Who do you market to?

[Les]

Bruce,

This is part of the "maybe more later".

I think you can see that you are not alone in the quandry of marketing. I know a man from down south that has enjoyed great success in this business and now makes a living showing others how to do it. He truly is one of the nicest, most honest men you will ever meet. He has a wonderful family, pretty good health and a good spiritual basis. However, he is leading many folks astray - in my opinion. I "believe" he is wrong. But if I were to mention his name, there would be dozens of inspectors that would defend him and his program. He is NOT wrong in the global sense, just wrong in some of his recommended methods of marketing and not fully disclosing the implications of those methods.

Inspectors have only to deal with one person, face to face and head on. If you have the knowledge base and personality, add a little showmanship and patience. It don't matter wheather you have flyers, yo-yo's, fancy business cards, or a yellow page ad. You, as a newer inspector, must try it all. Lots of experienced inspectors got tired of doing inspections and now "teach", but they forgot what got them into the dance to start with - integrity and education.

I would think no less of you (or others) if you passed out flyers, buisiness cards, taught at homebuyer's seminars, joined local board of realtors, visited open houses, or shined shoes at the realtors ball, as long as you do a good objective inspection that is the best you can do and are proud of the end product. I must warn you that it takes a very strong person to consort with the supossed enemy. Agents are not the enemy, they need a little reminder sometimes to be ethical.

[kurt]

I think that's the most I've ever heard Les say. It's all true.

BTW, what island?

[Les]

I have a propensity to lay off the technical stuff, don't have the patience. I do have a real passion for this industry. Kurt will be in Grand Rapids Mi in April doing a show and tell and round table of old farts. Those of you with nothing better to do should make an effort to be there. The conference is sponsered by the Great Lakes Chapter of ASHI and is always first class.

Maybe I am feeling like a few words from the likes of the old farts could be our professional legacy! Anybody ever try to argue with John G or JD G??

I lived on Beaver Island in Northern Lake Michigan. Former Kingdom of JJ Strang.

[ozofprev]

Originally posted by Les

I lived on Beaver Island in Northern Lake Michigan. Former Kingdom of JJ Strang.

Why would anyone ever leave Beaver Island?

[chicago]

Must be before my time.Who is JJ Srang.

[Brad Manor]

I may be wrong, but I believe Strang was one of the early leaders of the Latter Day Saints of the Mormon faith. I was in Salt Lake City a few years ago and recall the name in some of the literature I read there.

-Brad

[chicago]

Guess they won"t be looking for" Girls Gone Wild "on that island.

[kurt]

Originally posted by Brad Manor

I may be wrong, but I believe Strang was one of the early leaders of the Latter Day Saints of the Mormon faith. I was in Salt Lake City a few years ago and recall the name in some of the literature I read there.

-Brad

That is (very nearly) correct.

On the migration west to Utah (where they didn't know they were going yet), Strang split off from the main group after a conflict w/Joseph Smith.

They headed north, had lots of troubles along the way, and eventually ended up on Beaver Island where Strang proclaimed himself King Strang, and declared Beaver Island to be a separate entity from the USofA. It is the only "monarchy" to ever stain our soil.

After several episodes w/the mainlanders who disagreed w/the dillydallying that was going on w/underage girls and the polygamy stuff, a bunch of them went over to Beaver Island, and killed him dead right thar.

End of monarchy and story. Some of his descendants still dot the upper peninsula (yah, is troooo).

Les was smart to get off Beaver Island; it's a dinky little sand pile offshore that has about 23 residents in winter. What Les should have done is buy up all the swamp land on the SW quadrant when it was still almost free; that land is now ridicilously expensive.

[ozofprev]

That's a cool bit of history. My imagined history was much nicer, however. Thanks for ruining that for me.

[chicago]

Thinks I will try Putin Bay on lake Erie first.

[Les]

Well, it is not quite as bleak as Kurt portrays. The story is really complex with lots of violence, sex, politics and racism. There are still several houses and buildings on the island from that era. Google up Beaver Island and it gives a pretty good quickie overview.

