Three Repo Guys and Brand New Dodge Trucks
December 18th, 2006 → 6:49 pm @ terry
If orders continue to come in like they did over the weekend, December may be our busiest month of the year. We were out of town for the weekend and did not check our business e-mail and had no way of knowing what had come in on the fax machine.
When we got into the office – at the south end of our house - this morning there were 144 orders from one company, 152 from another, 55 from another and 2 on the fax machine. We got one order in the mail later in the day. This is all good – very good. It appears there will be no slow-down for the holidays this year.
In years past there has been a conspicuous decrease in the number of face-to-face interviews, delinquency interviews and foreclosure inspections during December. I always thought the decrease was due to the holidays. I see no slack being given this December though!
One of the companies that sends large quantities of requests sends them sorted by zipcode. Since we assign routes by zipcodes, it is a piece of cake to get those requests sorted and into the field. The other companies just send the requests in bulk with no concern for sorting of any type. It usually takes us an extra day to get these requests into the field.
I pulled up to one property today that had three repo guys out front – I recognize them pretty readily. They seemed to be doing well in their business – they had two brand new Dodge trucks both with sneaky snatch hooks folded down in the bed. It was two middle aged guys and one a bit younger that must have been the muscle. He looked it. I thought to myself that this guy, meaning the homeowner, must not be having a good day!
It’s very likely I will not be able to post everyday for a while. If I am able to post, I may have to be short. It looks like it is going to be a very heavy month. I did not work as hard today as I should have but I did get a lot of the rural stuff out of the way and I had a commercial inspection added to the end of my route.
The superhardtodeciphercode for today is (55•7.50)+(1•50)
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The Educated Guess
December 7th, 2006 → 6:32 pm @ terry
You will inspect properties which will require an “educated guess” on your part to complete the inspection form. I hate to use the word “guess” when thoughts of the word “liability” waft among my isolated and rare neurons. However, “you can’t be right all of the time”.
I may take the liability concern a bit too seriously, I’ll agree, but I stay constantly irritated by the mere possibility of a legal issue – especially one that could result because of my best efforts; in this case an “educated guess”.
The property inspection that prompted this entry in my blog would probably never cause a problem. However, it reminded me that I should write a few paragraphs on the subject.
This property has a large metal structure in the back yard. The structure has two large doors about 4 ft. by 8 ft. each, side-by-side. When opened, the passage would be about 8 ft. by 8 ft.
The back yard is fenced with a double gate on the right side of the front fence – the kind of gate that can be opened to let vehicles through.
Although there were no recent tire tracks or even a drive or worn path thru the gate leading to the metal structure, I reported the property as having a detached two car garage. When I completed the form on-site, I also made a notation that this was a metal building in the rear that may be used for storage or as a barn.
When the report was uploaded to the company, it was reported as having a detached two-car garage.
Today we received a re-check stating “This type of garage is not what records for the property indicate”. Since I had made the notation on the inspection form while onsite, we knew immediately what the problem was. In this case, there was no need to drive to the property to clear up the discrepancy. Time and money were saved. Make notes on your inspection forms and, if possible, scan all of your completed inspection forms for future reference.
The Creola Job
December 6th, 2006 → 4:49 pm @ terry
Today’s route was extremely routine. I started my route of inspections in one of the lowest income neighborhoods in the county.  I recorded the value of the first home on the route as $15,000 and that may have been generous.
I am trying to be a bit more focused on my posts. I keep reminding myself that the primary reason for my entries is the education of those interested in the Field Services Business.
Everyday I am pleased to hear from readers of this blog and on some days quite surprised at the number of people that call or e-mail to let me know they are reading, or to tell me why they are reading.
Today I had the pleasure of talking with:
- Jack in Louisiana
- Turner in Florida
- Betty in Oklahoma
- Todd in Georgia
Two callers just starting their business and two already somewhat in business.
I want to remind you once again to check properties very closely. Look for even the slightest hint of water damage, freeze damage, fire damage or breaking and entering. This is the time of year for increased reports of damage from all of these causes.
Here are pictures of two houses, one of which I inspected years ago and another I have never inspected. Both of these houses were ok a couple of weeks ago. I know because I pass by them regularly. Now, both are total losses to fire.
My route included two properties in Creola Alabama. One was a residence on 4.5 acres of land, a large lake, around 4,000 square feet under roof, and vacant! There was a “For Sale” laying in the road near the house. I called the broker to see if indeed they had the property listed for sale. “Yes, it’s listed at $280,000″. The last property on my route has been vacant for better than a year and I record its value at $250,000.
Routine, routine, routine. Not boring but still quite routine. I saw them all today, $15,000 mansions to $280,000 mansions.
Modifications have been made to some  industry terms in the glossary and I added a few new entries at The Rep Report. As usual, I made quite a few changes and additions to the Mortgage Field Services Business Manual.
Work requests continue to climb. Almost two hundred came in today and I only completed 28 for the day. Todays secret code is (28 • 6.50).