RVOICE

Director of Local Advocacy Several of our local Governmental Affairs Directors (GADs) have been dealing with inspection issues in municipalities throughout Illinois in 2021. Whether it’s attempting to reform existing point of sale home inspection programs or amending proposals on rental inspections, the GADs are looking out for the interests of REALTORS®, owners, buyers and sellers.

Inspection requirements can be a thorny issue. While we prefer that municipalities stay away from real estate transactions and from examining residences, we understand the public policy objective of property maintenance. Cities do have a compelling interest in making sure that properties are habitable and safe. While there are several ways to achieve this without systematic inspection programs, several municipalities have chosen that route.

This year, we’ve dealt with issues in the following towns: u Park Forest and Round Lake Beach.

Reforms in the home inspection process have taken place this year. Also, in a bit of good news, Evergreen Park plans to stop doing point of sale inspections. (See

Park Forest and Evergreen Park sidebar.) u Joliet is considering inspections of single-family homes that are rented out. u In some Metro-East municipalities, discussions are ongoing about possible improvements in inspection procedures. u Fire safety-related issues continue to come up in Chicago, with some urging additional inspections of rental properties. u Niles eliminated its point-of-sale home inspection requirement.

As we negotiate on these kinds of proposals, we work to ensure that these programs are as unintrusive as possible. We strongly encourage any municipal inspection ordinances to include the following provisions: u Timeframe requirements on the municipality to make sure that inspections are done in a timely manner and do not substantially interfere with transactions. u Reasonable inspection fees. If fees are imposed, the amounts should reasonably reflect the cost to conduct the actual inspection. In other words, the revenue from such fees should not

About four years ago, local REALTORS® voiced frustration about the village of Park Forest’s mandatory home inspection process.

Because clients were unable to see the results of the inspections before closings, home buyers sometimes waited weeks or months before necessary repairs were made, according to Illinois REALTORS® Local Governmental Affairs Director Tom Joseph. As a result, some REALTORS® were put into non-disclosure situations. Even after REALTORS® expressed their concerns, village staff members and some trustees opposed changes.

Illinois REALTORS® and the Mainstreet Organization of REALTORS® (MORe) kept fighting on the issue and it wasn’t until after a new mayor and new trustees were elected that the village voted unanimously to change the home inspection ordinance, effective Oct. 1, 2021.

The amended village ordinance will allow owner occupied sellers to get home inspections and results prior to closings and allows the inspections to stand for 180 days, says Joseph.

Park Forest is about 30 miles south of downtown Chicago, in Will and Cook counties. The population is nearly 22,000. It was founded in 1948 to provide housing for GIs returning from World War II.

As of August, the village of Evergreen Park (Cook County) will no longer require point of sale inspections of homes.

At the start of the COVID pandemic, the village halted these inspections.

be general revenue raisers for the municipality. u Owner consent. There needs to be a consent provision in the ordinance.

This is a clear requirement on the municipality to seek consent from the owner of the property prior to an inspector entering the property.

This is a Constitutional issue, and therefore should not be omitted from any municipal ordinance, including home rule units. u Transparency in the process is important. Sellers and buyers need to know — prior to inspection — what the inspectors will be looking for. A standard checklist, publicly available, can be helpful with this. u With rental properties, a

standards is good. For example, if a landlord’s property passes an inspection with minor or no violations, the next regular inspection should be delayed a year or two. This works as a good incentive to regularly maintain properties.

After careful consideration, the village decided to end this policy. The village will continue to conduct the annual rental property inspections. The Mainstreet Organization of REALTORS® expressed its appreciation to newly elected Mayor (and state representative) Kelly Burke.

By Rebecca Jensen

President and CEO of Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED)

MRED’s staff recently gathered to celebrate the retirement of one of our Help Desk staff members, Ed Leighton.

Ed spent more than 20 years with MRED, starting as a trainer and then moving into the role he leaves behind, answering questions on virtually every aspect of the connectMLS system and the products MRED provides its subscribers.

Ed’s calm, thoughtful and often humorous approach to helping MRED’s subscribers through whatever technical challenges they were having, helped set the standard for MRED’s Help Desk, which works daily to fulfil our role as servant leaders in a dynamic, data-driven industry. For many of our subscribers, Ed and his colleagues are more than just a voice on the phone. Instead, they are considered valued friends.

Ed and his colleagues have made MRED better every day and it’s no accident that their work has resulted in the Help Desk being named a top contact center for the past 11 years by Benchmark Portal.

Sure, MRED’s business is based on data.

We provide a place to store it, process it and distribute it for our brokers. We provide solutions to help with virtually every aspect of the real estate business from creating CMAs to client prospecting to obtaining tax information.

At its core, MRED knows that people come first, no matter how data-driven the business becomes. We staff our Help Desk seven days a week and even answer calls on most holidays. When we aren’t answering the phone or responding to emails, we’ve created a 24/7 library of resources to help answer our most common questions so our subscribers can get the answers they need anytime, anywhere.

You see, at MRED, service is personal. Being a data business doesn’t mean we have to lose the close connection we have with our subscribers.

Call our Help Desk and experience the difference our customer service can make in your business.

MRED Help Desk Staff