All Forum Posts by: Douglas Christian

Chris as I stated previously and Mike has confirmed it. SUCCESS BREEDS SUCCESS. If you were here with me you would see. Because when you conversate and I felt like you were really needing help then I would invite you to LUNCH and you would get to tag along with me for a day.

I GUARANTEE you in that one day that you would learn so much until you would not believe it. It is the action of the investors not the words. To me words are words and can always be reconfigured to fit what sounds good.

ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS

Yes, I am a member of the MREIA. They meet the 3rd Thurs of Every mth. Come as a guest of mine. I do not go to every mtg, only because I am out of town sometimes and also, I just eveluate the speakers and all, and just decide that if on that mtg date I have something more pertinent to do then that is what I will do.

But, I would encourage you to join and become a active member as I would to all newbies or even novice who purchased less than 10 homes. I look forward to touching base with you Chevis. Maybe next wk we can get together for lunch my treat.

SUCCESS BREEDS SUCCESS

How long has the duplex been on the market? If it has been out there for 90-180 days and they have not had any takers, then Jon said 105k and that is okay. I would go in and offer 75k cash since you already have 35% to put down then just borrow the remaining amt and now you will CASH FLOW and get a GREATER return on your money.

If it is in a OKAY area, what I look for is time on market and pricing. I would get with the listing agent and see there motivation.

Remember many of you that I am reading it is like you are afraid to go in and make a LOW BALL offer. All they can say to you is NO. Pls do not fall for the we have multiple offers on the table. See what I do with that is remove my offer and many times I have found that there are no other offers by way of the leading person falling out.
That is when I reenter with a lower offer than the original.

You guys have got to start having FUN with this market.

One Time Buyer I will have to say that you do not have the owner contact the back to see if they will take a short sale on the property.

What I would say to do to Chevis is get a AUTHORIZATION TO RELEASE letter sent to the bank signed by the owner. Then you get the bank to send you all the info you need on the property.

Then you go by and take pictures of all the disgusting places in and around the home. You ask the home owner what problems there are with the home.

Then you create a purchase and sales agreement based upon your info. You also create a HUD statement, showing that the owner is getting no money in return for this short sale.

So if the home is worth 100k and you can show proof that it needs 30k-40k in repairs, then you put a offer in for 45k and see what the bank tells you.

They will send a realtor by to confirm your evaluation of the property.

Hope this helps you. There are a couple of more steps, but I just gave a brief analogy of the process.

For you that is a good deal 39% equity. Does the home need any work because if it does there goes the 39% to 15%.

See I think that you are using the wrong approach in the first place. You start off by saying the home has 39% equity. Is that even real in todays market. Lets use real numbers.

Home is 100k and based on your numbers the home is on SELL for 69k and that is a deal.

Well my friend you must just be getting started because I would not touch that deal as a wholesaler. Here's why?

First you must find out what the house needs to rehab it and subtract that from the cost. Now that a bank owns it they are going to list it with a NON EXPERIENCED as far as REAL ESTATE INVESTORS are concerned realtor, who is going to want to get top dollar because of the neighborhood or condition of the house.

See for all of you reading this take my advice on this one. A home is only worth what an individual is willing to pay. I constantly repeat this.

Now from what I am reading you are ready to rush over and sign the contract now at 39%. I apologize if I seem a little harsh, but come on you have to be kidding me.

Go by and see the inside and do an assessement and if you are looking to wholesale the deal why not get it at a dirt cheap price and HOLD on to it.

Site unseen I would probably offer them using the 100k price point for the sake of numbers 35k. The only thing that they can say to me is NO, but what I found out early in the game eventually there will start to be some yeses and all you have to do is be ready to close the deal. Now I have them calling me to see if I am interested in buying there SO CALLED DEALS.

Don't get so anxious because you see what you think you see before you and that is only a smoke screen. It is for investment purposes so do not get caught up in all the sysmantics.

