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January & February
2014
Newsletter
Inside the "Box"
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Are you coming? If so, please be sure to let us know so we can have your 203k In A Box t-shirt available.
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Permits!?! What are they? Do you need them? How are they being paid? These are the questions that are becoming more and more pertinent to the completion of the work write up package for 203k projects. Recently on a one-on-one coaching call, I was surprised to learn that there are communities, even whole cities that do not require any permits for any construction work of any kind. This was amazing to me to learn because where I am located, as with many other locations around the country, you need a permit to drive a nail. Recently, I received a form from a lender that was required to be completed either by me, the consultant, or by the municipality to describe what permits are going to be required and the cost of those permits. This form was going to be required to be submitted along with the work write up package.
It is important to understand that different lenders process permits in different ways because if you complete your work write up and treat the petits in a certain way for one lender you could be incorrectly completing the documentation and your package will be rejected by the underwriter.
Strictly speaking, FHA indicated that permits should be considered an Allowable Fee and should not be included within the scope of work. However, as a means of ensuring that the contractor acknowledges his responsibility for the cost of permits and considering that the cost of permits in many cases can be quite high particularly with large scale rehabs, it is best to include the rehab permit fees inside the Specification of Repairs.
So what does a 203k consultant do? One way to satisfy everyone and make it easy for you as the consultant to add them all in Category 26 Miscellaneous section of the report. Indicate the number of permits and the total fee for all in one line item and list individually in the narrative section each individual permit that is required and the approximate cost associated with that permit. This way, if you have to delete them from the report at the request of the underwriting department, you do not have to go searching through every category to find where the individual permits have been entered.
What's the next thing that you should do? Well, it is virtually impossible to keep a list of all the townships you may find yourself working and the permits required for each of those townships, but it is not difficult to keep track of the requirements of the lenders you work with. Make a list of which lenders require permits to be in the body of the write up or separated out and included only on the Allowable Fee Agreement. When you get a request from a new loan office, ask if you can get some information regarding the underwriting practices of the mortgage company and add it to your list. I will get you started:
M & T have a new form that gives the borrower the option of adding the cost of permits to the Scope of Work there by having it financed in the mortgage or not. Included in this month's newsletter I have provided a copy of this M & T Rehabilitation Loan Permit Certificate for your reference. As you will observe, you have an option of reporting the information as you understand it or submitting the form to the municipality for them to complete. To have the township process this form may be very time consuming and in most cases I would simply fill it out myself. But if you are processing a particularly complex renovation involving a major remodel, I suggest you give this form to the contractor and require that they get it completed by the township and submit with their completed bid.
This is one new safeguard for the borrower and lender to ensure the requirements to obtain a final Certificate of Occupancy will be successfully obtained when the project is completed- oh that's right- some of you don't even have that! Hold on, I am pack right now- I will join you!
Next month, I will be expanding on the new requirements for completing the Final Draw request- some lenders now include verifying the township is satisfied with the work in a new way- stay tuned!
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Special Note from Catherine - Exciting things are coming!
The new year got off to an interesting start! I apologize for not getting a newsletter out to you by the first of the month. I had not anticipated being as busy as I was in December with NAFHAC and 203k In A Box activities. Not to mention, I was working hard to get my new book out in time for the ASHI InspectionWorld Conference in January. I had a wonderful holiday season. All of my children--repeat ALL of them were home and now that my daughter is married and my son is engaged that meant I had 8 more people around the table--not to mention THREE extra dogs (on top of the 3 I already have). It was challenging, but so wonderful. I hope all of you had as wonderful a holiday season with family and friends.
Now to the NEW year! 2014 will be an exciting one as I expect NAFHAC to be a large part of it for us all. We are working on some exciting things that I know will increase not only NAFHAC's exposure, but yours as well as members.
Stay tuned for some very interesting and profitable new developments in the months to come.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
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Your 203k In A Box family,
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My new book is out -- and you are getting one as my New Year's gift!
Insights of a Successful 203k Consultant is finished. I have been working on it for the past 8 weeks and I am very pleased with how it turned out. It is a compilation and organization of all the articles I have written over the past two years that are pertinent to 203k consulting activities. It is cross-referenced and indexed to give you quick access to the information and resources that were contained every month in these newsletters since 2012. Visit www.NAFHAC.org website to download your e-book or purchase a hard copy. Click the picture of the book to access the download. 203k In A Box Members, please email us for your coupon code to download the e-book for free. A Kindle version is coming out in February.
