HIPs debate - the debate goes on - for some !
Copyright © Henry Winter
www.homefindingasabusiness.co.uk

If you are new to the property market HIPs will mean nothing to you. But it will.
If you are experienced in the property market then HIPs will have an impact.

But what is all the fuss about.

A HIP simply starts the whole long winded, uncertain home buying process off in week one instead of the date (probably several months later) than it currently does. The Home Condition Report will highlight what is right with a home and what is wrong with it. Depending on which supplier a Vendor uses even homes with things wrong with them will have all the repair costs quoted (even with a warranted price and quality of work!)

What does that mean - quicker transactions, more certainty and in the overall scheme things less hassle and probably less cost not more. So, June 2007 is not far away.

Deal with agents on the Homesearch now that are embracing the change - quicker transactions for the Homefinder, more certainty for both you and your client.

About the Author:
A veteran of the UK estate agency, relocation and home search markets.
Henry Winter is an author, marketer, adviser and publisher.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
To find one of the best home based business ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home visit:
http://www.homefindingasabusiness.co.uk
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Maps Maps Maps.......!

The world is awash with Maps. Google Maps, GIS (geo graphic information systems), MultiMap, getmapping.com and so many more. Life "ain't like it used to be".

Just imagine the scene. It's pouring with rain outside, the client is tired ftom their "red eye trip". The home search is venturing onto "lesser" known territory and your lost. Out comes the folded, creased map that takes up half the car, and you poke the clients eye out whilst unfolding it. What a nightmare!

Nowadays with Tom Tom's, and other sat nav aids, getting around is much easier to areas that a Homesearcher may not know very well. Google Maps also means that you can see the property and the land layout so much more easily.

But is that enough?

Providing Home finding services is a high "value added" service.

Like many services, if the client had the time, the inclination, the contacts, they could do it themleves. But no, they have chosen to use you to help them find a home.

So, how can you add value to a map.
1. Some mapping packages can be purchased relatively inexpensively, they can be for the whole country, they could be just for your specififc part of the country.
2.From a Homefinders point of view they need to show information that is valued. It could be a map showing the client details about all your viewings that day with relevant notes on it about the area, noise, traffic, schools - in factr any speciofic bit f useful info can be added to a map.
3. You may want to show where certain gyms are, you may want to use them to screen potential viewings before you even leave your home or office on a viewing. You may want to look at Plot size, orientation to the sun, proximity to shops...the uses are endless as long as they are relevant to what you do.

If you want to find out what I recommend, and why, drop me an email.

Getting your first break.

My first break in home finding came through a friend. She had a problem when one of her "reliable" home finder colleagues let her down. I helped her out, enjoyed it and went on from there.

The first break several other people had, that I know as successful Homefinders, was meeting me. I trained them how to do it and, several years later they still are happily and enjoyably doing so.

In other words your first break can come from anywhere.

The key thing is to capitalise on it and build from that. My background is possibly different from yours. I have spent 25+ years in the property market. Yet I did not do my first Home find until I was in my forties (I am still am for a few more years yet!). I probably found it easier to do than many as I had also recruited other Homefinders for other businesses.

To create your first break you just need to focus on where the most likely source of business is.
Who do you know in the business community? They may know people that could need your service. Do you know any builders on the look out for land? Ask friends that work who the Human Resources contact would be and follow that up with a letter or telephone call. Have you made people around you aware that you are a Homefinder, or going to be one?

"From little acorns great trees grow".....but if you don't plant a few acorns of your own, nothing will grow!

If you want to do Corporate Homefinding then the local HR departments are where you should contact. If you want to get work from relocation companies then contact them. If you want work from high net worth individuals then get work from them, or network with people that do know them. If you want to know how to do all that then contact me.

There are lots of ways of creating your first break and if you would like help creating yours drop me an email henry@homefindingasabusiness.co.uk or go www.homefindingasabusiness.co.uk

What is the biggest challenge to becoming a Homefinder?

Is it knowledge? No, because you can get the information you need and you can learn.

