Hi!!
Welcome
to the October 2003 Newsletter!
First,
a
correction from last month's newsletter... Apparently it is
NOT a misdemeanor in California to not do your prelim notices.
It IS however
a punishable (by the license board) offense.
Well,
it's almost time for the trick-or-treaters to be running around.
Will you be dressing up this year or do you need candy to hand-out
(and snack on while no one's looking... ;)? The last section
of this newsletter has some happy halloween goodies and treats.
:)
In
this newsletter you'll find info about California's ever-changing
prelim notices; how to keep receiving this free newsletter and
keep it from being zapped by a filter and info about our brand
new "Lien Release Forms Package". Please keep
your feedback coming on the changes you see here in the newsletter.
:)
Have
an outstanding month!!
Diane
This
month:
01. Preliminary
Notices are changing on January 1, 2004
02. Don't miss out on any of our newsletters...
03. Dun & Bradstreet can help you to learn about potential
customers
04. Southern California Insurance Brokerage, Inc. is #1 (California)
05. Halloween Goodies
06. Open letter from my sister about her family...
If
you like this newsletter, please forward it to your friends
and colleagues and encourage them to subscribe... I'll be forever
grateful... :)
1. Preliminary
Notices will change on January 1, 2004
The
California 20-Day Preliminary Notice will be changing effective
January 1, 2004. If you've purchased our prelim notice
in the past check our newsletter between now and January 1,
2004 to find out when you can get your updated copy of the
prelim.
The
reason for the change is because new legislation was
enacted that requires the owner of the property to notify every
entity that sent him a 20-Day Preliminary Notice, that the
notice of completion or cessation has been filed.
The
new text in the preliminary notice serves to inform the
owner of this new responsibility.
Now
would actually be a good time to evaluate how
you handle your prelim notices. We used to do
them all ourselves, until I met Ted Levy of "Levy
von Beck & Associates P.S."
We
decided to have Levy do our prelims for us, and I can't tell
you the peace of mind that gives you. To
know that the correct parties have been prelim'd without
you having to spend all your time chasing down the info to make
sure it's accurate allows you to spend more time growing
and tending to your business, all the while knowing
that Levy is protecting your lien rights on your current business!
Did
you know that you can lose your lien rights if
you miss just ONE entity when sending out prelims?
It takes a LOT of your time to contact Title
Companies and other places looking for accurate owner/lender
information, time that you could be spending growing your business.
Fortunately,
because we are now using Levy for our prelim
and lien needs, I can focus on growing my business
while Levy focuses on protecting my business.
:)
If
you'd like to see what Levy can do for you, visit the Levy • von
Beck & Associates
P.S. website. Anyone who
does prelim notices can use Levy, no matter
which state you're in because Levy does this for all
50 states and D.C.!
Also, we've
added discussion
forums to Levy's website,
so if you have questions about prelims and/or mechanic's
liens, now you have a place to get
answers to your questions for FREE!
Please click
here to visit the forums or visit the web address shown
below:
http://www.thecontractorsgroup.com/levylaw/forums.htm
Here's
Levy's printable
business card, their website,
and their contact info:
Levy • von
Beck & Associates,
P.S.
One Union Square * 600 University Street * Suite 3300
Seattle, WA 98101 ** 206.626.5444 Ted Levy tlevy@levy-law.com
Look
at what else Levy • von Beck & Associates, P.S. does:
*
Construction Defect Claims
* Development of contract and bid documents
* UCC Filings; Development of Security Agreement Forms
* Commercial Collection
* Perfection of lien rights
* Development of joint check agreements, waiver and release forms
Levy • von
Beck & Associates
P.S. can help you! :)
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2. Don't
miss out on any of our newsletters
Due
to the nightmarish amount of spam
and UCE (unsolicited commercial email) the business
of email filters is booming. I dislike spam and UCE
as much as the next person but unfortunately the
filters are not perfect.
Because
they're not perfect, when you use a filter you
have to remember to open the spam folder that
the suspected spam email is filtered to. If you don't
you could miss important emails that the filter erroneously
zapped as spam.
The
errors that come about with filters happen mostly because the
filters "read" the words in the subject
line and body of the message to determine whether or
not the email is spam. That's a problem because
the spammers use words that legitimate email
newsletters also use.
The
example given in the Marketing Sherpa article I read
on this subject is a "Harvard Admissions
Letter" that was filtered out after
it was determined, by the filter, to
be spam. The implication here is that these filters
do make mistakes and sometimes those mistakes
can be costly to the intended recipient.
If
your friend sends you an email about something f*r.e*e.
she found online, you might not receive that email. Why?
Because "f*r.e*e" is
a very marked word, it's one of the top filtered words
these days.
That's
why I typed f*r.e*e with
asterisks and periods/dots, otherwise this newsletter
could be filtered out and deleted simply due to this
very article containing the word f*r.e*e!
No
matter how you access the internet or which email program
you use, one thing I'm told that a person
can do is this::
Add
your friend's email address to your email address book. Do
this for anyone and everyone you want to receive email
from.
AOL'rs,
you'll want to do the above PLUS you'll want to add
your friend's email address to your contact buddy list.
If you have a "Person I Know" buddy list you'll
want to add the email addresses into there also.
These
steps are supposed to insure that you receive
all emails from everyone that you want to receive emails
from, especially those emails from your
friends telling you where you can find f*r.e*e stuff.
:)
To
get you started, I have a few email addresses
of my own I'd like to ask you to add in, to ensure
that you continue to receive my newsletters.
;)
This
email address is where I send my newsletter from...
thecontractorsgroup@topica.email-publisher.com
These
are my personal email addresses...
diane@thecontractorsgroup.com
contractors1@earthlink.net
Thank
you for adding me and for being my subscriber! If
you have any questions please do feel
free to contact
me. If I don't have the answer to your question I'll
find someone who does. :) diane@thecontractorsgroup.com
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3. Dun & Bradstreet
can help you to learn about potential customers
D&B
Small Business Solutions gives small businesses access to
tools and information that they can use to check payment
history of potential partners, monitor their own business
credit, locate new customers and suppliers, research new
markets, and collect past due receivables.
Check
your customer's (or potential customer's) payment history
now with a FREE Credit eValuator Report from D&B Small Business
Solutions.
Click
Here!
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4.
Southern California
Insurance Brokerage, Inc. (California)
Gary
Oltmanns and Gabriel Hill, of Southern California
Insurance Brokerage Inc., are the guys to handle
your insurance needs. They've taken care of us for several
years now and we couldn't be more pleased.
I've
created an online
business e*card for you to print and
put in your business card file or your insurance
file (it prints the same size as a standard business
card). Then when it's time to renew your
policy, pull the card out and give Gary and/or
Gabriel a call and then you'll know why we've
stayed with them for as long as we have!
Southern
California Insurance Brokerage, Inc.
PO Box 758 * Glendora, CA 91740
(800) 900-9372 email: scib@socalinsurance.com
business card link
website: http://www.socalinsurance.com/
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5.
Halloween Goodies