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Hey there! It was so wonderful meeting so many of you at InspectionWorld in Nashville! We had a great time and I look forward to meeting more of you this Spring. 203k In A Box members, please send me your t-shirt size if you plan on attending any of the upcoming events. We will plan a 203k In A Box T-Shirt Day!
I would like to say thank you again to everyone that has registered for membership in NAFHAC - The National Association of FHA Consultants. This organization is already on it's way to being such a huge presence in the world of 203k. The best part is that YOU are the ones making it successful. Catherine can (and will) teach you and train you day in and day out, but it's what you're doing in the field that represents quality and success. Keep up the great work!
Membership is free for 203k In A Box Members and free for 6 months for home inspectors that are not yet members. To join now, go to the NAFHAC website: www.nafhac.org
Just a reminder - I'm always available via email, phone or Skype. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, I'm here for you! My Skype username is: JessaAtNAFHAC
Have a safe and happy holiday season!
-Jessa
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You’ve probably noticed that it’s hard to be motivated all the time.
No matter what you are working on, there are bound to be days when you don’t feel like showing up. There will be workouts that you don’t feel like starting. There will be reports that you don’t feel like writing. There will be responsibilities that you don’t feel like handling. And there will be “off days†when your energy and emotions are in the gutter.
These fluctuations are part of life, and I face these motivational challenges just as much as the next person. However, for the important things in my life, I’ve also developed a system for dealing with these “off days.â€
Let’s talk about that system and how it can help you perform well even when you’re not feeling motivated.
What Baseball Can Teach You About Getting Motivated
I played baseball for 17 years, mostly as a pitcher. During my final season, I had a pretty good year. I was selected to the All–Conference team, I was chosen as the top male athlete at my university, and I was named to ESPN’s Academic All–America team.
But it wasn’t always that way…
Just a few years earlier, I was the only junior to be cut from my high school varsity baseball team. I played on the JV squad with all of the sophomores and didn’t make the varsity team until my senior year… when I threw a whopping 11 innings all season.
There are dozens of reasons for my transformation from high school through college (great teammates, coaching, work ethic, and so on), but there is one thing that I learned to do in college that I wish I had learned much earlier…
I developed a pre–game routine that allowed me to perform well, regardless of whether I was motivated or not.
How You Can Use a Pre–Game Routine to Get Motivated
One thing that makes baseball different from most other sports is the sheer number of games that are played. Major League Baseball teams play 162 games in a season — twice as many as the NBA and ten times as many games as the NFL. Even high school baseball players will routinely play 40 to 60 games each year.
With so many games, there will always be days when you don’t feel motivated, when your body is tired, or you’re just not mentally “up†for the game. In that way, I’d say that baseball is a lot like life. There will always be days when the things that are important to you feel like a grind.
But the game is going to be played whether you feel like playing or not, so you better figure out a solution to overcoming your lackluster emotions. I did this by developing a pre–game routine that would automatically pull me out of a funk and push me over that threshold to perform well.
Here’s what my pre–game routine looked like…
Grab a baseball and my glove. Jog out to the outfield foul pole. Jog across along the outfield wall. Stop at the opposite foul pole. Stretch hips and hamstrings. Jog back along the outfield wall. Toss lightly, working back to 75 feet or so. Head to the bullpen. Stand one step behind the mound and toss three or four times from there to the catcher. Step up onto the mound. Toss a few pitches without going into the full windup. Start throwing from the windup for 10 pitches or so. Throw from the stretch for 10 pitches or so. Finish with one of each pitch (change up, curveball, fastball in, fastball out). Walk to the dugout.
That whole sequence usually took 20 to 25 minutes and I did it the same way every single time.
While this routine physically warmed me up to play, it also — and perhaps more importantly — put me in the correct mental state to compete at a high level. Even if I wasn’t feeling up for the game at the beginning, by the time I finished my pre–game routine, I was in “game mode.â€
In other words, it didn’t matter if I came to the ballpark motivated to play. My pre–game routine started a cascade of internal events that pulled me into the right frame of mind and made it more likely that I would succeed.
Check out Part 2 in March Newsletter!
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A RESULTS-DRIVEN PLAN FOR THE NEW YEAR
Did you know that 95% of people who set New Year's resolutions never follow through? The reason is that most people don't understand the process of how to process lasting results-and they never take the first steps.
A simple plan to start your new year right:
- Get Clear: you must first gain clarity about what you really are now.
- Get Certain: Once you get this right and once you know where you are, you need to create certainty about your capacity to take anything you can dream about and make it real.
