Detroit, MI · Member since 2012 · 170 posts · 21 votes
I was listening to a real estate podcast the other day, and they mentioned a method of finding potential "motivated" apartment sellers that I hadn't heard of before;
The guy said to buy a list of people that bought their multi-family property 10 years or more ago.
That makes sense, but I have two questions about that approach:
1. How do I figure out how far back to go? 20 years? 30?
2. Is there a way to figure out if the people still own the property or not? I'd hate to spend money on a campaign, only to find out that 80% of the people on the list don't own the property any more.
I guess I could run a check on each property in the list against local tax records, but that would take forever, depending on how big the list is.
Just wanted to get some insight from you guys on this one. Thanks in advance for your feedback!
Plano, TX · Member since 2013 · 226 posts · 156 votes
13y
I've heard the same thing several times. I always wonder if anyone has had success with this on a larger property, say 50+ doors?
I would assume most owners are fairly sophisticated sellers and would not sell without making their desire to sell public.
Hope I'm not hijacking your post! Seems like its on topic...
Detroit, MI · Member since 2012 · 170 posts · 21 votes
13y
Originally posted by Tom Lafferty:
I've heard the same thing several times. I always wonder if anyone has had success with this on a larger property, say 50+ doors?
I would assume most owners are fairly sophisticated sellers and would not sell without making their desire to sell public.
Hope I'm not hijacking your post! Seems like its on topic...
Good point.
I think the strategy is to get in touch with people who may be frustrated or tired of the property whom haven't previously been motivated enough to go about listing their property with an agent.
Real Estate Investor · Garland, TX · Member since 2013 · 46 posts · 7 votes
13y
Originally posted by Alvin Grier:
Originally posted by Tom Lafferty:
I've heard the same thing several times. I always wonder if anyone has had success with this on a larger property, say 50+ doors?
I would assume most owners are fairly sophisticated sellers and would not sell without making their desire to sell public.
Hope I'm not hijacking your post! Seems like its on topic...
Good point.
I think the strategy is to get in touch with people who may be frustrated or tired of the property whom haven't previously been motivated enough to go about listing their property with an agent.
Through wholesaling a lot of times I find that people who are so frustrated and tired of their run down property may not even have the motivation to find an agent to list it for them. They may think their property is not marketable. Or they may have had an agent tell them "Well you need to paint these walls and put in this or that AND THEN I can list your property at a reasonable price". I've always had the best results finding properties that ARE NOT FOR SALE, are in distress and the owner is so frustrated and tired of this property. All of this leads to a VERY MOTIVATED SELLER which are the only kind of sellers I like doing business with. :)
Commercial Landlord · Macon, GA · Member since 2013 · 79 posts · 33 votes
12y
Another way to get the list is to get the entire property list from the county tax assessors office. Get the entire tax digest on one CD. Don't let them tell you that they cant give it to you because they can and its public record. Being government workers they will likely try to run you off instead of giving you the data but be persistent.
Get it in Excel format. You can do a field search for purchase dates of whenever you want. You can also do a search for owners in your state. Delete these and all else will be out of town owners.
Its a bit of work but much cheaper than buying lists.
Another way to get the list is to get the entire property list from the county tax assessors office. Get the entire tax digest on one CD. Don't let them tell you that they cant give it to you because they can and its public record. Being government workers they will likely try to run you off instead of giving you the data but be persistent.
Get it in Excel format. You can do a field search for purchase dates of whenever you want. You can also do a search for owners in your state. Delete these and all else will be out of town owners.
Its a bit of work but much cheaper than buying lists.
I might try that in the suburbs, but I don't even want to waste my time trying to do that in the City of Detroit.
Working with them can be so frustrating, that I try to avoid dealing with them unless it's absolutely unavoidable.
I would assume most owners are fairly sophisticated sellers and would not sell without making their desire to sell public.
Tom,
I agree that as the property grows larger, so does the sophistication of the Vendor. However, I disagree that most would not sell without making their desire to sell public. Around here, larger properties are typically sold before the fact they are for sale becomes public.
You might be surprised how many sellers will sell directly without taking a property to market. The best commercial deals are usually done behind closed doors.
Even if a property is listed with an agent they will still call their list of buyer before publicly listing it to see if they can get a quick sale. Hot deals don't sit on the market long.
My friend has closed over 1000 units last year from a single seller in private sales. Its not easy to contact sellers directly and to build a relationship but if you can...it may only take one!
Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2009 · 566 posts · 274 votes
12y
I'm currently planning a multi-family campaign for 50 units+ in Cincinnati and ran across this thread. I've done it in the past in a different city with some decent results. The list isn't that large in most cities in the 50+ unit mark but it allows you to spend more money on each mailing to increase your response rate. I used ListSource.com in the past however was thinking of signing up for Loopnet's Platinum service as they now provide unlisted pre-foreclosures and REO's. Has anyone had any experience with this?
Rental Property Investor · Phoenix, AZ · Member since 2014 · 71 posts · 20 votes
12y
We have found that simply hitting the streets and networking has led to purchasing multifamily properties. Many deals are found by simply putting in the hard work of meeting people, networking, and putting on your walking shoes:)
On another note, anyone here involved in Arizona Multifamily or commercial investing?
Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2013 · 82 posts · 17 votes
12y
@Chris Winterhalter How was your experience with Loopnet platinum service for multi-unit pre-foreclosure and REO's? I am trying to figure out what is the best avenue for marketing for Multi-unit complexes. Any feedback and advice is appreciated.