PROGRESS THREAD: Bilgefisher (Real Estate)

[Bilgefisher]

Its time to start practicing what I preach. I have had goals, but never clearly defined with definitive time tables. I will fix that today.

Clearly Defined Goals to be read 2x per day.

Goal:
I will be self employed in 18 months time on April 1st 2011.

Why:
-Devote my time to my fiancé, my dog, and my future family
-To dictate my time
-Pursue financial freedom
-Prove myself to myself
-Continue my streak of completing 100% of what I truly set my mind to.

How:
-I will accumulate $50,000 in liquid savings (bank accounts, pm’s, and cash)
*Money will be obtained through the purchase and sale of single family residence, duplex, and smaller multiplex buildings in the Arapahoe county area of Colorado.
*Extensive use of probate, and reo real estate will be used.
* Properties will be bought and wholesaled or bought and rehabbed for sale at near FMV

-I will have $1500/mo passive income.
* I will use SFR and smaller multiplexes to obtain the desired positive cashflow.
* In order to obtain $1500/mo in such a short time, I will have 5 units cashflowing for a positive cashflow of $300 per unit.
* Assumptions:
-With an average market rent of $1100 for a 3/2
-$40,000 mortgage avg per unit
- $400/yr insurance
-$800/yr taxes
-$2500/yr maintenance
-8% Property management fee. Or 1056/yr
- 8% vacancy or 1 month per year
- I will have $10,000 invested per unit.
*I will be investigated Mobile home deals and incorporating if the numbers work.

- To obtain the $100,000 cash needed (50k rentals, 50k reserves) I will do 10 deals average averaging 15k per deal. Taxes must be accounted for as the rehabs and wholesale deals will be considered income.
- I use my own home as a rental and find a new home.

- I will also be saving 15% of my take home pay and utilize past savings as I reach these goals.
- I will be flexible and open minded, but stick to my plan.
-I will only make changes to my plan after careful consideration to be in the best interest for achieving my goals.
- I will read these goals and action steps 2x per day.
- I will utilize my mastermind group for ideas and support
-I will share my progress the outside world via my blog, and the fastlane as a tool to keep myself on track.
-I will look to inspire others, therefore inspiring myself.
- I will remember service the needs of others which will in turn service my needs.

 

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[Gymjunkie]

Speed+ for taking action and having a nice plan.. I will have to make one myself soon for my project. Good luck

 

[bflbob]

Great job there Jason! Look forward to hearing about more about it on Tuesday!

 

[dollarBlogger]

Speed++

Thanks for sharing! Looking forward to regular updates on your progress!

How:
*Extensive use of probate, and reo real estate will be used.

Can you maybe explain a little what you mean here? I can think of a few different ways you could market for probate and reos. Just wondering how exactly you are planning on doing it...

~dB

 

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[LagunaLauren]

Bilgefisher-rep++ for putting your goals out there and being willing to be accountable/track the progress. :yourock:

Will solidify mine and put mine up too.

 

[AroundTheWorld]

++ you rock

 

[Bilgefisher]

Can you maybe explain a little what you mean here? I can think of a few different ways you could market for probate and reos. Just wondering how exactly you are planning on doing it...

~dB

Glad you asked.

I don't want to limit myself to just one resource to buy and sell properties. REO's are a great way to start out and find properties. Unfortunately, everybody and there brother are looking for them. I happened to participate as a voter in the battle of REIblogs contest and ran into a good resource on picking up probate properties.

Probate real estate is essentially property that has been inherited. Often times these folks are very motivated to sell. 1 in 10 might be willing to talk to you and less then 20% of those will actually accept your offer. Its a matter of numbers. Get enough letters out to folks to see if they are willing to sell. View the property, make an offer, buy and resell or buy and rehab for sale.

*I'm sorry if I am being generic, but If I get to specific, I will practically be plagiarizing some of the material I am learning from. That is not fair to the author. This process is so simple, its difficult not to.

