All Forum Posts by: David Dey

First, get the property under contract.  If you need a proof of funds/ pre approval letter go to this site. http://www.besttransactionfunding.com/index.php?op...

Make sure you get the contract set up where you use your own title company for closing or at least buyers side of the closing, even though you will be responsible for the costs.  This will allow you to work with a "friendly" company while doing a double close.

Use either besttransaction's transactional funding to give you the cash to close the AB portion of the sale and your BC transaction will pay off your transaction funder.

Hope this helps

 I might be able to help you, as I've been doing tax liens and tax deeds for a while.  I'm actually closing a deal that I picked up as a tax deed in Cantonment in escambia county, so I have experience there.

In the meantime, what specific questions do you have?

So, you're sitting across from your seller. You've jumped all the hoops, you set up your financing, you brought this deal to close and your seller has received his check. You're done, right??

Not unless you want to walk away from hundreds of thousands of dollars just waiting to be claimed.

There are two questions that I ask my sellers that 99% of the other investors out there never ask and as a result do just that, leave countless money on the table.

So what are these two magical questions that, should you ask them, will have you rolling in the dough? (Or at least get a bunch more deals and money)

Well with no further ado, here they are!!

(Drum Roll Please!!)

Question 1: So, what else have you got to sell?

This sounds extremely simple, however there are so many deals that we miss by not asking that simple question.

Just yesterday, we closed on one house in NC and found out that he had a second house in exactly the same situation.

A month ago, a defaulted investor that we bought one house from ended up have six more and as a result, we were able to take control over 7 houses for $1500.

This question applies to the multi family and commercial field as well. After purchasing a large multi family property with an amazing price and terms, with deferred payments etc... I asked the seller the magic question, "do you have any other properties that you are interested in selling?"

"No," he replied. "I used to own 5 other properties just like this but sold them last year." "This is my last one."

Ok, so that one didn't actually pan out, but imagine if I had reached out to him a year or two earlier. I could have bought 4 more properties with these exact price ranges and more importantly, terms.

Question number two: "Sooo, now that we've closed, whatcha gonna do with all that money???"

Raising private money is not 90% about credibility, it's 100% about credibility!!

You're sitting across the table from your seller. You've solved his problem. You've made him money. You have great taste in property. (you bought his) Let's face it, you will never be at a higher point in credibility with this person than you are now.

Chances are he will use some of the money for bills and such, maybe a nice something for himself. Then he will put the rest of it into some kind of investment vehicle, a CD or such.

After he has responded with this scenario and you've asked him what kind of returns he makes on his investments, you then inform him that the transaction you just did with him made your investor 8-10% or what ever amount on his money.

I can't tell you of all the sellers I have converted into backers by starting out with that second question.

So when you've finished your closing, and are shaking your sellers hand, just remember... You're not finished yet.

Hope this helps

 With owners, for example of absentee owner, I point out the tax savings of not taking all of your equity in one shot, which could literally put them into a different tax bracket.  I further explain that with owner finance, they would only pay taxes on the money you receive each year.

If any pushback, I make it clear that we may not just be talking about 5-10k down and a 30 year loan.  We can give them as much as 50% upfront and we can make the financing a short term loan, like 5 years.

(When offering this scenario of up to 50% upfront, you will be working a first-second mtg strategy, where you get a private lender to fund your down payment of up to 50% in a first and have the owner carry the balance in a second)

I should also mention that with a first-second scenario, you can use hard and private money and still get a realistic rate for cashflow purposes via blended interest. (Ex: 100k loan 50k first private loan at 12% and 50k owner second at 0% = 6% blended interest)

I gave an extreme example as most private money can be taken at lower interest and many owners will require an interest rate (though if they don't ask, I don't offer)

If needing more ammo, I do talk about interest and the better return than CD's.

The important thing to remember is to tailor your offer to your sellers needs.  If they need the money, what do they need it for?  Is it better for you to give them the money to get the thing or get them the thing itself.  

