Pages

▼

16 April 2011

Work Filofax

I'm in the process of re-organising my A5 Finsbury Filofax. This organiser will become my work Filofax, which I use when we are doing property searches for people wanting to move to our area of France.

We can visit up to about 25 different houses before we submit a report to the clients. So there are a lot of details to collect, photos to take etc. Up to now I've been using my Finsbury Slimline, but I've been using a lot of personal size paper, so the change up to A5 seems to make a lot of sense.

I've printed a lot of the inserts myself and here are a few of them with some 'mock' details filled in so you can see what I need to record for each house. Please excuse my handwriting!


Page 1 of our preprinted survey sheet

Page 2 of the survey sheet.


A map showing the approximate location, we often don't get given the address of the property until we get there. I tend to then find the house using Google Earth and measure distances to shops, airports etc from that. We only work in this defined area which is centred on our house with most places within about a 50-60 minute drive of where we live.

My own description of the house in rough note form, which just helps when you are looking back at the photos later that day or the next day.

A sketch plan which together with the notes helps when we write up the detailed report for the client on each house.

At the moment my pages and inserts are based on what I've been using so far, but I suspect over time it will expand, but with the A5 Finsbury with 30mm rings I will at least have the capacity to absorb and extra pages or sections. 

at

9 comments:

  1. Sweetspot16 April, 2011 01:01

    Hi Steve,

    First time poster here. I've been visiting this blog since I got my first Finsbury in Feburary. Now between Hubby and I, we own 5! Got some great ideas from this blog.

    Steve, the survey sheets you are using is great. We are looking to buy a house now. I got a Finchley A5 especially for it, as we all know, house hunting, buying and decorating abusolutely REQUIRES its own Filofax ;). I think your survey forms will be perfect for my house-hunting section in my filo. The listings are so thorough. Would you mind sharing the template?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Steve Morton16 April, 2011 03:30

    Hi
    Our original form runs to three pages, which I then cut down to two pages by removing some of the information that is contained in the agents sheets.

    It's obviously biased towards the French housing market, so their might be things on their that don't apply where you are.

    But I will upload the full form in .doc format and then you can edit it accordingly for your own requirements.

    I've found that it saves me lots of additional writing about the basic facts on each property.

    Regards
    Steve

    ReplyDelete
  3. Steve Morton16 April, 2011 03:42

    File now available at:
    http://www.philofaxy.com/files/Checklist.doc

    Steve

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sweetspot16 April, 2011 10:00

    Thank you so much Steve!
    It's very thoughtful of you to put it in .doc format. As it turns out, I did make a few changes to suit the housing market here in NY. But overal it's a great template, helps me to sort out all factors that needs to be weighed.

    Thank you again!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous16 April, 2011 10:20

    Hi Steve,

    Thank you for posting this. I can certainly see why you need the A5. I should think over time you will build up quite a file of properties, and will easily be able to update them for new clients that want to avail themselves of your services. I would think it would be a very interesting business, and you are making many new contacts.

    I would guess your ideas will be put to good use by other people in other locations that would like to strike out on their own business venture, quite a demand for it I think.

    Thanks again.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Steve Morton16 April, 2011 15:51

    Pleased that other people can make use of our form. I'm happy to share stuff like this.

    Of course I realise that it will need modifying for different areas of the world. But I'm sure it will give you a good starting point.

    Thank you

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous16 April, 2011 18:33

    I agree Steve, not every place can have "French Windows".

    ReplyDelete
  8. John16 April, 2011 22:50

    I'm an assistant at a finance firm - not quite A5 busy, but I've re-purposed a "vintage" Personal Durham zip as a work calendar. I have a day-per page calendar inserted with takes 3/4 of the ring capacity. Appointments on the left and 5-10 word to-do summaries on the right per calendar page.

    In between each two days, I place a plain notepaper sheet where I flesh out to-do lists. I find the plain notepaper really brings the task to the fore, and I get to practice writing straight lines without lines (an invaluable skill IMO).

    I always keep a ruler tab in between two blank plain notepaper pages. If I'm called into one of my superiors and described a task, I can quickly turn to a "clean" place to write without heeding space or neatness - later I transcribe it formally and insert in to the day section.

    I find this method helps my work efficiency immensely, especially when compared to the mess that Outlook can make of reminders and daily tasks. My desk may get messy, but my work filofax stays, more or less, immaculate.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Kanawha16 April, 2011 23:44

    Thanks for the form Steve. I will be starting the hunt for my first home some time next year. :) This will come in very handy (and yes, an excuse to get one of the new styles of A5 coming out)!

    ReplyDelete