Back on topic. Colorado has this nasty little $5 fee per probate file I pull. (only state to do this) That leaves me at a distinct advantage. Few others will be willing to pay this fee. It may take 200 files before I get a sale. Few would risk the $1000. $1000 to make 10-15k makes sense to me.

Probates may sound like ambulance chasing, but is really a benefit for the folks owning the property. Often times they are out of state, never dealt with rentals, or just flat need the money to cover inherited debts. I can take the property off their hands with cash, close quickly, and basically help them offload something they don't want without paying a Realtor commission. Its a win/win situation. Many will not like the low offers. 70% minus hard and soft costs, but for others its found money they didn't have before. Part of the reason for using shear numbers.

Ok so I rambled a bit on why I will be heading down this route. What I have accomplished so far:
-Located local newspapers in 3 denver metro counties that can list notice to creditors. The list is quite large.
-Helped another rookie like me find the same info in his county.
-Found distinct maps for my areas.
-Found through talking to my neighbors a potential opportunity 6 houses down. Nice couple in their 80's, lived in the neighborhood 47 years. Husband died 2 months ago, and the son promptly moved his mother to Florida. Good kid(older then me but, meh), she needs someone around.

The house is currently vacant and very well landscaped. The interior needs updating, but this could be the perfectly motivated seller I am looking for. The house right next door just got rehabbed and is for sale at 104k. This house is the same layout with an added carport that could easily be converted into a garage.

I will get a letter off to the son in the next week. Who knows, I may just be able to wholesale this to the rehabbers next door.

I'll be sure to update here. Sorry Dollar, you asked for a cup of sand and I gave you the beach on this one. This stuff is just to exciting.

 

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[kwerner]

Hey Bilge - not sure if you follow pre-foreclosures in your area, but when I'm going through the listings in my area, it's not uncommon to see the defendant (the party being foreclosed upon) listed as "John Smith (deceased)" - this could be another avenue for you to find probate properties - looking for the listings that say "(deceased)". Of course, that depends on if they do it in a similar way in your area.

From my experience in dealing with these situations is that these sellers are much easier to work with. You don't need to try and convince them that selling is their best option - they aren't emotionally attached to the property like most pre-foreclosure prospects are. And, like you said, they consider it "found" money.

Hope this helps, and thanks for the updates!

 

[Bilgefisher]

Its time to start practicing what I preach. I have had goals, but never clearly defined with definitive time tables. I will fix that today.

Clearly Defined Goals to be read 2x per day.

Goal:
I am self employed within 18 months time on April 1st 2011.

Why:
-I am Devoting my time to my fiancé, my dog, and my future family
-I am dictating my time
-I am Pursuing financial freedom
-I amProving myself to myself
-I am Continuing my streak of completing 100% of what I truly set my mind to.

How:
-I have accumulate $50,000 in liquid savings (bank accounts, pm’s, and cash)
*Money will be obtained through the purchase and sale of single family residence, duplex, and smaller multiplex buildings in the Arapahoe county area of Colorado.
*Extensive use of probate, and reo real estate will be used.
* Properties will be bought and wholesaled or bought and rehabbed for sale at near FMV

-I have $1500/mo passive income.
* I am using SFR and smaller multiplexes to obtain the desired positive cashflow.
* In order to obtain $1500/mo in such a short time, I have 5 units cashflowing for a positive cashflow of $300 per unit.
* Assumptions:
-With an average market rent of $1100 for a 3/2
-$40,000 mortgage avg per unit
- $400/yr insurance
-$800/yr taxes
-$2500/yr maintenance
-8% Property management fee. Or 1056/yr
- 8% vacancy or 1 month per year
- I have $10,000 invested per unit.
*I will be investigated Mobile home deals and incorporating if the numbers work.

- To obtain the $100,000 cash needed (50k rentals, 50k reserves) I have done 10 deals average averaging 15k per deal. Taxes must be accounted for as the rehabs and wholesale deals will be considered income.
- I use my own home as a rental and find a new home.

