For years, home inspectors in Virginia could opt for certification if they wanted to go that route, but licensing wasn’t available. Home inspector licensing is now the way of the future. Beginning on July 1, 2017, all home inspectors in the Commonwealth must hold a valid license. If you’re currently an inspector, here’s how the new regulations might change the way you work.

Virginia offers a few different ways to earn a license. If you hold a valid home inspector certification, you’ll be issued a license to replace it. If you’ve been a home inspector for at least 10 years and have 250 inspections under your belt, even without a certification, chances are your experience will serve as evidence of industry knowledge on your license application.

Without a valid certification or experience, you’ll need education. Here’s how the education requirements break down:

Before licensing was on the table, Virginia had already decided on a new requirement that would apply to certain home inspectors. Anyone inspecting new construction houses would need a special designation, called NRS or New Residential Structure. The NRS designation requirements have now been woven into new licensing legislation.

On July 1, all home inspectors will need a license. Anyone inspecting new construction will need a license plus the NRS designation. Without the designation, inspectors are limited to existing structures.

With licensure comes continuing education. If you’ve held membership in one of the major national home inspection associations, you’re probably accustomed to earning new education credits regularly. If not, get ready.

After July 1, you’ll need 16 hours of credits per license renewal cycle, says the Virginia Board for Asbestos, Lead and Home Inspectors. Check out Quality Education Group to earn continuing education credits online.

Licensing in any industry usually fulfills at least two goals: consumer protection and consistency among professionals. Home inspection licensing in Virginia is designed to give home buyers and other home inspection customers a more dependable experience from one inspector to the next. For inspectors, it sets the bar a little higher and adds a layer of integrity to the profession.

Virginia’s requirements include a written contract signed by the customer and the inspector and disclosures about what the home inspection covers as well as any financial interests if a repair person is recommended. It also standardizes what’s included in a home inspection report.

Home inspectors in Virginia had little regulation for years. Then certification became an option, but many home inspectors opted out. Now the Commonwealth is shaking things up with mandatory licensure. Following in the footsteps of many other states that regulate the home inspection industry, Virginia’s future is on track.

Some people would move out before living another day in the same house once mold is discovered. And some people grab a bottle of bleach to hopefully render it harmless. Certain molds can make homeowners sick, but there are millions of species. Only a few of them are dangerous. The ones that are can cause serious health problems.

Sometimes, mold and mildew are difficult to differentiate to the untrained eye. They can both leave dark specks and clusters on walls, in showers and areas where dampness is a problem. They can both leave a musty odor. But mildew isn’t as harmful as mold. And mold comes in scores of varieties.

Moldpedia says one of the first signs of mold is the telltale musty odor. Even you can’t see it, it’s probably there inside walls or under the floor. If you can smell it, you’re breathing it. Mold may be black, brown, purple, yellow, green or an assortment of colors.

By now, most people in America have heard about the dangers of Toxic Black Mold also known as Stachybotrys. It can cause severe health problems and sometimes death. But not so fast. Not every mold that’s black is considered toxic. And toxic black mold is more greenish black in color. Further, the mold might not be toxic at all.

According to Atlantic Environmental Incorporated, it’s not the mold by the mycotoxins that black mold can produce that can weaken, sicken and even kill.

There’s a reason you’ve never seen mold on a dry surface that’s always been dry. Mold requires moisture to grow and reproduce. That’s why it tends to thrive in bathrooms, kitchens and other areas where there’s moisture and some warmth.

Mold might live in these and any other area where dampness is chronic or it has been in the past.

Because of the enormous range of molds in America, mold testing is the only way to know what a homeowner has. There are consumer-grade kits that test by contact, and more in-depth testing performed by a lab using samples from inside the home.

