Letters to the Editor

 

Ask Mr. Inspector, Issue 44

 

In the "Mr. Inspector" column in issue 44 of the Communicator magazine, Mr. Ruehl indicates three times that he did not mean "to infer" certain things. He should have indicated that he didn't mean "to imply" these things (or, alternately, that he didn't mean for his readers "to infer" these things from his column). A writer implies (i.e. indirectly indicates) things in his writing, while a reader infers (i.e. deduces, concludes) things from the text read.

 

I'm not the grammar police. We all have plenty of our own habitual grammar and spelling errors to watch out for, and that’s where a good editing staff can make the difference. They can catch the little mistakes that give people the impression that the writer is less knowledgeable and professional than he actually is.

 

Chris Falk

 

Does “Certified” equal Qualified?

 

Being a thoroughly trained and qualified professional home inspector is a long-term, ongoing process during which the education never ends. It is impossible to become a qualified home inspector in mere hours or days. I used the American Heritage Dictionary’s definition of three key words: certified, qualified and inspect.

 

Certified: “To guarantee as meeting a standard.” If inspectors are not certified in the appropriate building code or have been in the business for only a short time, how can they possibly be certified to compare a home to a standard or to cite code violations by the appropriate code and code number? They can’t be. In my opinion, code certified is the only relevant use of the word certified. Ideally an inspector needs be code certified.

 

Qualified: “Competent, suited, or having the requirements for a specific position or task.” If the task at hand is to “guarantee” that homes “meet a standard,” how can inspectors with minimal experience or who are not code certified possibly be qualified to compare any home to a standard?  They aren’t. The more years of experience a home inspector has, the better inspector he or she is likely to be. Inspectors should also be full members of an organization whose requirements, for full membership, are stringent.

 

Inspect: “To examine carefully and critically, especially for flaws.” Anyone can be careful; inexperienced certified inspectors can very carefully and unknowingly overlook a critical issue. Or, they can very carefully make a grand issue out of a minor flaw. In either case, hard-earned money has been spent for bad information that can cause one to either unnecessarily walk away from the deal or to unknowingly accept a home that has undesirable conditions.

 

Vincent Zappia

 

Ask the Marketer, Issue 44

Dear Mike Crow—I work with loan originators in Southern California and around the United States. I wanted to let you know that I'll be passing your article [“Blast your Customers, Explode your Business, Issue 44] on to a friend of mine. We were discussing some of these topics late last year. Thanks for putting your expertise to work, and for sharing that with us readers.

 

Jason Womack