- I am also be saving 15% of my take home pay and utilize past savings as I reach these goals.
- I am flexible and open minded, but stick to my plan.
-I am only making changes to my plan after careful consideration to be in the best interest for achieving my goals.
- I am reading these goals and action steps 2x per day.
- I am utilizing my mastermind group for ideas and support
-I share my progress the outside world via my blog, and the fastlane as a tool to keep myself on track.
-I look to inspire others, therefore inspiring myself.
- I remember service the needs of others which will in turn service my needs.

Slight tweak to my goals. In order to reach my goals, I need to see myself having already accomplished those goals. I am replacing I will to I am.

 

[Bilgefisher]

For the probate process I will be taking several steps.

1. I will find probate leads via the newspaper and the county courthouse
- I have found leads via 10-15 papers in my area.
-I'm taking tomorrow off to check the courthouse and see how the process is done on that end. Hopefully I can chat up one of the clerks that will give me a bit a help.
- At the courthouse I want to find out how many leads I can pull per day and if its even necassary to pull them from there.

Can I get away with just checking the newspaper or am I missing leads that way? I suspect the latter.
Is the actual cost in Colorado really $5?
What further info on the deceased and pr will I find?
Is there an online access I was unable to find?

2. I will determine if they owned real property in my farm area from the assessors office.

3. If they own real property, I will be sending them a letter. I picked up some nice stationary and matching envelopes today for just this purchase. I realize this is an added expense, but if I my letters don't get opened, I'm wasting my time and stamps anyway.

I'm fairly comfortable on the previous steps. If I setup an appointment to view their house, I want to get a licensed contractor to walk the house with me. I have no clue on true rehab costs, only rough ideas. Thanks to JScott's blog I am a bit more prepared then a lot of folks starting out.

I'll use my buyers agent to submit the offers for awhile until I am comfortable with the process. I will be talking to some folks and evaluating whether to pursue my agent license or not. Back of my mind thought atm.

Once I have the offer accepted, I will initially use hard money to fund the deal. I'm hoping to wholesale the first few as hard money restrictions will make the deals difficult. If I can build some reserves this will allow me more flexibility on financing, plus will show many private money lenders my proven track record. Everyone has to start somewhere.

If I rehab and sell, I will stage the property and use a RE agent to sell it. I want to utilize my time finding the properties, not showing properties.

So thats the process. Once I get a better idea the number of leads in my area, I will setup a stronger game plan on what I want to accomplish each week.

 

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[Bilgefisher]

Kick in gear post.

Slacked off for 2 or 3 days. Fear grabbed me unknowingly and caused me to procrastinate. I found probate leads, determined if they owned real property, yet failed to do the easy part. I haven't mailed off a single letter yet.

Tonight is the night. I will mail off 5 letters before bed tonight. Just had to let the world know and hold myself accountable. Lose yourself by Eminem. Got love a motivational song.

 

[365]

Great thread! Keep it going!

 

[Bilgefisher]

After getting passed that ugly fear of mailing off letters, I am now cleaning some things up a bit.

First the mail out process is very slow,
-I will get excel spreadsheet to autofill my word document with names and addresses. I also need to get a far more efficient way of getting those names onto excel.

- A glue stick. All my envelopes have the peel backing, except the nice ones. My tongue will taste like paper for a week lol. Easy fix.

-My Fiance helped me clean up the format of the letters a bunch. She has a good eye for it. This should help down the road.

-I will need to get lists from 3 counties to meet my quota for mailings per month. That is my goal this week, to get the 3 counties info. Also I need to do some figuring on how to get the leads from those counties. I may be able to pay the fee online and get leads that way, thus saving me 2-3 dollars per lead. $500 per month possible future savings.

-I am trying out WordPress Hosting | Quick and Simple Low-Cost Websites and Blogs | WordPress Themes & Plugins | The Ultimate Solution for my blog this week. So far Kerry has done a great job. If all continues to go well, I will use them to help me build my probate site.

