November 18th, 2006 → 5:42 pm @ terry
If any of you are interested, I will be happy to share with you how I manage to make most days in the field produce income above what is created performing field inspections.
I guess it would be appropriate for me to put a little bio on the site to let you know something about me. What I want you to know for now is that I am an avid book collector and book reader. I cannot and will not pass by a 2nd hand store or thrift shop without going in and looking for books. It’s an obsession I know!
Today I feel like I pretty much fell into a gold mine. I went into a thrift store and noticed some books with titles that certainly would not interest the average reader. These books were primarily psychology and counseling books. I started pulling the books on the shelf and checking prices on my handheld PC. The average resale price was around $75. The books ranged in value from $150 to $24. I brought home 31 books with total value of around $2000. That is not too shabby for a little sideline business. If you want to know more, email me and I will help you if I can. It helps if you are really a book lover.
 Now to the subject matter of this blog site and this post in particular. If you have been following along with me for over a month or so, you should have noticed that I am extremely busy from the 15th of the month until the end of the month. This happens every month. Today was busy, busy, busy!   I was out the door early, around 7am and was out till dark. That’s ten hours minus the time at the 2nd hand store. I had 6 interior inspections, two of which were some of the nastiest places I have ever seen, and 71 mortgage inspections.  So here is my crytic message for the day: (6×12) + (71×6.50)
November 13th, 2006 → 10:22 am @ terry
If you are not aware of it, I am working on another site at www.RepReporter.com. This is a copy of a post made over there. It might be a half way decent excuse for ignoring this site for a while.
 I do have an exciting incident to tell you about later so be sure to check back later tomorrow.Â
It has been unbelievably busy here and some exciting things are happening. It appears that the site will have the participation of some additional national firms soon.
I have talked with many people in the industry in the last couple of days. Without exaggeration I have talked with twenty to thirty individuals that I consider having enough experience in the industry to influence the design, function and direction of The Rep Report.
Yesterday, I was on the phone almost eleven hours. Each and every minute was well spent. In fact, I was out in the field myself when a critical fault was brought to my attention. The revelation of this fault put an end to my day in the field. I felt it was important enough to justify immediate attention. Since I do not mention anyone by name without their permission, I will just say “Thank You”. You will know who you are – try it again!
This post sounds more like an entry better suited for my personal blog; in fact I may copy and post it in its entirety. The bottom line is “Thank you so much” for all of your conversations and your recommendations. I will be trying to incorporate as many of those features we talked about as soon as I can.
For those of you that I have not contacted yet, please contact me with your recommendations and continue to use the site.
P.S. The database should be available in 7 to 10 days.
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November 2nd, 2006 → 2:35 pm @ terry
Today was spent doing something all field service companies should do. I did a little quality control. I ran a route in an area normally run by another field rep so we could compare my results with the results of the field rep that checked the same properties last month.
My quality control was of only fourteen properties. It’s the end of the month and things are slowing down. I was quite pleased that the results of my fourteen inspections were identical to the other rep’s report from last month. I did however, get to add some new material to one report – a contact owner inspection.
The rep reported last month that there was a for sale sign and gave all the information needed on that report. When I pulled up to the address, there was a u-rent-it, you load-it, u-drive-it type vehicle backed up to the front door and a couple of people carrying stuff into the back of it. Sort of a dead give-away that someone is moving out.
I asked for the person who’s name was listed on my paperwork and found it was the lady loading the truck. She introduced the other laborer as her son. I gave her the message that came with the field inspection request and she told me that she had already called and notified them that she had sold her house. She wanted me to know more so she continued: “….paid $84,000 for it last year and sold it yesterday for $122,000″.
I used my Alabama education and ciphered that was a pretty darn good return on investment. Holy cow! That’s a lot of increase in value; or is it because there are still people moving out of hurricane damaged homes and looking for something else. Well, I don’t really know for sure but it looks like this real estate bubble thing is for real.
I know you’re keeping track. I’ll make it easier for you and start you off: (14•7.50)