Thread: Interesting stats

Local newspaper reported that in July there were only 780 homes/condos sold in the Knoxville area. July of 2009 there were 1044.

There were 93 licensed home inspectors in the general Knoxville area.

According to the State web site there are only 61 that now hold active licenses.

Several licenses are listed as : 1. Inactive, 2. Expired, 3. Revoked, 4. Delinquent , and there were two that were listed as Unapproved applications.

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Originally Posted by Jack Feldmann

Local newspaper reported that in July there were only 780 homes/condos sold in the Knoxville area. July of 2009 there were 1044.

There were 93 licensed home inspectors in the general Knoxville area.

According to the State web site there are only 61 that now hold active licenses.

Several licenses are listed as : 1. Inactive, 2. Expired, 3. Revoked, 4. Delinquent , and there were two that were listed as Unapproved applications.

You obviously travel much further than that area or you would not be eating.

I do travel outside the general Knoxville area. However, business has pretty much sucked for about three years now.

When I moved to TN in 94, there were around 10 inspectors in the KNoxville area.

Originally Posted by Jack Feldmann

I do travel outside the general Knoxville area. However, business has pretty much sucked for about three years now.

When I moved to TN in 94, there were around 10 inspectors in the KNoxville area.

This particular month just happens to be the worse month since I moved to TX 6 years ago. Yes....including my first week in business here.

These are definitely the worse 18 days of business I can remember having in decades. I hope to turn the next 13 days around ...................... I better

Guys, try not to get too excited. Historically, for me anyway, August is always a slow month. People on the last vacation, students going to college, back to school is on everyone's mind, etc. I was hoping August would not be slow but was really expecting it. I think there is still a little residual effect from the FTHB tax credit but mostly just getting back to normal seasonal cycle.
Problem is it has been so long since anything was "normal" we may have forgotten.

We take our week vacation at the beach in August every year......and that's where we are right now. August is very slow here in SE Pennsylvania so seeing it dead is not a surprise.

They don't have the July numbers up yet here. I think they are afraid to post them. However, june of 08 there were about 2900 under contract. June of 09 there were about 1200, and June 10 there were 880. June was much better than July for me, so I hate to see what July numbers look like. I would guess around 400.

First 13 days of Aug were not too bad, but it has just died the last 5 days. Unemployment here is one of the lowest in the country and it is a good time to buy. I think people are just scared to buy a house right now with all the uncertainty with our economy.

I can see my numbers in my report list from 2009 vs 2010. So far 2009 wins!! Wait a minute.. that's bad! First part of 2010 was great, ableit from a shot in the arm of $$ from the feds. A graph would be easy to make, it would be like the one I saw recently in the local MLS office. It points down. July '09 vs 2010 is a no comparison.. #'s were down for me.

Funny (or not so funny) thing about inspectors is we all run hot and cold for small periods at a time.. I may be super busy in May and you were slower, then you are busier than me in June. Our client/referral base as well as the RE Market in general changes.

An agent told me at an inspection today that "activity" has picked up significantly compared to june/july... I'm guessing "activity" is good

And.. I've been getting more *Unknown Name / Unknown Number* price shoppers lately.... which are usually Home Inspectors . Once in awhile, I get a question loaded with another question and terms that would *likely* only come from a Contractor or Inspector. Those are fun, as you can "mess with 'em" a bit if you are bold enough!

*Attention Other Home Inspectors* Set your own prices, don't call other inspectors with *67 or "Private Call" set. Just call and ask! Most guys I know are honest enough to tell you how they are doing and how much they are charging!

Originally Posted by Tim Spargo

I can see my numbers in my report list from 2009 vs 2010. So far 2009 wins!! Wait a minute.. that's bad! First part of 2010 was great, ableit from a shot in the arm of $$ from the feds. A graph would be easy to make, it would be like the one I saw recently in the local MLS office. It points down. July '09 vs 2010 is a no comparison.. #'s were down for me.

