ASHI Members in the Media

by Sandy Bourseau November 1, 2007

Dave Macy, Home Safe Home Inspections, Broadview Heights, Ohio, was interviewed for the “Sell Your Home in a Buyer’s Market” series, a consumer specialist news story on WES — Cleveland. The series began Oct. 1 and suggested pre-inspections by the seller as one way to help sell a house in the current market.

Macy served as the source for information about pre-inspections. He said he wore his ASHI badge and the camera “zoomed in on it several times.”

Dana Strumpher
, AmeriSpec Home Inspections, Springfield, Ill., was a guest speaker on “Let’s Talk Real Estate,” hosted by Fritz Pfister of Re/Max Professionals, and broadcast by WMAY 970 AM radio Saturdays at 10-11 a.m.

Sean Blasius
, Best Property Inspections, San Diego, Calif., and Keith Morgan, Property Inspection Consultants, Northridge, Calif., were interviewed and quoted in an article in the real estate section of the local newspaper.

Bill Sheets
, The Pridemen Team, Sherwood, Ark., provided the editor for the Arkansas Realtors Association with reasons why buyers in their state should get a home inspection.

Speedy press release pick-up

On Sept. 27, MS&L, ASHI’s public relations consultants, electronically distributed the monthly press release, “When Buying a Home Be Sure to Check Out Possible Landscape Hazards,” to daily newspapers, syndicated writers, freelancers and trades. Within days, it appeared in Homes 101, Realty Times RisMedia.com and Brocker Agent News.

All press releases are posted on ashi.org, and may be used by ASHI chapters and members to promote ASHI. Just add some information specific to the area and distribute it to local media outlets to the attention of the real estate editor. Local publications are always looking for interesting content.

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Reaching Out to Realtors

by Max Curtis, ASHI Publications Committee member

More than a year ago the ASHI Public Relations Committee established a goal to create a vehicle to communicate with the real estate community — where the action really takes place — at the local Realtor® board level. The goal of this outreach program was not only to solidify ASHI as the premier home inspection association, but also to let the real estate community know ASHI is available as the resource for home inspection related information and topics. The task became more difficult when we discovered a list of local Realtor® board presidents and/or executive directors was not available to us.

After many hours of ASHI volunteer and staff time and a significant number of ASHI dollars, a list of over 1,500 local Realtor® board contacts was created. The first “We Speak House” internet newsletter was delivered to these individuals in August. Plans are to send a newsletter at least quarterly. The newsletters are geared to selling the benefits of using ASHI inspectors along with establishing ASHI as the resource for their home inspection questions. To make this program viable, we need local ASHI members making follow-up contacts with these real estate professionals.

We also will be routinely supplying the ASHI volunteers with press releases. These releases have been written and sent out to the national media by ASHI’s public relations firm, MS&L. The local ASHI volunteers may edit the press releases to reflect local contacts and conditions, and distribute them locally to the media and Realtor® boards.

Sixty-two ASHI members in 32 states have signed on to help promote this program on the local level. ASHI member volunteers are still needed in the following states to receive the local Realtor® board lists and help out with the press release distribution: Arkansas, Delaware, Iowa, Maine, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Wisconsin, West Virginia and Wyoming.
If you are in one of these areas and would like to help out, please contact me at max@maxinspect.com.


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