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When the Home Inspection Report Speaks for Itself
Since this website launched in early December 2010, I have received a steady stream of correspondence from home inspectors asking my opinion on a wide variety of topics related to home inspections. Frequently, these inquiries inspire an article. So keep them coming. A while ago, I got an interesting question from a reader about an…
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Home Inspection Claims and the Legal System
If you read home inspection industry message boards with any level of fidelity, you cannot fail to notice a general lack of confidence in our legal system among home inspectors. They never expect to get a fair shake in court. And especially in Small Claims Court. To someone who has spent most of his adult…
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Job Security
If you want job security, it would be hard to beat being an exterminator in New York City. Got roaches? Call the exterminator. Your problem is solved but now your next door neighbor has it. And the cycle continues. Lately, I have come to the realization that I have pretty solid job security myself. Here’s…
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Is Your E & O Insurance Company Stuck on Stupid?
One of my home inspector clients in California recently wrote to me about a home inspection claim that was being brought by a client for whom he had performed an inspection about three months earlier. The client was experiencing some leaks due to recent heavy rains. The leaks were discovered only after removing baseboard and…
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The Theory of Relativity Explained
Every year, Lady Agag and I mark Memorial Day Weekend by taking a day trip to the Jersey Shore. More specifically, Spring Lake, New Jersey, our favorite shore town and one of the toniest in America. Spring Lake for its part marks the start of the summer season with a Five Mile Race. This year’s…
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Answering The Mail
Recently, I’ve been re-publishing some posts from the archive on LinkedIn and facebook on the theory that many inspectors may never have seen the original posts. It turns out that it was a good idea, at least to judge from the tremendous uptick in the number of unique visitors that the site is attracting since…
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When Claimants Simply Make Allegations Up
Dear Joe – I am a Home Inspector of 5, very busy and successful years, here in [New England], despite the down housing economy. I have just learned of you and have visited your website. I am very interested in learning more of your ClaimIntercept[™] Program. Also I would like to know if your seminar…
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Destiny and Second Acts
Years ago, when I was a member of a boutique litigation firm in Philadelphia, my partners and I would often ponder the question “How did we get this case?” What led this client to choose this law firm for this legal matter? Not infrequently that inquiry would lead to a surprising answer. The true origin…
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Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me
There’s a memorable scene in the Coen Brothers film Blood Simple where a character named Marty played by Dan Hedeya is trying to hire a private investigator played by Emmett Walsh to kill both his unfaithful wife and her lover. But Marty keeps beating around the bush about the nature of the engagement. Finally, Emmett…
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Seller Isn’t Trying to Point Out Material Issues
My most recent post prompted a question on the LinkedIn ASHI Group Discussion Board from a Massachusetts Home Inspector who wanted to know whether a home inspector could rely on the information provided in the seller’s disclosures or on responses provided by either the seller or the seller’s representative to specific questions about the property.…