The best way to handle mold is prevention, says the EPA, which means eliminating the most important element: moisture. Repair pipe leaks or a leaky roof, improve ventilation and remove old, damp materials such as carpeting, insulation or wallboard that has taken on water. The EPA says more than 10 square feet of mold should be referred to professional for cleanup. It there’s less than that, homeowners can follow these steps:

As for using chlorine bleach, it’s anyone’s guess. Historically, bleach has been used for both mold and mildew cleanup because the dark color lightens and sometimes vanishes. The odor is usually eliminated too, at least for a while. But many experts say bleach doesn’t get to the root of the problem so mold always comes back. The National Organization of Remediators and Mold Inspectors says bleach is mostly useless. The best course of action is scrubbing and drying, just like the EPA says.

The presence of mold in a home doesn’t automatically mean the homeowner or prospective buyer is at risk. The bigger concern is what’s causing it. Actual toxic black mold is rare. If the homeowner eliminates damp conditions, they’ll prevent new mold growth. Then cleanup can finally work for good instead of becoming a cycle of rubber gloves, bleach and old rags.

As a certified home inspector, chances are you’ll see more than your fair share of molds, mildews and other not-so-pleasant things that thrive in damp conditions. All of it goes into your home inspection report, which could be the easiest part of your job, by far.

Home inspection software doesn’t just make your job simpler. The right software can benefit several different aspects of your business, from record keeping to customer service. If you’re only using it for inspections, you’re not using it to its fullest advantage. Here are 5 ways it can help you be a better home inspector.

Your home inspection agreement is a contract between you and the client. It protects them and it also protects you. It’s how you convey what your inspection will cover, and it educates the client about the process and what it will (and won’t) cover.

When your inspection agreement is built into the reporting software, there are fewer documents to handle and fewer places to lose them. Everything is convenient, right on your tablet or smartphone.

A generic home inspection report does nothing to help build your business brand. But a customized report with your logo and contact information isn’t as easy to create as you might think. If you hire a graphic designer to make the form look great, you’ll pay extra. With the right software, you can customize the report in a few short steps.

Your software should make customization as simple as entering contact information and uploading your logo. If it takes more than a few minutes, maybe you need software that works with you, not against you.

There are lots of ultra-sophisticated software choices on the market. Any one of them can give you a suite of forms with numerous options. But the more complicated the technology, the steeper the learning curve. They’re sometimes more complicated to use, as well.

If you’ve got a simple and effective app, you won’t have to hurry back to your office to plug into a computer just to finalize the report. It could be as easy as finishing up on-site and emailing the final report from your mobile device before you leave the driveway.

How many files do you keep on your computer? If you’re like many people, it’s probably no small number. Files get lost, reports can be saved in the wrong file, and before you know it, you’ve got a real mess on your hands. If you store reports in the cloud, everything is handy and tidy.

Your app should simplify organization, not make it more complicated. And with cloud storage, you won’t have to worry about a power outage or computer virus erasing months or even years of your work.

If there’s one thing home inspectors know, it’s the power of the customer referral. You probably contact real estate agents regularly. But what about following up with former customers? They could be a wealth of referrals, as well.

With convenient and well-organized files, you can check in with a former customer to see if they’ve got questions about your report. That breeds goodwill and makes you look like a professional. Check in with the same customers in a year or two, and you might generate more business.

Home inspection reporting software shouldn’t make life more difficult. It should simplify your work and make organization easier. If you never use many of the features on your current software, it might be more complicated than you need. If multiple processes frustrate you and slow down the workday, it’s time for something new.

With winter on its way, the risk and number of home fire incidents will probably creep up. They always do. Although the National Fire Prevention Association says the number of home fires and related injuries and deaths have steadily declined for the past few decades, one fire is still one too many.

In your role as a certified home inspector, you can educate your community about home fire safety. Whether you reach an apartment dweller, longtime homeowner or someone buying their first house, any fire that you can help prevent makes the effort worthwhile.

Here are a few ideas for ramping up a fire safety campaign this fall.

If you use social media, you’ve got the perfect venue for educating people in your market and around the world. If you don’t, what are you waiting for? Every week, you could post one fire safety topic that’s relevant and valuable for your audience.

