Ohio home inspectors' licensing

With buying a home being one of the most expensive & long-term commitments a person makes in his or her lifetime, a number of aspects of that venture continue in the news as the year begins.

With housing prices soaring last year, the National Association of Realtors reported earlier this week “an eye-popping 43% of all first-time home buyers purchasing their homes with no-money-down loans,” and mortgage applications climbed again according to the Mortgage Bankers Association in its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity for the week ending Jan. 13th.. (See article on USAToday.com and CNN/Money)

“Sixty-five percent of the nation’s 299 biggest real estate markets are severely overpriced & subject to possible price corrections,” according to a CNN/Money article the beginning of the year. Other areas were undervalued, including, though slightly, the Greater Cincinnati area.

Not everyone buying or investing in real estate can be a property expert, and backers of some new Ohio legislation are saying consumers need better assurances in the experts they hire.

There are currently two similar bills in the General Assembly (See HB 427 and S 207) which, if passed, would have Ohio join 30 other states in the country which have statutory guidelines & regulations for home inspectors—twenty-six, including Kentucky and Indiana, having passed such regulations in the past eight years, according to an Enquirer article yesterday morning. Kentucky’s law was passed & became effective in 2004, but does not require home inspectors to be licensed until July 2006. The American Society of Home Inspectors has a list of states with licensing requirements and contact information on their website.

Kentucky SB 142 would further require home inspectors to have license insurance.

The Enquirer article has links to further information for in Kentucky & Indiana.

Last summer, too, legislation was introduced for similar measures for home repairs and remodeling in Ohio. (See posting )