Full Time Job + Finding Houses..how to manage?

Question

I'm not sure what everybody elses situation is, but I work full-time as an Engineer while trying to start my business.

How do you full time workers find time to locate decent properties?  I know that just searching the internet won't work to find properties well below ARV.

Any secrets out there, ha?

Thanks for teh info

Oliver Trojahn · Answer

I work full time also as an engineer and am closing on my 3rd rental  house in the next three weeks.  I only purchase REO's as they seem to be working quite well in my market for rentals.  With that said I am on an automatic email from my realtor that only gives me properties I am interested in when they come up.  Once I have a list I go look at anywhere from 1-10 properties on any saturday morning.  She always brings contracts and I always bring checks for the earnest money.  We then let the offers fly.  After that one day of looking we typically have a house under contract by weeks end.  Just get use to it and know its a job.  That only happens once a years since I only use conventional financing and 20% down becomes a challenge to do more than once a year until I really get going.

Account Closed · Answer

I am starting out as well and have been doing this for about 2 months now. I haven't landed my first deal yet but I'm close. I also work 40 hrs a week and have a one year old. Here is what I've been doing.

I get my leads through direct mail. I hire people to do the envelope stuffing and address writing. My mailers are so personal you think your getting a letter from someone you know. I pay the assistant ten cents per mailer. Its so cheap and worth it to pay someone to do this and get that off your plate.  I have a network of college students now that I work with that are begging for the job.

I got a 800 number that gets forwarded to my cell phone. 800 numbers are great because you can capture the number so if you cant answer because your at work, call them at lunch. I have reminders on my phone at 11 and 3 to follow up with calls (Just take a quick ten min break.) Or just do it all at lunch or at night/weekends.

Look up comps when you have spare minutes at work, or at home.

I live in an area where I can pretty much make the offer without seeing the house. If they are motivated and accept my offer, I go see the house before escrow opens to make sure they didn't lie about its condition over the phone.

Until I can quite my day job, this is the best I can do. Hope this helps you get a system going.

Danny Ng · Answer

I also work full-time outside of Real Estate, and I believe a good resource in helping you finding houses is by asking for help from people you are close to, as well as people you can rely on.  Based on my experience, this saves a lot of time and stress rather than just doing it all on your own.

Before I bought my first home, my agent would filter several homes from the MLS listing once a week that may be of interest to me.  After looking through several houses together, he got an understanding of what I like/don't like.  To say the least, I would not have bought my first property in such a prime location without the help of my agent.  Real Estate is a people business, and you can learn a lot from doing it with others.

Jon Holdman · Answer

Well, I don't know about doing more or less, that's up to you.  Point is even with a full time job, you have a lot of other time.  Certainly groceries, cooking and laundry take up some of that.  And as they say "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."  But there are clearly a bunch of hours available you can use to make progress toward your goals.

Jon Holdman · Answer

Evenings and weekends.  Simple as that.  There are 168 hours in a week.  You work 40 of those.  Subtract another 10 a week for commuting and lunch.  And 56 more for sleeping.   That leaves 62 hours.

No, you can't do this from your computer.  Get out there.  Look at houses.  Make offers.  Buy one.  Fix it.  Rent it or sell it.

Scott W. · Answer

the one I get all the time is "you'll get a call at 2am that the toilet is overflowing."

In 3 years, I think I've had only 1 call late at night. The furnace wasn't working. I had my phone off so I call the tenants back. I was on vacay, in California, but even if I was in Illinois, I'd do the same thing:

I called my HVAC guy & he was over in 30 minutes. Heat was on in a couple minutes & cost me $75.

Jon Holdman · Answer

I've bought two houses in similar circumstances.  A co-worked bought four in quick succession about a year ago.  Another co-worked has acquired a couple dozen over the last few years.   At least two others have multiple rentals.

Work with an investor oriented agent.  Some agents like dealing with owner occupants who want to fall in love with their dream house.  Investor oriented agents understand its all about the numbers.  When I've been actively buying, my agent would send me a couple of dozen listings mid week.  I'd review the listings and decide which were worth seeing.  We would go on Saturday morning and look.  Usually, a dozen or so would be worth looking at.  A few would be unavailable for some reason.  We would look, figure out the offers and write, typically, 2-4 offers.  I made a google maps map with the properties so we could make the driving efficient.  First looks were no more than about five minutes.  Sometimes we went back for a second look and spent a little more time.

After the purchase, I did some of the rehab myself and hired contractors for other parts.  I did work nights and weekends.  I usual take Friday evenings off, but otherwise, worked every night and weekend until it was ready.  I know others who hire out almost all of the work.

Actually managing the properties really only requires much work when you have a turnover.  That requires taking a bunch of phone calls.  Fifty, I figure.  Most are one minute with them asking for info and saying thanks.  A few take a little longer.  I do showings once a week at some fixed time slot.  I tell everyone the same time.  I tell them to call 30 minutes before the scheduled time or I won't be there.  I try to get at least three folks who say they will come, more is better.  Usually half to two thirds actually show up.

Usually, there's some work needed for the make ready between tenants.  Typically just little stuff and I often just do that myself.

James H. · Answer

I find plenty of opportunities on the internet during lunch break or down time and go look at them in the evenings or weekends. Then I decide if I want to schedule a time to see inside.

It's not that hard.

I enjoy getting out and about on the weekends. Most agents work on evenings aand Saturday and many on Sunday. That's because most of there clients have full time jobs.

You can go to local REI meetings on weekends to meet people outside the MLS fray. Once you start driving around and paying attention, you'll start seeing FSBO signs and even notice houses that look vacant and such.

Even the transaction is easily handled. Being an engineer myself, I have access to great scanners and it is easy to transfer documents and handle everything except signing by phone.

I have yet to meet a mortgage officer face to face and have closed on a new purchase mortgage and a re-fi.

Amy A. · Answer

Find a smart, fearless woman to find your properties and marry her!  Ok, that might not be so easy, but start out with a good relationship with a hungry Realtor.  Let him know that you plan to buy many houses and that you'll stay faithful to him.  Have him set up searches for new listings that meet your criteria and be ready to move quickly when one pops up as they don't last long.  Also have him send you listings of recent sales so you can do your own CMA.  Take the Realtor's advice, but also don't let him think for you.  If the Realtor had an investor's mindset, he wouldn't be sending you the good listings but would go after them himself!  You're smart enough to do the analysis; I see you're an engineer and I'm married to one so I know!

Marc Therriault · Answer

Me And my wife are a team  when it comes to real estate she understands the goals and benefits so she exited about finding new deals. We look a lot on our iPhones  if we are at home or waiting at the dentist we look at mls kijiji and are on a emailing list from a local realtor. That's is awesome every time a new house in our set search criteria come for sale by any local realtor it automatically sends us the listing. We usual get to see 4 new listing everyday ,  I find its harder to get a deal with a realtor though, because they promise the seller top dollar to get the listing , and we are in a hot market so they are actually selling homes that are pretty crappy buys for big bucks

Full Time Job + Finding Houses..how to manage?

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