Still making progress. Gotta love my workplace helping my motivation. God bless the overstressed boss.

 

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[Bilgefisher]

I got the mail merge complete for my envelopes and letters. The setup made me want to throw my printer out the window, but now that its done its very useful. This will save me untold hundreds of hours.

I haven't found many papers in the other counties that carry probate leads. I'll call the courthouses on Monday.

I did not mail out leads during Thanksgiving week. This is a very emotional topic, not a good time to to send out these letters. More letters will be out on the 30th though.

I'm still deciding whether to mail to spouses or not. Emotions will be even higher, but some folks may be looking to get out of their houses quickly. I can fill that need.

I will be setting up my phone this week. I'll use skype initially for phone messages, but I'd really like to get google voice. I'll send another request for an invite. Maybe I'll have better luck with my business email rather than my yahoo email. What I like about google voice is the ability to transcribe voice mails to email. Big time saver.

I noticed that when I don't read my goals, I get less done. Its really kinda amazing to me how something that simple can make a difference.

At this point forward, its mostly a grind until I start receiving phone calls. I will be making a rough script to follow to talk to these folks. My goal is to get a meeting at the house setup so I can make an offer. 100 letters, 20 calls, 10 house visits and offers, 1 accepted. Thats the rough math of it. I will be mailing 25-50 letters each week to make these numbers.

 

[Bilgefisher]

Not really a progress update, but more of an update on how I intend to make this work.

How to help the sellers?

Sellers are folks that have aquired real property through the passing of a loved one or friend. Often times they do not want the property, some times they do. Some scenarios I see for a seller.

*They need the cash now and are willing to sell the property at a deep discount as long as it sells quick. These folks could have bills due, medical expenses or any plethora of reasons to quickly sell. These folks will be my bread in butter in the probate process. They may also be folks that do not wish to go through hassle and expense of rehabbing the property.

*They want top dollar from their home and do not wish to sell at a discount. They are content on waiting until the right buyer comes along.

*They wish to keep the home and rent it out to others or desire some form of income from the property.

*They wish to keep the home for family members or themselves.

I believe I can fill 3 of the 4 needs here.

Helping those who wish to sell at a deep discount should be fairly uncomplicated. I will obtain private or hard money and buy the house from them within my guidelines. Even if I do not wish to rehab the house, the deal will allow me to offer it up as a wholesale deal to other buyers in the area.

To help those wishing for top dollar for the home, I have a buyers agent who has sellers agents on his contact list. Since he will be helping me acquire many properties, we will work out a deal for a some sort of commission percentage from the sellers agents. I could be looking at $500 per property that a sellers agent is able to sell from my leads. Perhaps these same sellers have a home that needs work before they can get top dollar. Here’s where I want to be creative. If I can find a rehabbed willing to work with them or rehab the property myself, we can work out a split on the profits. This will really depend on the deal. I also will give them contacts on contractors to work with. This can help me when I need that contractor to do work for me. Referral discounts. Heck, maybe they don’t have the money for rehab, but want to tackle it. Okay, I have several hard money lenders on my list. I’ll get the two in touch. Since there loan to value should be for repairs only, they should get favorable acceptance. Many many ways to fill this need.

Suppose they want to rent it out. I have a killer property manager. She is like a little badger. Looks cute and cuddly but can take care of business. Perhaps I can work out some sort of discount deal by getting my PM those leads. If she doesn’t want them, I can find other pm’s willing to take those leads. If they wish to go it alone, I will calmly inform them about my first year of rentals and going it alone. If they still wish to pm on their own, no problem. I’ll leave my card and plan on calling them 6 months to 1 year down the road and see how things are going. Many folks tackle rentals at first, then realize what a pain the a$$ they are.

Suppose they wish to keep for themselves or family members. I’ll wish them the best of luck and hand them my card or refrigerator magnet. Plans always change.

