HomeRun Homes Rent to Own Homes Blog

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HomeRun Homes is a centralized marketplace which helps people Find or Sell a Rent to Own Home, both Nationwide and Globally to the thriving Rent to Own Market. http://www.lease2buy.com

December 6, 2016

Reclaim Hours, Raise Productivity; Epson DS-530 Color Scanner

Hi Folks,
   I hope your Holiday Season is really shaping up for you both professionally and on the home front, as well! It's an exciting time of the year, but it seems like the busiest time of year all-around, doesn't it?

   Well, let me start out by stating the obvious; we all live complex lives, between work, family, and other additional business ventures that we may pursue in life. The end result of this, regardless of the digital age that we live in, is paper. Lots and lots of Paper. I often feel I could take 2 days per month from start of day to end of day, just for the purpose of filing and keeping myself organized.

   The fantastic opportunity to test out the new Epson DS-530 Color Duplex Document Scanner came at an ideal time, which is when I am at the point of literally using a shovel to move paperwork into neat piles.

   The Task: To make some genuine progress in organizing a seemingly never-ending pile of receipts (some of which are fragile strips of paper), contracts, voluminous project management documentation, business cards from new business prospects, tax documents, and many other such types of physical copies that I've accumulated over just the past few months alone.

   The Focus: Testing out the Epson DS-530 Color Document Scanner, and reporting to you on the level of ease or difficulty of Set-up, the speed and quality of various types of required output (those of which I identified above), and then, examining and sharing with you some of the additional bells and whistles that come along with this newest offering from the folks at Epson.

Scanner Set-Up:

   Just as I figured from previous experience testing Epson products, Un-boxing and connecting your new DS-530 is a snap. A few blinking lights and a few beeps and immediately you are ready to get to work.

Scanner Speed and Quality:

   I figured I'd start with the "easy" part, which were a couple a hundred pages of documentation I have across 6 different contractor agreements. I loaded up the Automatic Document Feeder with its capacity of 50 sheets, set it to scan, and in not even 2 minutes, perhaps it was about 90 seconds, the job completed! I was amazed at the speed, and when I took a glance at the documentation, I noticed why: the unit will scan 35 pages per minute (ppm) in grayscale, black, and color modes.

   Further, I noticed some of the remaining 150+ pages I had were dual-sided, with information on both sides. With the DS-530, this is not a problem, as I watched the scanner scan both sides in one pass! I know it is a high-powered duplex scanner, but high powered might seriously be a slight understatement!

   Some additional items I needed to scan were partially laminated, such as high-end business cards and some small placards, which had bulky sections. I was a little uneasy, thinking it might get stuck. Sure enough, these units are engineered in a way to avoid or prevent any jams! Before I knew it, I had these scanned in, as well.

   The item I left for last, since I desperately did not want them getting chewed up or ripped, were my business expense receipts, some of which were pretty mangled from wear, and a few, I am ashamed to admit, went to the dry cleaners and were in a box there for me to pick up when I picked up my dry cleaning. These took a beating, but were still legible, so I took a chance. I was not aware until reading the documentation that there was a slow speed as a mode when you had fragile documents or papers. It treated the receipts with excellent care and the scanned copies are now ready for tax time.

Additional features:

   One of the best features is that you can create searchable PDF files or you can make editable files for Word and Excel. This was a handy feature, as I like to mark the copies with what expense designation each item falls under, and it made it super easy for me to do. Another great feature is the ability to scan to cloud file hosting providers, such as Dropbox, Google Drive or Evernote. I am a Dropbox person, and being able to organize our business files in our Dropbox for Business account is priceless!

   The Epson DS-530 Color Duplex Document Scanner seems to handle anything you can throw at it. No job is too large, too small, or too delicate to be processed by this scanner. I was very impressed with this scanner, and found it to be a great assistant in terms of helping me be more productive. It has saved me an unimaginable amount of time, and when you are running a business, if technology saves you enough time to get back to business, wouldn't you place a value on that technology? What about if the time that the technology gave back to you would come close to being of equal or more value vs. the price value of that technology, just within a few short weeks or a couple of months? That is the kind of productivity I am talking about here, and you should seriously consider one of these scanners for your business. I know that my 2017 will start out strong, with the confidence that I have a tool to handle in minutes what it would take me hours to do. How much time is your Scanner saving you?

Technical Specifications:
Main Features
Document scanner
Duplex
Legal
600 dpi x 600 dpi
up to 35 ppm (mono) / up to 35 ppm (color)
ADF ( 50 sheets )
up to 4000 scans per day
USB 3.0
The fast, efficient DS-530 color duplex document scanner is the intelligent choice for business document management, offering world-class performance at a significant value. Advanced paper feed technologies offer added reliability, while auto document feeder saves time.

The Document Scanner That’s the Intelligent Choice for Document Management
The fast, efficient DS-530 color duplex document scanner is the intelligent choice for business document management, offering world-class performance at a significant value. Featuring speeds up to 35 ppm/70 ipm1, this powerful, compact performer includes TWAIN and ISIS® drivers for seamless integration with existing document management systems. Quickly scan stacks of pages to a PC, Mac® or online storage account2 like Dropbox® or SharePoint®. Advanced paper feed technologies such as Dynamic Skew Correction and Ultrasonic Double Feed Detection offer added reliability, while a 50-page Auto Document Feeder saves time. Additional features include Double Feed Detection Skip, Slow Speed Mode and programmable jobs.

Fast scan speeds, from a leader in image capturing technology — up to 35 ppm/70 ipm1; one-pass duplex scanning
Seamless compatibility with document management systems — includes TWAIN and ISIS drivers for easy integration with existing software
Scan directly to online storage accounts2 — intuitively scan to Dropbox, Evernote®, FileBound and Google Drive™ with Epson Document Capture software
World-class performance and reliability — three sets of rollers for Dynamic Skew Correction, plus Ultrasonic Double Feed Detection to prevent missing pages
Easily scan stacks of documents — robust design with 50-page Auto Document Feeder (ADF)
Designed for dependability — enhanced features include Slow Speed Mode, programmable jobs and a daily duty cycle of up to 4,000 sheets3
Generate searchable and editable files — scan to editable Word and Excel® files or searchable PDF files; OCR software included
Intelligent color and image adjustments — auto crop, blank page and background removal with Epson Image Processing Technology
Versatile paper handling — scan stacks of business and ID cards, single sheets and extra-long pages up to 240"
Send scans to any computer on your network — optional Network Interface Unit available for workgroup sharing

Scan and organize important documents with the included software
Scan documents to email, an FTP server, online storage account2 or any folder on your PC. The scanner also includes TWAIN and ISIS drivers for seamless compatibility with popular document management systems. And, it includes OCR software for creating searchable PDFs or scanning into editable formats like Word and Excel files.

Scan directly to online storage accounts including Dropbox, SharePoint, FileBound and more
Scan directly to your designated hard drive or easily upload documents to Dropbox, SharePoint, FileBound, Google Drive, Evernote and more. Just install the included software on a PC or Mac and users can scan, save and organize data.

Advanced scanning features
Auto Document Size Detection — up to 8.5" x 14"
Scan extra-long documents up to 8.5" x 215" (8.5" x 240" at 200 dpi)
Text enhancement for Color, Black-and-White and Grayscale — for improved OCR accuracy
Auto Image Type Detection
Dynamic Skew Correction
Remove punch holes and blank pages from scanned images

Epson advanced sensor and paper feed technology
Custom-designed to handle important documents — from business cards and plastic IDs to extra-long documents, the scanner incorporates DSC (Dynamic Skew Correction) and a sophisticated multi-roller paper feed design. It automatically corrects the angle at which the paper enters the scanner to prevent jams. The Ultrasonic sensor allows Double Feed Detection to help avoid misfeeds. And, Auto Document Size Detection makes it easy to scan multiple sizes in a single stack. Additional features include:

Automatic Feeding Mode: Scan originals of different sizes, in any order, into one PDF
Double Feed Detection Skip (DFDS) button: Easily resume scanning jobs after a feeding error occurs
Slow Speed Mode button: Scan crumpled or fragile documents at a slower speed to reduce misfeeds or prevent tears

Accommodates oversized and fragile documents
Optional carrier (sold separately) sheets allow you to scan oversized (A3), folded, irregular, wrinkled or fragile documents and receipts, as well as magazine clippings. Carrier sheets can be scanned successively or mixed in with regular paper documents — the scanner will automatically detect the carrier sheet.

Certified by leading solution providers
Select Epson scanners are certified to be compatible with over 70 top-tier Independent Software Vendors (ISV) for easy integration with document management systems. The included TWAIN and ISIS drivers also allow for compatibility with your document management software of choice.
1 Based on letter-sized scans at 300 dpi in Black-and-White, Grayscale or Color Mode.
2 With Epson Document Capture software installed on the connected Windows PC or Mac.
3 Daily duty cycle is the highest recommended number of scanned sheets per day. For best results, run at or below the recommended usage. Calculations based on a scanning speed of 35 ppm and an assumed daily use time.
4 For convenient and reasonable recycling options, visit www.epson.com/recycle
5 SmartWay is an innovative partnership of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that reduces greenhouse gases and other air pollutants and improves fuel efficiency

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Happy Holidays!
Have a Great Week, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !
Regards,
Rob Eisenstein
HomeRun Homes - Rent to Own Homes, since 2002
"Located at the Corner of Technology and Real Estate"
Rent to Own Homes and Real Estate Blog for HomeRun Homes: http://blogging.lease2buy.com
HomeRun Homes Websites: http://www.lease2buy.com and http://www.homerunhomes.com



November 23, 2016

The Worst Advice About Real Estate I've Ever Received

Hi Friends and Fellow Investors,

   They say it's good to dwell on the positive things in life, but sometimes, it's healthy to hop over to the dark-side for a bit and reflect on some of the wacky (but with good intentions) advice I've received over the years regarding Real Estate, from buying to selling to investing. I'll share some of these events chronologically so you can appreciate the time and setting in which I was the recipient of these tidbits of advice.

