May 15th, 2007 → 10:38 pm @ terry
I have had many discussions about Field Services professionalism and the likelihood  of the topic being introduced into my discussions with others is increasing.
It is my belief that we are going to hear more on the topic and it is time for all of us to take a look at where the field services industry is headed and where we, as independent contractors, are headed in the industry.
Expenses continue to increase while I keep hearing of falling fees. I really have to question continuing to perform some services while ignoring others.
Why is it that many of us continue to work in the mortgage segment of the business performing $3, $4 or even $10 inspections when $1000.00 insurance premiums are common and insurance claims into the tens of thousands is common? Why?
Contrast mortgage inspection work with insurance field services which may pay from $12 to hundreds of dollars. What is the difference? Everyone I talk to says the difference is professionalism, training and experience.
By the way, most insurance services work requires no insurance and I have yet to hear of an insurance claim.
I think we may have to discuss this more later. How was my day? (43•6.50)+(2•25)
May 14th, 2007 → 10:23 pm @ terry
Your property inspection request forms may contain terms like REO, foreclosure, short sale, and other mortgage related terms. What do they mean?
We did some REO work over the weekend, and our routine returned to normal a bit today. It was kind of heavy on the insurance loss side, starting with four insurance inspections. Those were followed by forty-eight occupancy inspections. After getting an early start, I was home by two o’clock and was able to do a few chores around the house.
I guess I will be back on track for a while again. I appreciate your patience, your phone calls and your emails.
I will be starting a new knowledge base or frequently asked questions application at TheRepReport™. I will let you know how I intend to use it to help us all.
May 10th, 2007 → 7:34 pm @ terry
Don’t get me wrong – I use technology a lot, I’m sure much more than the average person. I am too comfortable with Java, Javascript, PHP, Ajax, Perl, RSS, HTML and on and on and on. I’m not the least bit intimidated by TCP-IP, routers, 802.11b and all that stuff.
You can tell my age when I tell you that I used to program in Cobol, Assembler, Pascal, RPG and Basic. I was a beta tester for Windows 1.1. Ever heard of that one? I didn’t think so. Lord, that’s been a while!
I love new technology and I see it solving a lot of our problems, but ….
I think there is always a use for something a little old fashioned – something like talking face-to-face or even talking over the telephone.
I guess I’m testing the strength of my soap box. I was really, really looking forward to a phone conversation, a mini-interview sort of, with the founder and President of an Internet based company I wanted to tell you about. We had exchanged a few e-mails and I was assured that he was looking forward to the interaction as much as I was. In fact, his last e-mail stated “looking forward to talking with you”. Please notice that the word “talking” was used.
There was no phone number mentioned in the e-mail. Just an oversight I’m sure. He knows that I can find it on their web site or the internet yellow pages. When the time to call approached, I went to the company’s web site and again was dazzled by its colorful and streamlined user friendliness. Yep, I thought, this is a real progressive company. They’ve got a lot going for them. I really need to find that phone number.
Well, I finally found the phone number. I was beginning to think they should have made it a little easier to find but I was still impressed with the site and my image of the company had been put in place a couple of days ago.
I wound up in one of those endless loops on the telephone. Not a human in sight! Press 997865432.11 for this department or press 876652666090911 for that department. Then a little success, a recording!
The pleasant voice stated that phone calls were not accepted – not even customer orders! All transactions must be made at the web site. No orders accepted, no opportunity to leave a message, no option to scream for help. Just a pleasant pre-recorded female voice gently telling all callers to go to ….
 I don’t know about you but I accept work orders tied to a rock and thrown thru a window. Telephone orders? Sure, no problem.
What do you mean, I’m too sensitive! Well, dang it, sometimes just a little old fashioned human interaction ain’t bad. I’m sorry. I cannot recommend this company to you. I believe they are depending on technology too much. If you was to have a question that fell outside of their pre-programmed options, well I just don’t know what you would do.
Needless to say, I was very disappointed that I did not have the opportunity to have the talk and report good things to you. As they say, better luck next time.
Yes, we have been busy. We received 865 special inspections on April 30th and they were due May 5th. That’s where I’ve been! I haven’t forgotten you though. To unwind a little late at night, I have been putting some good info on TheRepReportâ„¢. Take a look at the web links at www.TheRepReport.com and you will find I have started supplying links to banks and other lending institutions. I may not have got around to adding your state yet, but you should have a good idea of what you need to do. There are quite a few new RepReportsâ„¢ too. I think you have those figured out. If not, give me a call.
I will be passing on a little more information this week. I have had some talks with companies that had telephones answered by people and I want to let you know about them.
When the robots are cooking the turnip greens, we’re goners!Â