If you structure it to be a win/win it will usually work out.

@Drew Castleberry we've all had a poop house lol!!  (Just be glad it was just dog poop) 

Gives new meaning to the term "dirty money."

You know you've said it, "I could write a book with all the things that have happened to me in my business!"

In this business, you come up on all sorts of situations.  Some amazing, some heartbreaking, and some outright hilarious!!

I wanted to start a thread with some of the craziest, funniest, most life changing things that have happened to you in your investing career.

So without further ado, here is my submission.

I used to own a Mobile Home Park in Tampa Fl. It was a large park with lots of units but not in a good area and as a weekly rental not your top end renters.

This caused for a number of interesting situations, one of which I will tell you now.

This is the one where I was robbed at gunpoint by the 2 stooges (or so it seemed) Stop me if you’ve heard this one.

So, as I mentioned, large park, weekly rentals, So it was nothing for me to leave on any given Friday evening with anywhere between 5-10k cash in my pockets.

On a normal Friday I would leave the manager to collect the rent while I ran errands, ran collection calls, and handled repairs.

When I would get back, the money or most of it would be waiting. (turns out the manager was stealing more than the crooks ever could have taken)

On this particular Friday, I don’t know why but, I decided to stay in the office with the manager and when she collected rent I took it from her and put it in my pocket.

By the end of the day I had over 7k in my pocket in 20’s and 100’s.

Come evening,there was a lady who had just rented a MH from us and needed help getting her power turned on. SO I called TECO for her. (That’s Tampa Electric Company for those who don’t know.)

Now there were 5 people in the office at the time. The manager, her friend, the tenant who needed the power turned on, myself, and… shall we call him Jonathan the idiot security guard? (The managers husband)

So I’m on the phone, on hold with TECO when two men run into the cramped office space waving their guns and yelling for us to put our hands up.

One is wearing a skull cap with the extra fabric in back wrapping around his face. The other is wearing a scream mask. (You know the long ghost mask from the movie Scream? or in this case more like “Scary Movie 1&2″)

Now I’m thinking these are some of the teens from the park playing a joke on us. (I’ll tell you another time about when I went scaring them with a gorilla mask) So I tell the guys with the guns, “Hold on a second. I’m on the phone with TECO.” And wouldn’t you know it, for a couple of seconds they put their gun down.

For a couple of seconds they were so confused they actually put their guns down.

The Scream mask gunman regains his wits, points the gun at me and screams at me, “You think this is a joke?”

Ever hear about someone saying that they felt a tingle go down their spine telling them they were in danger? Well that is exactly what happened to me. That tingle went down my spine and told me this was for real.

Just then, the TECO representative comes on the phone. ” TECO Customer service, how may I make your day better?”

“Well, I Have to go,” I replied. “I’m being robbed.”

“Thank you and have a nice day,” I hear as I’m putting down the phone.

So the robbers are checking out the room and they spy Jonathan the idiot security guard smiling like a cheshire cat.

“What’s so funny?” the gunman asked.

“Your guns not even loaded,” was the idiots reply.

>Cha-CHIK< was the sound as the man loaded the chamber.

"Gee, Thanks Jonathan," I thought. "If anyone needs a hostage please take him!"

So the gunman turns his attention to the manager and tells her to give him all the money in the money drawer. (How he knew there was a money drawer is beyond me)

Just remember, I have been collecting the money from her as she went so when the manager looked at me. I nodded and said, "Go ahead and give him all the money in the drawer!"

So with 6-7k in my pocket she pulls out what is left in the drawer, a lone 100 dollar bill and a personal check for 125.

She asks the robber,"Do you want the check too?"

"Nah," he replied. "Just gimme the cash!"

She reached out her hand with the bill. and he said, "Toss it over!"

Well you know what a lone piece of paper does when it is thrown? Just like a leaf in the wind it zig zaged gracefully to the ground not 6 inches from where she threw it and directly at my feet.

You'll pardon my vernacular but I am just repeating what the man said.

"AAW SH*T!!"

