HUD And REO Property Preservation

Brickie

PropertyPreservationAndInspections-s...ahoogroups.com

__________________
“Ron Paul is one of the outstanding leaders fighting for a stronger national defense. As a former Air Force officer, he knows well the needs of our armed forces, and he always puts them first. We need to keep him fighting for our country.” – Ronald Reagan

Brickie

Speaking of banks.....


Banks at risk of going bust tops 700

http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/23/news...ies/fdic_list/

__________________
“Ron Paul is one of the outstanding leaders fighting for a stronger national defense. As a former Air Force officer, he knows well the needs of our armed forces, and he always puts them first. We need to keep him fighting for our country.” – Ronald Reagan

BPWY

The cost that the banks are paying by using nationals is staggering versus the old days of working with local brokers and agents and having them hire the best contractors.
I'd venture to say that they are paying at least half again as much now versus the previous way of doing it.

a1propertyclean

Reposting 'cause you guys got busy and buried it!

Linda

__________________
Linda @ All REO Preservation
http://allreopreservation.com
allreo.vendor.review@gmail.com [experienced vendors only - please list state and counties if you're looking for work]

mtmtnman

That is no chit!! No damn reason the nationals need to take 25-30% for sitting on there arses pushing a piece of paper! What expense do they have? I buy the gas, materials, insurance and provide the labor. I do the uploads when i am done with the job. They send the photos to India for someone to pick them apart and cut us a check AFTER they get paid! Just asinine! I do work directly for some brokers here in the valley and am consistently cheaper than the nationals while still making a profit. I can barely make ends meet with the nationals.

Uncle Sugar is getting screwed too but that's nothing new. Here's an example of a repair under the deed for lease program. If you want to be part of this you have to work for the national with the contract. You have to have Plumbers, Electricians on call 24/7. Say a water heater blows at 3am. You get the call. Your plumber needs to be on site within an hour to assess the situation. Example follows:

Electric water heater 50 gallon $400
Emergency install, $300
You taking photos $100 (most plumbers won't deal with the photo BS)
Total price $800

If you work direct for the national who takes 28% off the top your invoice will need to reflect $1111.00 but as with most of this there are 2 layers of discounts to cover as most DO NOT work direct with this particular national but through a regional instead who also takes a discount usually around 25%. If this is the case, the invoice to uncle sugar is roughly double! It will have to be around $1480 - 28% for a national - 25% for a regional!! In the end were out there busting our arses, paying taxes to pay for this insanity!!!

Also don't get me started on Mold. I had a house LAST FEBRUARY that flooded. Bid for $10,000 to remove all the wet drywall from the lower level, add fans and heaters to dry the property. This would have resulted in around $6000 to me for a weeks work, heater rental and disposal fees. There was no mold YET. Guess what? fast forward to January 10. This house has sat a year now with nothing done to it. I mowed and did inspections all year on the property. The national kept wanting me to do internal inspections and after May i told them to piss off i was not entering the property. They seemed to be happy with the external inspections. My friend in the mold business says the home is now a total loss. $378,000 mortgage balance PLUS demo costs of around $30,000 if the bank goes through a national to demo minus the value of the lot at about $75,000 for a net loss to the bank of $333,000 rough numbers. It's no wonder the banks are going tits up.........................

BPWY

Today I was in 3 different houses for initial services. Lock change and winterize.

The first one was over a yr vacant by the time I was sent out. 2nd one was nearing two yrs vacant, the third one was I have a feeling that it was near a yr vacant.
All three have freeze broken plumbing to varying degrees.
Its insane that these banks let the properties sit so long to be vandalized and the plumbing freeze.
The first one the bank is lucky that the house didn't burn down. When I opened the door the smell of propane was VERY strong. And the water heater was still lit. We had a light breeze this morning and I opened the front and back door to let the breeze blow thru. When I got done with my routine the smell of propane was still in the house.

The second house that was nearing two yrs vacant the water heater was also still lit.

a1propertyclean

Just a quick note about the counties I posted that we're looking for vendors in...........

To those who responded with an e-mail:

Not a single person has sent me back any of the items I requested of them. I can't work with anyone who's not on the ball.

The typical turnaround time in this industry is 24 to 72 hours, with very few exceptions. At minimum, an acknowledgement that you received an order is expected, along with a scheduled date or refusal.

