Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 8, Issue 1, January 2004

Copyright 2003 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article below in your research. Be sure to cite the Seattle Sun as your source.

Contractor helps sell homes

by providing quick fixes

By JAMES BUSH

Alyn Murray remembers well his biggest challenge as a real estate agent.

"I'd get a buyer on the line and get an offer accepted subject to inspection," he recalls. "Then the inspector would find something that needed to be fixed."

Which meant that Murray had to find a contractor. And fast.

"My problem, and every agent's problem, was that unless you've got someone on contract, it's hard to find someone to get things done quickly," Murray says.

Realizing that every challenge is a niche market in disguise, Murray decided five years ago to become the quick-acting contractor that every real estate agent craves. Working from his Northwest Seattle home (with the help of a cell phone and a Web site, www.alynmurray.com), Murray works as the Mr. Fix-It for agents and home sellers who need just a few repairs to complete a sale.

His domain is repairs that take between a day and three days to complete, including potential deal-killers such as sagging doors, crumbling deck footings and rotting bathroom floors. He started his contracting business while he was still selling homes, "then I started to get so many deals I didn't have time for real estate."

Murray doesn't limit his practice to homes being readied for sale. Once his repairs have enabled them to sell their homes, grateful home sellers often hire him to work on their new homes. Or, the buyer of that same home might find a flier Murray has tucked into a drawer or cupboard after completing repairs and bring him back to do more work.

He's also gained a word-of-mouth reputation as a contractor who can get the job done quickly. "I get this kind of thing: 'The door doesn't close on the bathroom and we're having a dinner party next week can you fix it?'"

There's a downside to his specializing: Murray occasionally has to turn down work to make sure he's available for his regular clients, most notably the Windermere real estate chain. Extensive interior repairs, which could eat up a couple weeks' work, don't fit the format. "This is a business where you've got to know a lot of things," he says. "That includes when to back away from big jobs."

Born and raised in Montreal, Murray moved west to Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1970. After a decade there, he relocated to Washington when he and a partner bought this state's franchise rights to the 60 Minute Tune chain. His first stop was Spokane, where he lasted exactly one long cold winter. "I said 'That's why I left Montreal,'" he recalls, and moved his home base to Seattle.

Murray obtained his real estate license while working in the franchise business and sold homes throughout the North End over the next two decades, working with Lancer Realty and at the Coldwell Banker offices on Aurora Avenue and in the University District.

A born salesman, Murray knew how to use knowledge to his advantage. During his younger days in Vancouver, he sold photocopy machines for Xerox, before leaving to take a sales job for rival Savin copiers. Although Xerox had faster machines, he knew from his own time with the company that they couldn't change between different-sized paper as quickly as Savin copiers could. So Murray would bring his Savin copier into Vancouver offices and propose a race between his machine and the office's Xerox copier, with the challenge being a copy job involving different sizes of paper. Murray always won the race, and he usually made the sale.

"That's what sales is theatrics," he says. Perhaps Murray learned a few tips through another earlier vocation: playing guitar and saxophone in rock bands.

But, with five years as a contractor under his belt, he's enjoying his current role as the man on the spot for Seattle real estate agents.

"My market is a niche market," he says. "One to three days [per job], maybe four at the most. What I'm trying to be is the guy who does emergency residential repairs."

Alyn Murray Contractor Services is located in the Crown Hill neighborhood. He can be reached at 679-5339.