All Forum Posts by: Doug Haisten

While driving for dollars I found a house were tenants were being evicted and a FSBO sign was n the front yard. I sent the owner a post card a week later (today) he called me back. Turns out he is an investor/landlord. In our discussion he is ready to sell that house and then he tells me he has 25 properties (I had already seen that on the Tax Assessors site) and he said he would like to sell all of the properties. I need some help. I don't know if all these houses are rentals. The house that got me to reach out to the owner is in a fine neighborhood, split level ranch in a mid to upper class area. I am new and not really studied as much on rental properties but mainly on marketing and wholesaling fix and flips. Besides seeing the house I am not sure everything I would ask to see at the meeting. Any suggestions of what I need to ask for, how to analyze the areas (I think all his properties are already occupied) and/or where to seek help and/or JV partners (I feel dumb posting this).

Doug 

Thank you

When selecting a title company what do I need to ask the title company? "Is your company investor friendly?" "Does your company allow assignments or double closing?" What else should I look for/ask?

Doug

I don't think you will find any software you can just buy and have leads flowing in. There are lead generating websites to get sellers and buyers. It doesn't take long to develop the website but it takes times, months, for these to start bringing in real numbers of people. You can do Ad Words or PayPer Click but these can take a lot of money. Direct Mail is popular but it can take 3-5 months before you start getting any good number of deals. Driving for dollars is very effective as you are calling/mailing to houses you have seen and know there is a motivation for the property owner to deal. I am not familiar with those sites you mention but if they were the panacea of getting leads everyone would be using them.

I don’t know. She was living in the house for some time anyway but fell behind on her taxes. I read and article in the BP archives of a land lord that rented to a nice ole lady that he had to evict. Later he found out she’d been evicted 5 times before. My contact says at times she gets hysterical and has faked a heart attack once when the current owner tried to reason with her to move out. 

I found the ugliest house in the block on this street where the home values are around $150K which for this town are nice homes. I sent a card to the listed owners which turns out to be a company as the owners. The house is unkept and has 3 or 4 derelict cars in the front yard that have been in the same place for 2 years (saw the cars in a google earth view from 2016). It seems the house was bought by this company for delinquent taxes. Apparently the tax delinquent resident, the former owner, is an aged woman that lives alone in the house. She has refused to vacate the house. The current owner has tried and reasoned with the lady to leave who is steadfast in her thinking she doesn't have to leave. The current owners took her to court where the judge told the lady she has lost the house and awarded for the current tenant. She has still refused to leave. The current owners have tried again to reason with her and she gets wild and belligerent and has faked a heart attack. The owners called me and told me the story. They have not gone to the sheriff's office to enforce the court order they just want the property off their hands. Their first offer was they want $40K for the house as iswithout them getting the lady out. They just don't want that negative karma. It seems with the $40K they will make far above what they paid in the delinquent taxes. The 1818 sq ft house built in 1987 comps at $148K with the same bd/ba, sq ft, age, within 2 miles (best I could get in this town). Repairs and upgrading at $15 ish/sq ft (I am told the roof has at one spot leaked so that she has a pan on the floor to collect the water. That is all I know of the inside. This could be a profitable deal yes but for the removing a lady from the house who has not made a house payment (the house is paid off) nor rent for about 18 months. Let add, according to the current owners rep that I am dealing with the lady has 2 sons in the area with means. 

So is this just too wrapped up in drama to pursue?

@Braden Smith. I agree with your comment "who would have the motivation to sell and the ability to sell at a price that would work with an investor". I have sent mailers the last 4 months to out of state absentee owners with high equity in older homes. I am okay with the response and that response gets better each mailing (a little better) but these haven't been motivated to sell. The houses are are more or less in good repair, rented, and the people not in a position to need to sell at 30% discount. I want to start DM for pre-foreclosures myself and/or tax delinquents as these people may be more motivated to sell.  My best source of leads (and I am just 5 months in starting wholesaling) has been driving for dollars. I use a app to give me property/owner information and sending a card and am about to start cold calling on some of the better properties.  I am also working on a lead generating website (one for sellers one for buyers). I am placing simple ads in ads in Craigslist. 

@Jerryll Noorden I have been mailing to absentee owners and while I am not disappointed in the response rate (1.25%) what I am getting are not motivated. What that means is the houses have been in good shape, rented or otherwise being used and the owners not in any particular need to sell the property. I am looking for people that might have a more urgent need to sell. Driving for dollars is generating a lot of activity for me and I have the website (only 2 months old) that has brought me more buyers (5) than sellers (0). I saw a webinar by Sean Terry about sending out to pre foreclosuers so I am just looking at the avenue.

Doug

I want to build a mailing list of houses in pre-foreclosure from List Source. What parameters do I need to set for the list?

@Caleb Heimsoth $1000 referral fee may be needed for a professional but I bet most people you meet in the street or the garage or at the open house  or the guy at a construction site will be thrilled with $500. Just my $0.02 worth. I think it's a good idea.