The World Famous TIJ Road Show

[Les]

There has been a bit of discussion in other threads regarding the possibility of a meeting(symposium) of interested inspectors regarding the future and direction of Home Inspections.

I said I would try to put something together after the Holidays and would ask for input.

I am asking for input. Please private message me if you would like to be a part of this event. I suspect nothing will be done until after the first week of January, but want to keep this in front of you as much as possible.

Maybe a poll would be a good idea to gauge interest?

[Erby]

Sure do a poll.

Place it somewhere central and easy to get in and out of, like Cincinnati or Pittsburgh.

[kurt]

Central is Omaha, isn't it?

Denver?

[Robert Jones]

Was gonna say, if Pittsburgh is considered central, I vote for Portland or Seattle.[]

[hausdok]

Kansas City, St. Louis, Branson - those are central. Cincinnati is way east of there and so isn't Pittsburgh. New Orleans would be south-center. Farther to go but a little more colorful than St. Louis, Branson or Kansas City.

OT - OF!!!

M.

[Ben H]

I'd do The Big Easy. Mainly for the food.

[Marc]

Kansas City, St. Louis, Branson - those are central. Cincinnati is way east of there and so isn't Pittsburgh. New Orleans would be south-center. Farther to go but a little more colorful than St. Louis, Branson or Kansas City.

OT - OF!!!

M.

If any of those are selected, I'd likely go, if only for the drive...the CE and a nice dinner.

What about bringing the spouses along? For company. They can shop or tour while we're talking shop.

Marc

[Scottpat]

Well if we are putting in locations.... Nashville is easy to get in with hotels all around the airport area or downtown with several manufacturers in the area like States, MGM Industries(window manufacturer) just to name a few...

St. Louis is easy to fly into.

Branson is a nice town, cheap hotels but you would need to fly into Springfield and then drive an hour south.

Denver is easy to fly in as well.

New Orleans is a great town, easy to fly in, good food, downtown hotels are typical for a large city.

[Mike Lamb]

There has been a bit of discussion in other threads regarding the possibility of a meeting(symposium) of interested inspectors regarding the future and direction of Home Inspections.

Sounds nice but I am skeptical of anything resulting other than a fun meeting by a bunch of smart, well meaning HI's.

IMO, the future and direction of our business is determined and shaped on a daily basis by the real boss: Real Estate Agents

Does the meeting have a mission statement?

[John Dirks Jr]

IMO, the future and direction of our business is determined and shaped on a daily basis by the real boss: Real Estate Agents

Now that is saddening. We should fight to keep it from happening.

How about that for a mission?

[Scottpat]

IMO, the future and direction of our business is determined and shaped on a daily basis by the real boss: Real Estate Agents

Really? I just do not see that... Now, I guess if you allow this in your business model I could see a person thinking this.

[kurt]

Sounds nice but I am skeptical of anything resulting other than a fun meeting by a bunch of smart, well meaning HI's.

Last time it happened (the Watts gig), it was one of the coolest things I've ever done professionally. No dork professional society stuff, major industry recognition in this thing we do, and a good time.

I have no idea about mission statements.

[Mike Lamb]

IMO, the future and direction of our business is determined and shaped on a daily basis by the real boss: Real Estate Agents

Now, I guess if you allow this in your business model I could see a person thinking this.

You guess? Only a person who allows this in their business model could think this?

[hausdok]

IMO' date=' the future and direction of our business is determined and shaped on a daily basis by the real boss: Real Estate Agents

[/quote']Now, I guess if you allow this in your business model I could see a person thinking this.

You guess? Only a person who allows this in their business model could think this?

Sounds about right. You have to allow them shape your business. If you don't allow them to take the reins you can do perfectly well without them. Lots of us have been doing fine for years without putting up with their nonsense.

[Jim Morrison]

Hold it close to Boston and you could find yourself with a troublemaker in your midst.

[Marc]

IMO' date=' the future and direction of our business is determined and shaped on a daily basis by the real boss: Real Estate Agents

[/quote']Now, I guess if you allow this in your business model I could see a person thinking this.

You guess? Only a person who allows this in their business model could think this?

Sounds about right. You have to allow them shape your business. If you don't allow them to take the reins you can do perfectly well without them. Lots of us have been doing fine for years without putting up with their nonsense.

It hits different inspectors in different ways. Maybe collusion in your area hasn't affected you but its impacted me in a big way where I'm at because inspectors who forge clandestine arrangements with agents have first pick of the available crop of buyers looking for an inspector because agents have funneled buyers to them up front. It's not just the buyer who's negatively impacted by collusion. At least that's how it is in my area.

Marc

[Mike Lamb]

IMO, the future and direction of our business is determined and shaped on a daily basis by the real boss: Real Estate Agents

Now that is saddening. We should fight to keep it from happening.

How about that for a mission?

Sounds good.

