAC technicians and builders.
Missouri has no statewide building codes being enforced.
Missouri Real Estate Commission member(s) feel that the criteria for becoming a real estate salesman in Missouri is too low to be considered “professional”.
Yet…home inspectors, who have fewer complaints filed against them with the Attorney General and BBB than florists, are the Missouri Association of Realtor’s target for licensing.
This is funny! They need to worry about a top agent in St Joe’s, that i had dealings with. I turned this person in to the MO Real Estate Commission and they did nothing at all to the agent. Is the MO real estate commission really on top of things?
No, it is like most government agencies, just there to give the consumer a false sense of security. The Missouri Association of Realtors has a very strong lobby and they make sure every bill will favor them and their cohorts like the home builders and A$HI. Filing a complaint against a Realtor is useless in Missouri, usually very little action is taken against the Realtor. When action does happen, it usually only amounts to sending them to their room for a few days.
Those who have been doing inspections, selling Real Estate or building for a long time, and have a built-up reputation and a built-up market ALWAYS want to have government shut-out their compitition, especially in changing times.
This was the reason why ASHI started supporting licensing. They wanted to shut-out the new guy, except as a shlepper who worked (read: apprenticed) to them.
BUT, they didn’t count on the paradigm changing so much. in our area, with licensing, many unemployed college educated people (who can actually think, adapt and learn) got in the market. The old union guys, who were too old to actually DO the work, and wanted to only INSPECT the work, were surprised.
That is one of the biggest reasons that iNACHI has surpassed and pretty much destroyed ASHI in their own home state.
But, different areas of the country, different conditions, lead to different results. Only relating our experience in Illinois.
Youse guys need to beef up your agents qualifications. Out here in Kansas our RE agents used to have to undergo a very INTENSIVE 30 hours of class before getting a RE license. But recently **BEEFED **that up and doubled the training requirements.
Now they still have to take 30 hrs to get a license (learning about leaps and bounds, how many sf in an acre, the different types of ownership, RE math like how to figure commissions measure rooms, etc - generally what they need to pass the state RE exam), BUT on top of that after they get their license over the next 6 months they have to take another 30 hours of RE classes about how the RE business works.
I’ve called several RE schools and am told that most now include 10-15 minutes discussing the inspection process in the 2nd 30 hrs because it seems to give them more headaches than anything else in the sale.
For the last couple of years, I have been on education comittee at the local Board of Realtors. Sharon Keating belongs to that board. I tried to get quality education about home inspections on their calender. No luck yet. It is like when we tried to make the case about home inspection licensing in front of some Missouri Association of Realtors leaders at Missouri Housing Indrustry Alliance meeting.
I submitted some state paper work to Nick about a year ago for the education on home inspections that would count for real estate agents CEs. He forwarded it to the girls in the office so I am guessing it is just taking our state government that long to get it approved.
2 years ago the appraisers on the MHIA asked me to teach a 8 hr CE class on lead, asbestos, radon and mold at their ANNUAL educational seminar in Tan-Tara. I said OK - took about 30 days to get approved. Then the RE Agents decided to combine their Annual Seminar with Appraisers AND had me submit more papers to MAR for approval for CE credit. Took about 30 days.
I just spent the weekend in Barry County where builders, electricians, plumbers, and HVAC technicians require no licensing at all to work in the county.
Missouri has no licensing requirements for electricians, plumbers, HVAC technicians and builders.
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You seem to be correct about Barry County, Missouri. I haven’t checked the individual cities and towns for their licensing requirements. However the couple counties that I did quote seem to make your statement above a little misleading. I did note however that at least an “occupational license” which requires insurance coverage and the business basics is required to do business in Barry County, Missouri.
It may seem misleading to one who is wanting to make a weak argument, but it is not misleading at all.
Missouri…the State government that is entertaining home inspector licensing bills…does NOT license electricians, plumbers, HVAC technicians or builders. When bills requiring such licensing has been presented to the state legislature, they have been heavily lobbied against by the Missouri Association of Realtors and the Missouri Builders Association.
It is up to the individual counties (of which there are 104 and the majority of which does not have licensing requirements) and the municipalities, which do or do not…from year to year…depending upon their operating budgets.
My original statement stands. Sorry if it confuses you.
No argument out of me. But will anyone disagree or agree that the State of Missouiri stipulates that if a electrical license is mandated by a local jurisdiction that they must follow it?
In essence they have passed the states responsibility and authority to the local jurisdiction. Let me see if I can find the exact code again…
Although Mr. Bowman was never licensed to inspect in his own state, he is a proponent for licensing in other states.
What he has stated is that, because Missouri leaves it to the local governments to decide what codes, if any, to enforce and leaves it to the local governments to decide what contractors, if any, to license…that I made a “misleading” statement when I said that Missouri does not license contractors.
It’s a “bowman-like” argument that, by definition, ignores relevant facts and focuses on trivial “what-ifs”. You’ll see what I mean if he chooses to continue his argument.