All Forum Posts by: Cody Evans

@Matt K.

So these sales happen only once or twice a year? How do I check the schedule for the next one and do cities/counties usually have a main person I can call that will directly to the public records, auctions, etc that I need?

Great job. So glad this is sticky so I could find it.

@John Gallagher

I am just starting off as well so take this with a grain of salt.

Are you sure there aren't other comps available?

You may want to talk to your buyers in the meantime and find out what their criteria is and see if this property fits it. If it fits a certain buyers criteria then you know who to approach first so you can get the deal done with as quickly as possible.

When you say it will be difficult to find these homes you mean there won't be that many properties in distress so I should search further away? 

Which version of Property Radar do you recommend?

I also google trustees sale for my county and I am not coming up with anything I am sure of. How do I find the date for these sales and do these occur at the courthouse for my city or county?

@Ryan Dossey

I sent you a message.

@Jonathan McKinley

thanks for the tip. I'll post it there today.

@Brian Pulaski

Good question. I thought of this as the easiest way to take an actionable step towards wholesaling so that is why I am starting here. Next, I will use other techniques to find cash buyers. I am going to a meet up next week hosted by a man that offered me $1000 for bird dogging and I will ask him some questions on what his criteria and area of the neighborhood is. I will then search for houses in that area. I am also going to follow up on these supposed cash buyers by asking them questions; they will receive a score out of 6 for potential reliability. I will also cast a wide net to try and get as many as I can. I will go down my list and call the people that had the best score and gave me the best feeling about them otherwise from there I just have to get experience the ole fashion way by losing some time unfortunately. 

Does this sound halfway decent to you or is there still a hole in my strategy?

@Juan Medina

FHA insured loans allow the buyer to get a house with as low as a 3.5% down payment. Translation: You have to risk less of your own money and use other peoples' money. You do have to pay insurance usually equivalent to about $100 a month per $100000 you borrow according to Brandon Turner's(Famous in the BP community and on podcasts/webinars) book on investing with no and low money down. Also in a addition to that you have to pay a percentage of the loan you take(usually 1 or 2%) that I believe are called "points". To get this loan you have to live in the house for at least a year or sell it(like a flip) before then.

FHA loan versus FHA 203 loan

Now let's say you wanted to buy a distressed house that needs repairs. You can get a 203 loan which is a subset of the FHA loan; all the same as I described above plus you can get an extra amount for repairs. For this you have to be really careful when estimating the repairs because if you underestimate your repair cost you are going to have to pay out of your own pocket or go without repairs. This is a major issue if you need to move a tenant into the place or sell it as a flip. If you don't get essential or important cosmetic repairs finished then you are going to be losing big money every month on the large mortgage and extra insurance you are paying for that FHA loan.

If you are interested in learning the loan part and a way to learn how to find good deals check out the bigger pockets book on "Investing in Real Estate with No (and Low) Money DOWN" by Brandon Turner. I am sketchy on some of the other BP books because seems like they are piecing out the information over as many books as possible to make money but I like this book so far. After or before you read that book check out Frank Gallinelli's book "What Every Investors Needs to know About Cashflow and ...." This book is very dense in mathematics and as an engineer you can appreciate the hard numbers without the dressing up to make it "interesting". I got my bachelors in math and my type of mind much appreciated the hardcore detail in the numbers.

Best of luck with real estate. I am new but this real estate looks far more profitable than anything I've seen so far in my life for the amount of effort needed to be put into it.

Hi guys and gals,

I am now in the business of wholesaling properties so I can build up experience as well actually doing something pragmatic so I don't get analysis paralysis while gaining capital  for my first rental property. 

I am driving for dollars and creating a buyers list. I want to put an ad on craigslist stating as a subject line "Wholesale real estate deals at 70% ARV" with a short ad explaining I wholesale deals with that criteria so people are interested. I need to know which topic I should post it under.

Thank you, This will be a great deal for investors that work with me as well as a great start for me.

@Juan Medina

Congratulations on joining BP. I have been on these forums for 13 days now and my mind has been blown. As much as you may want to read books; make sure you read and post on these forums at least once every 2 days. My simplistic, idealistic view has been burst multiple times in addition to my planned path being shifted. You are an engineer and probably have a good income so you have less worry about getting hurt financially due to a bad investment but for me my focus has gone from out of state(my area is pricey) to investing at home using a technique that utilizes house hacking with an FHA 203 loan so I don't have to put much of my own money down. Your path is probably much different than mine due to income difference but make sure you keep in touch with these forums and ask a question before you go and spend money on something.

@Account Closed

I am a beginner as well so take it with a grain of salt.

However, I have been told and have a strong urge from my intuition to drive for dollars (try not to invest money when you are beginning because you may just give up and never touch real estate again). Don't spend money; if you are serious you will be willing to do the sweat equity to start off. I would get the address of the house and check with the public records office(I believe that is the correct office) or if you struggle finding what city department then try and talk to a real estate agent or ask another investor on BP or at a meeting what you should do. I think I would leave a note pinned effectively on the door(it'll be there for a few days since it's vacant right?) with your NON-primary phone number saying you would like to buy this property on the door in case the owner, city, an agent whoever checks these distressed properties out comes by. You just may be first on their list to contact as a buyer is my prediction.