All Forum Posts by: Jerry Puckett

@Franky Aikens

That's a very Quoraesk question. Do you indulge in Quora?

There's no good place to start. What ever I may mention will likely draw the ire of those on this board who have a shoot em on site opinion towards wholesalers. Not too many people seem to have a beef with wholesaling done properly. The consensus on properly centers on intent. 

Even the stoutest agent (I believe) has no problem with individuals seeking to buy their own properties off market. No one is obligated to pay the asking retail price. All retail sales are subject to negotiation with the Listing Agent required to transmit all offers. Any seller can instruct their Agent to accept any offer even if the Agent disagrees.

In a retail transaction, the seller at the least has the assumption of a Trained legal expert to give them their opinion, but is not obligated to accept it.  Agents are obligated to disclose their license to anyone they negotiate with as a protection to laymen....who can still negotiate as they will, they've been clued that they are dealing with an expert.

A real estate sale can happen between two laymen, two experts, or any combination of the two across the the spectrum. If I, John Q. Public want to make an offer on a house that is not listed, and I can call or otherwise reach out to the owner of the house I want to buy and make my offer known. If it's accepted, we can write and execute a contract. If either of us default, the contract should contain remedies.

Wholesaling can also happen between any combination of parties. As long as my intent is to buy, they I can turn right around and resell. If the contract is assignable, I can change how I choose to vest. Or I could assign it to a partner, associate or whomever else I please as long as it closes.

Many Investors, licensed or not, whether they flip or hold do this frequently and I doubt that many have a problem with it. In this case, wholesaling is an exit strategy. The operator is not a wholesaler per se, he is one who sold his position via wholesale rather than flipping or holding. One way or another, this property was going to close according to the contract.

A wholesaler on the other hand, is someone who makes a business of doing this. The sole intention is to contract the property with no intention to close. If no buyer is found for the contract, he walks away. That's problematic for a number of reasons, legal and otherwise. When all goes well things are good. 10 years ago, Investors enjoyed working with good wholesalers who would actively scout the properties desired and do all of the leg work.

Over time, the ability to get involved with little or no skin in the game, the ability to make a lump sum of money quickly, and a plethora of bad information made available by people who were only after the disposable income of those who really did not have enough money to get involved in higher level RE took a good tool and exploited it.

Wholesalers exploiting undereducated layman (someone who does this exclusively for a living is operating as an Agent with no licensing issues to restrain them or cause them to disclose expert status), using a lot of really distasteful tactics (like trying to wholesale deals already on the MLS, co wholesaling through a string of folks) and getting greedier and greedier as they went....That's where the stink came from.

The need for regulation and outcry from professionals heard loud and clear.

In my opinion, the biggest problem that needs to be solved it the ability to have an open discussion in place like this that don't turn into long anti wholesale threads populated with very closed minded people one upping their good ole boy club. One without stereotyping, all of nothing language and an acknowledgement that wholesaling as a tool has a place in the Investor kit.

That's my opinion, but tends to get drowned out by people with way too much time on their hands for typing.

Hope that helps.

Hello @Tony Goodwin

The USPS service I believe you're asking about is called informed delivery. There is a process of verifying your return address that can take a couple of days, but once enrolled, you can view your mail pieces from a portal, tablet phone, whatever. Very handy.

Not sure that Post Office Boxes are eligible though....just can't remember.

@Bjorn Ahlblad

Frustrating I know. BP has undergone many changes through the years and this isn't the first time they've rearranged the kitchen on all of their cooks. 

It's hard to unlearn muscle memory built up over many years of use, and I can see you've been here some years. But let's give it a chance and see where it goes. BP has been there for me too many times to give up now!

Skip trace.

There's an old saying that "there's gold in them thar gold stickers"

The nixie stickers might give you a clue, but skipping will likely give you the answer.

Now that is sweet, getting a shout out from @Will Barnard, the man who gave me a road map and a head start all those years ago. Thanks Will! This site continues to rock.

Are you mainly locking them under contract at a discount then assigning it to someone planning on just renting it out if it doesn’t need much work?

No....that's not quite it. The marketing turns up everything from burn outs in need of major repair, to pretty houses that should be listed to good candidates for lease options. 

If the property fits my criteria, I buy it and keep it. If it's a good deal but doesn't match my needs, I buy and wholetail it. I rarely assign anymore but will if it makes sense. If it's something else, I pass the lead on to whomever it makes sense for in my network. 

Positioning myself to meet the seller's needs, and knowing buyer's wants gives me a leg up on the competition you mentioned. Being a one trick pony, falling for Analysis paralysis or shiny object syndrome....these things can kill a business.

Hope that helps

My bread and butter has always been high equity absentees. I find that failed MLS listings usually failed because the price was too high and the seller couldn't come down because there's too much mortgage...they'd be under water.

I just approach this a different way. I find everyone who has what I want to buy, where I want to buy it, with the ability to sell at a discount. I mail to them all until they sell me their house, sell it to someone else, tell me to go to hell, or die. I have enough exits that if it's not what I want specifically, I can easily monetize the lead passing to someone else. (for instance, creative financers).

I go after the houses, not the people per se.

Hello @Caden 

"But I want to find a list harder to get with less competition....."

In my experience, any house out there that has enough equity to be sold at a discount is getting mailed to by someone. Likewise, if there is not equity for a deal, it is getting mailed to by creative financers. 

In short, the "uber laser targeted only need to sell right now list" is a unicorn. There are no secrets. There is nothing that has not been done before. No mystery or magic. Just best practices exercised consistently and persistently.

@Mitchell Rusten

Any common printer paper will work (20lb bond is typical). I highly recommend not using any kind of notebook paper or anything torn from a pad. It will terminally jam your printer quicker than anything.

Hi Edgar....this thread is pretty old. I don't think Cody has been active much on the site, his last post was December last year. I think the only one on this thread that's still very active is @Jonna Weber. Maybe she can help you.

Howdy Neighbor! Glad you're here.  I took a moment to swing by your profile and I saw.....nothing :-)

I do understand that you are brand new to BP, and I get it, you likely have not had a lot of time to do that yet. I'd recommend taking a little time to flesh out your profile, who you are, where you're from, what markets you're interested in, specific strategies, a little bit about how you got involved in RE....all of those things make you more engaging and give folks an idea of where to start as you connect with them.

As you connect and send colleague requests, to make it more meaningful, it's customary to send along a short note letting the one you want to connect with what interest you may have, or what you have in common.

Hope to see you around the site!