All Forum Posts by: Cody Evans

@Larry Higgins

No that's good to know. My picture is a little over a year so it may be useful.

@Account Closed

Thanks man! Today was way better in a different neighborhood; got quite a few more at 9 properties. I'm wondering if this is not that much for 2 hours. What do you think?

@Shaun Caldwell

@Don Harris

Just did my first driving for dollars today. There were plenty of dead lawns but it didn't really look like any properties were distressed. So many lawns were just terrible. My campaign is in my neighborhood which if a property goes up for rent is usually snatched within 24 hours. People complain about how prices are rising here; could this be the reason I only found 2 properties in a whole hour of searching? This seems like a very low amount of properties to find in a 2 hour period. 

Any suggestions on what I am doing wrong?

@Joe Davalos

Great suggestions. I am putting those in my google sheets this next week. 

Why first class mail? I've never mailed anything in my life so I don't understand what you are saying.

Hi BP,

I just did my first driving for dollars campaign today and while I was just doing my thing an idea popped into my head. What if I used google street view to find owner information such as license plate numbers. I'm not sure what info you can get with a license plate but it may be useful. You might even be able to catch your wife cheating on you if your lucky! Isn't that great?! I just checked my house and it hadn't been updated for a long time so I am not sure if I can use this as a substitute for driving for dollars but maybe you could if you live in an area where google updates the info more frequently. If you try this let me know how it goes.

@Doug Haisten

Did you find out about this app yet? It sounds very useful. You can also call the company and they can probably tell you all the features. 

Hi BP,

I want to start a series of threads for newbies starting out dirt broke like me to utilize as a step by step process (very concrete and not ambiguous) so they can reach their first wholesale deal. 

I was reading on this blog written by Brett Snodgrass (some big, successful BP guy)

https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/why-whole...

about how to get an estimate of repair costs for a property you are looking to wholesale. He states that you should find roughly 5 contractors to estimate repair costs. The issue is that if you don't have much money like I; getting these estimates can actually cost a lot of money. Just to try and  get an ESTIMATE to make an electric outlet for my stove the other day the electricians wanted $100-$150. If us newbies were to do this 5 times to get 5 quotes as Brett suggested it would be much less feasible to try and wholesale. I commented on the blog and Brett promptly responded that "the better relationship you have with them, the more likely they are to waive a bid fee."

The question is: How do you develop these relationships to that point before making your first deal with these contractors? I think estimating  these rehabs, which is essential to the mathematics of determining a proper price to offer your distressed seller and a big reason wholesalers get a bad rep, for a reasonable cost could make or break the beginning wholesaler.

@Ray Lai

This is a conservative approach I am taking. The big mistake I see almost all newbies make across multiple disciplines is they buy first and plan to work after. I am going to work first to test my will power and then invest in the easier options. I am essentially hazing myself. When I get my first deal and see how my market works I am going to reinvest my funds into a direct mail campaign; my current prediction is this will be around February but as late as May 1st or perhaps never. I want to get this driving for dollars 14 hours a week business over with as soon as possible because it is painful. I foresee my biggest issue coming from learning how to respond to calls. Do you have any scripts? I like your mailing company from the sounds of it because I want to see the CRM you are offering.

@Harry Sharp

Are you willing to work an additional 5-10 hours a week to wholesale? It can be annoying but I've scheduled myself to drive for dollars as a wholesaler. You can learn the business by networking and finding great deals which is a good skill. I have not closed a deal yet and my first driving for dollars session is tomorrow for 2 hours. I am a newbie so these words don't mean much now but I will reply to this thread in 3 months after driving for dollars 2 hours a day and learning what I need to do to be successful and let you know how it has worked out for me. If it has been successful then I will probably be able to give you some great information even if you already moved into the area you intend to. The way I see it now this a great way to learn the business and earn a minor amount of cash while you do it.

@Ken Konecny

Thank you.

I've decided to drive for dollars and deliver my own mail and leave notes on the door.

What do you mean when you say "owner name(estates highest priority)"?

Which of the factors that you mentioned is most important or least important? I am going to make a bell curve for each factor and give it a score based off the properties percentile. If a given property scores 98 percentile then it gets a score of ~9.8 for that factor. If it gets 50% percentile I give it a dead average score of 5 out of 10. I then add all the component scores together and I start tracing the properties with the highest overall score. I need to know which factor is most important so I can add a "weight" to it. 

So lets say house condition is priority number 1 and a house scores 6 on that dimension. I may think I should give that factor more weight by multiplying it by lets say 1.5.        

1.5 * 6= 9      I then add 9 instead of 6 to the properties overall priority score,

Lets now say a property scores 6 just like the other property except this time on owner name. I think owner name is less important than other factors so now I multiply it by .66 or however I want to weigh it.

6*.66 = 4      I then add 4 to the overall score instead of 6.

Do you think this a good strategy?