Funny (or not so funny) thing about inspectors is we all run hot and cold for small periods at a time.. I may be super busy in May and you were slower, then you are busier than me in June. Our client/referral base as well as the RE Market in general changes.

An agent told me at an inspection today that "activity" has picked up significantly compared to june/july... I'm guessing "activity" is good

And.. I've been getting more *Unknown Name / Unknown Number* price shoppers lately.... which are usually Home Inspectors . Once in awhile, I get a question loaded with another question and terms that would *likely* only come from a Contractor or Inspector. Those are fun, as you can "mess with 'em" a bit if you are bold enough!

*Attention Other Home Inspectors* Set your own prices, don't call other inspectors with *67 or "Private Call" set. Just call and ask! Most guys I know are honest enough to tell you how they are doing and how much they are charging!

That happens every year around this time thru the fall. I will go so far with the call and try to be cool. The only calls I had this week were the unidentifiable caller calls. Of course they all end with "I have to talk to my wife and such" or something similar. I do always fell like blowing the call out with an elaborate speech about experience and years in and send them to multiple areas of my website and others websites. They do not come straight out with "I am calling for a quote" They want to be smooth and not be found out so they play along a bit and generally hang in there a bit after the price is quoted but still have to talk to mommy.

I find it amusing to a point but it is always when work is either slow or non existent. In those times it is a little tougher to play along. Or should I say, quite irritating.

I do believe things will pick up a bit because the phone can just not ring any less.

Yep... a disproportionate number of calls that are "Unk Name/Unk Number" come in when things are slow.

I'm sure that the phone companies can set up a way to *block private calls* This would stop the annoying HI's that call for quotes.. but would also "discourage" legitimate callers as well.

I did ask a guy yesterday after a bunch of questions if he was a HI... I could just *tell* Anyway, he said "NO... yeah"

I asked him his name and I had never heard of him.. I mentioned to him that if I as a Home Inspector had never heard of him (he was in my area) it's likely that he should *fix that* to improve his business..


Just a thought

Originally Posted by Tim Spargo

*Attention Other Home Inspectors* Set your own prices, don't call other inspectors with *67 or "Private Call" set. Just call and ask! Most guys I know are honest enough to tell you how they are doing and how much they are charging!

LOL.. May I add, don't say you will call back to schedule the inspection, after you check with your wife to see what her schedule is.

Originally Posted by Ted Menelly

That happens every year around this time thru the fall.
I find it amusing to a point but it is always when work is either slow or non existent. In those times it is a little tougher to play along. Or should I say, quite irritating.

I do believe things will pick up a bit because the phone can just not ring any less.

Same thing when I was using pay per click web advertising, my costs and activity went way up the slower it got. I figure it was bored inspectors out checking out the competition and I finally turned it off.

Originally Posted by Jim Luttrall

Same thing when I was using pay per click web advertising, my costs and activity went way up the slower it got. I figure it was bored inspectors out checking out the competition and I finally turned it off.

I experienced the same thing Jim. Some of the bills were getting out of hand.

Flat fee advertising is the only way to go. That's actually pretty funny because where it is so slow I do not have the money for it. Anyway knowing with a flat fee as in the advertising spots above the map or flat fee for map optimization seems to be the only logical way of marketing dollars to be spent.

I pay no one for this and I am number 2 to 3 next to the map in my city and number one in Carrollton and the phone is not ringing so I would safely assume the phone is slow for most. I also have pretty good organic search placement for multiple cities and the phone is slow. Realtor referrals from the folks that at least have me on a list is slow. The multiple other avenues for home inspectors that I usually get an occasional call from is dead.

One thing that may pull things back a bit is the APR for mortgage rates is still dropping and the lowest ever.

Question

How many folks out there use Angie's List and if you do what is the success rates with this service.

Also

Those that do market heavily to Realtors and keep it extremely ethical and there is no buttering of your reports or explanation of findings to the clients.....what do you contribute to your successful marketing to.

