Hurdles with lenders

Over the last year or so it seems like I'm spending more time altering my reports and invoices than I am doing home inspections. I probably get 4-5 calls a week from lenders asking me to change a date on an invoice or add the seller to the invoice because of loan requirements or whatever. Any one else getting lots of these calls? I'm contemplating charging the banks administrative fees at this point (even though I'm sure they won't pay) but I don't want to hold up the process for my clients. Anybody had to solve this problem yet?

Are you talking about problems with lenders due to payments at closing?

Justin wrote:Over the last year or so it seems like I'm spending more time altering my reports and invoices than I am doing home inspections. I probably get 4-5 calls a week from lenders asking me to change a date on an invoice or add the seller to the invoice because of loan requirements or whatever. Any one else getting lots of these calls? I'm contemplating charging the banks administrative fees at this point (even though I'm sure they won't pay) but I don't want to hold up the process for my clients. Anybody had to solve this problem yet?

I would never change my report for anyone and the only time I get a call is if they need a signed invoice

Yeah the changes are usually due to some weird requirement at closing. For instance, VA loans require that the seller pays for pest inspections. If the buyer calls me and asks for a pest inspection and pays me for it, the bank will call me and ask me to remove the pest inspection from the buyers invoice and then resend it. Then create a new invoice for the seller and send that in to them as well.

Kevin Moore wrote:

Justin wrote:Over the last year or so it seems like I'm spending more time altering my reports and invoices than I am doing home inspections. I probably get 4-5 calls a week from lenders asking me to change a date on an invoice or add the seller to the invoice because of loan requirements or whatever. Any one else getting lots of these calls? I'm contemplating charging the banks administrative fees at this point (even though I'm sure they won't pay) but I don't want to hold up the process for my clients. Anybody had to solve this problem yet?

I would never change my report for anyone and the only time I get a call is if they need a signed invoice

He's not changing his report, just the invoice.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 12/05/2014 12:52 AM EST

Justin wrote:Yeah the changes are usually due to some weird requirement at closing. For instance, VA loans require that the seller pays for pest inspections. If the buyer calls me and asks for a pest inspection and pays me for it, the bank will call me and ask me to remove the pest inspection from the buyers invoice and then resend it. Then create a new invoice for the seller and send that in to them as well.

Are you getting paid at the closing or are they just wanting you to provide different invoices for their own recordkeeping?

It seems easier in the scenario you mentioned to just provide the buyer with separate invoices when you know it's a VA loan. Unless you are directly getting paid by the seller, your invoice to them is not true or accurate. If they are doing a reimbursement from the buyer, they could simply get a receipt from the buyer.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 12/05/2014 08:06 AM EST

Cameron,

It definitely is easier to ask about the loan requirements before I create invoices. I've actually started doing that with the clients and/or the agents when a new job comes in. I'm still getting bombarded though. I just got two more requests from the same bank to edit two different septic reports since I started this post. The first request asked me to add my signature and date specifically to the front page of the report even though my name, date, and company logo, etc. are all on the front of the report already. The second report request ask me to add it to the back page of the report and add my license number as well even though there is no septic inspection license here in the state of PA. It's from two different loan originators in the same bank and it seems there is no consistency as to what they want. Actually requested to sit down and meet with them at some point so we can all get on the same page because I've been doing this with this exact bank for months now with every client we share. I think it'll be a good opportunity to market myself as well.

Justin, don't let them continue to jerk you around like that.

Do what they want you to do. At the end of the day, that's the market.

What you could do to make things easier for you is automate the output of your invoices to be in all potential formats.

Nathan wrote:

What you could do to make things easier for you is automate the output of your invoices to be in all potential formats.

N, that is a tall order for very small companies without specialists to figure out and make time to deal with.

Pete Campbell wrote:

Nathan wrote:

What you could do to make things easier for you is automate the output of your invoices to be in all potential formats.

N, that is a tall order for very small companies without specialists to figure out and make time to deal with.

FileMaker and 5 minutes...done. What program is being used for billing here?

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 12/09/2014 12:58 AM EST

N, you are out in left field on this one. It is not a prevalent problem. Very few of us know how to use more than a couple of programs and also don't want to have to!

Remember, you have teams of ppl to do this shit. We do not (yet). I rarely challenge you. But this time I have to.

Pete Campbell wrote:N, you are out in left field on this one. It is not a prevalent problem. Very few of us know how to use more than a couple of programs and also don't want to have to!

Remember, you have teams of ppl to do this shit. We do not (yet).

You will

Seriously though, what program for invoicing are we talking about here? There has to be an easy solution.

I use ISN.

and for simple, small jobs I just use QB, e.g., when there is no need to spend the money and effort on ISN.