I learned a little lesson today. My inspection just happened to coincide with the Seller's garage sale this morning. So, no problem..I just get busy doing my thing. I have a new tool carrier that I keep all my expensive meters and doo-dads in that I take into the house so I don't have to run back and forth to the truck. Well, I set it down in the garage out of the way and went out front to the water meter to check on it and to a hose bibb to measure the water pressure. (Bet you can tell where this is going huh? ) I'm gone 2-3 minutes and when I come back in there's a lady sifting thru my tools and she has her arms full of stuff. I said M'am, M'am...those are not for sale! Well, she speaks no English and just keeps digging around...she's got my Tif8850, moisture meter, amprobe, tape measure and several other things in her hands. I finally just said NO! and had to 'help' her put the stuff back. She looked at me like I was crazy and just moved over to a table of junk that was for sale.

OK, I admit to taking a little literary license with the subject line of this thread. My hyperbole is overstated somewhat (can that be done?) but not by much I don’t think. You can view or download today's meeting notes here and, as usual, my personal notes are in bold, blue italic font for easy identification.

The proposed SOP Commentary really took a hit today with a strong disagreement surfacing between the Inspectors Advisory Committee and TREC as to the logistics and politics of incorporating the proposed Commentary. Essentially, further Commentary work was tabled until such time as TREC and the IAC can get on the same page regarding this issue. Maybe the Commentary will be brought from the back burner in the next few weeks, maybe it’s done for now. Time will tell.

You can download and review the new TREC SOP Commentary here. This April '09 draft version covers the Scope/Definitions and Structural sections of the new SOP. Other sections will be added in the next couple of months.

Here are my notes from today's Texas Real Estate Commission meeting. As usual, my notes are in bold, blue, italic font. Try not to doze off....see: http://www.divshare.com/download/6639720-80a .

Here are my notes from the Feb 11th TREC SOP Commentary Sub-Committee meeting:

The TREC Inspectors Advisory Committee SOP sub-committee met by teleconference on 2/11/09 to continue work on and drafting of a Commentary to the new 2009 TREC Inspector's SOP. All four of the sub-committee members were in attendance along with four public attendees. The intent of this meeting was to continue agreeing on wording and drafting the Commentary which will then be posted for public comment sometime in the future, probably 4-6 weeks from now or so. The Commentary is to explain the thought process that went into the new SOP and to provide examples and clarifications. I will not go into all of the boring details of the teleconference but rather touch on a couple of the more interesting topics.

It is my opinion that one of the sub-committee members who happens to actually be the sub-committee chairman continues to have a mindset that the SOP should be more prescriptive rather than less and, in some opinions, to go well beyond the traditionally accepted scope of a visual inspection. He is single-handedly responsible for the new SOP requirement for Texas HI's to lift roofing shingles to inspect the fasteners. That same expanded concept of an inspection was clear during the meeting when the chairman proposed putting in the Commentary that electrical outlet boxes, especially those in a Kitchen backsplash, should have cover plates removed to inspect for proper maximum gap ( ¼" ) between the j-box and the cover plate. Occasionally, a j-box will be installed recessed too far into the wall or new tile, backsplash or other wall coverings will be installed that cause that gap to widen to greater than ¼" in which case, the NEC calls for a box extender to be installed to reduce that gap to less than ¼". The argument against including that example or requirement in the Commentary was that the SOP specifically says cover plates do not need to be removed unless there is evidence or suspicion of aluminum wiring in which case a random sampling of outlets and switches are required to be further inspected. Debate and discussion went on for awhile and a vote of the sub-committee members was taken as to whether or not to include that wording in the Commentary. The vote was tied at 2-2 at that time. Subsequent discussion resulted in another vote which ended 2-1 in favor of Not including that wording in the Commentary. It should be noted that one of the sub-committee members had left the meeting just prior to the 2nd vote so that is why the proposal failed. It could very well come back into consideration at the next sub-committee working session however.

During other discussions on another area of the Commentary it was proposed to add the word "reasonable' to the clause that refers to "in the judgment of the inspector". This clause shows up several times in the new SOP and the Committee's public member lawyer opined that the adding of ‘reasonable' actually made the inspector more liable rather than less liable. That wording could give any opposing counsel more ammunition to use against an inspector. For example, an opposing counsel could simply suggest that an action or opinion by the inspector was not reasonable in the counsel's opinion thereby putting the onus back on supporting counsel to defend the reasonableness of said action or opinion. All legal gobbledy-gook but nonetheless important. End result...the word reasonable was added to the Commentary where applicable.

I will post more notes after the next sub-committee working sessions.

Texas Inspectors,

The new, 2009 Texas Real Estate Commission Standards of Practice for Home Inspectors states that the inspector shall “Report as deficient…appliances and metal pipes that are not bonded or grounded”. This can be accomplished in several methods. One, the electrical junction box at all appliances like the stove, microwave, range vent hood, furnace, etc, can be located and the cover removed and the ground wire can then be verified. Two, a sophisticated electrical circuit analyzer such as an Ideal SureTest model 165 with the appropriate cord adapters can be used but this method can be cost prohibitive at $330 or so if that is all the SureTest is being used for. Third, a simple battery operated lamp with alligator clips can be jury-rigged but this method will be fairly slow connecting the alligator clips and all. The act of electrically connecting the various appliance chassis together is referred to as Bonding and then a path is provided through the electrical branch circuits back to Ground. The CapCity “Bond Tester” is intended to be used to ensure continuity from exposed metallic parts of various home appliances to the home’s electrical Ground. This cost effective tester will dramatically reduce the time spent inspecting for appliance bonding/grounding and will pay for itself in just a couple of inspections. The Basic no-frills model is $24.95 +s/h and the Deluxe model is $59.95 +s/h. The Deluxe model has both visual and audible bond indicators for ease of use. See below for ordering instructions or go to www.capcityinspections.com/Bond_Tester_Order .

The TREC Inspectors Committee has been promising to develop a Commentary to explain in more detail what the rational is for many of the new SOP line items. Here is a 1st pass, very rough draft of a Commentary for your review. Please post your thoughts here about it.

Rough Draft Commentary

Here are my notes from the Dec 15th TREC meeting in Austin. As usual, my notes are in bold, blue font for easy identification. See: TREC Notes

I recently saw this exchange on another blog somewhere and got a chuckle out of it:

   All indicators suggest a turn around and recovery of the real estate market now that the elections are behind us. The first quarter of the new year should result in rebounding home prices, fewer foreclosures and strengthening of home sales. - recent Realtor newsletter comment

    More blather from the real estate world, more pipe dreams of how house prices should not be allowed to fall to their real values. A house is a box that sits in the rain and deteriorates. Therefore, the rain-soaked box falls in value, just like anything else. The cotton candy world of real estate wealth is over. No amount of crybaby, footstamping, breath-holding childish antics is going to stop this runaway train. It's over. Put some cotton candy on your real estate license, and eat it. Then, go to your room. - Anonymous response