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KBHI Complaints
What you should know 
Key facts and reasons behind decisions on complaints about home inspector now will be reported in the Kentucky Board of Home Inspector (KBHI) minutes.
Inspector names will not be reported where no action was taken, as before.
The new procedure begins with the upcoming KBHI April 14 meeting.
PLI recommended the procedure to the Board. It was adopted at the KBHI's March meeting. As alums know, it's one PLI has urged for some time.
Now, for the first time, inspectors can get some guidance from KBHI decisions on complaints. The important facts in a case, and the Board's thinking in arriving at its outcome, tell inspectors in advance how similar issues were resolved.
Providing this kind of practical guidance, in real life facts, is where the regulatory rubber meets the road. Over time, the result can be a collection of decisions that help inspectors apply the rules and regulations and, at the same time, better serve and protect the public.
You can bet you will get the up-to-date information in your PLI classes each year - and "hot of the press" here, as they happen.
Since the first meetings of the Board, back when inspector names in complaints were published in Board minutes, sometimes without the inspector knowing there was a complaint, PLI has offered suggestions and worked to help the Board refine and improve the Complaint process. |
Money Too Low To Pay Taxes?
It was a slower first quater this year for many home inspectors. Almost 120 home inspectors have given up their licenses, taking us down to just 373 home inspectors state-wide, as of March 15. Some may end up short of cash to pay April's tax bill. It's not the end of the world. First, always file tax returns on time. Interest and penalties eat late-filers alive. Filing on time and paying something is major damage control.
Second, pay what you can. The IRS even accepts credit cards now (but watch interest rates).
Use www.irs.gov to request a payment agreement. You find out in a few minutes whether you qualify for more time to pay under a payment agreement with the IRS. Click on the Online Payment Agreement link and follow the prompts. By entering some basic information about your tax situation, you can set up in a matter of minutes either a short-term payment extension or a monthly payment plan. More time to pay comes with monthly payment plans or installment agreements, and so do reduced late payment penalties. Interest still applies. But late-payment penalties are cut in half for any month an installment agreement is in effect. This reduced rate of 0.25% (1/4 of 1 percent) per month is only available if the tax return was filed on time. A user fee will also be charged if the installment agreement is approved. The fee, normally $105, is reduced to $52 if taxpayers agree to make their monthly payments electronically through electronic funds withdrawal. The fee is $43 for eligible low-and-moderate-income taxpayers. Alternatively, taxpayers can apply for a payment agreement by filling out Form 9465, Installment Agreement Request. This form can be filed along with either an electronically filed return or a paper return. If filing on paper, be sure to attach it to the front of the return. Special penalty-free and interest free late payment rules apply for eligible taxpayers in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other combat zones, and to specified disaster area taxpayers. * Please take advantage of our upcoming "Tips" feature to share trouble spots or pass along insights. For the latest CE,
sign up now - call 502-896-2020. |
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Register Now! Pick a Session-14 hours -2009 CE
April 17th & 18th Friday & Saturday
**Thunder Over Louisville Saturday Night!***
May 22nd & 23rd Friday & Saturday
June 15th & 16th Monday & Tuesday |
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14 Hours CE Home Inspector Training - Louisville
Get in and Get out.
Day 1: Ky Law & Regulations 3hrs CE-1002-02 8 - 5pm
Standards Of Practice 6hrs CE-1002-02
Day 2: New CE course coming soon
SOPs 8 - 9 am
Manuf Housing 3hrs CE-1002-02 9-12 noon
2hrs CE-1002-BUS2 1 - 3 pm
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Ring the Bell - 1x
Google Voice - Coming to a Phone Near U
If you love the phone company, skip to the next article.
If you want real phone service, Google will help.
It announced "Google Voice" about a week ago. It's debugging the system now, but it is due to open for everyone in a few weeks.
How would you like:
· One number for as many phones as you have;
· One voice mail you can totally control;
· Free voice mail transcripts;
· Free conference calling; and
· Text message coordination, organized in your web mailbox, sent to any phone, just for
starters? Read on.
Voice lets you pick one phone number. It rings all the phones you want, all with one web mailbox. No missing calls when they call home and you're on a cell. Forget calls to different voice mails and answering machine checks.
And you could leave a different greeting for each person in your address book.
You can pick numbers from any area code, except maybe 212. And you can keep it when you switch jobs or cities.
When your phone rings, pick: "Press 1 to accept; 2 to send to voice mail; 3 to listen in on voice mail; or 4 to accept and record the call." If it goes to voice mail and you listen, you can pick up in mid-call by hitting star (*).
It also throws in telemarketing spam filters (anybody notice those "Do Not Call" lists haven't been a huge success?).
All this was pretty much the old GrandCentral. Google bought it in 2007, stopped taking new members, and went to the famed Google drawing boards - the place that brought you Google search and Gmail. Still, some thought GrandCentral's goose was cooked. Not.
It gets better. Google added four cool features.
1. Free voice mail. That's a "killer app" for us. Skip listening to voice mail in phone company order. Now you can handle voice like text - search, save, forward, cut & paste, or forward voice mail. Make my day.
