All Forum Posts by: Anson Young

Stephanie, welcome!!!!  

Its SUCH a big topic, it would be hard to gather all of the data you need in just forum posts.  I hate to deflect on this, but if you havnt read Brandon's book on rental properties, you 1000000% should!  So much great information on this HUGE topic in there for sure.

Nicole, 

There might be a slight misunderstanding when it comes to these sites. They are actually syndications of your local MLS - they get their data from MLS, and should be pretty accurate. When an agent puts in the listing to their MLS, those sites get fed information from the MLS system every 10 minutes (or so), and listings start showing up on those external sites, with all of the data that was input from the agent.

Sometimes the listing takes 10 minutes to get to zillow or like sites, sometimes its a whole day.  Just depends on the system.

Those sites are totally fine to find deals, without direct MLS access, those sites are the next best thing to get a hold of this data.

No worries!! Double close is when I actually close on the property under my own name (or LLC name), and have a buyer lined up the same day to close on it again.

A - seller
B - ME
C - new buyer

A and B come to terms on the sale of A's house and get it under contract.  B finds C who wants to buy it for more, and we write up a contract.  Both contracts are submitted to title so they can work up title commitments and getting ready for closing.  

Not to complicate this further, but with some title companies/states you can use C's funds to fund B's closing, and in other areas you have to bring your own cash or financing to fund the A to B transaction.

On closing day, we close at 10 am between A and B - at 2pm we have another closing between B and C.  Thats a double closing in a nutshell.  B is the true buyer, and never had to assign or sell the contract.

 I agree with this, it can only show an emotional connection which can be exploited.  

Thanks for the update!!  Sounds like you are on the right track.

 Those elevator pitch games are fun!  I must admit, I have to sharpen mine for sure.

Gerald,

Great question!

So, there are two ways: ask, or estimate

Ask: when talking with a seller, you can ask them what their payoff for the loan is, some will tell you and some wont - depending on what kind of rapport you built with them. The difference between the payoff and the ARV is the equity. To do % of two numbers, I always cheat and go to this calculator:

https://www.marshu.com/articles/calculate-percent-with-simple-number-percentage-calculator.php


Estimate: when pulling a list from a data source (like listsource.com) - the site estimates the equity by how long the mortgage has been in place and estimates payoff based on a standard amortization rate.  If they have been paying on the mortgage for 15 years, the site estimates their payoff based on that.  As you can already tell, this isnt always accurate, how do you know their loan term, their interest rate, if they got a 2nd mortgage, if they refinanced?  Its kind of a mess.

That said, the 2nd way is still useful when pulling lists, I'll pull 100% -70% equity, its the best, cheapest and fastest way to get equity numbers for a large list.  

You *might* be able to do a full inspection the first time you see it, but likely they wont want people crawling through their attic/crawlspace on the first visit!  I'm sure you will catch a LOT more on the first pass, even if a short visit, than most of the rest of us!

Austin, this is a HUGE topic for sure!   

Data is huge, its the foundation of everything you are building your DM business on.  I still like listsource.com, and old school driving for dollars (with new apps that streamline the process of course).

As far as message goes, I try and keep it straight forward, and let my mailers build off of eachother so I'm not sending the same thing every time.  I always want to point out the benefits to them for selling to me, and a call to action.  People want to hear how YOU can help THEM, not just about you (I have 39489 years experience and have bought 20984938 homes, and a scratch golfer etc).  They generally dont care about your gloating, just what you can do for them and how it impacts their life.

The message of the mailer is important, but you must also factor in WHAT you are sending them ,the medium, AND making sure you are consistent as well.

Hope this helps a bit!  Anson

Nicole, I agree, its an interesting story but it has no real relevance to the transaction.  Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

Jarod, YES!!  Its amazing how many deals/partnerships/lenders/opportunities/relationships people miss out on because they dont talk about WHAT they are doing.  Not just in a "what do you do for work" kind of way, but exactly like you did.  

Its amazing how many opportunities open up just by... well... opening up about the things that drive you and you are passionate about!

Good work!