Seems as if no one is really interested in working, although many here are saying otherwise.

If you're slow to respond in this industry, you're going to lose out on a lot more opportunities.

The only way to continue getting work is to take care of the clients.

Linda

__________________
Linda @ All REO Preservation
http://allreopreservation.com
allreo.vendor.review@gmail.com [experienced vendors only - please list state and counties if you're looking for work]

BPWY

I wish some of that work was in my neck of the woods. I've had way too many days off since OCT!

a1propertyclean

Me, too, Paul. If you were in California, you'd be working.

I've got orders sitting here and I've got my vendors too busy to take them.

Too many people not taking this industry seriously, I'm afraid. I could tell you some stories!

Just out of curiosity, how many of you turn down vacancy checks or inspection requests because they only pay $15 to $35?

Linda

__________________
Linda @ All REO Preservation
http://allreopreservation.com
allreo.vendor.review@gmail.com [experienced vendors only - please list state and counties if you're looking for work]

BPWY

I don't understand where the work is. Like I mentioned in a previous post all 3 initial secures yesterday were properties that have been vacant in excess of 1 yr.
I'm signed with A LOT of companies, some the size of your company, some larger. I get a little work trickling in but not enough to stay busy.

If it wasn't for the need to build on what I've got I'd load up my truck and cruise out to CA and help you for a week or two. If I was to try that tho I'd end up getting one or two W/Os from my contacts and end up pissing off all of them and loosing what business I'm trying to build up.

BPWY

I've seen some of the sad work other "professional contractors" have done. Its pathetic.


If inspections paid that good I'd do them. When they are $8, $9, $6 I cannot cover expenses in the very rural area I live in. FIS told me that I should be happy they are offering me $6 inspections. I told them thank you for the offer but I can go just as broke sitting in my Lazy Boy drinking beer as I can out paying the banks for the pleasure of doing their inspections.

Another company I work with gives me $25 to $35 for borrow interviews, up to $75 depending on circumstances. Detailed property inspections can pay $50, $75 to $125 depending on turn around time and the type of inspection they are asking for.

a1propertyclean

Our clients pay $35 per trip charge for occupancy checks and wasted trips [there are rules for what's considered a wasted trip, tho]. Very rarely will we accept anything lower than that.

The point I was actually getting at is that inspections are an opportunity to generate more work.

We've been doing a lot of occupancy checks lately and, when they're occupied, we get contact info. The agents can then offer CFK and, when the people move, we get the trashout work. If the people are evicted, we get the lockouts.

Basically, first vendor to the property will get any work that comes from that property. I have guys right now that all they did in the beginning was run around getting photos and contact info, resulting in a lot of trip fees. They are now doing all the lockouts and trashouts and making good money.

Those who refused to make the trips aren't getting much work. It all depends on whether or not you're willing to put the effort into building up to the bigger jobs. Some do, some don't. The ones who don't show any signs of moving quicker than a snail's pace are terminated and replaced by those who will stay on top.

The toughest states to find GOOD vendors in are California, Oregon, and Washington. I've got several that I rely on heavily and they're always there to pick up the slack. They are preferred vendors in our network.

But I've been so disappointed in the laziness, lying, and cheating I've seen so far that, at times, it makes me wish I'd never opened my doors.

This industry can be as frustrating as it can be rewarding. Our vendors who don't perform can make or break us as a company and every day brings new insight into the way some people's minds work.

Linda

__________________
Linda @ All REO Preservation
http://allreopreservation.com
allreo.vendor.review@gmail.com [experienced vendors only - please list state and counties if you're looking for work]

BPWY

I can believe it. Just like trying to hire GOOD employees. They are hard to find too.

a1propertyclean

You're absolutely right and I've hired my share of guys who were gung-ho, then got lazy or took advantage.

In the summer, when we have longer hours of daylight, we pay overtime and double-time. After extensive training, we allow the crews to work unsupervised much of the time. Once, we caught a crew stopping off at the bars on the way back to the shop, thus padding their time cards.

Termination was the best we could do. Can't get back any of the money we paid out when we didn't know.

Every time I think I have people figured out, someone throws me a curve ball.