All answers can be private if you wish. I use to occasionally throw emails to Realtors but I do nothing regularly and at this time I do not use Angie's list. Just thinking of other avenues. Years ago I also did the 2 minute hellos at Realtor meetings which never really amounted to much for the dollar output. MLS meetings as well but lunch cost a small fortune for all those folks to get a call or 2 in the future.

Suggestions????? Gotta regroup and all options are open...Well almost all options.

Originally Posted by Ted Menelly

Question

How many folks out there use Angie's List and if you do what is the success rates with this service.

.

I do. I average 1-2 inspections a month from them.
To be at top of the list you do have to pay.
I did find out by letting then know that you don't care if your listed or not they will negotiate the fee considerably

The rationale behind Angie's List allowing companies to pay for advertising/higher visibility on their site seems.........odd. They hit me up all the time to use their advertising. I just stick with the reviews I have on their site.

Frank B., you are probably closer to being right. I heard that June '10 had 9,500 listings here (Okla. county) and 1350 closings. Some new & some existing. It's as if someone just closed the door on the market June 30th when the credit ended. Worst I've ever seen it. There are alot of factors. The I.As (illegal aliens) & others used to get qualified almost simply if they were alive. No more. We won't know what NORMAL is for a long while I'm affraid.

It's funny.... the news hit today of the terrible housing market and several friends/family asked me what I was going to do. As if it didn't happen until the news story hit. To us "in the trenches" this is old news as we were living it as the statistics were actually being compiled.

Strange thing is August is killer so far... I've been really busy. Not sure if I'm lucky (or good )

I'm hoping we've just finally shed the tax credit "hangover" and are back to the normal piss poor market - as opposed to the non-existent market.

Originally Posted by Jack Feldmann

Local newspaper reported that in July there were only 780 homes/condos sold in the Knoxville area. July of 2009 there were 1044.

There were 93 licensed home inspectors in the general Knoxville area.

According to the State web site there are only 61 that now hold active licenses.

Several licenses are listed as : 1. Inactive, 2. Expired, 3. Revoked, 4. Delinquent , and there were two that were listed as Unapproved applications.

My local paper today reported 566 closings in July in the greater Capital Region which includes a four county region. Down by 39% from last year. Number of licensed home inspectors in the 4 counties is 166. That is 3.4 inspections per inspector for July!

Angie's List is our first or second most important referral source after those from prior customers. We do not buy any ad's. Although I have paid to use the A. L. Super Service award logo on our own website. (This year they didn't charge for it.) We have only paid for our own family membership, since it is useful to help find good contractors. I actively encourage customers to join, and to write reports on us. This approach has helped us win the Angie's List Super Service award each year from 2002-2009. This award helps push you up near the top of the list. I believe most A.L. members are smart enough to see that just because a vendor has a coupon offer (and is therefore at the top of the list) doesn't mean they are the best choice.

Lately I've been encouraging customers to review us on Google local. This is a free service, but has no formal ranking system except that if you are closest to the search location, you are near the top of the list. Other factors that move you up the list are # of favorable reviews, and extent of content in your website. To see how you rank, type home inspector and your zipcode or city,state in the google search box. If you haven't filled in all the data on your Google local page, I encourage you to do so. You will see mine if you search home inspector 55344. Click the "more" item after the listing.

The bottom line is, that until this week, which is busy for some reason, we were down %40 from May through July compared to 2009. This is exactly the same % as the R.E. market sales decline in our area. (MN Twin Cities).

Best wishes.

Maybe it is turning around. I have booked 14 inspections in the last three days. I came into this week with squat and now I am booked til next tues and working this Sat. I guess the news will be saying that the stimulus is finally working next month when the Aug numbers are in. It is still not one of my best Aug, but it sure did make me feel better. I guess I can put off going and standing in the Lowes parking lot to find work another week or two. Hope it keeps up.