Jim Katen
-
Posts
10,273 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Articles
News for Home Inspectors
Events
Blogs
Gallery
Store
Downloads
Posts posted by Jim Katen
-
-
Thanks, Mike.
-
10 hours ago, InspectorPro Insurance said:
However, based on the statistics we do have and the anecdotal evidence we've received, we haven't found a correlation between claims and agent relationships that we feel comfortable backing.
Of course you don't. Here's how it works: The agent wants the home inspector to find all of the important defects but then report them in a way that discloses the defect, but downplays its significance in such a way that it won't kill the deal. Later, when the home buyers realize that they have serious problems with the house, there's little that they can do because the home inspector did, in fact, find the problem and report on it, but then he downplayed it in a thousand little ways - none of them too obvious. This doesn't, of course, apply to all agents or all home inspectors, but it's the agents' ideal world. In places like Texas, where agents control the home inspector rules, it's baked into the laws. When this paradigm is successfully executed, it never comes to the attention of the insurers because there's no claim - just a disappointed home buyer.
Check out Herner vs. Housemaster. It's very telling case in which the judge found the real estate agent to be the "client in fact" and where he called the inspection report "pablum." Unfortunately, this model of agent/home inspector relationship is still very widespread.
-
19 hours ago, Jim Baird said:
Been down many a river where these guys line up on logs and slide off when you pass.
I've never seen that with northern turtles. Is it a southern turtle thing? Is there a name for a group of turtles, like a flock or a herd?
-
4 hours ago, Jim Baird said:
Our state fire codes call for 20' min distance between bldgs unless the walls are rated construction. I don't see how this vent is any remedy for fire risk.
It's an alternative to soffit vents, which can scoop up flames and smoke from a burning neighboring building. You can't have soffit vents in a rated wall.
-
25 minutes ago, Trent Tarter said:
I find allot of 50's built homes with corner windows that don't meet current minimum 5.0 sq ft egress for main floor.
Yes. In the '50s, the architectural fashion was to have long, low houses with linear, horizontal windows that were generally high in the rooms. (Thank Frank Lloyd Wright for this.) Adding modern egress windows to a mid-century house will generally destroy the design.
-
35 minutes ago, Trent Tarter said:
Here's my standard comment.
The basement bedroom windows have inadequate egress in the event of a fire due to being to high from the floor and having to small of an opening. Basement bedroom windows should have:
- A maximum sill height of 44 inches from the floor
- A minimum width opening of 20 inches
- A minimum height opening of 24 inches
- A minimum net clear opening of 5.7 square feet
The rules - if they apply - apply to all bedrooms, not just basement bedrooms.
If this is boilerplate, you might want to clean up the spelling and grammar.
-
We call them "under-shingle intake vents" and they're getting more popular here as well, not just to meet fire codes.
They avoid the occasional issue of steam rising up off wet walls in the morning and flowing into the attic via soffit vents.
I wonder, though, how they perform in ice-dam country.
-
54 minutes ago, Madcyt said:
I agree. I think I’m going to have to convince a small claims judge the same thing to get pella to resolve my concern, unfortunately. Would you think a “fixed double slider” referenced a window that has two sliding sides that would be removable or just one sliding side that is removable?
A "fixed double slider" could mean anything, including a cocktail.
-
In my area, it's been accepted. In fact, I had a city inspector suggest it to me at an inspection of my very own personal house.
-
1
-
-
10 hours ago, InspectorPro Insurance said:
Thanks for clarifying, @Jim Katen. I think you make an important point about on whom inspectors and agents should primarily focus: clients. While it is important to limit your liability to protect against potential litigation, inspectors' and agents' main focus should be serving their client home buyers to the best of their ability. It's a delicate balance but an important one.
I believe strongly that there's no "delicate balance" there. Serving my customer and limiting my liability are indistinguishable from one another. For decades, I've preached that viewing them as separate, conflicting tasks is what gets people in trouble. I summarize my philosophy in this maxim: If you cover your client's butt, you're will be covered automatically.
10 hours ago, InspectorPro Insurance said:Now, there are a few points that you make that I want to address. First, you argue that it's potentially problematic to not disclose referring party indemnification to clients. I'd argue that a lack of disclosure doesn't hurt the consumer while a disclosure can. As a general rule, we don't recommend that home inspectors advertise the fact that they carry insurance to clients--even if they're in a state that requires them to carry insurance, so that fact can be inferred with licensure. The reason being is because most people have an easier time mentally filing a lawsuit against an insurance company rather than an individual, and there are the occasional suit seekers.
A great example of this issue is a conversation I had with one of our insureds a while back. He'd had three claims come in in less than six months, which is pretty unusual, so the underwriters tried to investigate what about the inspector's behavior might be promoting such suits. They didn't find anything glaringly wrong with his technical inspection practices. However, upon visiting the inspectors website, they found a big, bold advertisement of his insurance information on his homepage. By promoting his insurance information, the inspector was attracting clients who perceived his inspections as warranties for which they could get refunds (and then some) if anything was amiss. This isn't best risk management practice.
You've completely deflected my point with an unrelated, if interesting, side issue having to do with an *incredibly* dopey home inspector.
