All Forum Posts by: Daniel Moore

@Daniel Lipetzky @John Copeland 

i have a VA create the lists daily from the county clerks office

@Ilya V. - although MF is asset based lending, they are still qualifying the owner to run the business. Anytime I have approached a lender i bring a packet with my Balance sheet, PandL statements, a brief bio/resume, and supporting HUDs to show that I mean business.

Ultimately look at it like this, if were approached by somebody saying i want you to invest 70% of the startup capital in my business what would you want to see? Although banks loan money, they are investing into your business. Prove to them why.

@Ilya V. - it's all based on the lender. I would recommend going to smaller community banks or regional banks, and kind of lay out your intent and see how receptive they are to your ambitions. Try several. Remember the bank has the most to lose here, and they want to know they can trust the operations to you. Some may say yes we will approve you, but we will require a third party management company, or other stipulations etc. There are Fair housing laws, Landlord/tenant laws, document storage practices etc that you need to keep into consideration, and the banks will want to know that you know these things.

Also, be very careful running due diligence on properties, it's not hard to lose sight of a few things and wind up losing a few zeros.

I have a few proforma analysis sheets i could send ya.

@Ilya V. - are you looking at stabilized or un-stabilized property? Like several people have said, commercial lending is a totally different ball game than SF. Even if you had the money to put down, the net worth to cover the asset (not including your personal residence), and the post closing liquidity, if you don't have the experience you probably won't get the loan. Running commercial is a full blown business, and the banks have the biggest stake in the game with an equity position often floating around 70%.

The bank is trusting that you can manage one of these things and keep their money safe. What the bank may ask is what does your SF portfolio look like, how long have you been managing it? If you have little experience they may say find a partner, buy a few duplexes and come back to us in a few years etc. especially if you are trying to go after non stabilized assets.

@Aaron Britt - I always offer what makes sense for my company, and if it doesn't make sense for the seller, then we just can't do the deal. I see many people get into bad deals by offering to much, or misjudging the repairs, and on the flip side I have seen many investors never do a deal because the offer way to low. Finding that spot where you are able to still make a profit, but not so low you can never get a house is a fine art.

Being that I don't know your demographics labor costs, material costs, and where that home lies in relation to the median home cost, it would be hard for me to judge a fair offer for that house. My general rule of thumb here in the Dallas area ranges on the low side of $6-$18/sf to rehab plus structural and mechanical.

Taking a guess at your house, assuming it needs no work other than paint and carpet, light kitchen and bath update, and the home is 1,300 sq/ft. If i took 1,300 x $10/sf I should expect to pay 13,000 to put in new carpets int he bedrooms, laminate in the living areas, paint the kitchen cabinets and put on new countertops, re-surface tub surrounds and new tile flooring in baths, replace hardware and light fixtures, and fresh paint on the walls.

Now obviously that is a very wild guess. With that said though, if your after repaired value is 90k and i didn't want to be into a property for more than 75% my max offer would be 90k x 75% = 67.5k minus repairs of 13k leaving a max offer of 54.5k.

If that property has been on the market for 200 days there is likely 1 of 2 problems, the owners are not bringing there thought process into reality and accepting what their home is worth, or their loan balance is higher than what the home is worth.

If the loan balance is higher you could still make a ton of money doing lease options, subject-to, wraps, etc., but would require a great understanding of your local laws and an education to structure those transactions.

Hope that helped, at least some.

I guess i failed to mention - if the property is not or has not gone through probate, you will need to be working directly with at least one legitimate heir, and will eventually need all of the heirs conset (to the best of my knowledge) without a court proceeding.

If it is already in court or done with court, you will generally be dealing with an executor/executrix if named in a will, or an administrator/personal representative if intestate. Those are the people who have been appointed the power to handle the disposition of assets.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated

All laws will be different, all i can speak on is texas, and I am an active probate investor.

The first probate I did a few years ago i was scared silly, had no clue what to do, and no clue how to do it. Lucky for me I already had a good title company and they wlked me through it. I had no intention of getting this lead, but it came from my marketing, i knew it was a deal, and did what i had to do to get it done.

After receiving multiple leads that year that were all very profitable probate deals (and i wasn't marketing for them) I decided i might as well start working those lists directly.

Essentially my title company handles all of my properties that have not been taken to court. Such as a person has died and it was never seen before a judge. In most cases there isn't a will (intestae) and an Heirship affidavit is created (google it) and title is transferred in that manner. When there is a will will involved (testate), if the title companies attorneys feel good with it, they handle all the necessary documentation to transfer title for me.

As far as how to market? I have my VA search the county clerks and create lists from there. Please, when marketing to these people, take into consideration what they are going through. I have seen some extremely tacky postcards sent to these people.

The people that you market to on this list will be currently in the court process. You can still buy, before, during, or after this process.

With all that said i am by no means a probate attorney or expert, my title company is extremely experienced and i rely on them heavily to create this process. If you have several leads, and are vetted deal, try teaming up with a qualified escrow agent who can help you along.

It's not always how much you know, as how much everyone you know knows

@Pavel Sakurets i use kets system - www.findmotivatedsellersnow.com

in addition i use the freedom of information act and request public utilities that have been turned off - it isn't easy to get, but they have to give it to you.

Have you ever sent a letter to a house and had it returned as vacant? Some how the owners of that website found out how to consolidate that info and cross reference to a mailing list. I don't really know how to do it, i just paid the one time fee and use it monthly.

@Troy Sheets - the worst foundation i saw had an interior fireplace that had sunk so bad, i could roll a basket ball under interior walls. The sole plate had separated from the slab and there was a gap big enough to crawl under. All points of the home drained to the middle. 

Don't put your toddler in a walker or they would end up in the fireplace.