Where do they find the deals !

Question

when you see these flippers making profits on deals and wholesalers. What are some the ways these investors find these deals with good equity . I know about direct mail to different target groups of property owners but is what they all do ...... Also I heard a story about  A guy by the name of DJ envy and he bought a $600,000 home and sold it for 900,000 ..my next question is do deals like these exist cause I don't see anything like this now and if they do or will or can were would I need to go to find them ... Thanks all I appreciate it have a great night

Jay DeCima · Answer

Here is something I wrote in one of my blog posts years ago.  Remember good deals are created by YOU.

blog post:

People problems and property condition are the most common factors that determine how weak or how strong your offer needs to be.  As you look back from time to time, wondering if you didn’t give too much away, don’t worry about it too long because even if you did, so what?  You’ll end up with profits just the same.  In the overall scheme of things, paying a few thousand dollars extra won’t hurt you.  What will hurt you is not going after these deals in the first place.

Some years ago I acquired a 7 unit property (small homes on a single parcel are my specialty) filled with ugly-looking bikers for about half the price it would have cost me if they weren’t there.  The owner was even afraid to show me the property.  After my purchase, I filed eviction papers with the court and let the Marshall do the rest.  Soon the bikers were rolling down the interstate smoking doobies.  All I had to do was clean up a big mess to earn some excellent paydays over the next 20+ years of ownership.

This is the main reason I coach investors to learn landlording rules and how the laws work. This can certainly remove the "fear of the unknown" factor and allow you to look at ugly places with seller problems as YOUR OPPORTUNIES.

Gook Luck

Fixer Jay DeCima

Elizabeth El-Taher · Answer

Damion, the easiest and simplest way is to drive a neighborhood, look for properties with signs of neglect which typically mean that the owners inside have not made maintaining the exterior of their home a priority, probably because they don't have the money to do so.  Here, I'm going to give you straight advice I used to charge money for (lol).  When you find one of these properties, or several, write down the addresses, and go home and log on to your county appraiser's website, where you will find all the records on properties in the county, such as address, owner's name and address (if not in the house itself), also the assessed value of the property, size of the house and the lot, annual taxes (including if they're behind on paying same), and when the current owner purchased the house and what he paid for it, and the previous owners dates and amounts of purchase, usually limited to 5 because they don't have enough room to reflect everything on this one page.  This is a ton of valuable information that will initially tell you whether you want to even make an offer.  For example, if the current owner paid $150,000 just a year ago, and that area does not support that kind of home price this year, then they're probably in over their heads.  Should you talk to the owner anyway?  Absolutely not.  Your time is the most valuable asset you have, and you don't want to waste it.  Another resource, believe it or not, is craigslist properties for sale whether in your area or outside your area.  As a "newbie", I recommend that you stick to your geographic area because of your familiarity with it.  Listen, a successful real estate investor or flipper or wholesaler does not just spend 10 hours a week on it as is suggested, but invest themselves into the process and during that process you will learn so much.  I wish you good luck.  I've been flipping for about 10 years and use the same tools I laid out for you here, plus others.  But whatever you do, make sure you protect your potential flip/purchase by not disclosing the address to others unless that person is your wife or mother, both of whom you can absolutely trust. Lol.

David Dachtera · Answer

@Damion Byros,

When you see a deal like $600K -> $900K it's good bet that's a fix-and-flip or a minor rehab / remodel. You have to add value to increase like that unless you "stole" the property to begin with.

You need to be actively looking for deals, and be open to what's out there. If you discard properties out of hand because they don't meet your expectations you may be passing up "the deal of the decade". Rather than look for properties which match you expectations, look at properties for what they are.

That's the advantage of having a broad background or, at least, education. You can look at a property and figure out the best strategy for it rather than only looking for properties which match the strategies you know.

My $0.02...

David J Dachtera