Not Your Typical Day
Posted on | June 19, 2007 | 17 Comments
At 8:39 in the morning I completed my first route of the day. On occasion I will leave quite early in order to accomplish a special task or just to better arrange my day. Today Vickie and I had an appointment at 9:30 am so it was smart to get some of the work out of the way early. I was out early to finish the inspections I was unable to finish yesterday due to the stormy weather. (12•6.50)
We finished our appointment and decided that we should complete as many inspections as possible so we might have the luxury of taking the weekend off. We assembled a fairly large route and I worked until a little after sunset to complete all of them. (52•6.50)
We received three additional merchant verification requests by e-mail while we were out. Either these companies have acquired some new accounts or my contacting them in the last couple of weeks really paid off. I will be sure to give you an update on the inspections. I’ve already mentioned two companies for you to contact for merchant verification assignments: www.equicheck.com and www.turnerofthecentury.com.
Inspection orders are coming in heavy again so I will be very busy this week. Please call if you need to talk, however.
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June 20th, 2007 @ 10:19 am
[...] Here, Terry Platt talks about his busy day doing home inspections. He grossed $403 before expenses of course. (If the inspection business interests you, click through. Terry links to a couple of companies sending him business.) [...]
June 21st, 2007 @ 6:32 am
[...] Here, Terry Platt talks about his busy day doing home inspections. He grossed $403 before expenses of course. (If the inspection business interests you, click through. Terry links to a couple of companies sending him business.) [...]
June 21st, 2007 @ 10:20 pm
Terry:
I started doing this inspection business a few months ago, hoping it would produce some badly needed cash. I have rental properties that have been losing money, and worrying me. I have had some success in this business, and I really enjoy doing these inspections (mostly merchant sites: car lots and mortgage companies). I do need to get more volume, though. I really appreciate you sharing not only your varied experiences but especially the numbers (what really inspires me)! My main firm has been Turner of the Century (Brent Turner, Nikki, Sandi, Jody). They have been a real pleasure to work with. Their assignments are straightforward, and there is usually no unexpected stress-inducing surprises, and they pay well at a fairly good rate. The problem is they alone just can’t give me enough jobs to keep me busy and provide an adequate monthly income.
Thanks for running your blog; I check it about every day. Again, I will reiterate: I really appreciate your altruistic effort.
Sincerely,
Lamont McDonald
Ideal Inpections
3524 Baugh Street
Raleigh, N. C. 27604-3727
Ph./FAX: (919) 850-3376
Cell: (336) 693-9973
June 22nd, 2007 @ 6:18 am
Hi Lamont,
I’m glad you found us and more than glad that you decided to leave your comments. I am sorry to hear of your souring real estate efforts and I’m sure it is stressful.
You are already having good luck in the field services business by having received assignments from Turner Of The Century. Brent is one of the really good guys in the business. The thought just occurred to me that you might want to pick up the phone and call Brent. Ask him if he knows other companies you might contact to get more assignments. He’s the kind of guy that will help you if he can.
Lamont, you have kind of focused in on one of the toughest challenges in this business which is getting more of the good stuff.
Many of us in the business are starting to question the saneness of continuing with mortgage inspections in light of the expense, stress, insurance, etc. The fact remains,however, that mortgage inspections is the most consistent work and supplies a large volume of work.
Pretty much all other field service work pays more but there is less of it – from any ONE company at least. Here’s something that may help – use your neighborhood as an example. At any point in time in any neighborhood there are dozens if not hundreds of business transactions occuring – most people just do not think about this way though.
There are monthly mortgage payments, random refinancing, random delinquencies, insurance claims, new boats, motorcycles, RVs and on and on. The trick is to try to become the rep for the companies that have the contract to service all these companies.
Who are they? There’s the problem! The local rep is not going to advertise on bill boards because he does not want you to know about all this! And, the low paying companies don’t want you to know about the better paying companies.
You need contacts and I will send you some. And, I promise you, every minute you spend poking around on the Internet will reward you in the long run. Go over to http://www.TheRepReport.com and look at the ReReportsâ„¢ I have put together. There are hundreds of them. If you do not figure out why I have put them there, give me a call and I will give you a few hints to help you in your research.
Thanks for dropping in. You will always be welcome here and I’m looking forward to introducing you to some of the other regulars.
June 26th, 2007 @ 12:11 am
Thanks for the advice. I will try your suggestions.
I missed you last Friday; was glad to see your entry for Monday.
Lamont
August 6th, 2007 @ 10:23 pm
This is the type of information I’ve been trying to find for more than a couple of years until now, and thank you for sharing this free information and website of companies that may have inspection assignments. I have completed some assignments for Clear Capitol and WM Realty. Again thanks for your blog.
August 23rd, 2007 @ 8:54 pm
Hi Terry,
I am just starting out.Found your site online.Filled out a few vendor apps for companies listed.is there any advise you could give a new comer.
