All Forum Posts by: Hunter Wolfe

Hi BP!

My team is struggling to find deals in the Minneapolis metro where we're based right now, and I'm looking for suggestions on how to find more deals.

Some fast facts about our team right now:

• -I'm the only cold caller. I call about 150 new leads a week, and I follow up with more than 100 old leads a week as well.
• -We target probate and foreclosure lists primarily, and these leads come from almost every county around the Twin Cities
• -Other lists we call include Expired, Absentee, HoA Foreclosure
• -We have an email drip campaign and direct mail campaign (but someone else handles that on our team, so I don't know how those perform.)

I have a lot of questions about the teams out there that are crushing it. How many cold callers do they have on their team? How many leads are they processing a week? Are they using dialers? How many deals are they bringing in per number of calls? (I know that depends on the market they're in.) How much are they compensated? Do you have anyone on your team driving for dollars?

I would really love to connect with other investors who've already established a team of cold callers/marketers and are bringing in a steady flow of deals every month.

Excited to hear from you all! :-)

Hey Micah!

Do you have MLS access? (If you're in Minneapolis, it'd be through Northstar.)

Northstar has a fun feature called Realist that gives you an RVM - basically a Zestimate, but I find it way more reliable than Zillow. When I'm giving a ballpark number to people over the phone, I always start by reminding them that "this number includes me covering all of your closing costs. That can be upwards of 10 percent of the sale price. Do you agree that'd be helpful for you?"

They say yes, of course.

Then I say, "and before I give you the ballpark number, know that it's really based on the condition and style of the house. It's very flexible. Seeing the house firsthand is how I'll be able to give you the best offer."

Then I give them the ballpark number, and I pause and wait for them to respond. I shut up!

Alternatively, sometimes when I don't have an RVM available, I ask them how much they think their house, all fixed up, is worth. I base my offer off that number, because if my ACTUAL number ends up coming in lower because their number was inflated, they're more primed to accept a lower offer, because THEY were the ones who gave you the ARV. (I'm sneaky!)

Hope some of this helps!

Hi Mario!

Some great advice I was given once is to pay a contractor for an hour or two to walk you through an old house and teach you as much as they can about the construction/things to look out for/etc.

In my market, old houses tend to have fuse-based electrical systems to look out for, crumbling limestone foundations. I'd keep your eyes peeled for those.

I think old houses can still be as good of an investment as newer houses - you just have to find properties where you can buy at the right price. The price you buy at is, basically, the most important part of buying a good investment!

Hey BP squad!

I'm the acquisitions manager for a small team of investors in Minneapolis/Saint Paul. I'm in my second year with the team, and I'm looking for ways to double the number of deals we do in 2021. 

Right now, I predominately do a lot of cold calling. I call foreclosure and probate lists. Our response rate for probate folks is very high. Our response rate for foreclosure folks is very low.

We keep people on a follow-up system: we check in with foreclosure leads before and after their Sheriff Sales; we follow up with probate folks once after the initial reach-out. We also do handwritten letters to folks, and we have automated mailers and emails we send out to these leads so we're hitting sellers from a bunch of different angles.

When I secure an appointment with a seller, I've also started driving around their neighborhoods to look at nearby houses with signs of neglect. So I'm doing a little bit of driving for dollars, too.

My team hasn't had any luck working with wholesalers in the past. We're on a bunch of email lists for wholesale deals, but the ARVs are often VERY inflated, and the rehab numbers are unreasonably low.

We're not doing anything online right now (working toward it!). And honestly, I'm not making connections with many other investors, where I know a lot of people get deals from. Maybe this is an area I can improve?

I'd love to hear your feedback about my current marketing, and I'd love to hear any tips on what I can do to double my team's volume!

Obviously, if I called twice as many people, I'd probably get twice as many deals, but there are only so many calls I can make in a day, and I'm looking for ways to work smarter, not harder. (Although, I'm always willing to work harder!)

Any help you might offer is appreciated!

Great advice!

I'm really considering the seller financing option. That, or partnering with a friend on deal/getting a cosigner. I'm realizing I still have lots of options.

Thanks for the encouragement!

Exactly. It just makes more sense to me to spend the next two years building equity in an investment duplex than paying rent to someone else.

My new challenge is how to find deals where sellers are interested in seller financing. Is this something buyers normally pitch to sellers who've listed their homes on the MLS? Or will I have more luck in off-market deals?

Thanks for all of your advice, Bradley.

I spoke with one local credit union, and they said they didn't offer FHA loans, which was kinda how I wanted to finance my first house hack. (I know they're 3.5% down, but after closing costs and whatnot, I budgeted for 7.5% down.) When they said they didn't offer them, I went to US Bank, but do you think I should reach out to a few other credit unions then? Or maybe you recommend a different financing option? My credit score is 743, I have $25k in savings, for context.
 

That's the avenue I'm considering! I have friends who would probably partner with me on a deal. I could front the cash, but they would take out the mortgage, and we'd split cash flow on the property 50/50. Can you think of another way we might structure that?  

Great question. Probably not, but the goal here is to not pay rent anymore. I'd rather be paying on a mortgage (yay, equity!) for two years until I can qualify for a loan/refinance than pay rent to my current landlord.

I'm jumping into this thread way late, but my goals right now are still the same as they were in January, and I'm making great progress toward them!

1. Bring in one deal for my flipping team every six weeks (currently at one deal every four weeks. My goal was 8 - I'm currently at 12!)

2. Weigh 200 lbs. and improve my fitness/nutrition. I'm a hard gainer, so putting on weight and keeping it on requires a lot of discipline. I stepped up my fitness game and joined a CrossFit gym in Minneapolis, which I love! I also started tracking my macros so I can achieve the 12-15% body fat ratio I'd like

3. Buy my first personal investment property. I'm renting right now, but to help me achieve my goal, this year I cut my rent by $450 by moving into a cheaper place, and I cut my expenses in other areas, too. I've saved about $25k for my first property! (Although, I was denied for a loan last week, but I'm determined to find a way before my lease expires in April!)

4. Read 26 books. I'm only on 8 books right now, but I still think it's possible to hit my goal if I stay convicted!