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The end of the year is sneaking up and McKissock, a leader in continuing education for state-licensed professionals, is issuing a reminder to home inspectors, land surveyors and professional engineers to renew their licenses. While renewal dates differ by state and association, a large portion of licenses expire at the end of the calendar year. McKissock is a trusted resource for state-specific, state-approved land surveying, engineering and home inspection courses, regulation information and compliance.

 

4359173580?profile=originalLicense lapses and expirations are more than just a hassle – they can be a costly mistake. To help remove the potential of license lapse or expiration, McKissock recently set up a free reminder service that will notify you when your license renewal date is pending. Visit http://reminder.mckedu.com to sign up. 

 

“When professionals are out and about, they aren’t always focused on deadlines and licenses,” says Annie Creek, Market Research and Compliance Specialist at McKissock. “We are the go-to resource for reminders, coursework and compliance information so home inspectors, land surveyors, and engineers don’t miss a beat.”

 

Rules and regulations vary by state and industry, so it can be confusing to know what is required for license renewal, such as processing time, applicable forms and related fees. However, McKissock serves as a comprehensive resource about continuing education requirements and more. If you have any questions, contact 1-800-328-2008.

 

“It’s important to plan ahead and ensure you have the time to meet state and association renewal requirements,” adds Creek. “However, McKissock offers a wide variety of home inspection, land surveying and engineering courses that can be taken immediately so you can get back to work.”

McKissock also has affiliations directly with associations to help professionals understand requirements and receive continuing education credits, including: the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI), National Association of Home Inspectors, Inc. (NAHI), and California Real Estate Inspection Association (CREIA).

 

From the McKissock website, state-licensed professionals have access to all they need to fulfill state requirements, including governing agency information, and can begin taking required coursework immediately. McKissock offers customizable packages, individual courses and affordable webinars.  For more information, visit http://www.mckissock.com.

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McKissock, a leader in continuing education for real estate-related professionals, now has more state-specific, state-approved home inspector courses and land surveyor education. From the McKissock website, they have access to all they need to fulfill state requirements, including governing agency information, and can begin taking required coursework immediately. McKissock offers customizable packages, individual courses and webinars that are easy to access and affordable.

 

In addition to understanding the requirements of state regulatory boards, McKissock has affiliations or communicates directly with associations to help professionals receive continuing education credits. Those associations include: the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI), National Association of Home Inspectors, Inc. (NAHI), International Association of Certified Home Inspectors (InterNACHI) and California Real Estate Inspection Association (CREIA).

 

“McKissock’s courses are dependable, accessible, low-cost and compliant, which is the formula for success for busy professionals,” says Annie Creek, New Market and Compliance Specialist at McKissock. “Since each state has different requirements, it’s reassuring to know that McKissock can verify what’s necessary to keep your license from lapsing.”

 

The state-specific core Home Inspection courses include:

 

  • Connecticut
    • Connecticut Home Inspection Laws and Legislation

  • Illinois
    • Electrical Service Inspections
    • Exterior Pre-Drywall Inspection
    • Foundation and Footing Construction Inspection
    • Interior Pre-Drywall Inspection
    • Plumbing Cross Connections
  • New Jersey
    • Obey the Law: Standards of Practice for New Jersey Home Inspectors
  • Nevada
    • Nevada Home Inspection Safety for IOS (Inspector of Structures)
    • Nevada Home Inspector Law

 

(Note to Nevada professionals: To renew an active certificate, a certified inspector must complete 20 hours of approved education, including, without limitation: (a) At least 3 hours of instruction on issues relating to the safety of any inhabitants of a structure being inspected and the inspector conducting the inspection; AND (b) At least 2 hours of instruction on the provisions of this chapter (laws) and chapter 645D or NRS.)