No matter what the seller needs to do, the most important thing I can do is listen to them and find out what that truly is. They may not even know at first. We’ll work through the options. I just need to listen. Something I’ll have to really work on. Not my strong suit. I get too exited and start shooting myself in the foot. I have 100’s of ideas, but I need give them a chance to tell me what will work best for them first. A car dealer can’t sell a minivan to a person looking for a truck. Neither party will walk away happy. I’m sure I’ll have tire kickers wanting to know what they can get for their property. Thats okay, tire kickers have some desire to sell or they would not have called. I just need to find out what their motivation is. Even tire kickers have a need. Every person who calls me is a potential buyer. In fact I already have their sale. I just need to close the deal.

Next post I’ll talk about filling the buyers needs.

 

[Bilgefisher]

Last post I talked about my first customers, the sellers and their needs. Now lets discuss what a buyer will need. Without the buyer I might as well be buying tires with no car.

Buyers Needs

I will have several types of buyers, jut like I will work with several types of sellers. Each of their needs can be vastly different, but they all need a house or home.

*Homeowners; These folks will be looking for a property in move in condition.

*Landlords; Will be looking for properties that will provide positive cashflow or extreme appreciation potential.

*Rehabbers; Are looking for a home that they can rehab and sell for a profit.

*Wholesalers; Will be looking for a property they can make a profit off of by selling to one off the above three.

I can fill the needs of all four. Filling all the buyers needs will depend greatly on the house, location, profit potential and purchase price.

*Homeowners needs can be filled by providing two types of properties. One that is turn key ready and one they can build their own sweat equity. The turn key ready folks will be very particular on the house they want. I need to provide them with a good deal based on market conditions. This will often mean a house that is 100% up to date, move in ready, and in a desired location for the price. The price will always be a key factor, but I want to sell properties very quickly and will therefor provide the best property for that price in that area.

The sweat equity folks will be less particular on area (although still important) and more particular on their potential upside for fixing the property themselves. These will be tricky, but I want to make a spot for them. I will need to provide them a house that still qualifies for financing and provide them a way to pay for the fixup costs without having to tread water. This means working with local banks on home repair loans and mortgages. I think there are many folks very interested in flipping. Why not make your first home your flip while you learn the ins and outs. I will have to do some hand holding here. Thats okay, these folks can also be future buyers. Especially if I can make them money.

*Landlords will need to cashflow their properties. Landlords will want to buy a property with very little cash out of pocket and have a property that cashflows for them. Having 2 rental properties myself, I understand that the costs without debt service can exceed 35-40% of the gross income. That means they will need to be able to service the debt for less then 50% of the properties income. This provides an upside of 10-15% cashflow. There are several options to make this work. Again I will need to work with local banks for financing options. This is one area, I need to do some more brainstorming.

*Reahabbers are looking to rehab a property and make at least $15000 after expenses on the flip. I will need to account for all the rehabbers expenses, their profit and my profit in order to sell to them. I also need to look at who they are trying to sell to. I know in my market their are plenty of rehabbers and not enough good deals. If I can find them a deal that makes money, I am sure to have repeat business.

*Wholesalers need to make their profit while still providing a profit to their customers. This one sounds trickier and more complicated, but can be the easiest person to sell to. Its simple, I don’t sell to them, I work with them. They have a buyer lines up and we can do a joint venture. Or they can bird dog the buyer and make a commission. Either way. If I can sell a property quickly, I will not hesitate to sell this way. Many folks have much better lists then me. Plus, I will be working all over the county, I need folks that know buyers in their little pocket neighborhoods.

Whomever I sell to, its obvious I need to help them get a good deal. They will come back for more and refer me to all their friends if I do the job right. The needs for each are specific, but they all fall into the broad category.

 

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[Bilgefisher]

Quick update.

I am now scouring leads in 2 counties. I'm buying all that I can afford. Colorado has a $5 charge per probate file pulled. Gets rather expensive.