- Get Excited: Now that you're are clear about where you've been, and you have certainty about your ability to make your goals and dreams real, it's time to decide where you want to go.
- Get Focused: Focus equal reality. Now that you're excited about your goals, it's time to determine the results you desire most, and decide how soon you must achieve them.
- Get Momentum: Once you're directing your focus on what you want most from life, it's time to get dedicated. This troop commitment to your goals will come from knowing WHY they are and "musts", which will keep you energized and persistent as you keep moving toward your goals.
- Get S.M.A.R.T.: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timeframe
Once you complete, if you want to take it one step further, you can create an RPM- Results-focused, Purpose-driven, Massive Action Plan:
- Ensure your one-year goals are absolutely what you MUST achieve in the next year.
- Take your one-year goals and chunk them down into three, six, and nine-month goals.
- Prioritize your goals into the order you want to achieve them.
- Create an RPM plan for each of your goals and remember to apply S.M.A.R.T. to your results.
- VERY IMPORTANT: Commit and schedule your M.A.P. into your year planner (you do have one, right?)
- Set up a way to track and measure your progress.
- Celebrate: Congratulate yourself on having a one-year plan that's all about taking action.
Personal note from Catherine: I have used Tony's RMP Goal Achievement system for at least 10 years now. I would happily share some of my success with this system with anyone in a private coaching call--or if it appeals to a lot of you, let me know and we will make it a topic of a monthly coaching meeting.
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Recently, I've been following a simple rule that is helping me crush procrastination and is making it easier for me to stick to good habits at the same time.
I want to share it with you today so that you can try it out and see how it works in your life. It's a simple strategy that couldn't be easier to use.
Here's what you need to know:
How to Stop Procrastinating With the '2-Minute Rule'
I call this little strategy the "2-Minute Rule" and the goal is to make it easier for you to get started on the things you should be doing.
Most of the tasks that you procrastinate on aren't actually difficult to do -- you have the talent and skills to accomplish them -- you just avoid starting them for one reason or another.
The 2-Minute Rule overcomes procrastination and laziness by making it so easy to start taking action that you can't say no.
There are two parts to the 2-Minute Rule:
Part 1: If it takes less than two minutes, then do it now.
Part I comes from David Allen's bestselling book, Getting Things Done.
It's surprising how many things we put off that we could get done in two minutes or less. For example, washing your dishes immediately after your meal, tossing the laundry in the washing machine, taking out the garbage, cleaning up clutter, sending that email, and so on.
If a task takes less than two minutes to complete, then follow the rule and do it right now.
Part 2: When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do.
Can all of your goals be accomplished in less than two minutes? Obviously not.
But, every goal can be started in two minutes or less. And that's the purpose behind this little rule.
It might sound like this strategy is too basic for your grand life goals, but I beg to differ. It works for any goal because of one simple reason: the physics of real life.
The Physics of Real Life
As Sir Isaac Newton taught us a long time ago, objects at rest tend to stay at rest and objects in motion tend to stay in motion. This is just as true for humans as it is for falling apples.
The 2-Minute Rule works for big goals as well as small goals because of the inertia of life. Once you start doing something, it's easier to continue doing it. I love the 2-Minute Rule because it embraces the idea that all sorts of good things happen once you get started.
Want to become a better writer? Just write one sentence (2-Minute Rule), and you'll often find yourself writing for an hour.
Want to eat healthier? Just eat one piece of fruit (2-Minute Rule), and you'll often find yourself inspired to make a healthy salad as well.
Want to make reading a habit? Just read the first page of a new book (2-Minute Rule), and before you know it, the first three chapters have flown by.
Want to run three times a week? Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, just get your running shoes on and get out the door (2-Minute Rule), and you'll end up putting mileage on your legs instead of popcorn in your stomach.
The most important part of any new habit is getting started -- not just the first time, but each time. It's not about performance, it's about consistently taking action. In many ways, getting started is more important than succeeding. This is especially true in the beginning because there will be plenty of time to improve your performance later on.
The 2-Minute Rule isn't about the results you achieve, but rather about the process of actually doing the work. It works really well for people who believe that the system is more important than the goal. The focus is on taking action and letting things flow from there.
Try It Now
I can't guarantee whether or not the 2-Minute Rule will work for you. But, I can guarantee that it will never work if you never try it.
The problem with most articles you read, podcasts you listen to, or videos you watch is that you consume the information but never put it into practice.
I want this article to be different. I want you to actually use this information, right now.
What's something you can do that will take you less than two minutes? Do it right now.
Anyone can spare the next 120 seconds. Use this time to get one thing done. Go.
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