I was thinking of putting out a monthly news letter using.
http://www.homehintsenews.com/dbpage.asp?page_name=homepage
I know some folks here use this company, any feed back will be welcome.
Thanks
Tom P
Tom,
I recently started using homehints and booked a job directly from it my first month. It has already has paid for itself. Great way to stay in front of your customers.
Robert Humpheries has a newsletter as well at www.newsletterjunction.com
Good luck and hope all is well.
I haven’t booked a job directly through it but my clients love it. It at least is one more way to keep my name under their nose every month.
John is always quick with a phone call or email to help solve any problems/questions.
Has anyone “ticked” of Realtors sending this newsletter? SPAM, etc? I use this newsletter as well and for the most part folks are ok with it and opt in. Some opt-out with no remarks either way, but then you have the agents who go ballistic…
Send it only to Realtors you have worked with, for, or met in some capacity…
otherwise it is Spam…
I’ve been using it since he started it, it works for me. If you have the time and compunction to do so there are cheaper ways; but I like to spend my time studying…:-k
Been thinking about asking about a price break… John??? 
Do your own . It’s a lot cheaper and you won’t get cut down as a spammer, Give me a call. 708-822-3893.
It appears the owner of this newsletter whines alot about NACHI helping its members obtain realtors contact information.:-({|=
NACHI use to send newsletters directly out to the realtors promoting an inspector. A great program that I hope comes back. But about the same time they stopped doing this, John started up his newsletter. John properly whined to Nick about it, like he is doing now. Some people do more harm to this organization then help.
I do not like a few fianically interested parties deciding on how we should advertise. Most members will have enough sense to not break the law or cause a nussiance to the realtors.
I think NACHI should be more involved in promoting the individual inspector, and bring back their monthly newsletter.
Highly recommended. Anytime you can automate your marketing, do it. As for SPAM, they have to OPT IN to receive the letter. But only send it to YOUR database, IE, past agents and clients.
Shane
Been using Hints since the get go will continue to use it very satisfied
…Cookie
I have been using Home Hints eNews since it’s inception and have been very pleased. I’ve received positive feed back about it, not only from clients but from realtors, as well. The content is good basic information that should be useful to most homeowners. It’s a great way to keep your name out there, on a regular monthly basis, in front of past clients and realtors with whom you’re acquainted!
Of course, you can always write your own newsletter, if you want to take the time, or there may be other newsletters out there that are comparable, but you won’t go wrong with Home Hints. To supplement Home Hints, I do also send out my own occasional e-mail to my client and/or realtor list to announce something unique or “special”.
The main idea is to keep your name out there in front of people while at the same time providing useful and “helpful” information, what ever form that takes.
If you haven’t already read past issues of Home Hints, you can see some posted on my web site, at Peace of Mind Home Inspections, Complimentary Newsletter.
John had the foresight to see a need and then the creativity and ingenuity to come up with a product to fill it. I believe its a good product and tool for me, but other people, of course, can make their own decisions whether to use it or not, or to use another available product.
At the time John was creating Home Hints, as I recall, NACHI’s e-newsletter/e-mail system was very sporadic and inconsistent. And to my knowledge, there was no system in place to prevent multiple inspectors from the same area from bombarding realtors with the same newsletter. Home Hints has a system in place to prevent the same newsletter from going out to the same people, which I think is a good thing (as long as you’re the first inspector to get it in your area 
). I’m not sure about the content of NACHI’s mailing, because I don’t recall ever reading one.
As for your categorization that John is “whining”, that is unfair. I believe John raised some legitimate concerns regarding spamming elsewhere on this forum, which are worthy of consideration. Other people, of course, may have a different take on it, but it seems that John has some experience with this issue and his opinion should at least receive some respect, even if a person doesn’t agree with it.
Your comment of “Some people do more harm to this organization than help”, is completely misguided and off base (as well as not “helpful”) if you’re referring to John. That may be true for “some people”, but it doesn’t apply to John. Though I’m sure that I have not read every post that John has ever made, I have never read anything that I would consider “harmful”, most have been helpful (and some even humorous:) ). His creation of “Home Hints”, while yes being financially beneficial to him I suppose, has been very beneficial to others, as well, and certainly to myself and my clients.
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Thanks for all the feed back.
I signed up over the weekend and just used friends and a hand full of realtors that I know. I wanted to get some feedback before I went nuts with email addresses. The feedback that I received was good. I’m having a little trouble linking the photo but John is willing to help.
In fact I received a call from a real estate agent on Monday who got the news letter that I have been tiring to get work from for about a year. I feel the news letter is a good ice breaker when emailing real estate agents. For example today I have an inspection where I will not be meeting the listing agent. So tomorrow I will email him and intoduce myself as the inspector, give him a link to my website and say that I will include him on my month news letter list. How could you go wrong.
Some folks say you could write your own news letter, very true. Can you do it for $30.00 per month. That means I would have to only spend one hour a month on it, not me.
Very good post and needs to be repeated… James Braun you need to do some research before you post trash on another inspector…
I agree with Patrick. James B, you are way, way off base here. I see you only have 131 posts so far so that leads me to believe you are a newbie, certainly to the NACHI BB. I’d suggest you do some background investigation before posting garbage like you did. John O is one of the ‘good guys’ around here and certainly not a ‘whiner’. Trust me, John doesn’t whine about anything. If you can’t see the wisdom and benefit from his discussion of spam then that’s your loss. I too have used HomeHints since its inception and it is, by far, the best marketing bang for my buck, period. There is another competing newsletter available from a true vendor member of the board, i.e. he’s not an inspector and doesn’t claim to be. His product is excellent as well but at 10-12 pages long I think it will cause readers to loose interest after page one. It’s not for me but it’s a great product that may very well work for others.
Sorry if you think a valid concern is considered “whining”. We don’t all have to agree with each other 100% of the time but we should all respect each others right to voice their opinions without receiving unfounded personal attacks. Your off base (imho)
John is wanting to take away one of our Nachi benefits. He appears to think that we are not responsible enought to use this benefit. He is doing what I have said before for the reasons I have said before. That is pretty evident. If people like that keep complaining, Nick may slowly stop making new benefits. Who needs the headache. Nick did this because he thought it would be helpful to us members. And I am thankful for what he has accomplished. I really do not do much realtor marketing, so it will be doubtful I will even look at the list. Nick is not telling us we need to use it. He is just trying to help us out. John needs to let it rest. I do not care what his history is with NACHI. The way I understood, Mr. Rowan and John Bowman had a good history with NACHI too. But I did not alllow them to prosocute Nachi. John will not succeed in taking away any of our benefits. Nore will anybody else.
All NACHI members are entitled to their opinions, no matter how mis-guided. Now, will somebody please pass the cheese? 
We need to know what type of “whine” you are drinking, so we can get the right cheese to go with it, you know we are a sofisticated bunch here…
Cabernet Incessant from a little “whinery” in the Shrill valley. 
Hmmmmm, lets see now. :-k How about Cheese Whiz and change the drink to Dumas Ashole’ from Hinie Whines. I hear that Thor and Big Red highly recommend it :roll:
Paul