Des Moines, IA · Member since 2019 · 19 posts · 14 votes
Quick question for you guys. When driving for dollars and coming across properties that are vacant but owned by an LLC or a corporation, is it worth trying to research the number of the LLC (I'm told batch tracing companies do not skip trace these).
Would I look these people up and treat them as potential tired landlords? I'm just starting out and I'm trying to be laser precise on the leads that I spend my time with...would I be wasting my time and better served by moving on?
Investor · Austin TX · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes
7y
@Shannon McLeod Glad I could help Shannon! Let me give you another tip kind of along the same lines. When I was new and didnt have much of a buyers list, anytime I got a house under contract I would look at all the owners of the properties in the same neighborhood and any LLC that owned a property or any individual that owned more than one property in that neighborhood got contacted by me. You already know that they buy in that neighborhood and have the money to do so and many times I found they would be familiar with the house I had under contract. Just another tip, hope it helps!
Investor · Austin TX · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes
7y
@Shannon McLeod In my persoanl experience its much easier to focus on finding individual homeowners than tracking down owners of an LLC. Skiptracers typically will skip an LLC on your list unless you give information on the owners of the LLC for them to skiptrace. It really just depends on the situation and how much extra time you are willing to devote to tracking these people down without any certainty that they will be motivated to sell. I will give you an example, when I was new I researched everything and skiptraced everyone, I found a house that was vacant and owmed by an LLC and I looked up in the county records the actual documents that were recorded from the sale and found the name of a member of the LLC and skiptraced that person and called him. He basically said that they buy 20 houses a month and some of them sit while they are waiting for their contractors/ rehab teams to have availability. Sure enough it took about 8 months before they started working on it but eventually they rehabbed and sold the house.
I say all this to say that yes you could in theory find the owners or members of these LLCs and skiptrace them. You have to determine the highest and best use for your time. Hope this helps!
Des Moines, IA · Member since 2019 · 19 posts · 14 votes
7y
Ah I see! The part you mentioned about the house sitting vacant until it gets rehabbed was of value to me. It IS winter here. I think the value of skip tracing these people would be to connect with buyers in the location I am prospecting. Thank you!
Investor · Scottsdale AZ · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 423 votes
7y
Hi there,
Is anyone still really "Driving For Dollars"? Sure, before computers and all the great data we now have at our fingertips, that was one way to do this. (Like 1979) But today, you can reach WAY more potential sellers in one day from your air conditioned office.
That's what we do. We use existing data to help us make SUPER intelligent decisions about what areas would be best to pick up properties; then download, scrub & strategically price offers to purchase; and get them in the mail.
Finally I sit back and wait for the phone to ring (interested sellers CALLING ME) and pick the best ones.
Typically there is a good reason why there is a boarded up house sitting in a nice neighborhood and nothing is happening. Meanwhile the sweet old couple next door, with no mortgage, would love to get a good offer for their property.
Investor · Austin TX · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes
7y
@Shannon McLeod Glad I could help Shannon! Let me give you another tip kind of along the same lines. When I was new and didnt have much of a buyers list, anytime I got a house under contract I would look at all the owners of the properties in the same neighborhood and any LLC that owned a property or any individual that owned more than one property in that neighborhood got contacted by me. You already know that they buy in that neighborhood and have the money to do so and many times I found they would be familiar with the house I had under contract. Just another tip, hope it helps!
Des Moines, IA · Member since 2019 · 19 posts · 14 votes
7y
@Jill DeWit From all of the information I've been researching, Driving for Dollars is very much still a path a person can take to get a vacant property/absentee owner list. First I collected data to find out where the hottest zip codes are, uploaded that date into a map, and then found the areas the buyers paid cash and own 100% equity.
I'm just getting started and it's my understanding Driving for Dollars is a great way for someone to get started in wholesaling with a low budget. It sounds like you're doing other marketing channels like direct mail. That all sounds great, but I don't have the money for it right now.
Investor · Scottsdale AZ · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 423 votes
7y
I hear you @Shannon McLeod. I understand starting out and being on a budget.
I can download a list of absentee owners, with no mortgage and 385 other property/owner characteristics, in minutes. Anywhere in the country. I use data from RealQuestPro (Corelogic) and DataTree (First American Title). The time I save is worth WAY more than the cost of the data. That is where I save to start.
The next HUGE savings is not going door to door. I will mail thousands of letters and reach a lot more people than I could ever tackle on foot. I can spend $0.55 per mailer/offer to owner and not waste anyone's time. I only want to find out who is interested in selling, and if in my purchase range.
I know it sounds "different", but this is the best, cheapest way to reach a seller. I have a number of associates doing this right alongside me the exact same way.
