All Forum Posts by: Jeff Copeland

@Travis Hamilton, @Andrey Y.

Your angry caller actually had a great point - You have to answer the phone!

In my experience from owning other businesses, callers HATE going to voicemail and will usually not leave a message. It's a shame to spend so much on marketing, only lose a hot lead because you were unable to answer the phone.

I highly recommend finding an answering service. I just started a direct mail campaign, and prior to the pieces hitting, I set up an account with an answering service. It costs me $32.99/mo.

I've used the service before for other businesses, and they will answer professionally (24/7), follow whatever script or screening questions you give them*, and either take a message and email it to you immediately (so you can call back) or they can call your cell, let you know they have a caller on the line, and transfer the call to your cell if you're able to take it -basically, whatever workflow or transfer protocol you give them, they will follow. To the caller, it just sounds like a receptionist transferring the call to your office or cell.

(*I don't entrust my answering service with any probing questions - I just ask them to get the caller's name, number, whether they are interested in buying or selling a property, the property address, and whatever message they want to pass along).

I'd be happy to share the service I use if anyone is interested, just message or email me!

@Alex Elliott - I don't really deal with mobile homes, but keep in mind that in a mobile home park, you'd only be buying the trailer, not necessarily the property or "lot" that it sits on. Most parks have "lot rent" that is a few hundred dollars per month, and may or may not include utilities.

Be careful that your seller isn't giving away their mobile home just so they can get out of their lot rent (and saddle you with it instead).

@Dave Foster - Great point about the financing contingency used as a hedge against depreciation, damage, and/or lack of maintenance. Thanks!

Literally any agent in your area should be able to set you up with an automated search (with your specific search criteria) that sends you email alerts. Takes less than 10 minutes.

Why not just find one good buyer's agent and agree to buy the deals through them (so they earn commission) , rather than the $500 carrot?

Check out BP Podcast #6:

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2013/03/14...

@Bill Gulley - Thanks. I actually hadn't thought about doing an option with a "purchase window" that covers his desired closing date. That's a great idea.

And the insurance and probate issues are certainly worth considering as well.

Thanks!

Thanks @Travis Sperr...great points.

I love the idea of recording a one page document noting that it is under contract.

Thanks all. I've considered all of the above, just wanted to bounce it off BP and make sure I wasn't overlooking anything. I appreciate the responses.

@Rick H. - My initial instinct was an Option too. But he just wants it under contract with a set closing date in April 2016. 

An Option contract wouldn't necessarily specify a closing date, and if it did, then it may as well be an actual contract for sale/purchase, right?

I have a seller who I've been working with for months. He wants to sell me his house, but he doesn't want to close for a year. He's very realistic on the value, and is pricing it at about a 15% discount due to the long closing. He just wants a guaranteed sale, about a year from now, with a closing date of his choice, so he an his wife can retire and move into their second home.

It's a single family 3/1 that's been his (and his wife's) primary residence since 1995, well maintained, with some upgrades. It's in my target area, which is very much a seller's market and is appreciating at around 5% with strong recent comps.

It seems like a no-brainer to be. The only downside is tying up a few thousand in earnest money. But in return, I'd be locked in to a great deal with 12 months to plan an exit strategy. I'm not aware of any contractual limitations on the closing date (I'm in Florida) and can't see much downside risk.

I'm just curious whether anyone in the BP community has ever structured a similar deal, what the outcome was, and whether there are any pitfalls to watch out for.

Thanks!

@Darrin Carey touched on a great point that I wanted to make: Getting your Real Estate License will not necessarily make you a better/smarter/faster/cheaper investor - the two skill sets are completely different.

As an agent, you'll learn the concept of agency (representing the interests of another party in a transaction) and the associated laws in your state, and you'll learn the inner workings of the "closed ecosystem" that is the MLS. These are useful and important to real estate agents and brokers, but they are not core skills needed to be a successful real estate investor.

So, yes - a real estate license is nice to have; It can save you money on commissions, give you an alternative income stream (as an agent), and give you access to the MLS. But make sure you're doing it for these reasons...because it will not really teach you anything about real estate investing.

If you're closing on a lot of MLS properties and reselling them through the MLS (i.e. flipping REOs and retailing them), the savings on commission alone could be in the thousands. Same if you are doing deals on really high end properties.

But if you're working off-market leads and wholesaling, or using some other creative business model, getting your license probably isn't going to help at all. 

Getting a RE license certainly isn't the first thing I'd do if my goal was to get started as a wholesaler/flipper. 

If you're going to buy & hold, at some point it may help (for the reasons noted above), but there's so much else to learn that is directly related to your core business, I'd recommend starting there and considering licensure later in your career, when it will pay immediate dividends.