Interesting event today...

I had a leaking shower - the plumbing under the drain was having problems. I called a plumber who came out immediately and was here for about an hour. Total bill was $110 - no parts, just the trip charge and labor. Worth every cent to have a working shower in the master bath!

Not much interesting in that; but, he left his business magnet and warranty. On the reverse side of the warranty is information about his services and costs and starts like this...

When that professional service technician knocks on your door, many costs have been incurred just to get him there, ready to do the job.

There are several images to characterize all that goes into that knock at the door and the service provided! Plus there is narrative at the bottom that further explains the value of the technician's expertise, all the associated costs of doing business and the need to make a little profit.

This is so cool! Check it out here or in the library.

Professional Services - Plumber.pdf

Well, after hitting lots of "brick walls" with my current broker and a long conversation with Paula a while back, I decided to change companies!

I talked to the "new" broker briefly a week ago and followed up by sending him links to Mollie's consulting presentation and to my consulting page. I also sent him a summary of what each level of service is - taken from the training manual.

We met yesterday to discuss not only consulting, but also some promotions I have wanted to do but hit dead ends. He agrees with the consulting model! He likes the transparency and offering choices.Yahoo!

In the end, I point blank asked him if there was anything we had discussed that he would not or could not support. He assured me he will support whatever I want to do! Sooo... I'm going "back" at the end of the month!

(I say "back" because I started there when we moved to Kokomo. I left because he was letting personal issues run him and his business - that has been resolved and I have watched him reengage and the business is once again on the right track.)

Once I made the decision, it felt like a dark had been lifted! I am really excited! Now to just get these closing out of the way and get on to consulting!

Thank you everyone for all your great support!

Betty Byrnes
www.athomeinkokomo.comhttp://www.athomeinkokomo.com

After much agony and a long conversation with Mollie about the local market and whether "bundling" services could work here, I have come up with a couple of scenerios and need feedback. I am going to post the two packages I came up with, but before I do, a little about the market I am in.

This market never had the rapid price increases seen in much of the country - modest 3-5% gains. The average and median priced homes sold for around $120K. Then the bottom dropped out! A major employer declared bankruptcy, lots of people lost their job, at least 1/3 of the homes on the market are in some stage of foreclosure and now the average and median sale prices hover around $85-90K.

Mollie suggested focusing on a per hour model and I may well do that, especially with buyers; but since I am focusing on FSBOs right now, I decided to go ahead and look at some packages. I need some feed back on not only the packages, but payment options. I have figured out the price of each bundle, but am not sure about payments. (I blacked out the fees - but don't mind sharing them if anyone is interested.)

I'm working on editing the Seller Needs Analysis and need some clarification on one item:

-Supply initial draft of Purchase and Sale

I don't know what is meant by this.

Thanks,
Betty