SOFI Blog

Bid Fraud ... A Growing Problem In The Mortgage Segment

Bid fraud ... it works this way. As a property preservation specialist, you submit a detailed written bid for $1,500. The field service firm says that HUD or VA or Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac or the bank client will not approve your bid for $1,500, but that they will approve it for $1,200. They lie!

The property preservation specialist performs the task for $1,200 and the national field services firm bills it to the bank who bills it to the Government using the $1,500 written bid. The national field services firms believes this to be business as usual ... just negotiating a better price. And, they pocket $300 of the money because of their lie. It's called FRAUD!

Send Your Vendor Manager A Valentine Card

Vendor managers love to get Valentine's Day cards. Here is your chance to let some of your favorite vendor managers know how much you appreciate them and the business that they sent to you.

Go by CVS or Walgreens this weekend and pick up some appropriate Valentine's Day cards that will fit a business relationship. Tell them that you LOVE their business.

Mail them to your favorite vendor managers and see what a great response you will get. Everyone loves to be told that they are appreciated.

Watch your business grow in 2012 as you strengthen business relationships with your customers. Get some cards and mail them early.

Many field service representatives do NOTHING to grow their business ... they invest ZERO dollars in their business. A great Valentine's Day card may help to get some of your competitor's work reassigned to you.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY
We LOVE YOU at SOFI.

 

Background Checks Often Required For Field Inspectors

You can't always tell a lot from a resume. Parents run background checks on baby sitters and firms run background checks as part of the hiring process. It makes great sense.

More and more hiring field service firms want to know about your background and what you may not be telling them.

Yes, background checks are becoming more common when firms screen field service representatives. A firm requires your written authorization to conduct such a check.

The good news is that about 99% of field service firms do not charge for such background checks. They are performed at NO COST to the field service representative.

 

Many Property Preservation Specialists Just Throw Money Away

I have over 10 years of property preservation experience. I made more money every year as I learned better techniques and upgraded my equipment. In the last four years of performing property preservation, I never had to purchase a lock.  I saved about $2,500 a year by not purchasing new knob-locks.

I used a Kwikset cylinder puller to open knob-locks and I then rekeyed the old locks and reused them.

This blog has a video on using the cylinder puller and another video on how to rekey a knob-lock.

Go to www.sofi.blog.com and perform a search on the keyword rekey. It will take you to five blog posts dealing with using the Kwikset cylinder puller and the Kwikset lock rekeying kit. WATCH THE VIDEOS in the blog posts. The cylinder puller and the rekeying kit are both sold at www.sofistore.com.

Get smart ... use the proper hardware and techniques to break into foreclosure homes and then rekey locks. Stop breaking locks and buying new locks. Save some money by being smart and reward yourself with about $2,500 in savings every year.

Mortgage Middle Management Persons Can Be Like An Italian Cruise Ship Captain

The mortgage segment of the field services industry is loaded with middle persons ... middle managers. Servicers like Bank of America Field Services farm out mortgage drive-by inspections to one or more layers of middle persons ... middle managers. Most of those in the middle are inspectors with no significant management experience.

The $6 fees paid by Bank of American to the middle persons are often diluted down to the $2 - $4 paid to the person actually performing the inspections in the field.

Many of these middle persons are not very good managers and they fail ... they lose all of their work. They then stop paying inspectors at the bottom rung of the ladder and they don't answer their emails or respond to calls asking about payment. They just disappear from the planet.

It's like tyring to find the captain of a sinking Italian cruise ship. In the case of the Italian cruise ship Costa-Concordia, the Captain was quick to leave the ship and he didn't much care who drowned because of his incompetence. He only cared about himself. Middle managers also fail .... they jump ship ... they disappear ... they only care about themselves. The inspectors at the bottom get hurt.

There are very few middle persons in the commercial segment of the industry. It is a much better place to hang out as you will usually avoid middle persons (other inspectors) with commercial inspections. You want to be close to the top of the food chain and not depending on layers of middle management.

The field services industry is a great industry. You just need to hang out in the good neighborhoods and avoid the problem neighborhoods. At SOFI, we can help you find the good stuff in field services. Check out the National Field Service Directory at www.sofistore.com.

Are You Still Alive & Performing Field Services?

Are you still alive and performing field services?

For every field service inspector or property preservation specialist listed in the National Field Service Directory, we list the DATE when we last received contact information updates from that person.

This DATE is very important to hiring firms. When they are looking to hire a field service representative, they do NOT want to see a lot of bouncing emails or telephone numbers that are not in service. Hence, they start contacting those field service representatives who have the latest recorded date for contact information verification.