SUCCESS IS NOT GIVEN IT IS EARNED

I count labor into my cost. Also from the panel, I am just curious on where individuals are buying properties if you can not find them at 50 cent on the dollar.

Are you staying in these plush areas that you feel comfortable or are you truly going to areas where you can hit that target goal.

Because what I am hearing is that ARV $100k you can not purchase this property for 50k and I would definitely disagree with the panel on this one.

Some who BUYS not FLIPS and BUYS right hone in on this one. See I am laughing because everyone is a wholesaler now and everyone wants to buy and flip, but you very seldom here about those in todays market buying and holding. Let's put some figures out here.

I just bought about 4 mths ago a home 3 bd 1 ba on a little over an acre. I paid 13k and I will send the HUD to anyone who wants to see it. Just PM me. The home is not a junker it is where my strength in real estate is and that is marketing. The home has new windows and is in on a scale of 1-10 a 7. The home is worth 98k and I have had to put 15k into it. I will send photos to ALL THE NON BELIEVERS.

I am just trying to understand that if the market is so good for BUYING, why can't you find the 30%-40% deals. If you are doing what OTHERS are not willing to do then you will get the results that others do not.

Sorry did not mean to burst any bubbles on this thread, but if you are new and do not understand the industry in the full thereof then you need to heed the advice of the forum, but ONE of you pls COMMENT on this that everyone is looking for deals at 50%. I do not even look at deals unless I can LEGALLY STEAL them.

Time and Circumstances.

When a tenant moves in do you give them a check list? I give all my tenants a folder with a checklist. They have 48 hrs to get that checklist back to me. Once they get it back signed and if there is anything wrong, as Tom stated I go and see what they are talking about, then I send my contractor to fix the problems. Then I have them sign that the problems were corrected and everything is okay.

Another thing that would help all landlords and this goes to what I am reading. Take pictures of your property when the tenant moves in. Make sure that your camera has the date on the pictures and even get a few with the tenant in them. Every time I go to court and I have not been to court in over 2 yrs.

I create a system and they have to sign and date and then they get a copy of the paperwork in a folder to maintain. Also I give them a list price if something is broken or damaged what it would cost to replace or fix it. This helps them recognize that you are aware of your business.

As far a Diane because you did not take the proper measures to go by and insure that the tenant was making a valid or bogus complaint, you as a GOOD LANDLORD should eat that cost and that will be the cost for learning for you.

Now you should be able to create a extra paragragh in your lease or that says that we will get in contact with any MAJOR COMPLAINTS. See I here many landlords wanting to site the tenant for many things, but how many of you every give your tenants anything other that name calling or disrepect. We want our rent, but there is a way to win over even the worst tenant.

Being a landlord has many benefits and the number one benefit for me is that I do not have to have a 9-5. But, in or for this not to become a 9-5, which it has not I had to TRULY figure out what this business was all about. If it is about helping out others even though you are providing them with a place to live they are in fact providing us with money. So, where do you go from there. If that is where your though process stops as a landlord that is why you will be faced with many obstacles along the way.

How many of you send something to the family to say thank you for being a good tenant. Birthday cards for the kids or send the family coupons just to say thank you. See sometimes they need love to. Showing them love will get you what you want and hope for which is a good tenant and a long term tenant that will help you becom FINANCIALLY FREE.

Good info. I have been to Than and Pauls seminar NOT BOOTCAMP. I have never been to one boot camp other than Donna Bauers. But, the info that he gave us as seasoned investors really did not SHOCK us or make us want to go to the boot camp. See when you sum REAL ESTATE up

There is nothing new under the sun. Everyone is going to come in and pitch that there system is the one.

Let me share something interesting to all of you. This is FACT not FICTION. We were at a seminar in Michigan from Wendy Patton back a few yrs ago and what we discovered that many of the speakers would come in and sit in on the next speakers seminar and what we found with that if you look at enough material from all of them you can link a lot of the same things being said and a lot of the same things being done.

