Where to hire reliable unskilled help?

[Vernon Martin]

Here I am, a white man, hired to appraise a black beauty college for foreclosure.
The client insists on interior photos, but I am nervous about entering and shooting photos.

I tried to hire a young, mixed race black man from a local chicken shack, someone I knew for liking fancy african-american haircuts. I offered $60 for auto expenses, a free hair style of his choice and a free lunch with beer afterwards. I would pretend to be his grandfather photographing him for his upcoming 23rd birthday, with before-and-after photos, with a few other photos in between.

I sent the $60 in advance to him, but he never showed up.

Is there a web site where I can find reliable hired help for situations like this?

 

[sputnam]

Why would you pay in advance?

 

[Zoe]

Obviously you don't live in Memphis or Atlanta or Birmingham. I would do it myself if the lender and owner gave me access.

The race card don't work with me.

I would be worried about comps possibly. I don't know what approaches you will use for MV appraisal.

I would probably be asking owner about comps and maybe even the lender for old appraisal. I would try my best to find the data I could.

Is it tenant occupied now or owner occupied?

I probably would ask people to step out of the way when I was taking photographs. But I would do the same whatever race they are. If they are white I would ask them to step out of the way while taking photos.

If it is like a going concern, what about getting access after business hours?

I am kinda clueness because I am having problems picturing the subject.

 

[Gobears81]

I hate inspecting foreclosures. They always have the "not welcome" vibe and often show signs that someone is squatting in there. Sounds like your property isn't vacant, though. I suspect that the worst thing that could happen is a rude owner, but if you see signs that an interior inspection isn't safe, tell your client that you can't accommodate. If they aren't willing to shift to an exterior-only, better a lost assignment than the alternative.

I suspect that you won't have much luck finding someone that is trustworthy to accompany on the inspection, unless you've already known them, which doesn't sound like the case.

 

[Zoe]

When you say black beauty college, I think of like a business that trains hair stylist. What about doing external pics in business hours and internal pics after business hours?

Me personally, I would have no problem taking some some interior photos and asking people to please step to the side a little but I would rather do interior pictures when the employees and customers are not there.

I think of like they train beauticians. May do nails or whatever.

Like in Memphis, you can go into facilities that train hair stylist and beauticians and there will be all races in the facility.

 

[J Grant]

Here I am, a white man, hired to appraise a black beauty college for foreclosure.
The client insists on interior photos, but I am nervous about entering and shooting photos.

I tried to hire a young, mixed race black man from a local chicken shack, someone I knew for liking fancy african-american haircuts. I offered $60 for auto expenses, a free hair style of his choice and a free lunch with beer afterwards. I would pretend to be his grandfather photographing him for his upcoming 23rd birthday, with before-and-after photos, with a few other photos in between.

I sent the $60 in advance to him, but he never showed up.

Is there a web site where I can find reliable hired help for situations like this?

? Sounds like hiring a stranger who works at a chicken shack is a more dangerous choice- often crimes are committed by those we think we "know" slightly or that we let get close to us- just saying.

There is an online website- called TaskRabbit -they provide people who do personal assistant, shopping, furniture assembly, and other services. I believe they do a background check and qualifications. They are reasonable, not cheap, but you get what you pay for. I hired them for furniture assembly and the peeps they sent over were great - very professional.

Do you have a dog? (or can you borrow a big dog )....Back in the day, when I used to appraise vacant REO, I had my wonderful 80lb dog Brownie, RIP - a dog will "clear the room"- even an untrained dog will run around and sniff, and if someone is hiding inside will flush them out. A big dog intimidates people.

I would not worry about your race or why that matters - bring a friend if you have a trustworthy friend -

 

[Mark K]

I would pretend to be his grandfather photographing him for his upcoming 23rd birthday, with before-and-after photos, with a few other photos in between.

Seriously? LOL!!!

I sent the $60 in advance to him, but he never showed up.

Are you Fernando spoofing us? Tell you what, send me $60 and I'll show up, promise!

 

[Tom D]

Go into each room and take a selfie with the group. Then blur them out.
Put your phone up to your face, like your talking to someone while walking around, then click, photo taken. Send $60 to me.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Go to a temporary service and explain what you need. One day's work.

 

[Gobears81]

Go to a temporary service and explain what you need.

The problem with that is explaining to them what you need a temp for