All Forum Posts by: Heather Bettis

Hi Everyone,

My husband owns a handyman business and in the last week we have gotten text messages (which are not uncommon for our customers), however the 3 texts I am referring to are scams and I just wanted to share with other contractors so that you are aware.

Each of the 3 texts started out asking about a specific service our company offers such as one was hardwood floor install, and the third pressure washing, don't remember what the second one was without looking.

The first one gave me a red flag when I asked where they found out about our company when they gave me a website our company is not listed on, but I played along to see where they were going with this. It ended up that they wanted new hardwood floors installed in the entire house and gave me the address to the home in Sweetwater, TN where we are located. I googled the address to find that it was a home listed for sale that had already been completely remodeled including new beautiful hardwood floors that you could see in the pictures. Then I got the "I'm out of town" and I need to pay with a credit card more than the cost so you can pay the previous owner to get the key. No thank you not interested.

The others were pretty close to the same although the third did get where he found our company listed right, but I didn't waste as much time texting with the second and third. I got to the addresses, googled to see for sale, and checked the county records to see who owned them and to see that the original name given was not the same as owner then quickly got to the question of how they would pay from out of state. Then I mentioned that that house was for currently for sale and that ownership did not match their name "can you tell me who you purchased the house from?" On all three once I asked for verification of who they purchased from the texts stopped.

I am glad that I knew enough to see the red flags in these text, and I know most of you will as well, but wanted to put it out there so that we are all aware and if there are a few out there that don't know what to look for in such a situation to hopefully help them from being scammed.

I suggest always ask specific questions that only a legit customer would know such as how did you find out about our company? That's always my number one question not only for marketing purposes but because we are only listed in a few places and most of our customers come from one main website we are listed on. I do know it's hard to determine if a customer is legit by text especially now that I know there are investors from out of state that could very well be looking to hire us, but be very careful because this scam has shown up on my phone 3 times over the past week and they are all out of town or out of the states for treatment of one type or another and all the houses are publicly listed for sale in my service area.

I have been very careful to ask several specific questions because I know there could be legit investors looking to hire us for their out of state investments, but after 3 very similar texts I am sure it is a scam so just be careful!

Thanks for the info @Elizabeth Wilson

Hi @Darren Light,

I am starting out but I have talked to Athens Federal Bank where we have our business account, and although I am not sure what the rates are I did find out that they do work with investors with in-house loans on commercial and rehab investing. Also SouthEast Bank is a good bank to deal with or at least the one here is. I don't know if you have either of those in your area, but I would also check with the bank you deal with on other accounts.

Well said @Jesse Patterson. I too have come up against similar negative responses to things I have posted, it's quite discouraging at times, but you are absolutely right, If you don't at least try, you have already failed. Not everyone will succeed, but we may never discover which part of real estate investing we are meant to succeed in if we don't at least try. I have chose what I am most interested in my end result being, but who knows I may start fix and flip and discover that I do not like doing that as much as I thought and at least looking at other options and learning more than one avenue will allow me to make my decision based on my own experiences, but a little positive advice is helpful. Yes Some are more experienced and already know the risks and I appreciate that information as well, but some negative responses do more to discourage than to help in the way they are worded, but I am determined to not let negative comments that feel more like an attack get me down, I am going to keep working hard to learn what I need to learn to succeed. I wish you the best in your ventures and look forward to hearing how you progress.

Thank you @Charles Jones

I accepted and sent you a message.

Thanks @Sam Alomari,

That's kind of the questions I am trying to find the answers to right now and was asking advice on. It is currently a single family which is why I did the comparisons on that first. I am working on comparing as a multi family. Just wanted to hear others thoughts. 

Ok I was right on the surrounding home values in that area.

comparables, couldn't find any other 7BR so this is closest I could find

3BR/2BA 1500 Sq Ft. - $159,500 Rent $1145

3/BR/3 BA 1600 Sq Ft - $190,000 Rent $1300

Thanks @Sam Alomari, I haven't learned how to do any of that yet, I'm that new.

I really wasn't ready for this yet, and haven't even told anyone I even interested in this yet, but my niece just sent me this information.

More info:

What I know about the house so far. 

7 Bedroom

2 Full Bath

2 Kitchens

possible large home, duplex, 4 plex

located on main st through town

almost directly in the middle between Knoxville, TN and Chattanooga, TN just off I75

Needs some work but that's ok especially if we turn it into multiple units which we would like, so we can house hack it.

Rent in that area closest comparable I could find was 4BR/1 BA renting for $950

Still looking for home value.

Hi all,

I just got a lead on what may be a can't turn it down deal, and I'm not ready for this yet, really new and still learning, so not sure where to go with this.

7 Bedroom house, 2 kitchens, 2 full bath, can easily be turned into a duplex -4 plex. Needs work. Just dropped from $68,000 to $30,000 due to a family medical emergency. I found the property and tax records, but there is no house number on any of the records and can't seem to find it to be able to check comps to run the numbers. Any advice how to find this?

Next problem if this is the super deal I think it is, my next problem is I haven't even got through learning yet, have no money to invest yet until April 6th, how can I get this deal now, with no money.

Please give your thoughts and advice while I keep trying to find the value of this house.