All Forum Posts by: Darrin Carey

This link works

Dayton Networking is Monday. Fun for all.

@Ethan Lewkowicz With $0 it's hard to get started, but are things you can do. I'd focus on a few things:

1. Get some money together, even if it means selling some things you don't really use anymore.

2. Take some of the money and go to your local Real Estate Meetings regularly. Find a couple wholesalers who are regularly buying deals (@Rod Yarger) . Offer to help as a bird dog or any other capacity. You don't have skills yet, so initially, it will seem like you are doing simple dumb stuff. You'll be right, but it needs to be done.

While you are at the Real Estate Meetings, get to know everyone, and what they do. 

3. Keep stashing cash

4. Keep helping others

5. Learn. Build an action plan for yourself

6. Consider an inexpensive course that covers all the steps of doing wholesale deals.

7. Implement your action plan

8. Do deals with/for the wholesaler(s) that helped you, and do your own deals.

9. Fly on your own without crashing (@Jay Hinrichs)

10. Help the next batch of people who want to learn

Overall, a good action plan. I would prioritize #4 first, #1, and #3 for that property, then the rest.

Add to the list. 

Expand #5: Drive around various neighborhoods and get a feel for them. Identify potential rentals before coming and make sure you go through those areas.

Check online resources

Monday's meetup.

Wholesaling is not illegal. However, a lot of people are doing it illegally. What you are proposing is probably illegal.

As far as the deal, I don't know Mansfield directly, only in broad terms. For comparison, in Dayton, I picked up two properties this summer, had contractors fix them, and was done for under $12,000 each (about 40 cents on the dollar), then rented them for $625 each.

Thoughts on the fly:

As licensee, there are all kinds of questions that come up with wholesaling.

• Are you listing the property or wholesaling the property?
• What about your agency responsibility to your client, the seller and/or buyer?
• Some brokers won't allow wholesaling in any form at all.

Bandit signs work, but usually violate municipal laws. Enforcement varies.

I like foundation problems. They scare away most people.

As a wholesaler in Ohio, and any other state, be smart and do it right. There are a lot of ways to do it wrong, and only a few to do it right.

For example, EVERY property I put under contract, I will close on (except for two contingencies). I am open to assigning the contract along the way, but the deal will close, even if they back out. If you're putting it under contract only intending to assign it or let it expire, you are wrong, and probably violating the law.

A few years ago, it was a decent looking property. I haven't been by there recently. If the property is in good condition overall, I'd call it retail pricing, but not unreasonable. If was selling it, I'd be ok with the price if everything was in good condition.

I owned one a couple blocks from there a 4 or 5 years ago. The basement had issues with the high water table. It looks like you're on a slab, shouldn't be an issue.

The crime in the area was mostly property crime and drug busts. I have't looked recently. Vacancy requires an alarm system, otherwise copper and A/C units will disappear quickly. This is pretty typical for any property with those numbers.

I would focus heavily on the property manager and management company. That's the make or break when investing out of state.

Some legitimate lenders do charge a small upfront fee. However, there are people out there using the same tactic to scam potential borrowers. (Myself included, lost $1500 once.)

Based on the number of red flags you have identified, take the Monty Python quote to heart, and "Run Away, Run Away"

Nobody should be charging a fee just to look at your application and see if they can get you approved. They should already have interviewed and pre qualified you, the deal, and the loan parameters you're looking for. The application fee should be used to verify the information you've provided, and cover the other upfront third-party expenses to get the loan to closing. The good Brokers and lenders will credit the fee back to you at the closing when the loan is complete, or have otherwise accounted for the funds.

You've done a lot of the right steps to protect yourself. A professional lender will have certain things established.

• A track record you can confirm. For example, calling a Title Co to verify they've closed loans there (Pull the number yourself, don't use one they give you, it could be a friend).
• Most will have at least a basic website, but some old school people don't.
• A company address you can verify.
• An entity registered with the state. (the scammer that got me had that).
• A professional operation

A really good scammer could fake all those things, but most scammers aren't really good. They're just looking for the gullible, the desperate, and those that don't check them out.
If they sound like a "Nigerian Prince", well, you know what that means.

I have lenders who can do WV. Expanding out to some of the other states next year.

I have a lender that just funded a hard money loan for an Australian investor. (min $75,000)

https://www.biggerpockets.com/companies/daytoncapi...

@Ali Amir @Michael Carbonare @Andreas F. @Curt Davis @John Broussard

@Charlie MacPherson I'm an active investor, not an agent or broker. Simply put, your policy prohibits us working together.

• I'm not paying you a commission on every deal I find for the next year. 
• I'm not going to allow you to exclude any other agent from bringing me a deal.

I'm absolutely happy to pay you a commission for the deals YOU find and subsequently negotiate for me.

I absolutely think the 60 day notice & one year auto-renew is excessive. I don't even do that to my tenants.

If an agent/broker was insisting on those three terms, I'd try not to fall over laughing on my way out the door. Even when I was a retail buyer, there is no way I would have agreed to those terms.

Granted, I know I'm not going around the person who brings me a deal. I want them to keep bringing the deals.

I understand there are some flakes out there who will waste your time and gas, then have Aunt Millie write the offer. I've heard the term "Procuring Cause", maybe that applies. 

If someone wanted exclusive agency, under certain circumstances, I might consider it. However, it would have to be extremely limited in scope and duration; Maybe 90 days (no renewal) and only apply to properties the agent/broker introduced, and that were visited.

A minimum commission disclosed up front? No problems there.