All Forum Posts by: Christina R.

I love reading stuff like this because at some point I know I'll have my own tenant-drama story to contribute.  You can't make this stuff up!  Keep it comin' . . . .

Welcome @Carl Simon 

 There is a great Meetup the 2nd Weds of the month in Columbia - check it out here.  Lots of BPers attend as well as industry pros in Baltimore and it's FREE with no sales pitches!

There is also one in Arbutus the last Saturday of the month (I believe) called The Real Deal.

You said you checked out @Ned Carey 's blog  - if you go back again and do some searching you will find a possible answer to your question in your OP.

YES I DID!!! 

Can't get the other @'s above to tag! grrrr

@LaTara G. 

 - Hi Latara!  What I have found that is working for me is a direct mail campaign.  You can do a search here on BP about yellow letters, post cards, etc., and find so many posts about it, it can be a little overwhelming.  I would suggest listening to any podcasts by @Jerry Puckett  @Dev Horn and @Michael Quarles  here on BP because they are masters at this (among other people, these are the 3 that popped into my head).  Direct mail has to be, among other things, systematic and consistently implemented over time in order for it to work.

To your topic of motivated sellers and short sales/foreclosures - as mentioned, that is not the only circumstance for a motivated seller.  I have a property in escrow right now that is set to close in a few days - the owner had it free - & - clear.  It had been rented to the same tenant for over 15 years.  His main motivation is he lives about 40 miles away and just didn't want to go through the full cosmetic rehab that it needs at this point. And he is in the trades so he could pull a team to help him do it.   Plus, he wants to use the proceeds to help refi his own home and rates are low . . . . right now.  So he is sacrificing potential profit for the tradeoff that it looks like this escrow will close within a week of his signing the contract to sell so he can get his low refi rate locked in. 

There are a million reasons why people are motivated to sell.   What I've found is one of the trickier parts of negotiating is uncovering that real reason they are selling. I have a hard time not talking when there is silence but silence really can be golden, as I'm starting to find out.

  I would suggest that you check about marketing to people in foreclosure and short sale situations (pre-foreclosure) - in Maryland there are very strict laws regarding non-licensed individuals and marketing to people in these situations.  Just be safe , not sorry. 

@Ned Carey 

@J. Martin 

I know that it can take a veeryy long time before a deal actual is completed.  I know also that deals come and go and that there will be more out there.  I love to hear "war stories" about the one that finally close - or the one that got away - because there is strength in numbers - if it was easy to wholesale, everyone would be doing it right??  It also sometimes makes you feel just a little bit better when you hear a horror story worse that yours, lol. 

I would very much like to hear from BPers who have had lengthy, crazy contracting (by this I mean putting it under contract, nor rehabbing lol) and closing proceses on their properties.

I'm currently "in the middle" of a potential deal that came out of my first campaign with @Jerry Puckett.  Having invested a good chunk of change and not wanting to let any potential deal go until it's sold to someone else or I drop dead, this deal (which involves a tax sale property) was alive, then was on life support, then seemed to die . . . now it may be coming back from the edge of the grave!  It's such an emotional rollercoaster - not one that I will get off until the fat lady sings but I thought some stories from BPers who thought their deals were dead - when ultimately they weren't - would help me ride out the emotional wave.

Thanks in advance for sharing!

Christina

Oops!  I forgot you can't post ads anywhere other than the marketplace - sorry @Jon Holdman 

Hi Melinda, welcome to BP.  Set up some keyword alerts so you can be  notified of posts of topics you are interested in.  I would really recommend going to local REIAs and/or Meetups to start networking  - you may find private money that way that will work for your project.   I would recommend the Baltimore/Washington Investors Meetup (go to meetup.com and search for it) since you are in Oakton, that's the closest one to you that I know of that has lots of Baltimore investors attending it.  It's great, there are a lot of BP Rockstars that attend and present there and it's FREE.

You can also look for hard money on this site and others. Be aware that Baltimore is very much a cash-player town. [REMOVED] And if an HML won't lend, most likely a private lender won't either (at least an investor that knows what s/he is doing).

Good luck!

Christina

 It would go a long way to changing mine so I hope I am the WINNER, lol! :-)