All Forum Posts by: David Stone

Also try contacting local title companies and ask if they provide a FARM list. You can specify certain perimeters such as single family, duplex, owner occupied/absentee, etc. and they will provide you with a list of owners, property addressess, and mailing addresses. 

Yellow letters are an excellent way to go once you have a mailing address. 

Good luck!

I have a wife, three kids, work 4 days a month as a medic per-diem, little money, no credentials and four properties... working on more.  We are looking to be out of the rat race in 3-6 months.  We have recently traveled to Belize, Puerto Rico, Denver, Hawaii, and have a trip planned to Disneyland.  I would not change a thing!  It can be done with the right partner and it can be done with kids!  Love what you do, do it for the people you love, and try to legitimately help others along the way and you will do just fine!

I have strict criteria for criminal background checks and previous landlord references, but as far as credit scores go, I don't have a set number.  I have houses in mostly B & C areas, and I also expect that people are renting because they might not have the best credit to obtain a mortgage.  Many of my tenants have unpaid medical bills and other loans (credit card, car payment, etc.) with late payments which have been satisfied.  I will accept them, because they showed that they are willing to make good on their late payment.  I am not as concerned about medical bills.  

I tell applicants that if they do not meet our standard for credit score, we may double the security deposit.  Most don't care.  Those that do probably can't afford the place.  My criteria is that unpaid medical bills have no effect and more than two recent late payments documented on their credit report will result in double deposit.   More than two unpaid bills (other than medical) will be rejected.

All you have to do is create a criteria that all of your applicants fall under.  If it ever led to court, you could prove this criteria was consistently held.  

Way to get started early!!  Learn as much as you can now and you will be golden when you are 18.  Wholesaling is a great idea.  It gets you started finding deals, knowing a good deal from a bad one, talking with distressed homeowners and structuring deals, and making some good money on the side.  I wish I got started at your age.  I was bagging groceries and wondering why I had to spend my entire week away from friends and family to make a minimal living.  Good luck!

Awesome!  Are you investing in the Vancouver area or elsewhere in WA??  Good luck toward accomplishing your 100% goal!

Definitely!  I will keep you guys updated.  My first campaign a year ago or so was a big failure... not cause I didn't get calls but because I had no idea what to do when I did get a call.  I'm feeling more confident now so we will see...

There are resources on BP for contracts, but I'm not sure they will be written exactly for what you are trying to accomplish... Check out Tools > REI Resources > Landlord Resources > Forms and Contracts. Hopefully something there will help.

Pretty much all of that depends on the contract and how it is written.  Your best bet is to use your own contract (one that spells out everything you are trying to accomplish).  If you are using the seller's contract, you need to read and understand it to answer those questions, or consult a real estate attorney before proceeding with the deal.  

It sounds like you are fearing everything at this point, which is normal.  If the new buyer bypasses you and you lose the deal, then learn from that.  Figure out what mistakes you made and move forward.  Most likely, they will not go directly to the owner because they will be dealing with you and you will be the one to lock in the deal with them.  

Use your own "buyer-friendly" contract if possible that has been written to accomplish your goal.  If not, read and understand the seller's contract to know if you can still reasonably accomplish your goal and understand your outs (contingencies).  Good luck!

Great job taking action! That's awesome! Have you posted this property elsewhere? Zillow, Craigslist, REI club meetings, etc. Hope everything goes well for you!! Good luck.

Well, it's been a few years but after the success of finding our latest project house by sending out a letter, we figured it was time to start up another yellow letter campaign.  So, here we go.  

Look out Grays Harbor.  This campaign is targeting absentee owners.  We are hoping to pick up another rental property close to home to increase our cash flow and hopefully relieve a landlord who is over their head in troubles!  Through our search, we also found a few people who own multiple properties in the county.  We are hoping we can connect with those and learn a few things about their success!  

The title companies around here do not provide FARM lists to investors, so we did this the hard way; searching the assessors website for mismatched addresses one property at a time. Hopefully it pays off!  If we get any good cash deals, we will be posting it on this site among many others.

Hope everyone out there in BP is doing great, living life and making money!