Creating Good Real Estate Options for Illinois Home Buyers: Not an Option in Illinois

State Senators and Representatives have chosen to thwart Illinois home buyers from clear disclosure in 2012 and beyond. As if the real estate equation wasn’t oppressive enough already! As of January 1st, 2012, the state will place into law the new Illinois Home Inspector Licensing Act. This act intimidates good inspectors from doing their job and encourages sloppier work from those already predisposed to “close deals” for a fee.

The existing licensing law is no panacea but there was a board of grievances to appeal to if you were improperly accused of misconduct by agents or unhappy sellers. On January 1st, the Home Inspector Licensing Board will be disbanded even though the members have served well and without pay. Inspectors will face an unknown appointee, possibly a real estate agent (we have done this in the past), who will decide our fate without the help of a board of peers to guide him. There is no balance in this system.

On January 1st, 2012, Illinois Inspectors can be fined $25,000 or physically sent to jail for inspection omissions, according to the new law. This reeks of overkill. This threatens all inspectors whose primary judgement is based upon visual conditions.

From the beginning, the Inspector Licensing Law was created by the real estate community. After funding the law, they appointed a real estate agent as our board chairman. Once again inspectors are being manipulated to “pass all houses” or risk losing their businesses.

The 2012 licensing changes are unnecessary and fail to serve the public interest. The imposed $25,000 fine is intimidating to inspectors who already want to support the public trust while protecting consumers. In addition to representing the inspection point of view, the Board serves to prevent 3rd party control over inspections and standards. It is because inspectors serve as a check to the real estate sales process that we were licensed initially. The licensing standard that I wrote with Representative Erwin and brought to the State would have home inspectors overseen by the Department of Professional Regulation — the same place engineers are licensed. Here is where we belong — away from the control of those who stand to make thousands of dollars with each sale.

ALL HOME INSPECTORS’ JUDGEMENT AND OPINIONS ARE BASED UPON VISUAL STANDARDS BY LAW. THEY ARE INHERENTLY LESS ABLE TO BE CONFIRMED AND LESS ACCURATE THAN JUDGMENTS
MADE WITH ENGINEERING. INSPECTORS WILL BE CULPABLE IF ENGINEERING STANDARDS ARE APPLIED.

Today, home inspectors can be fined up to $10,000 for violations of the licensing law and receive misdemeanor citations. On January 1st, 2012, they can be fined $25,000 per offense, an amount that would put all of us out of business. We are also liable up to a Class 4 felony for negligence in performing our duties. Why this severe punishment for trying to help Illinois homebuyers become aware of what they are buying? This new law does not further the goals of Illinois Home Inspectors or the home buying public. It does not restore faith in the real estate process. It delivers the process to the power brokers.

The Illinois Inspector Licensing Act was written and mandated within a visual standard. This gives home inspectors permission to add visual clues together while defining large scale systemic problems. The threat of a multi-year prison sentence discourages “systemic” inspections where inspectors have to add visual clues together to complete their analysis. These clues, by nature, won’t be supported by engineering where the clues will have to be confirmed using destructive means. A visual exam is inexact and will not stand up to an engineering analysis. Are we to go to jail due to this dichotomy in the law? We need the visual standard and its flexibility to assess asbestos, for instance, and point our clients in the right direction for more information.

I believe State Representatives and Senators have lost focus of the needs of the people of Illinois. Do they think that threatening the home inspection community with time “in the big house with other convicted felons” (Class 4 Felony punishment) will help Illinois citizens? Is there anyone out there reading this that doesn’t see the connection between bad real estate sales and the recession? The real estate community, not the inspectors, need a more punitive licensing standard.

The way to restore the economic viability of the real estate industry is to restore faith in the real state process. Home Inspectors represent the key to restoring the faith. Home Inspectors need to be able to tell the truth without worry of spending our retirement in jail with murderers and rapists while being someone’s “honey.”

We challenge the real estate industry to “step up to the plate and provide clarity in the home buying process and demand equal representation for buyers.” Don’t punish the home inspectors, the very people who can fully represent your interest in home buying. For those of you who are courageous, call your State Representative and Senator and encourage them to say NO to the rewriting of ILCS 225 441, the Illinois Home Inspector Licensing Act. Let’s work to restore the deserved faith in the real estate industry for buyers and sellers.

“Friend right?”

This “friends” system has injured real estate

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