Think your title is clear when the Contractor leaves? Consider how the 203(k) Consultant looks at the project. Tracking lien waivers is one of the most important roles of the 203(k) Consultant – and yet most Borrowers aren’t aware of what this means, or how important it is.

The 203(k) Consultant And The Monitored Loan.

On a “Full 203(k)” loan the 203(k) Consultant is the person responsible for releasing money to the validated Contractor of record – via the Draw Request forms- across the life of the construction loan. Each time that the Contractor, or Borrower, calls the Consultant to visit the site there are 2 forms that absolutely have to be signed off on: The Draw Request form, and the Lien Waiver. Lien laws are specific to each state, and GA recently tightened up it’s lien requirements (2008), so Lenders rely on a proprietary lien waiver that keeps their bases covered – and lien rights extinguished.

Draw Requests Pay Everyone on site.

There are up to 5 draws for each project, this includes a Change Order inspection, all of which require a lien waiver in order to be processed by the lenders draw center. Over the years, we have learned that requiring the contractor to provide lien waivers for ALL their subcontractors is KEY to insuring a clear title at the end of the project. When the Consultant performs the final inspection, and the Mortgagors Letter of Completion is completed, the Lender checks title prior to releasing the final 10% Holdback to the Contractor -Just in case things aren’t as rosy as they seem. We have resolved a lot of lien problems over the years, and more often then not, liens are placed by someone we have never actually seen on site. Like the electrician, or HVAC company that hits the place like a ton of bricks and then goes off to the next job – all the while thinking the check is on the way. What the Contractor doesn’t often realize is that not paying the Subcontractor in a timely fashion not only keeps him from his 10% retainage, but puts their names on a do-not-use list with the Lender… so it is in their best interest to pay their subs.

A 203(k) Consultant On Every Renovation

We believe firmly, and are outspoken about the 203(k) Consultant being MANDATORY on ALL FHA 203(k) Streamline loans, not just the Full 203(k). Generally speaking, a Streamline loan is $35,000 and below – and the banks look at it this way… ‘Just how much trouble can someone get into with only 35k?’-experience has taught us that the answer is A LOT. When you look at the renovation industry thus far – it has been laced with fraud, arrogant investors and homeowners acting as their own General Contractor, or worse, architect. Having a 203(k) Consultant on every FHA loan is an important step in rebuilding this countries housing stock – and bringing back a strong housing market one house at a time.

Selling Your Property Privately — Hire a Real Estate Consultant

If you are selling your property privately, you do not have to handle the nuances and intricacies of sale alone.

You could retain the services of an expert real estate broker and pay a reasonable fee for being your consultant. You will still do all the activities yourself, but the consultant will be there as a retainer to advise you at every step of the sale.

It should not be difficult to hire one for about $5,000 or say about 20%, of the commissions, that you would normally pay to a real estate brokerage to sell the property. For a high valued property, this could tantamount to savings of tens of thousands of dollars over the traditional way of selling and hiring the services of a Real Estate Broker.

Hiring a consultant to sell a property privately is not a common practice, but just because it is not a common practice, should not be the reason, not to hire one.

With step by step consultation, you will get guidance through the entire process of sale. You will save your self from blunders that could cost you money, complications and even the sale of your home. You will be able to handle the private sale like a “Real Seasoned Pro” and sell your property fast and for the highest price.

Consultation could cover all marketing matters relating to the sale of your property such as Advertising, ad writing, search and selection of right written media and internet, preparation of your property for the highest sale price, how to show your property, What to do and what not to do, offer preparation, mortgage and other financing arrangements, bridge financing, building inspection, negotiations, preparation of offers, sign backs and counter offers, different winning strategies, conditional offers, removing of the conditions, title insurance, property survey and full marketing consultation right to the day of closing.

With the process of selling becoming complex and the consumer more focused on saving money, hiring a Real Estate consultant should be a viable option for the private sellers.

Being an independent beauty consultant is easier than before. With lots of options available to start no money down business, you can have your own business as a beauty consultant. Only thing you need is to have your inner desire and passion to start it. Although you may find lots of competitors in the industry, it is also easy to get success as there is an increasing demand for beauty expert among people from all walks of life and all age group. You just need the skill to be a beauty consultant and a reliable source to start no money down business.