   Well, a little over 20 years ago, my aunt and uncle used to come over to my apartment at the time a couple of times per week, and they always found me going over the Real Estate section looking for properties. They said I probably spend too much time rsearching and seeing properties. At one point, my Aunt suggested that I should focus on work and just slow down and enjoy life. Why was that bad advice? "Slow down" is the opposite of what a 22-year old should be doing, and "enjoyment" of life is different in every person's own eyes. I worked hard through college and graduated with the equivelant of a 90-degree average to earn my Bachelors Degree. I studied ridiculous hours (ADHD - you have to really cram the information in there!), but wow, did I party, as well! I managed to work during school and sock away some good money, and just had my first home under a Rent to Own Contract, and it was addictive. So, the breaking news on that advice they gave me is that I was very proud of my achievements in school and my initial step into Real Estate Investing. Now, fast forward, and they are now aware that my days of reading the Real Estate section of the newspaper (Pre-Internet "Stone Age" Days) have led me on the path I am on. That little "hobby" of mine has been working out pretty darn good. I make sure to bring up the Real Estate market whenever I see them, as it puts a happy smile on my face. You see that? Real Estate does bring smiles!

   During the early 90's, I had been evaluating some developments in Central Florida. I had conflicting advice from some fellow investors. I was warned by some as if I was to avoid the bubonic plague to not throw a single penny into these developments. Of course, I did not heed that advice. Good thing, because a simple investment of $2050 became an equity stake of $35,000 by the mid 90's, and I cashed out. Listen to your little voice inside.

   During that same time, I did take bad advice two times, and paid the price for it. The first time, I was advised by two investors who followed the New England market very closely via publications that they ordered in those pre-Internet times. They told me to put everything behind a property in Connecticut, so I invested. As it turns out, somebody missed out that there was a toxic waste/Sewage treatment plan not far away, and the smell kept people from buying in. The place folded and the wrecking ball came in, and I kissed my investment goodbye. Needless to say, I phased out those two woodpecker investors from my circle!

   The second time, I had my eyes on a promising piece of land in Maine, in a sectio I was not at all familiar with, but the property adjacent and surrounding tripled in value over 4 years. I needed to get in touch with some local investors, and I made contact with a friend of a friend, and this fella was like a book of everything in that section of Maine. My funds were ready to invest and I was excited. He was so dead-set against this property, saying it was rocky and hard to develop, and showed me a letter from the County actually asking him to invest in it, along with his polite letter of proposal rejection he sent to them in reply. He seemed reasonable in his arguments against the property. Fast forward all of these years, and I am still quite upset with myself for that bad advice, because I missed out on a hotel and a strip-mall, and a price appreciation of more than 25x my would-be invesment! Oddly, I lost "Mr. Maine's" phone number. It's still a mystery today as to how I could have lost it.

   So, as you can see, I dodged some bullets, but got caught between the eyes with some others. I remember a friend in the industry warning me not long ago about investing in too many different states. He failed to realize that to ignore hot properties that you have people on the ground you trust to manage it for you is akin to business suicide. Locking yourself into just one market is like putting all of your money on a winning horse. Once he breaks a leg, then what?!

   Overall, as I said in the beginning, all of this advice was done with good intentions, but still, that was just some of the worst advice I've ever received about Real Estate.

   FYI, more Epson hardware is on it's way for me to review and share with the many of you who have been quite consistent in your requests. Thanks for your patience.

Would You Like Our Blog Posts Sent Directly to your E-mail? Here's How:
1. Locate the "Subscribe by E-mail" box on the Right Side of your Screen.
2. Type your E-mail address in the box, and click "Submit"
3. Check Your E-mail and Confirm Your Subscription...it's That Simple !

Happy Thanksgiving!
Have a Great Week, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !
Regards,
Rob Eisenstein
HomeRun Homes - Rent to Own Homes, since 2002
"Located at the Corner of Technology and Real Estate"
Rent to Own Homes and Real Estate Blog for HomeRun Homes: http://blogging.lease2buy.com
HomeRun Homes Websites: http://www.lease2buy.com and http://www.homerunhomes.com


TAGS: #realestate #maine #florida #investment #advice #newengland #developments #centralflorida #realestateinvesting