Is it money? No, becasue the investment needed can be tiny. It could just be the cost of a single phone call or just one stamp that gets you a job that can earn hundreds even £000's.

Is it time? Probably not as this can be done full or part time. It can be flexible.

So, what is it?

It's the leap. The biggest challenge is making the leap. The leap to go from what you are familiar with to something you have an interest in but are now going to rely on to pay for the mortgage, or schooling, or service other debts or just to help make ends meet.

To make that leap you need faith, you need belief, but most important of all you need a plan.

A plan that is mapped out in advance, one that once done you stick to.

Whether a large business or a "one man band" ALL businesses fail where they do not have a proper plan. A plan that:
- confirms your market (private client, corporate, both, builders, off plan sales etc)
- details how you will get the business (sales letters, exhibitions, networking, referrals, marketing)
- how you will deliver the business (service standards, car, time commitment, fees)
- how you get more business (new targets, more referrals, direct mail etc)
- your route to market (direct, indirect, referrals, other channels)
-what you charge (by service, when payable, how to be collected etc)
and more.

The plan may be 3 pages long or it could be 20, but you need a plan. It may be complex, it may be simple. But you need a plan.

So, if you want to get started on your new Homefinding business, get a plan. Need help, then email Henry@homefindingasabusiness.co.uk or go to the web site www.homefindingasabusiness.co.uk

Home Finder Fun

Homefinding for fun. And Money too!

If you are UK based you have probably seen Kirsty Allsopp and Phil Spencer on TV, helping people re-shape their lives. Whilst re-shaping someones life may not be the aim of a Homefinder it can often be the net result, as the home found can crystallise a combination of factors that deliver something "better" for the new home owner.

Re-shaping a life is what this post is about.

Many people go through life in a rut. Sadly.

Money and job commitments, "partner", family commitments and other ties, keep you somewhere, that, in your "heart of hearts" you may not want to be. Most typically in a job that may pay enough and where to follow your own dream can be perceived to be dangerous.

But that is because it's a dream, not a Goal.

As has been famously said "A goal is a dream with a timeline".

So, what an earth has that go to do with Homefinding? Well......

If you have read the sales letter at www.homefindingasabusiness.co.uk you will see it is full of "negative qualifiers" comments that suggest what sort of person Homefinding will not appeal to and then goes on to state what sort of person it will appeal to. I write about this today, in reflective mood, about the times I have had in my life when I have felt like a square peg in a round hole.

Becoming the wrong shape peg sometimes just "happens" due to a change in circumstances but, as Anthony Robbins so eloquently says, when likening life to a flowing river, it is often the choices we make "up stream" of where we are, much earlier in our journey, that determine where we end up. A much nicer way of saying if you don't plan properly you end up in s... creak without a paddle.

It was on my journey down that river (with a paddle - lucky me) that got me involved in Homefinding. One day a colleague, who knew I knew a lot about estate agency and property, asked me to help him out. She had a problem.

One of her "reliable"(!) contacts had pulled out of some work she was doing, finding homes for other people. Could I do it for her - "It would be really appreciated if I could" etc etc.

I hummed and haaad for a few days. Then thought - well I like people, I know about property (nearly all of which can be learnt), and she was a friend in need. What was a man to do? I also thought it would use all skills I have. I just hadn't applied them in this way before. So I said "Yes".

So, off I went and did it. From that I did more and more, then some corporate work, then some more work and so on. In fact, doing that first piece of work completely transformed my life.

Why, because I got paid for soing something I could really enjoy. What's more, many of the other people I have since trained, are also doing an enjoyable activity. Part time for a number who were job career returners (but having a change of heart about their direction), others as a full time job replacements. Don't do that unless you have some proper help in setting it up. Some were doing it as a gradual transition from one to the other, some for "pin money", others for specific goals such as raising finance for kids through University or other things.

So, if you too are in reflective mood, if you feel you are a square peg in a round hole, what dream do you have that you want to turn into reality?

Are you planning for it or just dreaming it?

Go, on turn that dream into a goal, do the things you really want to do but plan how to get there.