Here are some practical tips to be an independent beauty consultant:

Learn the Latest Techniques on Beauty Care
If you have good deal of idea about the beauty products and make up practices, try to learn the latest techniques of beauty care. The best way you can increase your knowledge in this direction is by using the Internet. You can get information about all recent trends in fashion and beauty from the web. There are experts and famous beauticians ready to answer your questions online. Take advantage of the forums, blogs and the videos that discuss different make-up tips and use of skin care products. Magazines are also great source of information in this regard.

Start with Your Friends
It is always better to start with yourself so that you can know where you lack. As you are going to start your no money down business as an independent beauty consultant, you have to start with your friends to show your skills. Prepare your friend or family member when they are seeking help to go for a special occasion and they have no time to visit the parlor. This is the best way how you can let others know about you. A good make up will definitely attract attention and you will get recognition.

Widen Your Social Networking
Being an independent beauty consultant needs lots of social interaction. It is important that people should know you and your business. Meet people you know and also widen your social networking by meeting new people. Tell people what you do. Of late, Internet has become a part of everyday life and almost everyone in your locality is looking for information through internet. Join social networking sites and forums, and also post your own blogs discussing your skill. It will definitely attract new prospects for your business. However, you need to know the art of targeting your audience.

A Professional Setup
These days, it is easy to make an office set up and start no money down business. Being an independent beauty consultant, you can opt for home based business opportunities. Advertise yourself and reap the benefits. Keep the beauty care products from reputed brands and provide options to your customers. Offer services with competitive prices to attract customers.

If you have the proficiency to be a beautician and a desire to be an entrepreneur, be an independent beauty consultant with starting no money down business.

To operate profitably, today’s Independent Computer Consultant must function on a Managed Service Model, providing proactive monitoring and remote support for a flat-monthly fee. But when so many of today’s small businesses are still accustomed to the outdated model of hourly support, it can be a challenge to convince them that preventing downtime through daily monitoring is less expensive in the long run than only having the consultant in whenever a problem occurs.

How do you make your case to your prospective (or current) small business customer that moving to a flat-fee, proactive model makes sense? Convert downtime into dollars and your point becomes easy to see.

According to a recent survey from International Data Corporation (IDC), the average small business generates a revenue of approximately $3.6 million dollars annually. As we Independent Computer Consultants tend to serve clients on the smaller side, let’s round that number down to $2 million to be safe.

If the client has 10 employees, we can estimate that each employee generates $200,000 of revenue per year. With 260 working days in a year and 8 hours per day, that breaks down to approximately $96/hr. per employee. Maybe that doesn’t sound like a tremendous amount on the surface, but add up the total number of service calls that might be made over the course of the year, and then couple that with the cost of doing repairs at an hourly rate, and the expense can really add up.

But let’s take a look at the big picture and consider the type of firm-wide problems that can be prevented. What if a hard-drive in the server were to fail and the backup hasn’t run in weeks, or a virus spreads across the network, or a hacker hijacks the server and sets it up as a spam relay. Issues like these affect millions of small businesses every day and can bring the entire company to a halt. With the cost of downtime for the entire company for a day being approximately $7680, plus the cost of repair at an hourly rate being approximately the same (assuming an average rate of $100/hr.), the true cost of a day of downtime is almost $16,000.

That doesn’t take into account the possibility of lost sales, lost data and lost time required to recreate lost data, damages to customer relations, etc, which could multiply that cost even more and in some cases be financially devastating to the small business.

Considering that a Managed Service Plan for a small company costs on average $1200/mo. or $14,400 annually and that any one of the above mentioned potential problems could easily be prevented with your included system monitoring, it becomes very easy to see how your Managed Service can provide a much greater value to a small business than an hourly support computer consultant who’s simply standing by waiting for a problem to occur.

Now tack on the benefit of being able to provide instant customer response through your remote support utilities (rather than having the customer wait for hours for their computer consultant to arrive), the increased productivity that will be gained by keeping the systems current, and the overall peace of mind that’s gained by knowing the network is being monitored around the clock, and it can be very difficult for a responsible small business owner to not switch to your Managed Service Plan.

Making the case for why switching to a managed service is a financially wise decision is an excellent foundation for getting a client to convert, but to guarantee your ability to seal the deal, you’re going to need to use tried and true sales techniques to combat any other objections that your client may try to raise. These techniques, along with tons of proven sales and marketing materials can be found at the author’s website.