Thanks Wes, for posting my letter to the editor!
Added information: The suggested price for the initial inspection is now at $175 and that amount could even be higher by the time this passes. That does not account for any re-inspection fee which would be in addition to that. So far today I have had 2 phone calls from seniors concerned about selling their homes and 2 more emails. The word is getting out. Hopefully, this will tell the city that we don't need this. It is very important that we don't go to the meeting "yelling and screaming" but we need to present this logically. From the Wednesday meeting I learned that they will just write you off if you start raising your voice and show anger at this. They will listen to you if you take the time to ask the right questions and we can only pray that they will see how "illogical" this is.
If this ordinance does pass, if you have the city come and do the inspection and then you decide not to put your house up for sale, the ordinance still requires you to make the repairs within 90 days. (Isn't that totally insane!)
If the city is thinking this is a great way to make an income-they need to take into account how much it will cost to hire inspectors, take care of the paperwork, pay for the vehicles & gas, etc... compared to how many homes are sold within the city.
My husband suggested-if they just want to make money charge a transaction fee for every house sold in the city. No inspection is necessary and they still get their money. It still wouldn't be fair but that would be a whole lot easier than this.
Take a look at other cities in the area that have "point of sale Inspection" and you will get an idea of what this "RIBS" Residential Inspection Before Sale, will be like. It is really hard to find a copy of the ordinance. It isn't an ordinance yet so you can't find it on the city website under ordinances. I randomly found it in the minutes from a city council meeting but then I was able to find a better copy at the Wednesday meeting. They also passed out a sample checklist of items that they would be looking for. The city should send you a copy if you call and ask for one because this is supposed to be "easily available" to the public.
Donna Schmitt
Added information: The suggested price for the initial inspection is now at $175 and that amount could even be higher by the time this passes. That does not account for any re-inspection fee which would be in addition to that. So far today I have had 2 phone calls from seniors concerned about selling their homes and 2 more emails. The word is getting out. Hopefully, this will tell the city that we don't need this. It is very important that we don't go to the meeting "yelling and screaming" but we need to present this logically. From the Wednesday meeting I learned that they will just write you off if you start raising your voice and show anger at this. They will listen to you if you take the time to ask the right questions and we can only pray that they will see how "illogical" this is.
If this ordinance does pass, if you have the city come and do the inspection and then you decide not to put your house up for sale, the ordinance still requires you to make the repairs within 90 days. (Isn't that totally insane!)
If the city is thinking this is a great way to make an income-they need to take into account how much it will cost to hire inspectors, take care of the paperwork, pay for the vehicles & gas, etc... compared to how many homes are sold within the city.
My husband suggested-if they just want to make money charge a transaction fee for every house sold in the city. No inspection is necessary and they still get their money. It still wouldn't be fair but that would be a whole lot easier than this.
Take a look at other cities in the area that have "point of sale Inspection" and you will get an idea of what this "RIBS" Residential Inspection Before Sale, will be like. It is really hard to find a copy of the ordinance. It isn't an ordinance yet so you can't find it on the city website under ordinances. I randomly found it in the minutes from a city council meeting but then I was able to find a better copy at the Wednesday meeting. They also passed out a sample checklist of items that they would be looking for. The city should send you a copy if you call and ask for one because this is supposed to be "easily available" to the public.
Donna Schmitt
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