Home Inspectors: Here Are Your New Year’s Resolutions
First, let's get the "Happy New Year!" salutation out of the way. My team and I wish you the very best in 2017. I suggest you follow these New Year's…
Thermal Imaging’s Liability Factor
A California home inspector recently sent me an email inquiring about thermal imaging’s place in the industry, but more importantly, my legal perspective on whether the new “x-ray vision” opened up another dimension of legal liability for the inspector.
Thermal imaging has become more commonplace as another add-on in an inspector’s menu of services, increasing an inspector’s per-inspection revenue as the residential real estate marketplace finally starts to awaken from its nearly decade-long slumber.
This brings up an important skill I preach to home inspectors during my Law and Disorder Seminar. An inspector must align his or her client’s expectations with the reality of a limited, non-invasive, visual home inspection. To that end, thermal imaging can be an important tool in conducting an inspection and increasing revenue, but I also see where it could open an inspector up to increased liability exposure – yet, perhaps not in the area you may think.
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Transferring Assets to Your Spouse Does NOT Protect You From Creditors
Home inspectors often observe that putting everything in their spouse’s name would make them financially insolvent and protect them against greedy, reckless clients searching for financial blood.
In these instances, inspectors consider themselves judgment-proof and find no need to carry professional liability insurance.
However, not everything is as rosy as it looks on the surface. There are potential side effects to this scheme. I go into some of those side effects in this installment of my ClaimsAcademy video training series.
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Accept No Substitutes
The other day, I got a call from an old friend and a long-time ClaimIntercept™ subscriber. He had been contacted by an E & O insurance monger retailing a product with a price that he found attractive and he wanted to talk to me about it.
I had never heard of the company but that is certainly not a disqualifying factor. After all, there was a time in my life when I had never heard of The Travelers. That’s another way of saying that there are lots of insurance companies that I have never heard of — and that you have never heard of — that are good quality, financially sound companies that serve niche markets and do so very professionally. It’s a big competitive world. What a country!
Only 1% of All Home Inspection Claims Have Merit
A home inspector who serves on his state’s licensing board told me that 6% of the licensed inspectors in that state had claims brought against them and that 90% (yes, 90%) of those claims had merit.
Those numbers were completely at odds with my experience where less than 1% of home inspection claims have merit, so it made me wonder if the insurers on those claims were doing any investigation whatsoever or perhaps they just don’t know what constitutes a meritorious claim.
Let me tell them (and you) in this week’s ClaimsAcademy video blog. This is a valuable piece of home inspector training.
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The Cozy World of Litigation: “I Like to Give Business to People I Like”
A home inspector I’ve known for several years came up to me at an industry workshop with an issue: he had received a demand letter from a past client for failing to detect mold.
Shocking, the underlying facts of this claim were ridiculous. Leaving aside that mold detection is excluded from any extant standard of practice, and was not part of this inspection, the mold was only discovered after destructive probing.
The “I’ll fix this” home inspection industry cycle ensued. The inspector tried to (unsuccessfully) explain to the claimant’s attorney that the claim had no merit then subsequently turned it over to his insurance company, which appointed expert local counsel.
And that’s the worst of all possible worlds for the home inspector.
I explain the cozy world of litigation – a world that benefits the suits, not the home inspector – in this week’s video blog.
Returning Your Faith in the Legal System
Many home inspectors have little faith in the legal system, and as an attorney in this professional space, I can see why. They believe (nearly 100% of the time rightfully so) that they are being wrongfully sued, poorly defended and thrown under the bus to the tune of an expensive deductible and a professional black mark.
It doesn’t have to be that way. Attorneys actually appreciate being told that their recently-sent demand letter is hogwash (that’s a legal term) and that the claim has no legal standing for a litany of reasons. Instead of getting a check back in the mail, when a claimant’s attorney hears from me, he or she knows that pursuing the claim wouldn’t be beneficial to their client, and in turn their OWN professional reputation.
How can I return your faith in the legal system? Watch this week’s video blog for more details on an approach that makes the legal system work like it should.
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Insurance Companies Want Home Inspection Claims to Live
Home inspectors are EASY targets. It’s a sad fact that many home inspectors are victims of meritless claims while receiving little assistance of those they thought could be counted on: their insurance company.
Many home inspectors are SHOCKED that their insurance company would settle a meritless claim or offer up their deductible to the complaining client. These inspectors also work with attorneys who rack up legal fees before settling the claim for nuisance value.
Why is this the case? I talk about working with professionals who align with your values and beliefs in this week’s video blog.
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New Negotiation Rules for Home Inspectors!
Can anyone alter a contract even if they aren’t the company that drew it up? Absolutely.
What if a client and/or his attorney wants to remove the arbitration clause or statute of limitation clause from your home inspector pre-inspection agreement? Is this worthwhile to you and can you use the omission of these clauses to your advantage?
Joe Ferry answers these pressing questions in this week’s ClaimsAcademy video blog below. (more…)
Why You Should Follow the Skeptic’s Creed on Seller’s Disclosures
A Massachusetts home inspector recently asked me if he could rely on the information posted in the seller’s disclosures or responses provided by the seller or the seller’s representative to specific questions about the property.
The easy answer to that question is such: If seller’s disclosures were reliable, there would be no need for home inspections. And these seller’s disclosures are unreliable for various reasons, many which are completely unrelated to any skulduggery on the seller’s part.
Although, as I illustrate in this week’s video blog, sellers will oftentimes actively conceal material defects, and home inspectors need to realize that when locked doors prevent access to critical areas or furniture seems oddly out of place, what seems amiss is usually…amiss.
I provide an example on this topic and profess why you should follow the “Skeptic’s Creed” in this week’s video blog.
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