SOFI Blog

Is Your Directory Contact Information Up-To-Date?

Every listing in the National Field Service Directory includes  information on the age of the listing. We tell firms about when you last provided an update to SOFI. We tell them if your contact information is OLD information or up-to-date information. All listings are dated.

Hiring firms usually have several choices in picking field representatives to perform their work. Most firms contact the field service representative with the most up-to-date contact information. The odds are much higher that the email and telephone are in working order when the information was updated recently ... this means much less work for them.

  CLICK HERE   to provide a FAST update of your email and telephone.

Less Wrinkles In Only Minutes - The Photo Is Proof

Puffery as a legal term refers to promotional statements and claims that express subjective rather than objective views, which no "reasonable person" would take literally. Puffery serves to "puff up" an exaggerated image of what is being described and is especially featured in testimonials.

An e-book sold online says "For a drive-by, I get paid $10 per photo I submit, most companies require at least 4-5 photos. That's $40-$50 just for the photos not including the inspection fees."

The above statement is puffery ... really more than puffery. In the field services industry today, the range for mortgage drive-by inspections is about $2- $6. The average fee  is about $4. I don't know of any firm that pays  separate fees for photos. The photos are included in the inspection fee. It is NOT TRUE that inspectors are paid $10 for each photo for a mortgage drive-by inspection.

The statement is false. It's much more than puffery. Don't believe everything you ready. Do your own research.

Some Property Preservation Mechanics Break Windows

Several years ago I published a survey asking about how property preservation mechanics break into vacant foreclosure homes. The choices were (1) pick the lock; (2) break the lock; (3) pull the lock cylinder with a Kwikset cylinder puller.

I had three choices. I needed another choice. So I added a fourth choice of "breaking the window". I never expected that anyone would choose breaking a window as a means of access. That is no a good choice.

SURPRISE! SURPRISE! Yes there were a few who picked "breaking a window" for access.

Don't break windows. Visit the SOFI Online Store at www.sofistore.com for some great lock picking tools and training and the Kwikset Cylinder Removal Tool. SOFI can make your job so much easier.

 

Hurricane Irene & Late Mortgage Inspections

If you are in a hurricane Irene threat area, you need to talk to your customers about late mortgage inspections. Hurricanes create power outages which create Internet outages and telephone outages for days and maybe even weeks.

I remember the two 2004 hurricanes that hit the east coast of Florida. Marian worked for an Ohio field services firm. The electric was out for a week ... no Internet. Many roads were closed. Almost all of Marians inspections were late because of the hurricane ... no Internet. The firm would not pay her for these late mortgage inspections. She quit the firm.

Believe me when I tell you that some mortgage firms will not even take a hurricane as a reason to be late with mortgage inspections. The Ohio firm that did not pay Marian for her late inspections did in fact get paid for the late inspections. Marian was screwed!

It seems that all of the problems in the field services industry are in the mortgage segment - the home of the low-fee inspections. Many of the national mortgage field service firms are always playing games ... where they WIN and You LOSE. Don't let them play the weather game with you!

Talk to your customers about weather delay policies. Don't wait until the storm clouds roll in.

What's With Bank Of America Stock?

On Monday, Bank of America stock was down as low as $6.01. Today the stock gapped up to a high of $8.80 at the open of the market. The stock is up 46% in just a few days this week.

I told you last week that Donald Trump bought some Bank of America stock. On Wednesday, Warren Buffett bought $5 billion in Bank of America stock.

I am reading the book "Buffett Invests Like A Girl." The theme of the book is that women are better investors than men.

READ MORE

My Nikon Camera Does Not Make Telephone Calls

My digital camera that will not make telephone calls. It takes great digital photos, but it will not connect to the AT&T network.

My i-Phone connects to the AT&T network. It takes okay photos, but nothing like my Nikon digital camera.

Most field service firms prefer that you not use a telephone for digital photos. That makes great sense to me. Cell phones are for talking and digital cameras are for taking photos. They were each designed for one specific purpose.

Most firms want 640 x 480 pixel photos and you can usually set a camera for that resolution. I always shoot very high resolution photos and then use i-Photo to reduce the resolution, as required for business photos.

Earthquake Epicenter Just Down The Road A Few Miles

Richard and Dorann are in Florida. We left Virginia about a week ago for a short trip to Florida.

Our Virginia home is about 5 miles from Mineral, Virginia, the epicenter of the 5.8 earthquake. We drove through Mineral on our trip to Florida.

The photo was taken at Miller's store in Mineral. The high school will be closed for about two weeks for repairs.

Our home was inspected yesterday and no damage was found ... nothing moved.

Dorann and I lived in Japan (near Tokyo) for four years, so we have been through some much stronger earthquakes. Earthquake can cause a lot of damage. We were fortunate. Most homeowners insurance policies do not cover earthquakes. Check your policy.

Lots More Work Coming In The Mortgage Segment Of The Industry

Fannie Mae Predicts Dismal Future for Economy and Housing

Fannie Mae expects overall economic growth to decline, taking the housing market with it on its downward trend. The company bases these predictions on declining business and consumer confidence in addition to weak job growth. The GSE said in the August edition of its regular economic and mortgage market analysis report that "recovery has clearly lost momentum." Macro economic factors are driving the mindset of consumers, according to Fannie Mae, and housing is being impacted.

LPS Takes Shortcuts ... It's All About Making More Money

American Home Mortgage Servicing Sues LPS for 'Surrogate Signing'

 

American Home Mortgage Servicing, Inc. (AHMSI) is pursuing legal action against Lender Processing Services (LPS) and affiliate DOCX to recover millions of dollars in losses the servicer allegedly incurred from improper documentation related to more than 30,000 mortgages and services preformed between April 2008 and November 2009. For its part, LPS said it was "surprised" by AHMSI's action and is prepared to vigorously defend itself against the allegations.

Wisdom Is Knowing The Real Meaning Of Words

As an inspector, you need to know the real meaning of words in the field services industry.

For mortgage inspections, the national mortgage field service firms will tell you that we can provide you with lots of volume ... thousands of inspections if you want them.

The real meaning of these words is that they can provide you with all of the low-fee mortgage inspections ($2 - $5) that no one else wants ... all of the bad addresses ... bad neighborhoods ... 4-6 digital photos for each property ... You will be working late in the evening completing online forms and uploading photos. Low fees come with lots of volume. Fees can go lower your fee when the firm just decides out of the blue to lower your fee because they can.

When a firms offers you 500 inspections at $3, they are taking them away from an inspector performing for $3.25. As soon as you are hired, they start looking for your replacement at a lower fee, perhaps $2.

Wisdom is knowing the real meaning of words.