 

The state-specific core Land Surveying courses include:

  • Alabama
    • Alabama Standards of Practice
  • Arkansas
    • Standards of Practice for Arkansas Land Surveyors
  • Florida
    • Florida Minimum Technical Standards and Ethics
  • Idaho
    •  Idaho Minimum Standards of Practice
  • Illinois
    • Standards of Professional Conduct for Illinois Land Surveyors
  • Louisiana
    • Minimum Standards for Property Boundary Surveys in Louisiana
    • Professional Ethics for Louisiana Land Surveyors and Engineers
  • Missouri
    • Missouri Minimum Standards
  • Mississippi
    • Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct for Mississippi Land Surveyors and Engineers
  • Montana
    • Montana Ethics for Land Surveyors
  • North Carolina
    • Standards of Conduct for Land Surveyors and Professional Engineers in North Carolina
  • North Dakota
    • Rules of Professional Conduct for North Dakota Land Surveyors and Engineers
  • Nebraska
    • Standards for Nebraska Land Surveyors
  • New Mexico
    • New Mexico Ethics and Professional Conduct for Land Surveyors and Engineers
  • Ohio
    • Standards and Code of Ethics for Ohio Land Surveyors 
  • Oregon
    • Rules of Professional Conduct for Land Surveyors and Engineers in Oregon
  • South Carolina
    • Rules of Professional Conduct for South Carolina Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors
  • Wyoming
    • Code of Ethics for Wyoming Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors  

 

McKissock is an education company that educates, empowers and enriches professionals in real estate, appraisal, home inspection, land surveying and engineering. McKissock gives specialists a place to go to access relevant, easy-to-use and high-quality courses that provide the hours and information necessary to meet state compliance and regulation requirements. Founded in 1990, McKissock offers more than 100 courses and serves thousands of professionals daily. The company is focused on providing a superior customer experience that will help professionals move their career forward. To learn more, visit www.mckissock.com

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For well over 2 years, I have been reading article, listening to financial experts, watching the systematic devaluing of the American Dollar, watching commodity prices sky rocketing, seeing energy prices increasing and watching our Federal Reserve providing bailout after bailout. In my opinion, you add up all of these factors and you get a situation where the US Dollar becomes so weak that it can’t not trade against foreign currencies, ie….the Chinese Yuan.

It has been my stance, during this time, that eventually the US Dollar is going to see competition in the foreign currency market place that it ultimately can’t win and the real possibility of being replaced as the World’s reserve currency was a real, substantial and an economy destroying, national security issue.

Of course, many readers called me a doomsday conspiracy theorist or just lived in complete and utter denial that this could never happen because, the outcome would be so severe to the US economy, it would be kin to dropping a Nuclear weapon on New York. I get it, people don’t want to look at what is really going on in the Country and see things for what they really are because the outcome is too scary for most of us. Yet, denial doesn’t stop the wheels of change.

For those of you who don’t watch the news or can’t pin point China on a map….or better yet, don’t know the Chinese President’s name, let me just say, you most likely will in 2011. Of course, I am sure many of you can tell me the name of The Prince of Wales soon to be brides name….right? Anyways, President Hu Jintao (the Chinese President) is coming to America soon and before he takes off, he goes on Chinese State run television that the U.S. dollar-dominated currency system a “product of the past”. Well, that’s not all the story because he then turned around and started highlighting the way the world can begin moving towards a Yuan global currency.

Now, if this had come out of the mouth of some Chinese Communist insider who was like the aid of a Communist politician I and the world wouldn’t have given it much thought and yes, I would still most likely be spewing my “conspiracy theory” that China wanted to destroy the US Dollar and yes, many of you would be like, “Noooo, that’s crazy talk” but, when the President of China comes out, on International Television and starts talking about how we would like to see the Dollar replaced by the Yuan…..well, we just moved from Conspiracy Theory to OH MY GOD!

For more of the Article, visit http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703551604576085803801776090.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsTop

Now, that we can all agree, China isn’t our friend and is ready to destroy our economy in such a way that it would make The Great Depression look like a cake walk, let me shed some light on exactly what can be expected if the World decided to give up Dollars and move towards Yuans.

  1. Hyperinflation: Essentially, this is just when inflation gets completely and utterly out of control. To make this point clear, I don’t mean out of control like a couple points a month, I mean out of control as in a couple of points an hour.