Thanks Greg
August 24th, 2007 @ 6:40 am
Diversify. Commercial, insurance, local accounts and mortgage. Network like your business depends on it – because it does.
August 27th, 2007 @ 2:15 pm
Hi, I have been reading your blogs and find them quite useful in my efforts to get into this business. Thanks for all your great work! If possible, can you please send me some good contacts for work in my area of 43614 and surrounding? I’ve found quite a few but I’m not sure if they’re good places to work for. So far I’ve applied for
rapidsurveygroup
cis grp.
crm global
fis
millennium info
keystone risk
northstar reports
research specialists
August 27th, 2007 @ 4:56 pm
I think I have done work for all of them except maybe Northstar Reports. In fact, I have talked with some of the execs at the companies – some have called to inquire about TheRepReport.
Looks like you are in the Toledo area. There’s quite a few large mortgage service companies in Ohio. However, right now, I am very down on the mortgage side of the business. Very! I have been saying for months now that the industry is changing. The mortgage servicing companies are changing too – I’ve seen nothing positive in quite a while.
Diversify until you can’t stand it any more. Contact a few companies that perform other services besides the services you now do.
Contact Douglas-Guardian, National Creditors Connection, America’s Infomart, Collateral Specialist, Inc.,Sand Castle Field Services. Oh by the way, did I mention you need to diversify?
August 28th, 2007 @ 12:01 am
thanks for the info. will do!
January 19th, 2008 @ 11:34 am
I answered an e-mail about starting a home business. I received a letter from T & M Field Inspection Service out of Bayville, New Jersey. (Tom Murtagh). Have you heard of this company? He wanted $44.00 for his business plan and said they needed local independant reps in all zip codes. Could you please advise and thank you for time.
Sincerely,
Dee Harmon
January 23rd, 2008 @ 8:39 am
Hi Dee,
I have heard of Tom. In fact I think I talked with him several years back. I do know he has been on the internet for quite a while – I remember finding his site a long time ago when I was doing research for my business.
Everyone of us that have information for sale have our own presentation style and experience to draw from. So, is one any better than another? Who’s to say? I am sure Tom knows information that I don’t and vice versa.
You’re on the right track. Look and ask questions.
January 25th, 2008 @ 11:32 am
Dear Terry,
I was delighted to find your website. I currently work for Rapid Survey Group in both central Indiana (May through October) and in southwest Florida (November through April) but they haven’t had much work lately. I have contacted many different companies for additional work in Florida but have had no luck. Do you think the situation of having dual residences works against me?
Can you suggest any companies I might contact for more work?
Thank you so much for your time and the website.
Terry
January 26th, 2008 @ 11:37 am
In nine years of field services work, I can recall only one company that notified me beforehand that I was being replaced. I only knew about this one instance because they were bold enough to call and ask if I would lower my fees in order to keep the work.
My point is: why do the companies need to know about your dual residences? I think you may want to give a two weeks notice prior to moving – that’s a lot more than you will get from them.
Now, on the more positive side; if you contact just about any servicing company other than mortgage servicing companies, you are always treated in a more professional manner. I want to think that you would have absolutley no problem finding insurance inspections, floor plan inspections, leased equipment inspections and others regardless of residence status.
What’s your background? Find a niche. One rep I know stumbled up on ATM Machine inspections; he now has reps nationwide cleaning the screens!
March 8th, 2008 @ 10:05 am
Hi Terry,
Happy to have stumbled upon your site. I am a Real Estate Broker of long term looking for a less public and ego riddled way to make money with my experience. I found that I enjoy doing BPOs, inspections, loss mitigation and a host of other observe and report work. I like the variety of work, the multiple sources of income and the freedom of doing this work only if I want to. I like that all the work is web-based and that I can always find a little bit of work each day by checking my email. I have two bigger Field services companies I am currently working for, each with their own specific meltdowns going on. One gives me plenty of work on a monthly basis, but doesn’t seem to know when the payday is and I have to nag all the time to get paid. The other is a big national organization that promised BIG volume and a state of the art website, then sent me a dozen or so orders and then dried up. I have all the equipment I need, the time and I am a hard worker. I do a few listings to fill in the gaps and bird dog for a couple of investors. All I really need is one good reliable field services company who has the work and knows what day is payday. Am I asking too much?
March 8th, 2008 @ 8:26 pm
No, you’re not asking too much. Right now, it probably is a little more difficult to get going because of the sheer volume of work. It’s almost impossible to get anyone to take five minutes to work with a field rep.
You are aware of what’s going on, I’m sure. It appears that the mortgage side of the field services business will grow and grow for a while. I see forecasts saying mid 2008 and even until 2012. All I know is we are busy and having to take on more people.
Solicit every company you can find. Look at the links at http://www.TheRepReport.com and start calling. Then, get busy contacting the real estate department or the collections department of lenders in your state – most reps I talk to are having good success with that.