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I have done these in the past and am interested in doing some more. Would like to hear any good/bad feedback. I enjoyed the property inspections but found the Medicare visits lengthy and draining for the pay. I also would like to do I-9s but seldom see them listed. Any tips appreciated. TIA

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Many yrs. ago, I was contracted with Trendsource. According to my log, I was paid $45 each for Medicare meetings. As I recall, though, they began reducing the fee, so I avoided the jobs. As an extra comment, they once listed phone shops at 50 cents, which is the lowest I have even seen.

Trendsource contacted me for the Medicare shops. I told them the pay was too low. He encouraged me to add whatever PAD I need, so I proposed $100 altogether...they accepted. It's an hour and a short report - worth it to me - and close to home - a hotel a couple miles from here.

The only other work I've done for Trendsource involved pizza delivery - but that was a few years ago, in a different part of the US....still I found them easy and pay was acceptable...and it was dinner for us, no cooking.

I haven't found their reports to be onerous - only their pay for some projects....hence I've stuck to these.

HMM --maybe I will ask for $100 for a Medicare shop and see what happens. It's not the report I mind- just an hour of a hard sales pitch from Medicare Advantage of which I am well versed and strongly opposed to even considering for my needs.

First of all it's never been a hard pitch. Just informational and contact me if you're interested. I've done about 20 of them in the last 6 years.

Secondly, always request PAD with them to get the pay you want.

That's interesting...there is no sales pitch here on those...and the report is designed to specifically ferret that out...my guess based on the design of the shop, is that they're trying to see if the representatives are pressuring people...in different ways.

The Trendsource OnSite Onspection aremy very favorite Shop.I do as many of themas I can. About two years ago they seem to have lost c;ients.I used to do two or three a day, but now I'm lucky if I do one a week. Ilove working with them, I sometimes do then I-9 but they don't cone around here very oftem.I burnt myself out on the Medicares about three years and never re-certified,

The Trendsource OnSite Onspection are my very favorite Shop.I do as many of themas I can. About two years ago they seem to have lost c;ients.I used to do two or three a day, but now I'm lucky if I do one a week. Ilove working with them, I sometimes do then I-9 but they don't cone around here very oftem.I burnt myself out on the Medicares about three years and never re-certified,

For some reason all the Medicare shops I see this year are not in my city which has millions upon millions of residents. Not only that but the pay is fairly low considering you have to stay at least an hour. I do not want to drive an hour each way and add to the time it takes to do the job, even if they give me PAD as here an hour is only about 15 miles. None of the jobs I have seen this year were closer than 15 miles. Am I the only older person living in Los Angeles now? I have not seen any of these shops at the Naked site either in LA. I did them for that msc in the past. Wondering if anyone has seen these shops in the West LA/Santa Monica area this year.

barbage (or anyone), can I ask why you like the onsite inspection shops? I've never done one, not sure what they entail.

These and the property inspection ones are my favorite.

The property inspection is quick and easy and there is no appointment. You are basically taking photos from the street or another public place and just trying to get the best shots you can so they can see detail. You take note of the conditions of the property, parking, landscaping and answer questions about the general area (how near to major highways and points of interest).

A lot of questions can't be answered without being in the building (you don't step foot on the property) so those have an N/A option.

The business inspections are really easy too, but you have to make an appt. with the principle (manager, owner ) to view the inside and take a lot of photos.

As long as you request PAD on all of these (even those within 10 mi. I request some) you can get your earnings per hour up pretty good.

I am willing to take remote locations because I can get a decent travel amount for them and they don't seem to have other reps willing to go very often.

I always shoot for at least 50c a mile/ 1.00 per mile one way and lately I have been pushing it up a bit .
A benefit of the remote jobs is that the price of gas is lower than the metro areas so I save some on gas.

@BarefootBliss wrote:

barbage (or anyone), can I ask why you like the onsite inspection shops? I've never done one, not sure what they entail.

I have been doing the onsite inspections when I see one close to my FT job. I'm in NYC so if I can get there in under 10 minutes walking, I'll do it on a lunch hour. I find that it generally only takes 20-30 minutes on site and the report goes very quickly. Part of the reason I like them -- my FT job is doing research and market reports for commercial real estate here in NYC. I really enjoy being able to go into different buildings and get a look at interiors, tenant spaces and so on. The biggest pain sometimes is getting in touch with the contacts. One call a day for four days, and if you haven't gotten anywhere in 4 days, the project is put back into Trendsource's hands. If it can't be scheduled at all, you get partial payment, but oftentimes they will make some adjustments and give it back to you for another 4 days.