I looked at him as genuinely as possible and said, "Don't worry, I'm not a hero."

So he reached down and grabbed the bill. As he was coming back up he spied the idiot security guard reaching behind him.

He aims his gun at us (Jonathan was sitting behind me so to get to him they had to get through me, Gee thanx J) and says, "What are you doin?"

"Nuttin'" was Jonathans response.

"Finish your move but make it slow!!" Yelled the gunman.

From behind his back Jonathan pulls out…….. An extendable umbrella!!

AN EXTENDABLE UMBRELLA?!! WHAT THE HECK WAS HE PLANNING TO DO WITH THAT??!! BIFF THEM WITH IT?!!

Now the 2 robbers had had enough of Jonathan, (So had we) They tell him to get on the ground, face down, execution style. (Now it was getting serious)

As he was laying there they made their escape and off they went.

A minute later Jonathan jumps up and screams, "Where's my bee bee gun?"

That was the last straw!! The managers friend broke into tears and cussed Jonathan out, up one side and down the other.

"You could have gotten us killed!!" she screamed.

So of course we call the cops and they show up a little later. While they were taking our statement a friend called just to check in.

"I can't talk right now," I said. "I've just been robbed and the cops are here right now."

"Robbed?!! How much did they get?"

"100 bucks," I replied.

"100 bucks??" he replied. "You didn't get robbed." "You just paid a toll."

And so I had. I almost consider it worth it for the conversation piece.

Now gimme YOUR best story!!

 Ask and you shall receive!!

The first link below will get you to the Property assessor's site, tax collector, and register of deeds.  Yes I know the register's site is only a website.  That's why the second link is so phenomenal!!  The saints at netronline.com (which is already the best site on the Internet for investors) buy the data from LA county monthly and add it to their site FOR FREE!!  You now have the infor you need right at your fingertips.  (If you need help navigating, let me know and I'll help you)

Hope this helps.

http://publicrecords.netronline.com/state/CA/count...

https://losangeles.netronline.com/la-index.php

Brandon, it is quite the noble undertaking you aspire to. I did at the peak of my career have over 300 units I personally owned and managed. (Didn't sleep a wink!!) than the crash came and I lost everything, but not before learning some valuable lessons of what to do and more importantly what not to do.

The best advice I can give you, do not be an island unto yourself.

There is a reason most larger complexes are not owned by individuals and small businesses.

"It takes a village to raise a complex!!"

If I were to do it again, (and I just might) I would start first by building a fund. I would incorporate the infrastructure that @Jeff B. mentioned, and I would hire a number of people way smarter than me.

Then I would raise enough capital to be very well funded. (You can start with a number of the private lenders who have backed you on your deals this far)  The worst thing you can do when taking on such an undertaking is to try to work this on a shoestring.

To summarize, play to your strengths, and have like minded people that bring to the table the things that you need.  Be well funded and then pick the right projects.

Hope this helps

you said it yourself, things are getting back to bubble prices fast.  What should be mentioned is things are getting back to bubble mentality fast.

When there's a lot of competition, the herd mentality takes over and common sense leaves.

You may heard the saying that applies to all market trends. "3/4 of all people jump into the market at the last 1/3 of the move."

Whether, stocks, currencies, real estate, commodities, etc., if you see it on a graph you will notice a lot of peaks and valleys in the trend.

The peaks and valleys are human nature at work.  When people see a good thing going on, the tendency is to follow the pack and jump in.  Supply and demand dictates that this drives the prices up, many times past the point of actual value. (Hence the peak) 

At some point, the voice of reason kicks in and says, "we're overpaying."  Thus they back off and the price drops till it gets its feet back under it again.  (Valley)

This all happens within a greater movement, which is called the trend. Depending on whether the trend is moving up or down determines whether the peaks or the valleys are greater.  (And there's a whole course and education based on all this)

Anyway, that was the psychology verbiage (since you thought about putting it in that section) to say very long windedly, "no they overpaid."

Hope this helps.