All Forum Posts by: Demos Loizides

I believe you can use both for a double close, but transactional funding is usually for closings on the same day and at the same settlement/title office.

In Virginia, I set up my last LLC in about 5 minutes (online) and it cost just $100. The first one was done with a simple 1-page sheet, which was filled in by pen. It will cost $50 each year to keep it active.

I'm looking at MLS listings, because I'm not finding private motivated sellers in my neck of the woods. Some time ago, it would have been rare to find "junker" homes on the MLS. Now there are a lot of them.

Just because a home is listed at a certain price, doesn't mean I can't put an offer at much lower than the list price. If accepted, I create additional equity and a better deal for other investors. Some investors are too busy rehabbing to search the MLS themselves. Others may not be good negotiators. I'm looking for properties that have been on the market for many months and some have been there for years. Either the Realtors don't know how to price these homes, or the sellers aren't very motivated.

Patrick - what books, articles, etc. did you read before posting your topic? There's nothing I've ever read that says to do what you mentioned. Steve Babiak is correct in saying if you have the seller and investor sign a contract, you out of the deal. To make matters worst, if you're not a party to a contract and you're bringing a buyer and seller together, you would be brokering without a license. That can get you in hot water.

I would check with other title companies as well as the state on this matter.

No matter what business you are in, you have to know how to market your service. You should have several ways to contact motivated sellers.

You need to have a contract and an assignment of contract.

You need a buyer network.

I tried this years ago, but once I had a contract, I had to quickly advertise the properties for cash buyers. I never found any. I didn't create a buyers list in those areas first.

Now I'm sticking to more local areas and have my list of buyers.

If you just want to assign a contract without meeting the end buyer, you can use an escrow service like Safefunds.

Here's a link on how it works:

http://www.safefunds.com/how_it_works.html

I had some virtual deals several years ago, and I found Safefunds so I could assign the deals. Unfortunately, I was never able to find cash buyers. Now, I'm pretty much sticking with more local deals, where I have a buyers list.

I've used county records to build a mailing list of non-owner occupied properties, as well as properties that should have lots of equity. The equity part is based on how long ago the last transfer took place and also how much was paid for the property.

Postcards are cheaper and you don't have to worry about what to put on the envelope to get the recipient to open it.