Here are a few timely ones for cold weather:

Whether Tuesday, Thursday or Monday is your Fire Safety day, stick with it. Each week, post about changing smoke alarm batteries, repairing known electrical issues in the home, getting rid of old dangerous space heaters and anything else that comes to mind. Your audience doesn’t have to be a homeowner to need fire safety tips.

Does your area have a certain concentration of fire safety issues? Maybe there are more older homes with outdated wiring. Or maybe people tend to burn leaves in the fall, which means a fire could get out of hand. Ask your local Fire Chief to give an interview to learn what matters to your community.

At no other time will you have greater access to home buyers than during and immediately after a home inspection. Naturally, you note all defects, such as a bad outlet or overloaded circuit breaker box, that affect the fire safety of the structure. But while you have the customer’s attention, use that time to offer one-on-one advice.

Unlike advising a customer to replace a roof, no liability can come from a personal conversation about fire safety. Customers already view you as an expert. Reading about why they need a chimney sweep and repair technician might not resonate as much as seeing creosote buildup and broken firebricks in person.

You’ve got several chances to make a difference in the fire safety statistics throughout your community. Everyone, even renters, can benefit from what you have to say. And who knows—some of them could become customers!

So read up on new fire safety technology and spread the word. Write up a fire-safety sheet to hand out to all of your customers. Winter will be here before you know it. If your knowledge only saves one home and family from a house fire, all of your efforts will have been worth it.

Is your home inspection reporting software up to snuff for the next season? If not, there’s no reason to put it off. Report Form Pro is a straightforward, convenient solution that gives your customers the results they expect. It also frees you from syncing your device to a computer later. Just finalize the report and send it from wherever you have a mobile device signal.

Do you view yourself as a realist who believes the truth should always be unvarnished? Do you tend to smooth minor issues because they’re seemingly insignificant? The home inspection industry is partly hard-and-fast. For example, either a water supply line is broken or it isn’t. But some parts of the job require a judgment call.

The way you present information and relate to your customers can influence their attitude about whether or not to buy. That might be a step too far, so it’s sometimes safer to take the middle ground.

Have you ever noticed the way that certain words can chance the whole tone of a sentence? You could say that a roof has a number of missing shingles, no leaks and the system is 15 years old. Or you could say the roof is bad, has considerable damage with missing shingles and needs to be replaced. Both statements might be true, but the latter has a lot of opinions woven in.

Home inspecting requires you to use your good judgment about what to emphasize and where to hold back. Stick to the facts and let your customers draw their own conclusions. A gloomy report could color their whole attitude about the house, not just the roof. And you never know, their uncle might own a roofing business.

Home inspectors and home appraisers have similar jobs, but they serve very different purposes. An inspector examines the house and reports on its condition. An appraiser arrives at a reasonable monetary value for the house, which guides the lender in knowing what’s fair.

When a home inspector offers up opinions about what the house is worth, their ideas might conflict with those of the appraiser. Not only can it cause confusion, in some situations it could create a conflict where there wasn’t one before. Play it safe and avoid the subject altogether. Once your customer has a report in hand, they can research and determine on their own whether the home is worth the asking price.

All that said, sometimes the truth needs no varnish at all. If a house is dangerous, you should probably say so. If there’s a leak in the roof, you shouldn’t skim over the details for fear of influencing your customer.

Glossing over defects or omitting seemingly small ones from the report can also influence the customer. A small chip in a toilet basin or the kitchen sink might not cause you alarm, but the customer could have a very different opinion.

The key to a great home inspection is finding a balance. Always tell the truth, but try never to push or pull customers into an emotional reaction. Words can do that, so watch what you say as well as what you write in the report. You might hate the house. Or maybe you love it and think it’s an outstanding buy. Regardless of where your opinions fall, it’s ultimately up to the customer to decide. The best way to do that is with honest, straightforward and unsentimental information.