[Guest]

After reading quite a few post in this forum i have decided that the national compaines want to just make money off of you. Leaving you to make no profit.

I wanted to know what the PP people ask when they call their local REO agents trying to get work. I am new to the field and trying to get a small business up in running. Would like to make a decent income but i dont need millions of dollars.

So i am asking you folks what is the best way to approach a REO agent and make a sale. Also is any one doing a flat rate price for anything or mostly bid work. I read the HUD guidelines and figured thats a good place to start. Do you price higher for the REO agents or stay around the HUD pricing.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[Guest]

After reading quite a few post in this forum i have decided that the national compaines want to just make money off of you. Leaving you to make no profit.

I wanted to know what the PP people ask when they call their local REO agents trying to get work. I am new to the field and trying to get a small business up in running. Would like to make a decent income but i dont need millions of dollars.

So i am asking you folks what is the best way to approach a REO agent and make a sale. Also is any one doing a flat rate price for anything or mostly bid work. I read the HUD guidelines and figured thats a good place to start. Do you price higher for the REO agents or stay around the HUD pricing.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

If you are new to this field then don't bother approaching any agents, they won't give you the time of day (And they shouldn't!)

Your best bet is to work with someone who is doing this business already and learn before you start taking work on.

This forum is great but nothing beats real life experience.

If you can't find someone else to work for then sign up with Safeguard, they will hire anyone. Once you have a year or two under your belt then you can approach the brokers.

Also, by working with Safeguard you will learn who all of the brokers are in your area because they give you their contact information for each job.

When you do a job, call the broker up and tell them you are the vendor who did the rekey, trashout, lawn, etc.. and make sure you call them on every job, this is the way to build up a relationship with them. Let them know that you are available for other jobs if they need you.

Most importantly is to make sure you know what you are doing, nothing is worse then doing a piss poor job then calling the broker to brag about it! Brokers want to make sure you know what you are doing, do it right, and on time.

Good luck.

 

[Guest]

....the national compaines want to just make money off of you.

Johnny gets paid $3 to mow Mrs. Browns lawn. Johnny hires Billy to mow Mrs. Browns lawn for $2 and keeps a dollar for himself.

It's called capitalism and this is exactly how it works.

...Leaving you to make no profit.

Well...this could be for a number of reasons. It could be that your overhead is too much, cutting into your profits. Could be inefficiency. Could be a number of things.

Best answer is, if you don't like what they pay, then you should find someone else to work for who pays you what you want. It is literally as simple as that.

 

[Guest]

Regarding National Property Preservation Companies

The negativity you hear about the national companies pretty much stems from contractors being charged back for not following every single one of the rules and requirements that are set forth by these nationals.

It is my opinion that the lion's share of trouble occurs because most contractors forget that they are dealing with "EMPLOYEES" who have no skin in the game. Plus it is very easy for one of these "EMPLOYEES" to blame a problematic situation on a contractor instead of taking responsibility for their actions. Ironically, it is similarly as easy for a "CONTRACTOR" to do the same thing and simply blame stuff on the "EMPLOYEE". How many times have you heard a contractor say that he was the one at fault? Probably never.

Your best bet is going to be to sign up with as many national companies as you can. Sure you hear a ton of negative stuff on forums about them. But have you actually heard anything positive on any of these forums? The national companies are going to take approx 25% of the total amount which is the industry standard. You will meet real estate agents while working for the national companies and then you can try to network with them. You will be dealing with "employees" of the national companies so you need to know how to "bite your tongue" sometimes. Other times you may have to go over their head to their manager if you feel like you have been wronged. But just make sure you "keep your cool" at all times.

The bottom line is that if you are great at dealing with people in general, then you can actually do well working with the national companies. I have been working for a couple different national companies for the past 5 years. And even though I have experienced much of the same stuff you hear from other contractors, I NEVER allowed my emotions to take over a situation. I do have to constantly remind myself that I am dealing with an employee and I am ultimately getting paid to make that employee's job a little easier. Even when I really feel like reaching through the phone and #$%&*@# the person.

Hopefully this helps you. Good luck and keep me posted on your progress.