The Home Inspector Licensing Advisory Board of the Washington State Department of Licensing approved National Property Inspections, Inc. as a provider of Home Inspector Fundamentals education. As an approved educator, National Property Inspections, Inc. can instruct the necessary courses for individuals seeking their home inspector licensure in the state of Washington.

The three-week pre-licensure training, which takes place in Omaha, Neb., instructs pre-licensed inspectors on topics in multiple aspects of the property inspection business, including technical issues and business and marketing practices.

Pre-licensed inspectors are also required to receive hands-on experience with in-field ride along training in which a pre-licensed inspector will spend time with an approved, licensed In-Field Training Provider.

“National Property Inspections, Inc. is pleased to be an approved home inspector training company in Washington State. We look forward to bringing on board new franchise owners/inspectors and seeing them complete this extremely thorough training program,” President Roland Bates, said.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), in cooperation with Viking Range Corperation, announced a voluntary recall of about 45,000 Viking Built-In-Side-by-Side Refrigerator/Freezers and Refrigerators with Bottom Freezers. The refrigerator's door can detach, posing an injury hazard to consumers.

This recall involves Viking built-in 48-inch wide side-by-side refrigerator/freezers and the built-in 36-inch wide refrigerators with bottom freezers with the following model and serial numbers.

Model Numbers Starting With	Date Codes
VCSB481, VCSB482, DDSB482, DFSB482 DTSB482, DDBB362, VCBB360, VCBB362 DFBB362, DTBB362, DTBB363	All units
VCSB483, DDSB483, DFSB483, DTSB483	Date codes before 030104
VCSB483D, DDSB483D, DFSB483D	Date codes before 030105
VCBB363	Date codes before 102005
DDBB363	Date codes before 112305
DFBB363	Date codes before 041006

The product was sold at appliance and specialty retailers nationwide from July 1999 through April 2006. Consumers with recalled refrigerators should contact Viking immediately to schedule a free in-home repair.

For more information, go to http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09242.html.

Sales of existing homes continued to rise in May in both the U.S. and Canada.

According to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR), U.S. existing home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – rose 2.4 percent in May. May’s increase was the first back-to-back gain since September 2005. 

An NAR May survey revealed that first-time home buyers accounted for 29 percent of transactions. The number of buyers looking for homes was also almost 10 percent higher than numbers from one year ago.

The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $173,000 in May, which was down 16.8 percent from one year ago.

For more information, go to http://www.realtor.org/press_room/news_releases/2009/06/ehs_continue?LID=RONav0021.

According to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) home sales totaled 49,521 units in May, which is 1 percent below numbers from one year ago. The national MLS® residential average sale price in May was $319,757, the highest monthly level on record.

The supply of homes coming onto the MLS® market continued to decrease in May, to the lowest number since December 2005. With the number of sales rising and new listings trending downward, the balance of supply and demand is tightening up in many regions.

For more information, go to http://creanews.ca/.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will allow homebuyers to apply the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit toward the purchase costs of a FHA-insured home.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 offers home buyers a tax credit of up to $8,000 for purchasing their first home. Families can only access this credit after filing their tax returns with the IRS. Under FHA's new rules, FHA will now permit its lenders to provide a short-term bridge loan that will let qualified home buyers use the tax credit to either make a larger downpayment above the FHA required 3.5 percent, cover closing costs or buy down their interest rate. 

According to estimates by the National Association of Home Builders, the Administration's homebuyer tax credit will stimulate 160,000 home sales across the nation - 101,000 of which will be first-time buyers who will receive the credit. Another 59,000 existing homeowners will be able to buy another home because a first-time buyer purchased their home.

For more information, go to www.hud.gov.