Hyperinflation is caused when large amounts of money, not supported by actual growth in an economy through GDP output (Gross Domestic Product) is put into circulation. This doesn’t have to be where the Government prints too much money, it can happen when the World decides forgo a Dollar and get a Yuan because essentially, the same thing is happening. All of those Dollars people were holding onto because they had really good purchasing power get dumped into currency exchanges as people move to the Yuan. Keep in mind, hyperinflation isn’t caused when the Government prints too much money, it’s caused when large amounts of money hit the market and, the economy that printed the money doesn’t have the necessary growth to support all that currency.

If you haven’t gotten my point yet, let me just spell it out. If the world was to transition from the American Dollar reserve currency to the Chinese Yuan, we would have so many dollars out their floating around that the dollar here at home would become worthless. A great example of this is Germany, more specifically the Weimar Republic. If you haven’t already, you need to look this up. Go and at least Google it for goodness sakes. Weimar Republic.

Ok, because I am a Realtor and work in the Default Industry, let’s talk about just exactly how this will effect the housing industry.

Destroyed.

Do I really need to say anything more. Could you imagine what would happen if in the course of a month, interest rates went from 4.8% (about where they are at now) to, 24.8%.

I don’t want to try to convince you, if I haven’t by now….then, let me give you some resources so you can go read for yourself.

For those of you who won’t go get a book, let me give you a Google search you can perform. Type the work “Hyperinflation” and then the following countries, one at a time. Angola, Argentina, Austria, Belarus, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, China (Yes, it happened to them too and may actually be happening again), Free City of Danzig, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Japan (Some say is still suffering from hyperinflation), Krajina, Madagascar, Mozambique, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Republika Srpska, Romania (I have an investor from Romania who lived through this, it’s why he came to America, he had to escape his Country, he can tell you some stories you wouldn’t, couldn’t believe), Russian Federation, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (Yes, some people are already writing about our hyperinflation because, they see it as inevitable, that should scare the hell out of you by the way), Yugoslavia, Zaire aka Republic of the Congo, Zimbabwe.

My point by writing all those countries down is to highlight the fact the world has gone down this path enough times that we know what it looks like, we know what the warning signs are, we know what can happen and in fact, some countries will use economic war fare as a way to destroy another country without ever having to drop a single bomb. Does that sound familiar?

Ok, yes…..I can hear many of you now….this Jesse dude is crazy…..he is like really out there, the boy has lost his mind, DON’T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT. You go figure this stuff on your own. If I am wrong….hell yeah, let’s party on how insane I was but, what if….what if I am right? Let me just say, I am not alone in my beliefs, it’s not like I am in some fringe society creeping around dark allies, hell, I do that anyways….no, just kiddin. It was a joke for goodness sake, get over it already.

The reality is, things aren’t good, things don’t appear to be getting better and our enemies, both foreign and domestic see we are weak and are ready to strike. If we don’t prepare for the worse, where will your family, business, lives be if the worse comes?

I do have hope, it may not have sounded like it in this article but, hope is still alive. Within each of us, we have the ability to change, we have the ability to self evaluate and take stock in who we are. We are Americans, we are a melting pot more diverse than anywhere else on this planet. We can put aside our differences and works towards a common good. Let us remember what it means to be the shining city on a hill, let us forge forward and make hard decisions embraced in each others charity, good works and grace. We have done it in the past, nothing stops us from doing it now.

Step # 1, stop the spending. The best thing we can do for our economy and potentially save it from total collapse or attacks from foreign Governments is to balance this budge in the next 5 years or less.

Step # 2, balance the unfunded liabilities, ie…Social Security. I had heard once that we have over 50 Trillion in unfunded liabilities. That number seemed high to me but, I may not be remembering it correctly so, if anyone knows what the Countries unfunded liabilities are, I would love to hear it. None the less, this needs to come down…preferably to zero.

Step # 3, increase innovation. We as a country have lost our edge, we have lost what made us so special. Our innovators are gone. Why, you might ask…well, we can write another whole blog on that so, let’s just leave this one to, we need to be more innovative.

Step # 4, ground sweeping education reforms. Our education system is broken, it’s been broken for a long time. We need to make changes that way increase transparency, accountability and reward those who exceed objectives.

