I have been a member at various times of several home inspector trade associations, mainly trying to determine which was the right association for me as far as new knowledge about both the home inspection industry specifically and the real estate industry in general. I was also looking for a place where I could contribute since I started my real estate career in 1966 when my wise old grandmother gave me my own spot in the yard to do with as I saw fit. Of course, instead of building forts or digging holes, I created a beautiful cactus garden. Sure wish I had some pictures of it.
In high school, back in the politically incorrect days, students who joined every student organization under the sun were called "résumé queers." My list of organizations in high school was sparse, but my activity within those organizations was long -- President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Project Chairman, Membership Chairman, etc. That's always been my mantra: Find an organization that fits your needs and interests and then give to that organization.
Out in the home inspection world there are, or have been many national trade associations as well as state trade associations, including:
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InterNational Association of Certified Home Inspectors -- InterNACHI -- the one I currently contribute to
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American Society of Home Inspectors -- ASHI
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Society of Professional Real Estate Inspectors -- SPREI
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National Association of Home Inspectors -- NAHI
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American Association of Home Inspectors -- AAHI
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Housing Inspection Foundation -- HIF
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Foundation of Real Estate Appraisers -- FREA -- A misnomver since they have Inspector members, too
There are also various state trade association. The California Real Estate Inspection Association serves the needs here in California. I left their ranks several years ago when they were undergoing political turmoil and were more interested in politics than meeting the needs of the real estate public.
The InterNACHI Message Board is by far the most active home inspector message board since InterNACHI, at 9,000 members, is twice as large as ASHI, the second largest. There are many members who maintain multiple memberships in the trade associations, but most do not, due mainly to the annual membership fees and the time required to meet the continuing education requirements of each one.
One of the things that always distresses me when I visit the InterNACHI Message Board is the number of Realtor-bashing threads and other-trade-association-bashing threads. I can assure you, though, that such threads are not limited to InterNACHI. Far be it. In fact, many of the threads are in the public forum, especially over at Inspection News, which is not affiliated with any specific trade association, so you can see how the various trade associations almost seem to like to bash each other.
Now I will admit that I have never been a member of any realty brokerage since the Internet hit the public, so I don't know if the Message Board for Coldwell Banker has threads bashing Realtors from Keller Williams. Heck, I don't even know if each brokerage has its own message board.
Somehow I suspect that you won't find any threads bashing the other brokerages because the National Association of Realtors got at least one thing right:
Realtor Code of Ethics
Article 15 - Realtors make only truthful, objective comments about other real estate professionals.
Notice that it specifically uses the term "Realtors" and "real estate professionals"? That means Realtors don't make off-the-cuff remarks about home inspectors, plumbers, roofing contractors, etc., in addition to Realtors.
The various home inspector trade associations could learn from the National Association of Realtors. Perhaps:
Home Inspector Code of Ethics
Article 1 - Home inspectors make only truthful, objective comments about other real estate professionals.
Dreaming, hoping, wishing....
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RR, Good post. I can't remember any of the other orgs. that I belonged to bashing anyone.