No phone calls yet, but I will be sending out postcards shortly. That will hopefully get the phone ringing. Mailed out 36 leads thus far. I'm hoping to ramp that number up. I will need to add 1-2 counties more. Both will be Denver areas.

Through some networking I found out only one other investor is buying all the leads and he is part of homevesters. While they have the marketing power, I have the personal touch.

Now is just a matter of grinding out more leads and getting the phone to ring. The nice part about one county, all the PR's phone numbers are listed. I'll begin cold calling as well.

 

[Bilgefisher]

Update:

To date I have mailed out 36 letters and postcards. I just received a back dated list of 146 potential lead. I'll be working through the addresses over the next few days.

I received my first two calls in the last 2 days. One very unhappy lady who called me some rather interesting names before hanging up. The 2nd call came from a neighbor 5 houses down. This is a hot lead lead and they are looking to sell quickly once they can get back to Colorado and get their stuff.

The house is likely worth 95k and needs 15k worth of work. While in great shape outside, it needs some updating inside. Its a little 2/1 735 square feet. Owner lived in the house 47 years. If my comps come back correctly at 95k and the house checks out, I will likely offer around 65-70k for the house. I know that doesn't add up for those flippers out there, but I will likely wholesale it to a landlord.

2/1 houses with no garage make great little rentals. I know it is rental ready atm, so its just a matter of finding the buyer looking for those homes. Rents are 750-900 for homes that size in this area. Assume a mortgage piti of ~$600/mo at 85k and 6%. I think I can find a buyer or 2.

There just isn't enough room for a flip here unless they are willing to take 50k for the property. That is not likely. We'll see how this one turns out.

 

[Bilgefisher]

I'm still sending out postcards with all the marketing money I can afford. I have spent ~$1000 for probate leads thus far. $5 per lead is a minimum in Colorado. Thats what it costs to pull the files at the courthouse.

As I try to expand my use of money, I'm currently learning subject to investing (its more or less another buying tactic, not a lead generating tactic). I'm also working with my buyers agent to find MLS and REO listings. STill no MLS access, but working on it.

I'm weighing whether to get my Realtors license or not. Many pros and cons. All these shiny objects about, so I am trying to stay focused.

Not much else to update until a deal comes along.

 

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[kwerner]

I'm still sending out postcards with all the marketing money I can afford. I have spent ~$1000 for probate leads thus far. $5 per lead is a minimum in Colorado. Thats what it costs to pull the files at the courthouse.

Good Lord, man! $5 per LEAD?! That's outrageous! How do they justify the cost of that?! I can get probate leads FO FREE in my county. Are you getting a list and pulling the info off of the public computers at the courthouse yourself?

I don't know if this will help you any or not, but this is how it works in my county...

I can go to the county courthouse, to the civil department where the pubic access computers are, ask the clerk for the probate list (I just have to give her a date range - e.g. November 1 - February 1), I can look up the records myself on the public computers, get the information I need, write it down, and if I want any copies it costs just 25 cents a page OR I can get the file emailed to me for free.

I can't imagine paying $5 a lead. Do they charge that much for pre-foreclosure leads too? $5 a lead would definitely be a deal-breaker for me. I'd say on average I look at 50 pre-foreclosure leads a week just to find 1 or 2 worthwhile prospects. Paying $5 a lead, I'd be broke before I could get my phone ringing.

Either way, good luck to you Bilge!

 

[Bilgefisher]

Good Lord, man! $5 per LEAD?! That's outrageous! How do they justify the cost of that?! I can get probate leads FO FREE in my county. Are you getting a list and pulling the info off of the public computers at the courthouse yourself?

The courthouse charges $5 per file I pull, and if I have some one pull them, its generally $3 per lead on top of that. Yes its expensive, but that means few others are doing this. Very little competition. If I have to pay $1500 to get 1 house that makes me $10000, its worth it. LOL I just need to get that house.

