Do you have a property inspector?
One of the most valuable people in your operation is your Property Inspector.
Now, what I’m talking about is recruiting and training up someone who is going to be your own “in house” property inspector – not someone who is hired to perform $300 inspections for you. There is certainly a time and place for that kind of professional, but for what we are talking about, we won’t need that level of detail.
The idea is to have this person on standby so that they can jump into action anytime you give them the order. This person will need to have transportation, a digital camera, a computer, a phone, and a supply of lockboxes. The job of your property inspector is to get the key from the owner, put the property on lockbox, take about 50 good photos of the property, and give a general rundown of condition.
With the pictures and “condition report” from your property inspector, and also the code to the lockbox they installed – you can begin marketing the property to your Buyer database.
By having your property inspector trained to accomplish their task correctly, this will free up a ton of time and money for you. You don’t have to see the properties for yourself. You don’t have to interact directly with the homeowners.
A traditional, professional inspection of a property will cost you around $300, but if you train up your own property inspector, you can have a property prepped or promotion for only $30-$50 per property. You’ll have $10-$15 in each lockbox that you have installed, and another $20-$30 that will go to your inspector for each house.
Think about the numbers. At 50 houses a year, a Professional Inspector would cost you $15,000 in inspections, where your own internally trained Property Inspector would only set you back around $2250.
Take the time to find, train, and prepare your own property inspector and they will certainly be one of the most valuable members of your team!
PS – For cheap lockboxes, get them from eBay. Search for “Shurlock” lockboxes – you can find them for around $10-15$ a piece.
PPS – For finding your property inspector/ Photographer, put an ad on Craigslist in the “Gigs / Labor” section telling exactly what you are looking for. You’ll likely get around 10 emails just from 1 ad. Talk to all of them, pick out a couple that look the best.