10 hours ago, InspectorPro Insurance said:Second, you argue that consumers may perceive referring party indemnification as an unfair arrangement between inspectors and agents. I can see this happening but only because I think a lot of people wouldn't understand what referring party indemnification actually is.
Doesn't matter. It's all about the perception. If you can see it happening, then it happens. Saying, "but wait, let me correct your perceptions" is not a very convincing alternative.
10 hours ago, InspectorPro Insurance said:Putting it into a different context, say my primary care doctor referred me to a surgeon who ended up botching my operation. I sue both the doctor and the surgeon, and the doctor turns around and says to the surgeon, "Hey, you're the one that messed up. I'm filing my claim with your insurance." As a consumer, I wouldn't blame the doctor for doing this nor would I really care because my claim is getting addressed either way.
The analogy is flawed because the primary doctor has nothing to gain from referring to a specialist who botches things up. A real estate agent, on the other hand, has something to gain from referring an inspector who is "soft" - even more so if he's the indemnifying type. That aside, I'll observe that by the time we get to a lawsuit, it's too late anyway - everyone has lost. My objection to the scheme is that it create perceptions that I'd rather avoid.
-
Any contractor who installs windows for a living should know what the requirements are. It's unreasonable to expect the homeowner to know these things.
-
10 hours ago, InspectorPro Insurance said:
What makes you feel like referring party coverage is a scheme?
Of those inspectors who use this coverage as part of their marketing to real estate agents, I'll bet that most, if not all of them do not advertise the fact to their actual customers. In fact, I'll also bet that they intentionally keep quiet about it.
Look at it this way: if you were a home buyer and you knew that the inspector that your agent recommended was paying to indemnify that agent, would that elevate the inspector in your eyes? Would it make you think twice about the agent's motivations and the inspector's loyalties? In my experience all but the most credulous home buyers would view this as a "scheme" or perhaps as an "arrangement" that benefits the home inspector and the agent, but not the consumer.
-
3
-
-
Schemes like this have always made me feel uncomfortable. It's just a half-step away from paying a real estate agent for referrals.
-
I suspect that this initial message was spam. It originally contained a link that the moderators removed and the poster's IP address is in India.
-
1
-
-
I noticed the same thing.
I reached out to Gary DeWitt in Burbank. He's not too far and used to be an active member of this board. He's smart & trustworthy.
-
My son's buying a house in Santa Clarita.
I don't believe that I know any inspectors from that area. Does anyone here know someone there who doesn't suck?
-
Without really good pictures, this entire discussion is like a circle jerk.
-
2 hours ago, smith97103 said:
I had been using Inspectit/Ahit (whatever) on my PC and they pulled the plug. I'm used to this system and everything I've found out there so far is waaaaaaaaaaay too complicated. Anyone know of a similar to Word program that is available for someone who doesn't have the time to learn a new system. Thanks
Mark Cramer's Intelligent Reporter software share some of the characteristics of Inspectit. (I believe that Inspectit actually grew from an earlier version of IR.) Having used both, I greatly prefer IR and have used it for about a dozen years. It is *amazingly* flexible for someone who is facile with Word - I should probably rephrase that to say that you must be facile with Word. The thing is, I'm not sure that Mark is still selling it or supporting it for new customers. You might get in touch and ask him about it. Here's a little bit about the program:
https://www.besttampainspector.com/Software
-
Where are you located?
If you can make the finger drains run to the street, why not just pave the driveway and let the water flow to the street on top of the pavement?
-
I see about 1 electric on-demand water heater for every 40 or 50 gas ones. They're generally in the 30-36kw range. (About 120,000 btu/hr.) They work ok, but not as well as the gas ones - just like electric vs gas storage-type heaters.
-
Isn't Davidson made by Louisville? I'd call them with your ladder model number and ask them for the correct standoff.
Just browsing the web, I see that some standoffs say they can be used on any extension ladder and some spell out limitations.
By the way, I lean my ladder against roof rake boards all the time. I just angle it so that the rungs both touch the angled edge of the roof at the same time. It works fine, but I'm not painting. If you do that while painting, you'll constantly be in your own way.
-
Just get a standoff for your ladder.
-
17 hours ago, JayneEVHI said:
Correct, however since you don't have to pay for the electricity to keep 50 or 60 gallons of water warm to hot 24/7, and pay to heat it back up after using all the hot water in the tank, on demand tankless WH save money.
That's been disproved in study after study. On demand water heaters have several advantages, but saving money and "being green" are not among them - at least not for North American households.
Check out https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/article/are-tankless-water-heaters-a-waste-of-money
And https://www.map-testing.com/assets/files/Minnesota Tankless WH study-2010.pdf
-
Those are very expressive.
-
1
-
Article: How to improve your marketability with referring party indemnification
in Marketing Techniques
Posted
I think that by "sanitize" he just means to remove the actual names and addresses from the report. That shouldn't remove any good stuff.
I know some excellent inspectors who have less-than-excellent writing skills. Their customers still get a great inspection. No one excels at everything. Still, if you have nothing else to go on, the report can tell you a lot. It's really amazing how a person's writing reflects a person's thinking and vice versa.