The hiring firms are going to FIRST contact the field service representatives who have updated or verified their contact information in 2012. Next, they will go to 2011 updates. If your last Directory update was submitted to SOFI in 2010, or later, you are probably too far down on the list to receive an email or telephone call from hiring firms.

CLICK HERE to make a FAST update to your listing in the National Field Service Directory. Make sure you move to the top of the list.

Some National MORTGAGE Firms Play Lots Of Games

Some of the national mortgage field service firms continue to play bid games with property preservation specialists.

The story goes like this. They ask for a bid and they get a well documented bid with lots ... yes lots ... of photographs.

The bid is approved and executed. The large national field service firm then says the photos do not support the ALREADY EXECUTED bid and the national firm cuts the bid to whatever they think is right. There is no negotiation. They WIN and your LOSE.

The national pays the cut bid price to the property preservation mechanic and then submits the original ... and well documented ... bid to the bank for payment. The national believes it's just negotiating a better price with the property preservation specialist. But there is no negotiation. It is really is FRAUD against both the bank and the property preservation mechanic.

What a game! It is a game of fraud. If this is happening to you and you allow it ... than you really deserve it. I would not work for anyone that does not understand the bid process and is just out to cheat someone in every way they can. It's all about money ... GREED ... and playing let's cut the bid game will bring in more money.

The federal government, state governments, local governments, homeowners ... are all suing banks and their servicers for fraud ... there is fraud at every level. It's all about the banks and mortgage servicers making a buck and fraud will help them bring in more money.

Don't play the bid cutting game. An executed bid does not get cut after it is approved. Don't play the game ... you will always lose. They will tag you as an easy mark and abuse you again and again. Be strong ... don't play the cut the bid game.

Federal Copyright Laws

Copyright, a form of intellectual property law, protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as poetry, novels, movies, photographs, songs, computer software, and architecture. Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation, although it may protect the way these things are expressed.

When you take a photograph while performing the duties of a field service inspector, you are the owner of your photographs and the inspection ... you have copyright protection. When you transfer and receive payment as consideration, you have transferred your copyright to another party.

If you do not receive payment for an inspection with photos, there is NO consideration, and you retain your ownership of both the inspection and the photos. You can file a legal action is a federal district court. You can also ask the US Attorney for legal help.

You can also file a legal action in small claims court. You should contact the end bank receiving your property and notify them that your copyrighted inspections and photos were taken with No consideration and without authorization and that your legal rights of copyright have been violated.

Don't let field service firms violate your copyright protections. Don't let them steal from you.

Create Multiple Streams Of Income

I talked this week to Michael in Washington. Mike performs field inspections, process serving and he also helps drivers locked out of their cars by opening their locked car doors. He has some great tools and tricks of the trade for getting into locked cars. He has three streams of income that are all related.

This last week I performed some detailing on my two automobiles. Detailing automobiles can be a stream of income for you.

National Detail Systems (www.nationaldetail.com) says that an independent detailer can earn $30 - $60 an hour.

Mobile detailing businesses are the easiest to set up and the most cost effective way to enter the business. Detail trucks, RVs, cars, limos, aircraft and make some great money. Get repeat business.

Create multiple streams of income. Add field inspections and property preservation as a stream of income. Multiple streams create job security in a soft economy.

SOFI can help you get started with field services as one stream. Visit the SOFI Store.

Would You Drink Diluted Beer?

If someone took a glass of beer, poured it into a larger pitcher and they diluted it with a gallon of plain water, would you drink it? Probably not! Who would drink watered-down beer?

You would not drink watered-down beer. Everyone understands that watering down a product like beer just destroys the flavor. It's not beer anymore ... it's water with a little bit of foam.

Many of the large national field service firms in the mortgage segment dilute their drive-by inspections through area managers. The inspections are watered-down. There are two many people in the middle taking a huge piece of the inspection pie.

A firm like Sand Castle Field Services pays $20 for a drive-by inspection ... no middle persons. A servicer like Bank of America uses layers of middle persons and dilutes the inspection fee down to $2 - $3. We are talking about the SAME type inspection.

You would not drink watered-downed beer. So why would you perform diluted $2 - $3 drive-by inspections? It just does not make sense.

Commercial inspections are the sweet spot in the industry. They are like drinking a fine wine. Try some. Check out the National Field Service Directory at the SOFI Store. SOFI can help you get connect with higher quality firms that pay higher fees.