Linda

__________________
Linda @ All REO Preservation
http://allreopreservation.com
allreo.vendor.review@gmail.com [experienced vendors only - please list state and counties if you're looking for work]

mtmtnman

Linda, Do you do any work in Montana? I have 2 crews besides myself that cover most of the western 1/3 of the state....

a1propertyclean

We only had 1 property that we trashed out and maintained in Montana last year. I don't know if that's due to it being saturated by vendors or if it's because the state doesn't have as many foreclosures.

It's also possible that the nationals have a monopoly there. We don't work with any of the nationals, only banks, agents, brokers, and FDIC. For that reason, we don't get as much work in some states as others but it means we can invoice at full rate.

You're more than welcome to send me an e-mail and let me know what counties you service. I can find out if my clients have properties in your areas.

Linda

__________________
Linda @ All REO Preservation
http://allreopreservation.com
allreo.vendor.review@gmail.com [experienced vendors only - please list state and counties if you're looking for work]

a1propertyclean

Let's talk about dishonesty for a minute.

About a year ago, I happened to be checking search terms that are directing traffic to my website.

Lo and behold, someone had copied and pasted my website into their own. So I got on the ball and went to Copyscape and had it search the internet for similar issues. The free version only brought up 10 results so I paid for the full service and it located 20+ instances of plagiarism.

I wrote an article on plagiarism for CubicYard, who also published it at TheRepReport.

I don't know how many people were deterred from plagiarizing my website but I can tell you that, to date, my website has been plagiarized 50+ MORE times.

If peple can't get off their lazy arses and come up with original content, they don't deserve to be in business. Plagiarism is dishonest and carries criminal penalties.

I just had to send the e-mail below to someone who wants to be part of our network. While going through his e-mail 2 weeks ago, I clicked on the link to his website. When I found my website content in his, I asked him to remove it. He said he would do this immediately. Here it is, 7 days later and he has not done a single thing.

Ray ~

I checked your website, hoping to see that the plagiarism had been taken care of but it has not.

This issue not only disqualifies you as a vendor for us but I'm filing a complaint today, which may result in a fine or penalty and banishment of your website from the internet.

Sorry it has to come down to this but we only hire honest people and the integrity of your company is now in question.

Linda

Of all of the people I've asked to remove my content from their website, very few have done so.

I'm tired of dealing with the "theft" and dishonesty I'm coming across in this industry and this will be the first of many claims I'm going to start filing. I've tried to be nice and simply warn people of the consequences but I don't feel that companies should get a free ride and am going to start being a little more aggressive.

I've attached a PDF of the article in case anyone wants to read it and learn how to find out if anyone's plagiarizing their site.

I'm soooooooooooo tempted to post a list of the offenders. But, with my luck, I'd probably get sued for breaching someone's privacy!

Okay, end of rant. This one today just pushed me over the top and I had to vent.

Linda

Attached Files

Stop Thief! Come Back With My Website!.pdf (33.3 KB, 53 views)

__________________
Linda @ All REO Preservation
http://allreopreservation.com
allreo.vendor.review@gmail.com [experienced vendors only - please list state and counties if you're looking for work]

BPWY

Linda I would say that you have every right to be really pissed. For all the obvious reasons.

Some thing that I've seen on a few websites is that "copy and paste" isn't available. At times when I wanted some one to see some thing from another website I'll copy maybe a paragraph and include it with a link to the site.
But I've run across sites that do not allow the copy function to work. I've always assumed that was something controlled from the admin of the site??????????????
But I don't really know. I'm not that tech savy. Browsing forums and emailing photos is about as advanced as I get.

Currently I don't have a website so I don't have to worry about this sort of thing yet.

Brickie

Unfortunately, that's not that uncommon. As one grows their business, you can't be in three or more places at the same time. Thru trial & error, I have discovered that the solution for me is not have crews unsupervised. Having a good lead, foreman/woman, supervisor or whatever you want to call the position is key. Unsupervised crews will stretch things out & cost you a bunch of money.

__________________
“Ron Paul is one of the outstanding leaders fighting for a stronger national defense. As a former Air Force officer, he knows well the needs of our armed forces, and he always puts them first. We need to keep him fighting for our country.” – Ronald Reagan

uintahiker

On the dishonesty line, I had a crew out today to do a 2nd bid to remove 12 55 gal drums full of an "unknown chemical" When they got there, they were able to figure out what the chemicals were: oxygen, nitrogen, and some good old Salt Lake City Smog. Bone dry all of them, gotta love it.