I've never wholesaled a property before, put out in marketing or anything. But have been researching and for the first time today decided to test out driving for dollars. I came across a house that had a Last Warning Before Foreclosure Notice on the door. Whatare the   steps I would take as a newbie to make the wholesale process happen as fast as possible? thanks ahead of time for all input!

@Frank Garcia  

Welcome. Build your foundation first. This is a marathon not a sprint.

Check out the Start Here page http://www.biggerpockets.com/starthere

Check out BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginner's Guide - A fantastic free book that walks through many of the key topics of real estate investing.

Check out the free BiggerPockets Podcast - A weekly podcast with interviews and a ton of great advice. And you get the benefit of having over 90 past ones to catch up on.

Two Great reads, I bought both J. Scott The Book on Flipping Houses,The Book on Estimating ReHab Costshttp://www.biggerpockets.com/flippingbook

Locate and attend 3 different local REIA club meetings great place to meet people gather resources and info. Here you will meet wholesalers who provide deals and all the cash buyers (rehabbers) you will need.

Consider checking out HUD homes for small multi's owner occupied gets first crack.

You might consider Niche or Specialized Housing like student housing. Rents can be 2-4 times more. Remember you don't have to own a property to control it.

Download BP’s newest book here some good due diligence in Chapter 10. Real Estate Rewind Starting over

http://www.biggerpockets.com/files/user/brandonatbp/file/real-estate-rewind-a-biggerpockets-community-book

Good luck

Paul

@Paul Timmins Thanks for the reply. Yes, was just didn't want to let a deal pass by me because I didn't take action! Thanks for the advice, I've been listening to a lot of the podcasts, and will continue reading more articles and in the forums. I'm now going to a REIA group locally and that is definitely the biggest help. Thanks and I hadn't considered student housing before, are you experienced with it? If so does the higher rent make up for I would assume shorter term tenants, and are partiers trashing the place a common problem? Most student are on a tight budget, do you have more problems with rent falling behind?

@Frank Garcia You can try finding the contact information for the actual owner via your county's tax assessor web site. You can try reaching out to that person to find out there situation/trouble and see if you can offer a solution. 

Hopefully you're savvy with the ARV of the homes in that area so you have a good sense of what you can offer to pay for this property to make money wholesaling it to an investor, who will be looking for a major discount as well!

@Mehran K.   I checked it and it is owner occupied. I've always heard targeting non-owner occupied, but if an owner occupied is going into foreclosure you are still able to make a deal correct? If I was able to make a deal where he would be able to sell and save him from having a foreclosure on his record, and still have room for me and the assignee to profit?

I'm mainly a buy & hold guy so I'm not super savvy when it comes to these situations. But I'd say you'd really have to reach out to them to see their specific situation. Up front, without taking anything about the physical property iteself, I'd want to know:

• Exactly what liens are on the property and for how much.
• How much are they behind on their payments.
• How much time do they have before the place is foreclosed on.
• Their motivation to do anything about it.

You can't lose anything by contacting them!

@Mehran K.   Alright thanks for the reply, good points! I met some people who have some wholesaling experience so I'll do my research and talk to them and get some advice. And yep I plan on being a Buy & Hold investor too, just wholesale to build the capital.

Hey Frank I'm in Kent/Auburn WA where were the meetings you went too? I'm also new and looking to get started. 

Originally posted by @Frank Garcia :

@Mehran K.   I checked it and it is owner occupied. I've always heard targeting non-owner occupied, but if an owner occupied is going into foreclosure you are still able to make a deal correct? If I was able to make a deal where he would be able to sell and save him from having a foreclosure on his record, and still have room for me and the assignee to profit?

 That's the general idea yeah, but if it's owner occupied and he's going to lose the house anyway, why wouldn't he at least try to work something out with you? Maybe the cash deal you can offer is enough for him to downsize his current living situation (as well as pay off the bank). If that's not possible, you can assume the mortgage (to hand off to a buyer) and see how much it would cost to bring it up to speed while having a reasonable down payment + monthly payments. 

@Mehran K. and if the seller tells me this, how do I check & verify this info, the liens, amount owed, and foreclosure date?

@Aaron Sal Your in the right place, have learned alot from BP. I went to one up in Lynnwood and one in Bellevue. Go to Meetup.com and most the REI groups are on there. Great way to meet experienced people in your area.

@Jonathan Quintanilla Exactly my thoughts. What exactly do you mean by the second part of your post? I'm not understanding the process. 

Thanks for all your replies and help!

@Frank Garcia  What's great is that the BP CEO wrote an article about this in 2007. Here you go: How to Find out if there are Liens on a Property.