Step # 5, law enforcement. We need to start enforcing the laws we have. The AZ shootings the past week are a gleaming example of a State’s failure to enforce the law. You see, what you aren’t hearing in the headlines is that Mr. Laughner (the shooter, whatever his name is) would have never been able to buy the guns in the first place if he had been put on the State’s “Mental” list (those who are suffering from mental disorders) and submitted to the Federal Government background check list. In fact, it came out that over 50,000 people in AZ who are supposed to be on that list, aren’t because AZ hasn’t sent the list into the Federal Government for years. WHY NOT?

Now that I have completely ruined your day…..lol, I really hope I was able to leave you with some hope. Ghandi said (paraphrasing) To evoke change in the world, you must first be that change. Really great words to live by in these times, don’t you think?

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First, a little bit of history.

You may not have ever heard of Techwood Homes however, that doesn’t negate its pivotal role in American history, our history.

Techwood Homes was the first public housing project in the U.S. Located in Atlanta Georgia, it was completed in August of 1936. However, keep in the back of your head that it wasn’t till November 1937 that it was opened and dedicated by the trumpeter of Social Housing, Franklin D. Roosevelt, himself.

Now, it’s also important to know why America decided to get in the business of Government housing. The reality is, America had a concentrated number of poor and most all of the poor were living in slums. These were not nice places. In fact, many municipalities contributed large majorities of all their criminal activities to the slums and the poor who lived in them. So, in many ways, the American Government got into the business in the name of reducing or eliminating crime and yes, if it also progressed the Socialist Agenda…….well, that was a side benefit that wasn’t talked about much.

Now, the Techwood Homes were posh. They had bathtubs, electricity, ranges, garages, laundry facilities, library and even a kindergarten on site. By all accounts, they were nice, for what they were.

The sad part of this story was, the irony behind what eventually happened to Techwood Homes. You see, it became what it was supposed to prevent, a nest of crime, corruption and an example of urban blight.

After Techwood Homes were developed, many other Social Housing units sprung up in many urban settings, namely, New York, Chicago, New Orleans and San Francisco. Unfortunately, I can’t think of a single one that was ever trumpeted as a triumph…..I wonder why?

In 1996, Atlanta decided to destroy the Techwood Homes, it was an embarrassment to the city and because they were entering the world stage due to the Olympics, they couldn’t allow the blighted structures to stand.

The fact is, where you find poverty, you will almost always find high crime. It doesn’t matter how nice the house is, where the house is located, who maintains the lawn and plumbing, poverty is an incubator to criminal activity.

The Progressive leadership learned their lesson and decided that Social Housing, in the sense of large institutional style structures just weren’t a good way with progressing their agenda to provide government housing in their socialist society. I guess they never realized the power of poverty.

Shortly after these failed attempts, it became a political death nail in a politicians preverbal coffin however, it didn’t stop the agenda. It was during this time we saw private sector subsidy’s in the form of Section 8 housing and others.

Well, the socialist mantra, to never let a good crisis go to waste has never had such gusto. You see, during this housing crisis, which was engineered by progressives through the Community Re-Investment Act, they now see the light at the end of the tunnel. That’s right, a Progressive crafted crisis will give them the ability to forward their agenda and provide Social Housing through programs such as HAMP and other Foreclosure Prevention programs.

Yes, I am saying it and I am not apologizing.

I believe this housing bubble was engineered, crafted and laid in plan through the use of the Community Re-Investment Act and in turn, the Progressive dream of every American to have a home, laid down by F.D.R. can now be accomplished because no politician has the fortitude to tell people if you can’t afford your home, get out!

Make no mistake, I am all about saving people from foreclosure but, I also know that unless a homeowner has a job, counting peoples unemployment benefits as income so they can get approved for HAMP is a recipe for a bigger disaster or better yet, a door way for more Government assistance and possibly eventually allowing the Government to cancel the homeowner’s debt and remain in the home through a bank the Government has institutionalized or taken over……let’s say ….I don’t know…..Bank of America.

I do believe, it’s Obama’s agenda, along with the Progressive party, to either cancel the debt of homeowner’s who are struggling to make their payment or at least, give enough government subsidy that the homeowner can keep their homes under the waving flag of social housing. Be careful America, we are treading on dangerous ground.

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