IMVHO, most clients are already at the OMG stage when they talk to you.
The client statement I hear most was "no one" had informed that buying property required so many expenditures other than the price of property, the bank interest, the attorney/title fees and the realtor.
I always thought that was part of their job was to inform about requirements and all expenses.
It was to my own surprise upon sitting to sign papers for my 2nd property when a 2% closing fee suddenly made the table.
I left and chose my own bank for doing business and saved 4k.
Most clients are informed about needing a survey when their loan has been approved and the monies are funded.
The average time before closing date is less than 21 days.
Between weather, mowing my own yard and family - I am usually gonna be too busy to complete an appropriate survey.
When I speak to a client, they have already been pissed off by everyone before me.
A Harris, today's target for client's wrath........I'm kinda used to it after being in those crosshairs since hearing their quips all my life.
Simply tell them the truth about your part and your process of providing them what they need.
Then do that when they order a survey........
0.02
A Harris, post: 374469, member: 81 wrote: IMVHO, most clients are already at the OMG stage when they talk to you...
They are. But everybody is at the OMG stage with most things in today's world. Even myself. This evening I walked out of the grocery store with 1 sack and was $75 lighter...
I am usually an even-keeled fella. I'll even go so far as to say I've let a lot of folks step on my toes at times, simply because a scene is just not worth it to me. What's left of my life is way too short.
But when someone tries to give me some friction over my pricing, or just the fact they need a survey; I'll snap back like a snake. Somebody on the phone tells me, "that's way too much..". OK. Fine. See ya later. If they're willing to listen, I can explain why things cost so much and what is involved in a survey. But if all they want to do is spew and bark, I bark back. I've told plenty of them "I'm NOT your problem. I can help fix your problem, but not for free."
It's the neighbor...........
It's the city.................
It's the sanitation code...........
It's the spouse's idea..........
It's the bank.....................
It's some blankedy blank requirement on getting free money from................
It's the flood insurance company.................
It's the will the idiot mother-in-law had drawn up...............
It's the realtor who says he's been burned before because a survey wasn't done first..........(OK, excuse me for dreaming.)
It's some dumbut requirement the Homeowners Association thinks is important............
.
.
.
.
.
It's NOT the surveyor.
James Fleming, post: 374146, member: 136 wrote: Not to get too political, but there is a decent chance the nation will elect a vulgar megalomaniacal buffoon to the office held by Washington, Jefferson, Madison, et al.. Not on his merits, but because the believe his election will "stick it" to those they believe they are agrieved by. So yes, people are getting angrier...stupider too.
Wendell, I'll take my banishment now
[USER=136]@James Fleming[/USER]
astrodanco, post: 374325, member: 7558 wrote: I think most of the opinions expressed here are complete and utter hogwash and say more about the individual posters prejudices than anything about the public in general. The truth is some of you surveyor types (even the young ones) are just a bunch of grumpy old men who are getting grumpier by the day. :woot::woot:
I think surveyor types in general (young or old, left or right, religious or secular) like a large portion of our clients, tend to place a lot on emphasis on the traditional - on stability.
Zygmunt Bauman has written extensively on an alternative view of modernity and post modernity that he calls "liquid modernity":
Liquid Modernity is sociologist Zygmunt Bauman's term for the present condition of the world as contrasted with the "solid" modernity that preceded it. According to Bauman, the passage from "solid" to "liquid" modernity created a new and unprecedented setting for individual life pursuits, confronting individuals with a series of challenges never before encountered. Social forms and institutions no longer have enough time to solidify and cannot serve as frames of reference for human actions and long-term life plans, so individuals have to find other ways to organize their lives.
Bauman's vision of the current world is one in which individuals must to splice together an unending series of short-term projects and episodes that don't add up to the kind of sequence to which concepts like "career" and "progress" could be meaningfully applied. These fragmented lives require individuals to be flexible and adaptable ÛÓ to be constantly ready and willing to change tactics at short notice, to abandon commitments and loyalties without regret and to pursue opportunities according to their current availability. Liquid times are defined by uncertainty. In liquid modernity the individual must act, plan actions and calculate the likely gains and losses of acting (or failing to act) under conditions of endemic uncertainty. The time it takes to fully consider options and make fully formed decisions has fragmented.
As society progresses, the creation of value liquefies and begins to flow unfettered. The production time it takes for value to occur declines. To survive, products and interfaces must quickly flow from spaces of high-resistance and poor usability to spaces of low resistance and user interaction. Successful interfaces induce a liquid state of flow in their users. Environments are becoming aware of relevant information, and are able to pull context-aware data into play when necessary. Devices can be small on the outside, but large on the inside.
http://www.amazon.com/Liquid-Times-Living-Age-Uncertainty/dp/0745639879
If one thinks that people are angrier (and I do); I believe it's because of a sense of structural uncertainty built into late modernity in the West. People are on edge because they've seen (whether they perceive it or not) things, concepts, etc. that they believed to be permanent suddenly become ephemeral. When the ground beneath you is constantly shifting, being on edge is a normal reaction.
While James immerses himself in the Rob Florida creative-destructionist theories, the cat has been let out of the bag, albeit about six months too early. Apparently someone didn't get the memo, to the chagrin of the Continuity Crowd.
Ever so humble, there's no place like serfdom. You have to think, these folks have everything they own tied up in their little slice of heaven, and could probably use an advocate, or at least a kind word and smile. Not every one was so fortunate, and many friends, neighbors, relatives got clobbered in the housing crash, losing everything some times. It's not really surprising they remain guarded and synical.
Other folks really don't need your advocacy, it only takes a quick glance at the top industrial sectors of the GDP to understand that the simple homeowner and surveyor hadn't quite made that list. And there's no legislation granting permanent U.S. residency for ordering a top shelf ALTA survey.
Just being the field crew, I've learned the most stuff in the world from simple conversations with the plain old landowners, they're great.
astrodanco, post: 374325, member: 7558 wrote: I think most of the opinions expressed here are complete and utter hogwash and say more about the individual posters prejudices than anything about the public in general. The truth is some of you surveyor types (even the young ones) are just a bunch of grumpy old men who are getting grumpier by the day. :woot::woot:
I would almost agree with your statement, but would revise it as follows:
'I think most of the opinions expressed here are complete and utter hogwash' for my area of practice.
I don't know how everyone acts in various parts of the country. I know that there are websites with friendliness rankings for parts of the country that pop up every once in a while and show that some places do not have as many friendly people. So, not everyone will have the same experience with neighbors.
I must be very fortunate in that when I contact people before showing up on their property, they are almost always friendly and helpful. Here are a few of the offers I have had from neighbors when they found out I was surveying -
Wooded property I was surveying. I asked if it would be alright to traverse along the edge of neighbors field. He said no problem and if I let him know when I would be there, he would bushhog around the field before hand so it would be easier to get around.
I could not count the number of times a neighbor has offered that they had a mule or atv I was welcome to borrow. They even offer to leave the garage open for me. Something I have never taken them up on because I bring my own if needed.
Offers of use of equipment such as chainsaw, tractor, etc...
Too many offers of drinks to even think about counting.
Most important offer - information that helps with evidence for the survey.
It is actually very rare that I run into a butt of a neighbor. Thinking back on it right at this moment, I do not even recall the last time I worked next to a disagreeable person. Even when neighbors are not getting along with each other, they are usually polite, helpful, and friendly to me.
