I was listening to this morning program where they were making fun of the "Two Men and a Van" moving companies. I started thinking why doesn't the Agents go the extra mile and rent an Uhaul and help the clients move? Im not saying they dont, its just you never hear of this.

How many of you have done this? What is the Pros and Cons? Im thinking that once I get into real estate Im going to use this as one of the advantages of choosing me.

A lady in my area does this. She owns her own moving van and when you buy a house from her, you get to use it for free. I think it is a great idea.

You never heard of this before?.. there are lots of agents doing it and there is even a company that specialize in supplying the trucks. Here you go... http://www.onthemovetrucks.com/

Every time I have helped friends and family move I have never seen the agent show up for that process. But what sparked my thinking was that on a morning show they complained for an hour about moving companies. This had me thinking so looked it up and noticed that some moving companies were making pretty good coin. I have become real interested in the real estate field and thought of this idea after some research trying to give me a little edge when I make the leap to be an agent.

I've been working with a couple who are moving from out of state. When I was showing them houses last week they asked if I knew anybody that they could hire to help them unload their truck when they get here... I told them no, but if they called me I'd be happy to come help them to show them how much I appreciate the business. And if they call me I'll be over there ready to work.

Liability issues? We already get sued enough. What happens when you break something? Then youre screwing up the relationship. What happens when they wreck your van? I wan't to be so busy doing the real estate that I don't have time to help clients move. Thats freaking manual labor. I have a gym membership for that. I'll let you guys have that edge. They'll want you to come over and help paint next.

Shaun - if you have the time and the desire, go ahead and help out a FRIEND. Every time you have a closing? Nah. I definitely wouldn't advertise myself as being in the moving business, but when the opportunity arises to lend a hand, take it!

I painted a client's house once. Wouldn't do it again (I'm a lousy painter) but they were so impressed that they referred me to their friends who sold a $400k house and bought a $600k house. (lessee... do the math... that was over $20k in my pocket) And no, their friends never asked me to paint or even pull weeds!

Take advantages of these opportunities now before you get too busy... and going way out of your way like this will ensure that you'll be way too busy very soon!

Look at it this way - you can spend a day helping someone out, making a friend and burning some calories... or you can spend $2k on your fancy new farming postcard campaign.

I have helped clients - who become my friends move. I volunteer my husband's muscles too - that's the most important.

Now that I am busier and 6 months pregnant, I hire Moving companies - not rent Uhaul trucks. It's a great closing gift. And imagine how relaxing it would feel for you and your client.

Oh: btw, my source of revenues comes from my SOI. I consider this as an investment back into my business. After all, we agents really need to understand that we dont get all the commission we receive at closing. We spend alot of it back into clients and marketing strategies - for me at least.

Jennifer... I don't know if you remember but when I first came around here I had this idea that I was going to promote that I'd assist with the move for any buyer who I worked with. I did attempt to get that word out. That was in the very beginning and I would have done it, but now that I have plenty of clients to work with I think it would be very hard to make the time to help everybody move.

And seeing that my average commission check for my first few deals is only around $1200 I don't see me hiring any moving companies. So I've just made it a point to provide excellent service and make sure my clients love me.

With this particular couple.. I volunteered to help them if they needed it. They aren't from around here and they are in their 70's. If they actually call me to help I'll probably pay a few of my friends to come help me get them unloaded really quick. And I'll be you whether they call me or not to help them unload their truck that they'll most definitely send some business my way one day.

Two things

1) Since I would be there for the entire move, I would probably be the one driving the van and overseeing how things are put in it.

2) I would only really help with moving large furniture and wouldn't even touch the breakables.





Ok I can see your point. I live in Northern California were the average house price is $500,000 and looking at the MLS there are not too many houses here under $300,000. So my commission would be actually worth a couple of hours hard labor