One courthouse seals those files for 1 year. I am looking into ways around that. I may even file freedom of information act paperwork to see if I can get it streamlined. The whole point of probate files is to give notice to any creditors. Hard to do when they are sealed.

 

[Cat Man Du]

Get yourself a Realtor friend! Many MLS's are going on-line for the public now..check this!


The license will place you in a more highly DISCLOSURE position! Agents are thought to have an advantage over John Q. public and are held to a higher standard. Best to be a good o'l boy in a truck. :smx19:

 

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[Cat Man Du]

Hi J......Glad to see you here.

I took the liberty to copy part of your Blog dealing with the licensure question.

JScott said:

I’m going to submit an offer on this property. All you need to do is get the bank to accept the offer. After that, I will take care of letting my client into the house for inspections, I will take care of getting the utilities turned on for the inspections, I will complete all the additional paperwork, I will work with the title company on the title search, and I will work with the closing attorney on scheduling the closing. Then, on the day of closing, you don’t need to even show up. I will get your lockbox and your sign from the property, I will get your commission check from the closing attorney, and I will drive all of it over to your office immediately after the closing is finished to drop off to you. Oh, and by the way, I’ll also give you MY half of the commission as a bonus, so you’ll earn twice as much money on this deal.

So, do you think the listing agent would be interested in working with you? Of course they would. And this is what we do with most of our deals. That’s why the listing agents let us know when they have properties getting ready to hit the market, they let us know when their properties are about to have price drops, they let us know how much the bank is willing to negotiate, etc.
Basically, they give us an advantage over all those investors who don’t have the ability to do this for the agent. And that’s why nearly 40% of the houses we make offers on, we get under contract.


Total agreement on the above.I just used this strategy in the last month:

Purchased a condo ( REO ):

Asking price $21,000.....offered $22,000 CASH ...giving the selling side of the commission ($1,250 flat fee ) to the listing agent. Made the offer first day of the listing and got it the second day. Resold it for $34,250 in 30 days. .... after expenses cleared $10,000 profit. It was definitely better foregoing the commission and making the profit.... and yes he calls me whenever he thinks I might be interested in something. His office handles MANY REO’s so it’s a good contact.

I have used this same strategy for over 20 years and have been able to close deals that I otherwise would have missed. We walk in lock-step on this one!



JScott said:

While I can’t speak for other investors, I haven’t had an circumstance — and can’t imagine one — where I would have any issue disclosing to a buyer/seller that my wife is licensed. In fact, in my experience, this has been a selling point for those buyers who are untrustworthy, and now feel more confident that they are dealing with someone who is licensed and knowledgeable.



This is where we will take divergent paths. Buyers, YES the above applies! But, when dealing with a FOR SALE BY OWNER-NO. **** Remember, Bilge is contacting the owners directly.

Being a real estate broker for many years...I have deal with this problem many...many times.

In Florida...we have to disclose to a seller up-front in the first contact that we are a real estate broker and this is what I have found that occurs when I do this:

1. The seller thinks that I am either going to RIP him off on the price.

2. Am just trying to list the property.

3. Or am looking to be the middle-man and make a profit from him.

That’s why I say that if you are dealing with an OWNER...be the good ole boy in the truck and I have several friends that are in this category, who do quite well.

 

[Cat Man Du]

bump...bump

 

[Bilgefisher]

Potential Deal in the works. I have first bid on a probate property, not any of my leads. Its from another wholesaler.

80k Purchase
ARV 150k.
~20k repair. (I will provide my own estimate. Never trust a wholesalers estimate)

750 Sq ft 3/1. Its in a pocket that I didn't know about near my farm area.

Not to sound morbid, but I'm not sure they have even buried the poor fellow yet. The family is anxious to get rid of the property. I drove by today to get a feel. The backyard has more junk then the local scrap heap, I'm guessing I'll be in for a surprise on the inside. The roof is good, siding needs some work. Needs new fence, landscaping, porch work and new windows. Thats all I can tell so far.

I'll keep everyone updated.

