All Forum Posts by: Dennis Fernandez

We buy A LOT of houses in a few markets throughout the southern US and we ALWAYS pull our own comps on the MLS.

The main thing we've recently adjusted is what comps we consider the most. A few months ago we would mainly look at sold comps as per usual however recently we're now heavily weighing the actives and pending comps; specifically the number of actives in the neighborhood and how long they were on the market. In our opinion this gives us a better indicator of the latest market trends not what they were a few months ago. 

Hopefully this helps. Good luck in your investing journey!

There is plenty of great advice here in BP so my only .02 cents would be about location. 
We buy houses all over the southern US and yes you will find deals everywhere however it seems that your capital may go further in smaller markets in states such as AR or OK. 
There are some good deals to be had in my home market of DFW, TX however they tend to be more expensive to get into than say the Little Rock or Tulsa markets for example.
Hope this helps and good luck in your investing journey!

Hello Preston! 

Do you service areas besides Florida? 
We buy in the southern US but Florida state is not one of our markets. At least not yet.

Thanks!

We've been buying properties in the southern US and have had pretty good success. Some areas are more expensive than others but those usually tend to have higher appreciation rates. We mostly buy rentals but will do an occasional flip in a market with strong sales comps.
The markets buy in are DFW, OKC, Tulsa, Houston, Little Rock, Memphis, San Antonio and Birmingham metros. 

Hey Jack! Got another one for ya. 

Do you think we'll see more foreclosures in certain regional areas or markets around the nation? Will they be mostly concentrated around the coasts or more midwest or maybe down south for example? 

I ask because we only buy houses around the southern US (TX,OK,AR,TN) but we're curious to know if more opportunities to buy foreclosures could potentially exist in other markets. 

My first piece of advice would be to always be networking with other wholesalers/investors both online and offline. (Doing this one well should help you with the following two.)

The second would be to invest in your education on how real estate investing works. Whether you spend time networking, reading books, watching videos or connecting on bigger pockets or if you spend cash hiring a mentor, maybe partnering up with or doing free intern work for a real estate investor; whichever route you decide to go investing in yourself is one of the best investments you can make. 

Finally my third piece of advice for getting started on wholesaling would be to meet cash buyers like myself and add them to a list of cash buyers. That way whenever you do find a deal you'll already have a list of buyers that are ready to buy and get a deal done. 

Hope this helps! Good luck!

Hello and welcome! 
My question is, when do you think we will see foreclosures make a significant come-back? 

We used to buy a lot of foreclosures back in the day but that source has long dried up. We mostly buy off market now but I remember that is actually how I started investing, by flipping foreclosures. 

This seems to be a heavily debated topic with many having their own opinions. I would approach this question with a few things in mind, such as what are your investing objectives and how much time do you want to dedicate to this. 

Our offices are in the southern parts of the US so naturally we're more comfortable with buying in our backyard. We mostly buy properties in major metro areas of TX, TN, OK and AR. 
There are some nuances and definite pro's and con's to each city and state but overall we've found out that these markets tend to be landlord/investor friendly with steady returns. 
Hope this helps you out. Wishing you best of luck!

I just jumped into the first investor group I was able to find. Their focus is actually to buy rentals for people that already have money to invest, I had to go around asking about wholesaling. 

After the meetings the group would sometimes after-party at a bar nearby and I would go to those too. One night I saw the broker alone at the bar and started saying how I wanted to be like him but was broke and wanted to learn to wholesale. That is all I said and we scheduled a meeting for the next day to come into his office. It was actually his idea that I worked for him.

Sometimes it's better to just do what your gut tells you at that moment rather than to sit and think. Hope this helps. 

Not sure what direction is best for you but I can share how I started. 

I started at age 20, dead broke with no experience but hungry with lots of time on my hands. I wanted to learn to wholesale so I went out and found myself a successful investor group. I made an effort to connect with everyone until I eventually connected with the top investor/broker. Offered to intern/work for him at half the pay as his personal assistant if he would teach me everything he knew. It took some long days, nights and weekends but within 2 years I was the office manager, successful agent and wholesaling/investing in my own deals. The rest is history. 

The way I saw it, I got paid to earn an invaluable education even if at the time it seemed it was half the pay and double the work. They key is to find out what you bring to the table to others; in this case to my mentor, my clients and eventually to my business partners. 
So my advice is to find you a successful mentor, find something to bring to the table and consistently get busy. 

Good luck!