But, what many of them PREY upon is your DESIRE to be where they are TODAY. But, I am here to tell you that many of them started where you are now and there willingness to want to SUCCEED was more POWERFUL than many of the investors or novice of today and that is how they can sell you.

I am not a advocate for BUYING a lot of stuff unless you know that you are going to truly use it. I am a advocate for HANDS ON and finding the right person or MENTOR as many call it.

Doing your first deal no matter how many mistakes you make will get you so far than reading a book until it is unbelievable.

Trust yourselves and believe in yourselfs. All these GURUs have you believing in them, well they put there pants and skirts on the same way that we do.

I had one GURUs sales team talk down to me because I would not buy his package and they told me that I would not be successful unless I did.

Well I am here to tell you that I am VERY SUCCESSFUL in real estate and I always looked at that and said as my colleague said, they don't even know you and what you have done and they are just trying to get you to purchase what we deemed as GARBAGE. Sorry for the insult, but it was GARBAGE and you need never let anyone put you down or tell you, you can not, when I am living proof that you can.

SUCCESS BREEDS SUCCESS

I would say for me with actual numbers. That both can work, as stated previously, but I have had such a high success rate with the post cards until it is unreal.

One reason I see this is because I have actually looked at others and as stated by Ashley that if it is something that does not catch your eye or interest you then you are not going to respond.

I have been in this business for over 6yrs and I have never used anything, but postcards. But, for those of you who are thinking that how can I compare, here's how. My colleague started that same time I did and she took a SEMINAR on marketing and they told her to target a area and then send out letters on a lime green and then to personalize the outside of the letter.

Well I have to say that at the time she got BOMBARDED with return replys, but they were for bad areas and rough houses. Now when she tried the same approach on the more affluent neighborhoods the results were VERY DISAPPOINTING. She would target zip codes of neighborhoods that she wanted to work and then put a piece in the mail. If she sent 1000 she got 2 or 3 calls.

Now using the postcard method and I target PRE FORCLOSURES and vacant and abandoned homes. My response rate is high. If I send out 1000 postcards which many time I do in a month. I will get someback maybe 35% will be returned, but I will bet about 20% reply and that is what I look for. Sometimes I get a call off of a postcard 3 mths after I have sent it out because the client is checking out all avenues and when they feel like all hope is lost that is when they call me.

Now the key to a successful postcard is the style and the wording, but after all that the MAIN KEY to me is the 800#. Without this I do not know where I would be today. 24/7 days a wk someone is answering my calls. We gave them 4 scripts and they ask you the questions on the script and after that they forward the info to me so that I can take a look at it before I get in contact with you. So basically I know what I am dealing with before we ever talk.

Great way to generate business. I can come to any of your cities and use my postcard, which by the way I have and guess what they still work. I get calls and I forward the info to someone that I am working with.

In today's world it is not about who has the best or the prettiest. It is about who gets RESULTS and I do.

Hope that I was able to help you with the questions that you posed.

Hey Gary

you must have missed my post before, but that's okay. One of the number one bird dogs that you can get big leads from is the mailman.

Also, code enforcement and the gas man.

How I do it I go to a neigbhorhood that I would like to be in, meaning a CASH FLOW neighborhood and where the post man usually walks. This means it will be in a older area because many of the newer areas they drive. Then I will give them one of my business cards and ask them what time they get off Friday or what time do they do lunch. I will ask them if I can take them to lunch, my TREAT. All I need them to do as they are going over there route is to take down addresses of homes that are vacant and abandoned. I will even supply the note pad and pen. Doing this and at the end I let them know that if I am able to get the lead closed I will pay them $500.

Also, I have some here that work dligently for me. So, what I do is pay them like $200 for there time and service and they love that. I get so many leads until it is incredible. One even called his buddy on the other side of town and I met with him and he started bringing me deals and I was able to close a few with him.

This is the power of NETWORKING and THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX.