Rochester, NY · Member since 2014 · 57 posts · 10 votes
Hello BP,
I plan to go D4D in the morning for the first time and I would like to know some things that I should be looking for and be aware and also avoid so that I am not wasting my time but maximizing it. I know I should mainly be looking for distressed, vacant an overgrown properties. But what are some things that I should avoid and some things I should do while I am out there?
Rental Property Investor · Chappaqua, NY · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 947 votes
9y
Andre Wilson I drive around the town all day. I hop out of the car when I see strangers and ask them if they are selling.....or buying.
I give out a lot of cards and I take names and numbers from the people I meet. The percentage of owner occupancy in my area is less than 30%. But I still find sellers. I talk to the younger guys in the area, the older folks etc. if I see people on the deck I ask them if they know anyone selling.
I also employ any of the guys walking around doing nothing to help clean up trash. Once in a while I grab a guy and have him walk down one side of the street me on the other.
This is how I found my first house 11 years ago and it continues to work.
Rental Property Investor · Indianapolis, IN · Member since 2015 · 177 posts · 107 votes
9y
Hey Andre, I can help!
You're pretty on point by targeting properties that look vacant or distressed. I also look for a mailbox overstuffed with mail and also overgrown grass, which indicate that nobody lives there (meaning the owner is loosing some money every day that he holds it).
Check out the "Driving for Dollars Bible" by searching google. It's an editors choice blog from bigger pockets that provide a nice overview.
I recently went "walking for dollars" in a neighborhood I really wanted to find a home in.
I captured 73 hours in an hour and a half of walking or so.
As for anything to watch out for: I usually won't send a postcard if the property was purchased in the last 6 months.
Rental Property Investor · Chappaqua, NY · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 947 votes
9y
Andre Wilson I drive around the town all day. I hop out of the car when I see strangers and ask them if they are selling.....or buying.
I give out a lot of cards and I take names and numbers from the people I meet. The percentage of owner occupancy in my area is less than 30%. But I still find sellers. I talk to the younger guys in the area, the older folks etc. if I see people on the deck I ask them if they know anyone selling.
I also employ any of the guys walking around doing nothing to help clean up trash. Once in a while I grab a guy and have him walk down one side of the street me on the other.
This is how I found my first house 11 years ago and it continues to work.
Thanks for your advice I think handing out cards is a major plus I just created my business cards and cannot wait to get them in the mail to pass them out
Rental Property Investor · Indianapolis, IN · Member since 2015 · 177 posts · 107 votes
9y
@Andre Wilson I meant to say captured 73 houses (not hours) meaning I wrote down their address, looked up the owners, and sent postcards to the owners in that time frame.
Rental Property Investor · Chappaqua, NY · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 947 votes
9y
Andre Wilson I recently heard a guy say that cards are out as a way to do biz. Maybe true for some, but I am killing it with cards right now. I think the most important thing is to rule out nobody meaning if they are an adult I ask them if they live in the block and know anyone selling.
I stop and get out the car and call any for rent signs. That really works too to find off market.
Developer · Little Ferry, NJ · Member since 2016 · 426 posts · 226 votes
9y
@John Hickey Do you ever wholesale any of these properties that you find off market or do you keep most of them? I use to do that a lot but once you start to pick up properties and you are managing them, it's hard to do it. I think the NJ market has crazy amounts of wholesalers too, so find deals is hard but not impossible. I like that approach though, i've done it and I must say it does work.
Rental Property Investor · Chappaqua, NY · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 947 votes
9y
Mateusz Prawdzik I haven't done any wholesaling. I might scale up and do it one day, as a business. I have a few guys I trained to do what I do and they ring me stuff too.
At the moment I am doing a 1031. I sold a 3 family in bed stuy Brooklyn. I need as much as I can find that fits my criteria....brick, flat roof multi family In newburgh NY, 12550 for up to 40k per unit. Currently rented and cash flowing at 15% a year.
Or commercial, mixed use also in Newburgh, criteria wide open. On that I'll go down to 12% cap rate up to 600k depending on the deal.
So I'm busy looking for that and I don't want to get distracted and get a huge tax bill.
Right now I pass along what I get that's doesn't fit for me to some other investors from BP that invest in Newburgh.
Developer · Little Ferry, NJ · Member since 2016 · 426 posts · 226 votes
9y
@John Hickey Please keep me in mind with commercial units and/or MFs because I am looking to start holding. I 100% understand where you are coming from when it comes to the taxes, being 19, no dependents, no mortgage, being single.... and only focusing on the business, it IS NOT FUN. TRUST ME. I feel like I'm in the business of paying more than I get to make. Please keep me in mind when you have properties that you don't want or would even like to partner, I have lots of connections and maybe we can do some business eventually. Let's connect and take it from there, I would love to do something some time.
Real Estate Agent · Media, PA · Member since 2017 · 361 posts · 250 votes
9y
Definitely be careful about this but if you see a house that catches your interest, knock on the neighbors door and see if they are willing to clue you in on the property. Neighbors love to gossip. Don't do this at night and always carry ID and a business card. Also dress well and of course be polite and if they don't want to talk, don't force it. Watch for no-soliciting laws in your area.
Flipper/Rehabber · Montgomery, NY · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
9y
@John Knisely keep in mind though, neighbors will really only tell you the bad. Never does a neighbor say... oh that house has great bones, just needs updating. It's always, "it's a total tear down and worth nothing". If you can read through this, you can get some valuable
Real Estate Agent · Media, PA · Member since 2017 · 361 posts · 250 votes
9y
@Brian Pulaski, somewhat true, it really depends on the relationship they had or have with the owner. I've heard great things about neighboring properties, when they did work on it recently, what happened to the owner etc. People do like to be dramatic but I wouldn't say always.
Flipper/Rehabber · Montgomery, NY · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
9y
@John Knisely you are right I meant it more along the lines of "most of the time". I am just offering on a house now and every neighbor is telling me how bad it is. Not one had anything nice to say, however it looks like it could be a good deal for me!
Rental Property Investor · Chappaqua, NY · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 947 votes
9y
Brian Pulaski what's the "outskirts" for you? I imagine you want to stay west of Robinson Ave?
Maybe we can work together on marketing. I'm probably putting up a large sign that says "I buy houses" I've never had the itch to do bandit signs, but now that I have a commercial property I'm going to the city and get a permit for the sign.
Rental Property Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2016 · 66 posts · 44 votes
9y
Once you identify houses, how do you contact the owner(s)?
I found one particular house while driving for dollars in a great neighborhood that is abandoned. I looked up the owner, but the only address on file is the actual house (where she definitely doesn't live). Sending a letter or postcard there won't do anything. I did some more googling, but she has a fairly common name and I couldn't find much. Any tips/tricks?
Rental Property Investor · NV · Member since 2014 · 241 posts · 85 votes
9y
@David Lecko I'd ask the same question as @Sol G. but not only how many went to contract but how many you offered on, how many went to contract, and what your system is for taking the D4D home and moving it to your marketing list. We are in this stage right now and any help would be appreciated!!!! Knowledge is power right :-)
@Kayla V. - look into Address Service Requested rules and regulations. This can be a way to get the envelope returned to your with the address provided for you. We have yet to have luck with it but have only tried a couple of times on properties like you are describing.
@Andre Wilson - A great tip we received, although tough in our market because it is extremely small, is to have your agent, or if you have access to the MLS, pull a cash sale list for the last year or so. That will show you all the cash sales in your area, or whatever area you are looking in. Then use a program like www.batchgeo.com to map out those sales. That will show you where cash investors are buying and not buying. It can be a great indicator of where you should be looking / driving as well as where other investors are staying away from.
I simply take a target zip code/street in my investment area and begin to use google maps to walk up the street using my mouse to zoom in on any property that may look distressed. Google always has pretty up to date images on the maps app/feature.I then take these addresses and put them in an excel spreadsheet and I typically do some research on the county tax assessor site. Once i locate owner names i skip trace the owner find their current address and phone number, I usually like to just give them a ring but often times ill follow the phone call up with a yellow letter or postcard if i cant get them on the phone. Hope this helps! Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. Also I have had great success with using listsource.com to pull my list and then having a direct mail service send out my mailers for me!
Rental Property Investor · Chappaqua, NY · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 947 votes
9y
Ethan Summers speaking of google! So many uses.
Andre Wilson
I have to go back and find the podcast that talked about using google docs and a text message to add properties to a spreadsheet. The finest basically said when he's DFD and sees a property that he likes instead of writing down the address he texts the address to a google #. Sounds very interesting.
that I only recently started using google for my investing docs and while it's abbot different so far seems to be working out.