BiggerPockets

I'm a fan of Sub2 investing

I see from your profile you are casting a pretty wide net, which is good for you.

I can't speak for California, but where I'm at flipping and wholesaling are pretty much dead.

I'd buy 'em if I could find 'em, but what's available gets bid up by TV-dreams besotted wannabes who slap on a coat of designer paint, dial up the curb-appeal and then hold multiple open-houses, usually attended by idle neighbors and bemused investors.

Then, a couple months down the road, comes the inevitable ad for "Executive Rental" at a price that bleeds cash while the owners desperately pray for a return to the good old days of magical appreciation and NINJA loans.

Not sure how to form a REIA, but I have seen some solid investment groups start over playing the CASH FLOW 101 board game.

Very good time, and an awesome learning experience!

The game is a little expensive, but can be picked up on Ebay at a nice discount.

Any suggestions on how to FORM a REIA?

Contact your state REIA. They'll be happy to help you get a REIA started in your area.

Good Luck,

Mike

Melissa,

what "traditional" methods are you using to find motivated sellers? It may be the market or it may be the method(s) which are at fault.

You can either draw sellers to you (signs, posters, flyers, etc) Or you can search for sellers(area farming, foreclosures, mls, etc) Or you can network for sellers(you know, talk to people).

Do all three and get creative.

Best of luck

Think out of the box (you have no other choice if everyone else is already doing the traditional things).

My favorite is the subterranean marketplace. Few people know it exists and there's little competition. You access it by recognizing problems and understanding how they're resolved, and then assembling lists of people impacted.

For instance?

Taken to the extreme, consider a meth lab property. I'm not suggesting you buy meth labs, this is only an example. Your town has a process for handling meth labs. It involves legal actions, clean up demands, inspections, penalties, etc.

If you figure out that process, you can also figure out how to get involved. What's filed, posted, on the web, etc? Who fixes them?

Do you know you can ask for public records and receive a list of meth lab properties in your town? Do you suppose some of the owners on the list might be motivated?

There are dozens of situations that present problems you can target, understand how the game is played, the agency involved the process to correct, and figure out a way in.

I once was required to remove the top 6 inches of dirt from a 50 x 100 foot lot (asbestos contamination complaint from the clean air division of the Dept of Ecology).

You could have bought that lot from me for nothing because I was tired of dealing with it and still made a bundle.

And if you'd have been following Clean Air's public filings you'd have known of mine and every under property owner with a similar problem.

Secret lists, and all you have to do is ask for them. You want sellers under siege by agencies imposing penalties and making clean up demands. Those properties aren't listed for sale, and they can be had for next to nothing.

Back to our example . . . if you know a clean up firm that specializes in abating, rehabbing, and reselling former meth labs (and they're out there), how hard would it be get that list, tie one up, and pass along the dream?

And no, this is not a strategy to in any way get involved in the actual abatement process. You probably don't want to go there.

When you get sued by the county and they're issuing $1000 a day fines because they're tired of the mess you made, your leaking underground storage tank, or your illegal wrecking yard, you tend to get motivated pretty quickly.

And when you get my postcard or phone call, you tend to at least think about my instant solution to your difficult problem.

That's where I choose to be positions. Might work for you, too.

Joe