I built houses there, average time start to finish was 2yrs. Saw the land values go from 800 for lot to sky's the limit.

Gary Comer, of Land's End fame, brought an airport, library and dock in the late 80's and it was downhill from there! I never had a vehicle license plate and helped close the "dump" (hardware store for islanders)in the early 90's. After that we had to buy everything and import it, no more recycling tires, car parts, furniture, etc.

It is definitly a life style for unusual people and I loved it as a single man. There is no consideration of time and absolutely nothing you had to do.

It was a perfect break from this business for 3 days per week!

[kurt]

We must have been on the island "together" from time to time. Me & a couple other hippies would go up there & hang out, camping on the (then very plentiful) empty lands. It was pretty amazing; you'd take the ferry over, and all of a sudden you were in this world completely apart from anything.

It emptied right out in winter though; a couple locals, and that was it. I had to have seen Les at least once; there weren't that many people that you could miss someone.

Les, did you ever know Bailey, the surfboard shaper?

[Les]

Yep, knew him and all the family. Perfect example of an eclectic populace!

My west neighbor - 1/2mile away, was poor as a church mouse and my east neighbor was a billionaire. Both looked and acted identical when on island and both drove '71 chevrolets. At the Island bar, The Shamrock, everyone from the island was equal except for the tourist; Flatlander, Conesucker, Jackpine Savages, Boat people, Sail boat people and private pilots.

We had the little people (2) from Wizard of Oz fame, poets, authors,int'l bankers, boat and board builders, witness protection people,professional sports people, Native Americans, Gill netters, pro baseball people, CEO's of mega companies - all were equal. No police and everyone was on the fire department. One paved road, two churchs (Christian and Catholic, never figgered that out), a K-12 school with as many as 24 students and a very good library. Ah the good ole days!

I met a woman I wanted to marry and she came to the Island one time - nothing to do, so she never came/went back and I had to make a decision, Her or the Island - She won!

No doubt I saw Kurt, as nobody ever came or went without everyone knowing. During the summer we saw hundreds of neer' do wells! The land he is talking about on the south half of Island was dirt cheap - then. I once bought 20 building lots for $18 each in back taxes.

Sorry for going on, but it is a unique piece of history and a good place to live if you are eclectic/ecentric.

[kurt]

Yeah, you got to experience it when it was still the real deal. Not so, now. Man, you're lucky. Did you hang onto any of the $18 dirt?

I doubt everyone's equal anymore; last time I was up there (6-7 years ago), it was soooooo different from the times you're talking about. Big money. Very big, and they want you to know it.

Oh well, I've still go my hideouts, but they aren't on the Beav anymore.....

[ozofprev]

Les & Kurt,

That is so cool. Thanks for sharing. I don't suppose Beaver is any good for a TIJ meet.

[hausdok]

Aw hell,

Let's just book an Alaskan cruise out of Seattle and put all of the TIJ'ers on board. That way, the crew can just throw us overboard when we start acting like our cumudgeonly selves.

OT - OF!!!

M.

[Phillip]

Mike,

That sounds like a plan. When are we doing it?[:-dev3][][:-bonc01]

[charlieb]

Cabins are still available.

http://www.mikecrow.com/cruise/

[Sacredgrooves]

90% of our inspections come from realtors that use us more or less exclusively. We simply weed out the agents with less than favorable ethics. The successful agents tend to want the best for the client as opposed to worrying about making their commission. They realize money comes from good service, which is exactly what we provide.

We keep everything very black and white. I dont care how miniscule the problem is; our objective is to tell the client every issue with the home, and to cover our backsides. If that pisses an agent off, well then they dont need to call us again. The most successful agents I know are just as eager to find out what is wrong with the house as we are. They dont want their name in the mud for selling a shoddy house to someone.

for the record, we are far from alarmists. We deal in the reality that basically anything can be fixed and usually problems are not as severe as they sound.

[allspec33351]

Sacredgrooves

I do not understand how you can be in this business around 27 years and get 90% of your business from Realtors.

Why don't you get more referrals?

Captain