The onsite inspections in my area start at $17 and don't seem worth the time and effort after paying for gas, etc. I did once get one with $50 PAD but those are very rare.

yes, there are some here in out of the way locations - taking photos from off property, not having to meet with anyone - quick and easy - those appeal to me. Thanks for the details. I guess as time goes by, I am very particular about how I spend time....so that seems to be figuring into a lot of these for me.

They sometimes offer PAD upfront when they really need it done, but in general you need to request it yourself to make it worthwhile. I consider it a way to basically bid on a job for the pay I want/need (due to distance). Sometimes I go high, especially if it is a remote one that is going to take a few hours out of my day and sometimes they reject it because someone came in lower (or didn't ask for PAD which makes no sense - nearly every job is going to have some driving even if it is only 20 mi round trip).
I NEVER do a job without PAD unless it is literally in my own small town which is rare, but happened once.

@ShopperGirly wrote:

The onsite inspections in my area start at $17 and don't seem worth the time and effort after paying for gas, etc. I did once get one with $50 PAD but those are very rare.

For the Property Inspections, they charge the lender (who is ordering these reports) $400 per location. So hopefully you are asking for a lot more PAD than $1 a mile. $80 is my minimum on these, and I always get it when I ask. There is a lot of research you have to do about the property, so its not quite just taking a few pictures from the street.

@Boutique wrote:

These and the property inspection ones are my favorite.

The property inspection is quick and easy and there is no appointment. You are basically taking photos from the street or another public place and just trying to get the best shots you can so they can see detail. You take note of the conditions of the property, parking, landscaping and answer questions about the general area (how near to major highways and points of interest).

A lot of questions can't be answered without being in the building (you don't step foot on the property) so those have an N/A option.

The business inspections are really easy too, but you have to make an appt. with the principle (manager, owner ) to view the inside and take a lot of photos.

As long as you request PAD on all of these (even those within 10 mi. I request some) you can get your earnings per hour up pretty good.

I am willing to take remote locations because I can get a decent travel amount for them and they don't seem to have other reps willing to go very often.

I always shoot for at least 50c a mile/ 1.00 per mile one way and lately I have been pushing it up a bit .
A benefit of the remote jobs is that the price of gas is lower than the metro areas so I save some on gas.

@BarefootBliss wrote:

barbage (or anyone), can I ask why you like the onsite inspection shops? I've never done one, not sure what they entail.

I think in my 20 years of shopping, I've completed 1 shop for them. I really only see those crappy 2 letter printer company shops. I would be okay with doing a $100 medicare shop. Just never really been a fan of this company and I keep busy enough without having to hunt for jobs. I get enough Sassie job notifications and also Shopmetrics, that I do not need to login to TS site to look for shops. If they had shops that interested me, that might be a different story, but years of sucky options kinda makes me not even interested in looking.

We all have different things we like, but TS never really has had much that interests me and I do not shop to pay bills. I shop because it's something I want to do or am already doing (like eating out or getting gas or going to the bank).

@Cassiespark wrote:

For the Property Inspections, they charge the lender (who is ordering these reports) $400 per location. So hopefully you are asking for a lot more PAD than $1 a mile. $80 is my minimum on these, and I always get it when I ask. There is a lot of research you have to do about the property, so it's not quite just taking a few pictures from the street.

Cassiespark: You are confusing the property inspections.
They have 2 different ones.
One is where you only take pictures of the building, parking areas, etc. from the street. Which is the low paying one.
The other one is the "Compressive" property inspection.
Which is the one that you usually have to make an appointment, you have to take measurements, do drawings,etc. and that usually consists of the inside of the building, the outside of building and the surrounding property for the building, which is definitely a lot more work.

I did one of the property inspections on a vacant lot. I think it paid $37. Was near my home, so not a biggie. Now, the location is a car wash and I shop it every month. Full circle moment.

Nope, not confusing them. They advertise the "easy" one as just pictures, with no appointment required. But if you actually answer all the questions on the survey (I've never entered N/A), such as the building construction type, utilities, occupancy type, age, etc etc its not at all just pictures. Maybe thats why they always pay the PAD I request, as I answer every single question with some detail.

@sueac101 wrote:

@Cassiespark wrote:

For the Property Inspections, they charge the lender (who is ordering these reports) $400 per location. So hopefully you are asking for a lot more PAD than $1 a mile. $80 is my minimum on these, and I always get it when I ask. There is a lot of research you have to do about the property, so it's not quite just taking a few pictures from the street.

Cassiespark: You are confusing the property inspections.
They have 2 different ones.
One is where you only take pictures of the building, parking areas, etc. from the street. Which is the low paying one.
The other one is the "Compressive" property inspection.
Which is the one that you usually have to make an appointment, you have to take measurements, do drawings,etc. and that usually consists of the inside of the building, the outside of building and the surrounding property for the building, which is definitely a lot more work.

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