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BrokerIPTV: Today, we are talking with Paul Jensen aka Thrifty Handyman. Paul, welcome to the show. Thanks for being with us.

Paul Jensen: Pleasure to be here Dan.

BrokerIPTV: Well, you do a lot with real estate agents, which is one of the reasons why I wanted to talk with you, but tell me a little about your business.

Paul Jensen: We have a handyman remodeling and construction business. We do most aspects of home improvement; it's mostly residential. We do some commercial, very limited. It runs the gamut from building decks, putting in tile, doing bathroom and kitchen remodels, responding to inspection lists. We do foreclosure homes that need a lot of work. Sometimes there are HUD homes that need work and it's just painting, drywall, you know the typical things you see. <watch video>

BrokerIPTV: Is the banks contacting you themselves to do?

Paul Jensen: No, the banks are contacting me through a couple of real estate agents, who work with those banks who use me to do the fix ups.

BrokerIPTV: All right. How about inspection items? How busy has that been?

Paul Jensen: Inspection items are probably about 15% of our business and I have a number of different realtors that will call me and it's usually a hurry up rush thing at the last minute.

BrokerIPTV: Always, yeah.

Paul Jensen: You know we have a closing on Friday, how soon can you guys fix these 10 items or 12 items?

BrokerIPTV: It's funny. I was going to say a lot of times real estate agents are scrambling at the last minute trying to get something fixed up, but you are, the good news is that you are kind of a one stop shop. You can do a variety of things. You know the agent doesn't have to call the plumber and the, you know the framer and so forth.

Paul Jensen: Right. I actually have about four guys that I work with on a full time basis and a couple that I bring in on an as-needed basis. I have a master plumber and a master electrician when that becomes necessary. The rest of my guys are very good at painting, carpentry, hanging cabinets, fixing doorknobs, you know fixing windows, just all kinds of things like that, so,

BrokerIPTV: All right. Final question. Advice that you can pass along to a seller who is preparing their home trying to get it ready and wants it to be a smooth transaction during that inspection process.

Paul Jensen: What I would say about that is its a very competitive market and the homes that you are going to sell in a reasonable timeframe are going to be the homes that really standout and shine as compared to all the other, sometimes dumps and I see them. I would say the best person to work with is your Realtor because thats what you are paying them for as they have an expert opinion. This person lives in this home every day and they learn to overlook some of the flaws after a while. Your Realtor can come in with an objective viewpoint and take a look around your home and they can see the different maintenance items. They are going to see things like the gutter or the down spout is leaking or it's falling down. You have got dents in the drywall, you have got chips in the door, you have got a broken window here or there, things that people overlook. The Realtor I think is going to have the best opinion and a lot of my realtors do come to me with the recommended list that they themselves have worked with the home owner and said, "I would like to see these items addressed before I put this place on the market."

BrokerIPTV: Paul, great information. Thanks for being with us. Appreciate it.

Paul Jensen: Thank you Dan.

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