Where I come from the local agents don't use me because I don't meet their expectations of what an HI is supposed to be. As I have mentioned before I am blackballed in at least 3 local offices that I know of.

The broker of one of these offices had me inspect her son's house a couple weeks ago. The one I got thrown out of for taking too long. Locally, this is the only type REA referrals I get.

The southside of Chicago is a small town.

Another local agent I know had me inspect a house for his daughter. He said, "I'm here as a father, not a real estate agent." Perfect. His daughter gave me a nice Yelp review.

I'm glad others don't have to contend with this kind of sludge. I am not a defeatist but definitively pessimistic. My experience mirrors Marc's.

[Les]

I , as always, have some random thoughts.

Mission statement is in the works. If you would like to contribute a thought, private message me with a sentence of two. nothing longer that that will be considered.

This idea will not be developed for the purpose of CEs, rather more like - '....a group of inspectors getting together to initiate a discussion about our business and industry and trade etc. I am all for spousal involvement. Some of you have some good looking spouses!

[gtblum]

IMO, the future and direction of our business is determined and shaped on a daily basis by the real boss: Real Estate Agents

Now that is saddening. We should fight to keep it from happening.

How about that for a mission?

Sounds good.

Where I come from the local agents don't use me because I don't meet their expectations of what an HI is supposed to be. As I have mentioned before I am blackballed in at least 3 local offices that I know of.

The broker of one of these offices had me inspect her son's house a couple weeks ago. The one I got thrown out of for taking too long. Locally, this is the only type REA referrals I get.

The southside of Chicago is a small town.

Another local agent I know had me inspect a house for his daughter. He said, "I'm here as a father, not a real estate agent." Perfect. His daughter gave me a nice Yelp review.

I'm glad others don't have to contend with this kind of sludge. I am not a defeatist but definitively pessimistic. My experience mirrors Marc's.

I'm in the same boat as you guys, and in a much smaller market.

However, there's a lot of truth to what Mike O' is saying.

Marketing outside of the broker's office is harder. A lot harder than pandering to them and feeling dirty for doing so. Taking the easy way might pay better in the beginning but, being owned, giving control of your business to someone else, and living by their set of standards, will cost you more in the end.

The payoff, is the surprise they get when you show up for an inspection, after they've written you off as being eliminated from the game. It's harder. The satisfaction is worth the work.

[Ben H]

Hold it close to Boston and you could find yourself with a troublemaker in your midst.

Yeah, I'd come to bean town.

[Bain]

A meeting with a mission statement? An agenda, maybe? Wheee! That sounds like SO much fun!

What's wrong with instead simply wanting to get together to meet all the interesting, quirky, funny, smart people we've been tapping posts to for many, many years? Sure, we should try to accomplish something, if only for ourselves, but no way do I want to travel a thousand miles to sit next to Jim Katen's ass in a classroom.

Life is short. There's nothing odious about wanting to have some fun . . . which is not to say we wouldn't learn something while doing it. Making something like this overly serious removes much of the enjoyment from it.

Just an opinion.

(One question which MUST be addressed, of course, is whether Gary Blum, Rob Jones and I would wind up in jail together for some puerile, idiotic stunt we pulled during a weak moment.)

[kurt]

The Watts model was great. A mfg. puts up the education, we show up, learn, and have a good time.

Mission statement: Meet up, learn something, have at least two really good dinners, kick back, relax, learn something else, go home.

Mission Statement #2: No whining about realtors. It was that way 30 years ago and it's still pretty much that way if that's how you structure your marketing. I wish I was blackballed by only 3 offices.

[Mike Lamb]

Mission Statement #2: No whining about realtors.

I am all for no whining. Couldn't help myself.

These are the two key remarks from the "Good article from the Consumerist blog, (not)" thread, I believe was the impetus to this discussion.

Entities other than the HI profession continue to define what we do. There is strong resistance to hearing from us about what it is we do.

-Kurt in Chicago

How many on this site would invest a couple hundred bucks to attend a meeting and talk abt what we do?

Les

[kurt]

It's just a statement of fact. The profession lacks a coherent voice, and there's resistance from most anyone outside this gig to hearing any voice, let alone a coherent one.

It's a fact I stopped caring about....sometime or another.

I discovered there's a parallel universe where there's someone that wants to hear the voice. The someone is our customer, and even they stop caring after a while. They stop caring when they're trying to sell.

It's a variant of the flea on the dogs ass. We only matter for a short time to a (very) few people.

I think I'm going Taoist......

[AHI in AR]

I like the idea of getting together to meet, get to know each other -- scary as that idea may be in some ways -- and exchange ideas. Some time spent just engaging in some BS sessions might would be fun too.

I'd like to think that we might have some beneficial effect on shaping the future of the profession but I am a bit cynical by nature. I don't at all agree that RE agents hold all the power though. It's a matter of educating the buyers. The internet is our best ally to that goal. We just have to figure out how to harness that power.