2. Free voice mail transcripts. Sure, you can buy voice mail transcripts (from places like PhoneTag, Spinvox and Callwave) - but this is free. It doesn't quite have the punctuation down yet. Guessed words show up in lighter gray text though.
3. Free conference calling ends the phone company's nefarious charges for that business booster. Agents don't need to take the call merry-go-round to get inspectors, termites checks, power on, clients and others on site at the same time. Just conference everyone in. No charge.
Text messages get sent to your unified mailbox. Remember how many times you tried to hang on to a voice message and the phone company deleted it, gone for ever? No more. Now you can keep them, file them, search them, send them, and reach them anywhere.
4. Last, international calling is even cheaper than Skype, and way below your cell or landline phone company.
But wait! There's more!
It's even ad free. |
PLI Benefits
Only PLI deliver ALL you need.
ALL
at incredible prices.
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ALL the Breaking News inspectors
need. Free!
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One referral desk for all inspectors - with any SOP!
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Contract reviews and updates.
- Experienced advice on handling 411 notices.
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Consults with local lawyers defending you.
- Expert witnesses for inspector defense.
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Manuals and handbooks - cheaper than the web!
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Tools (including IF) & safety gear - at PLI-only discounts.
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Top inspection software. Save hundreds $!
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Live software installation & help, every day. Free with purchase.
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Live problem desk. Same day
service. Free to PLI grads.
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PLI speaks for ALL inspectors at the KBHI.
And
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Did we mention: ALL the CE you need - when you need it.
Featuring
the newest CE topics and courses.
How do you spell "Professional
Support for Professional Inspectors?"
PLI. Join the pros now.
Register at 502-896-2020. Ask about our Derby Promotions.
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We hope you find this helpful Please remember this is an informational and reporting service only. This is not legal, accounting, tax or other professional advice, which can be supplied only by, a knowledgeable professional in the appropriate field acquainted with your individual situation. Readers should rely on their own professional advice, rather than any news or publication, for their final decisions.
We're all in this together. PLI stays closely tuned to industry and professional developments. PLI does not endorse or favor any candidate or contribute to any campaigns. Updates on selected topics may be available. Please call. | |
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THAT REFRIG'S SMOKIN'?
About 1.6 million refrigerators were recalled March 10 by the Consumer Product Safety Commission in cooperation with the Maytag Corp.
The units posed a serious fire hazard because an electrical failure in the relay that turns on the refrigerator's compressor can cause overheating.
The recall followed 41 reports of refrigerator relay ignition, including 16 with property damage ranging from smoke damage to extensive kitchen damage.
The refrigerators were sold under the brand names Maytag, Jenn-Air, Amana, Admiral, Magic Chef, Performa by Maytag and Crosley. The units were side by side and top freezer refrigerators. The affected refrigerators were manufactured in black, bisque, white and stainless steel. Refrigerators with bottom freezers were not included in this recall.
The units were sold at department and appliance stores and by homebuilders nationwide from January 2001 through January 2004 for between about $350 and $1600.
Kentucky home inspectors are not required to report product recalls under their SOP.
For more info, including the recall hotline, models and serial numbers, email us or go to: www.newscom.com. |
New Cloud Today:
Worm Hunt
There's a fascinating, unbelievable international hunt underway for the secrets of a malicious worm software program known as "Conficker."
Like submarine warfare, this cat and mouse hunt is running silent, running deep.
It's one dandy, artful worm.
It updates when security teams make a break. And it's already infested over 1 million computers with its program. The program contains code to link those computers into a "botnet," a powerful kind of subterranean network. A botnet with over a million nodes is a rare, probably predatory, bird.
In a show of savvy, Conficker dodged everything security teams threw at it. It evolved though several updates when a security team grabbed all 250 Internet domain names the program was scheduled to contact for instructions. The security team, made up of ICAN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names, the outfit that manages domain names worldwide) and an alliance of international security geeks aka "white hat hackers," known as the "Conficker Caal," was all grins.
In the first week of March, a new version of Conficker appeared, with an expanded list of 50,000 contact sites it could use. That turned to dust the chances of stopping Conficker from contacting botnet nodes.
The latest rewrites let Conficker disable most commercial virus programs and Microsoft's security update features.
But no one knows why.
The only thing experts know for sure is that it's set to call a control system for instructions on April 1st.
Botnets have been used to send most spam and that kind of spam is where most of the swindles and shady deals are found.
If this is information warfare, it's got incredible potential. And not only are we playing catch-up, law enforcement hasn't jumped in. |
Dalai Lama Nabs Computer Spy System
But Not the Spys
A vast computer spy system looting information from computers in 103 nations, including us, was uncovered this weekend (3/29).
Digital sleuths from Munk Center at University of Toronto tagged the system, and actually sat at a control panel, after the office the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader, called for a check-up. Coolest feature? The spyware could turn on cameras and mics! More at www.nyt.com. |
In a Jam?
Out of time? In a special situation? Call. PLI offers private tutoring and other special individual
instruction. Call Lorri. 502-896-2020. KBHI:CE-1002
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