All Forum Posts by: Douglas Mallett

some brokers will put this restriction on listings... there is an easy way around it.

just submit an offer with inspection period and/or neighborhood review, and take a look. 

amend the offer after walk through, or terminate.

if the listing broker is not forthcoming, sometimes a call to the managing broker can clear things up. 

that's all.

all the best!

screening is so easy!

"show me the contract and tell me your fee!"

lol!

these properties are an entirely different asset class - these are commercial, not residential, and the cap rates vary quite a bit.

a good way to get familiar with this at first is to read a lot, and call some commercial brokers with your informed questions.

they are usually a lot sharper on the numbers than residential brokers, and are also pretty open and friendly.

all the best!

i always like to pull the jurisdiction's hearing examiner files for applications and approvals.

it can give you an excellent idea of timelines, requirements, common issues, community pushback, variances and vesting, development credits, etc...

you can make a public records request for these files going back a few years, and settle in for a night's reading - these are often very interesting.... no part of these records are exempt from disclosure, btw.

all the best!

Some thoughts...

Reading books is never a waste of time.

You can have a broker add you to the MLS search engine for property search returns, and you will get the data just as quickly as a broker. 4 minutes - or 400 - will not make or break a deal here.

If you have a good agent, you can see properties ASAP.

If you are licensed, you have legal and professional obligations that may burden you as an investor.

When you sign a contract with enough meat on the bone, the money will come to you, fast - even if you have a tiny network.

If you have no network, make one - the instructions are just a click away.

If you can find sellers, you can make enough money wholesaling to get yourself where this post begins - with you financing a deal all by yourself.

Bonus points: you are now talking to - and perhaps pals with - investors that have money and experience.

What's not to love about that?

If I had to advise family on this, I would easily say the following:

Forget the license - it's ballast, a millstone.

Toss the crappy podcasts - they are actively harming you. 

Start working your search, and don't stop until a deal shows up.

Find investors and make a private network.

Become an investor yourself.

Here is a question for you:

Which is easier - making flipping podcasts, or actually flipping?

Find the investors, and lose the pontificators.

All the best!

just do the work. 

find your market.

find sellers. 

talk to them. 

zip codes will not drive your ROI calcs - this comes from the deal itself. 

imo, the best way to identify distressed or undervalued properties is to run the data - the assessor's office is your friend here, as they are doing all of the heavy lifting for you. who else can record the condition of 457,987 houses in the county?

the second best way is to market yourself - cold call, mail or knock.

the third best way is to wait at home for that very special knock on your door...

"Hello, my name is John, and I would like you to purchase my house for less than current market value."

!

That looks like an eviction notice for your F-150!

Great use of red ink - PMS 185, I think...

Don't be negligent - call them right now...

You and the EPA are going to be really good pals soon!

and...

All the best!

more than true.

A good inspector will mark all issues, but tag the urgent or required ones as such.

If you make a few calls to vendors on your major systems (roof, septic, heat pump, etc), you can get a good estimate range.

It helps also to take a few hours - alone, if possible - and just look around the house. The small details will often tell you about the larger deferred maintenance issues, and the more time you spend at the property, the more you will know in advance.

All the best!

All of your decisions will be yours 'alone' - just you, and maybe your partner.

The goal is to achieve confidence within all of these choices.

The beginning part of confidence comes from learning, and the continuing part of confidence comes from experience.

In today's world, there are no secrets, no hidden treasures.

Now, all of the world's knowledge is in our hands - literally.

Now, almost everyone on the planet can be contacted, and quickly.

Get the best info you can, listen to your intuition and... make your choice.

The more choices we make, the better we get.

That's all.

Best of luck!