Investor/Developer · Salt Lake City, UT · Member since 2015 · 207 posts · 106 votes
7y
@Shannon McLeod
If you have already skip traced Who the owner is, I would just send a letter to the LLC. I wouldn't go through any additional trouble to find out who the members of the LLC are
Rental Property Investor · Erie, PA · Member since 2018 · 6k+ posts · 9k+ votes
7y
@Jill DeWit
Most people just toss those “ we buy houses “ cards right in the trash with the junk mail . lets face it Your still not going to get a lot of people like driving for dollars can . It may be old school but it’s still human emotion . The fact is You can visually spot things in your farm area that will never be picked up by a algorithm , a list source program or an advertisement .
Rental Property Investor · Burnsville, MN · Member since 2017 · 48 posts · 25 votes
7y
@Shannon McLeod
This isn’t a driving for dollars scenario but I own one side of a twin home that is my first rental.
I looked at county records and found the owner of the other unit is an LLC. I googled the LLC some and found 3 different addresses. I mailed the same letter to all 3 and got an email from the owner.
She didn’t want to sell her rental (bummer), but was glad I reached out since we own a structure together and I just assume eventually she will sell to me.
Not that finding owners is always that easy but worked for me.
Investor · Austin TX · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes
7y
@Dennis M. Everything you said I 100% agree with! There is no technology that can replace actually getting out and seeing houses with your own two eyes!
San Antonio, TX · Member since 2009 · 3k+ posts · 1k+ votes
7y
@Shannon McLeod You may just want to put them on your list of people to direct mail to by using the address where the tax bill is sent. I wouldn't rule them out. But I wouldn't spend too much time tracking them down personally. If the home is vacant and not producing any income, it's worth a shot to find out if the owner (despite it being in an LLC) is willing to sell. Good luck!
Lender · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
7y
Driving for dollars is one of my least favorite methods to find properties because it isn't solidifying the concept of thinking from the other side. This is just a side note.
@Shannon McLeod I just started Driving 4 Dollars in February and I just closed on 3 houses (one seller yesterday). While I have had no corporate sellers call me yet I am new to this process but I send them a postcard anyway. Let the numbers guide you. Neighborhoods are different so nothing wrong with going for everything you can right now and see where the numbers take you.
Des Moines, IA · Member since 2019 · 19 posts · 14 votes
7y
@TC Greenwood I first checked out the localities where a lot of cash buyers had purchased homes in the last 12 months with 100% equity. I then confirmed the locations that were hot with other people. I only focused on those areas and the zip codes I thought were going to give me the most bang for my buck so to speak. We also had about 15 inches of snow that stuck to the ground for about a month....so what this meant was that the vacant properties were very apparent. Why? Because no one had bothered to shovel the snow in the driveway. Dead giveaway! My strategy is not just driving for dollars, it's driving for dollars when the timing is right and where vacant properties are very apparent. In the course of 4 sessions of driving around, I got a good solid list of 130 properties. That was after scrubbing the list.... and last night skip tracing came back with quite a few numbers. I'm now set to start cold calling, utilizing some of the scripts and techniques Brent Daniels uses with his TTP methodology.
Des Moines, IA · Member since 2019 · 19 posts · 14 votes
7y
@Ian Walsh What do you mean by "solidifying the thinking from the other side?" Do you mean your leads are not somewhat prequalified when you initiate communication?
Des Moines, IA · Member since 2019 · 19 posts · 14 votes
7y
@Sam Shueh That is what I'm thinking. I probably have those properties on another list I had bought for cash buyers in that area....as Lydia pointed out those properties may just be sitting there for the winter until they get rehabbed when the seasons change. I'm not going to spend much time on the LLC's, will keep them and mess around with them later. For NOW, I need to get some deals!!! I'm ready to get this thing started off the ground and the more efficient I can be with my time and focus, the better.
Real Estate Agent · Tacoma, WA · Member since 2017 · 23 posts · 9 votes
7y
I don't know how it is in your state but in WA we can just go to the Secretary of State website search the LLC name and find the 'governing persons' use those names for your lead, takes 2 minutes. Cheers
I hear you @Shannon McLeod. I understand starting out and being on a budget.
I can download a list of absentee owners, with no mortgage and 385 other property/owner characteristics, in minutes. Anywhere in the country. I use data from RealQuestPro (Corelogic) and DataTree (First American Title). The time I save is worth WAY more than the cost of the data. That is where I save to start.
The next HUGE savings is not going door to door. I will mail thousands of letters and reach a lot more people than I could ever tackle on foot. I can spend $0.55 per mailer/offer to owner and not waste anyone's time. I only want to find out who is interested in selling, and if in my purchase range.
I know it sounds "different", but this is the best, cheapest way to reach a seller. I have a number of associates doing this right alongside me the exact same way.
Best of luck!
Jill
I hear what you're saying, but for some investors even spending $300 or $500 is a lot of money so by driving for dollars you have a way of actually getting leads that nobody else has. While I do agree that mailing out letters is more efficient than driving for dollars, for somebody on a low budget it is the best option.