 

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[Cat Man Du]

Potential Deal in the works. I have first bid on a probate property, not any of my leads. Its from another wholesaler.

80k Purchase
ARV 150k.
~20k repair. (I will provide my own estimate. Never trust a wholesalers estimate)

750 Sq ft 3/1. Its in a pocket that I didn't know about near my farm area.

Not to sound morbid, but I'm not sure they have even buried the poor fellow yet. The family is anxious to get rid of the property. I drove by today to get a feel. The backyard has more junk then the local scrap heap, I'm guessing I'll be in for a surprise on the inside. The roof is good, siding needs some work. Needs new fence, landscaping, porch work and new windows. Thats all I can tell so far.

I'll keep everyone updated.

Distress = Opportunity....................GO for it.:fastlane:

 

[Bilgefisher]

Ok, so a bit of an update.

I am still waiting on the probate house. The owner is still hesitant of selling just yet. The wholesaler is confident that it will happen soon. He doesn't know it, but I am in no hurry. I will keep working all my other deal paths in the mean time.

I looked at a 2nd house on Thursday. The owner is asking 120k. I wouldn't pay more then 50k for the home with the amount of work it needs, its location and a host of other factors. Even if they took that low, I would have to throw an asbestos contingency into the contract. They have some funky tile on the ceiling that I honestly don't know about.

I want 200/leads per month. With probate costs per lead, that is somewhat cost restrictive atm. I am think of other options to add to that list. Driving for dollars, making low bids on reo's, and possibly searching melissa data for homes without mortgages.

Some ideas, I'll have to toy with.I've been time mapping my days to improve my efficiency. Mondays are pure work day, Tuesdays are errands and mastermind., etc etc. It has helped somewhat. I'll have to stick with it.

 

[Bilgefisher]

I had a very nice awaking last night while laying in bed.

I keep telling myself 2 times daily, I will be self employed by 4/1/10. JP Moses over at www.reitips.com mentioned on my blog that I should state I am self employed, not I will be. So I agreed and changed my goal to reflect this. It did not sink in till last night.

I'm already self employed. My #1 job is buying and selling real estate. My other job is merely a side job to make ends meet. Its very strange to describe, but today I have a whole different look at real estate. Its not something I will do, its something I'm doing right now. I'm merely in between deals. Some would call it false enthusiasm; perhaps. I don't think so, I think its finally hitting that correct mindset needed to move forward. That goal is now changed. My primary income will be my sole working income by 4/1/10.

BTW thanks to Bounce as well. His post sparked that revelation as I lay there trying to sleep last night.

 

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[Cat Man Du]

:fastlane:I had a friend who was the manager of our local bank. He dealt with the banks real estate and got........hooked.

He started out slowly and bought his first house from me..........in 6 months his real estate income...matched his bank salary. End of story.......bye...bye bank. YOU can do the same. :fastlane:

 

[Bilgefisher]

Tale of three leads and a coach.

The probate from the wholesaler is still stalled. I'm really in no hurry. If it happens, then great. If not, I'm not stalled because of it.

The original probate form 5 doors down is stalled as well. The family that owns it can't get to Colorado to collect their stuff. They simply don't have time off. I will be calling them again this week to see if I can't see inside.

The third lead I originally passed up. Thanks to Tom over at House Flipping Blog I looked at it again. The owner lives in GA. He is 3 months behind on this inherited house and needs to sell bad. I have teamed up with a big short sale guy for this property. Its kinda an odd deal, so I'll update it later when I have more details.

After discussing it with my mastermind group and my fiancé, I have decided to hire a Real Estate coach. This should help me focus a bit better and move in a forward direction rather then lateral. While I was originally torn between this program and another, since I will be test piloting a national program with this coach, I will be mentoring directly under him and not one of his coaches. I simply do not want to pass on that type of opportunity. If I'm wrong, I'm out a few bucks, but If this works, it has the potential to get me off this plateau and get my real estate career firing on all 8 cylinders.