All Forum Posts by: Scott Titus

This really depends on the property, if it's owned by an LLC, that LLC may be registered in the state you're in, which for me is Missouri and that is a business friendly state. So I start by looking through the Secretary of State's website to find the business/LLC then identify when it was formed and who formed it. Many times, they were done long ago and actually have someone's name on them, not just some attorney that is a RA. With the name of the person, I work to identify them using open source stuff, facebook, instagram, etc. etc. I have utilized skip tracing before, but more often than not I'm able to get the person's info without having to pay for it. If it's abandoned, then yes it will be tougher, but I've talked to neighbors, the person that lives in the residence, etc. Heck I've called property managers who have forwarded my contact info to the owner's who have contacted me directly.

Absolutely spot on!  If it works for you, then you will work for it.  

Obviously we completely disagree about driving for dollars, it has been successful for decades and likely will continue working for people who do it. I am a normal, regular guy, not on here trying to tell anyone how their method is bad and mine is great...I leave that up to the guru's.  In fact, I already said I use SEO and some online marketing in my previous post.  You made no points about driving for dollars not working, you just don't like it...that's it.  It's fine, a lot of people don't like PPC's, and texts and phone calls, etc, to each their own, but you don't see others coming on here bashing someone for doing something that works.  Quit trying to tell everyone there is only one way to skin a cat, there are MULTIPLE ways to become successful investors and each person will find what they like.  It is obvious how important your points are to you, but calling other methods stupid and telling others they'll fail if they do one thing and not another is just plain selfish.

First and foremost, whoa, take it easy dude.  I've watched a LOT of your SEO stuff and it's great, I actually agree that SEO is necessary in developing a well-rounded program...but SEO is not what the original post was about. You have a business selling people guides to setup their carrot website and website SEO "how-to's". Kudos man, you're successful...you don't see me bashing you for what you've accomplished and the sales you push on this platform.  One place we completely agree is your statement of "you can disagree all you want, that doesn't make you right even if you THINK you are", this absolutely applied both ways. 

Now that we've got that out of the way, I do believe in driving for dollars, I also believe in SEO and marketing. BUT not every newbie can afford the time and/or cost to do that.  I would LOVE to have a carrot site with your SEO knowledge, but I don't have the time to run it and keep it up driving positive leads and I don't want to spend any more of my personal time doing it.  If you want to run my website for $500 a month and drive me leads, I'll sign up...but not every person wants to pay that.

I know the market, I know the neighborhoods I'm buying in and want to buy in.  Right now I'm focusing on more rural markets, just outside of the metro suburbs.  The cities that have not been "hit" yet by the wholesalers and flippers. I work with several who don't want to get involved for fear of a market drop, but regardless these are cities that are not comprised with 100 people and they aren't going away any time soon.  I identify houses, multi's, etc in the area I'm trying to buy in, then I'll spend some time in that area and begin identifying the houses/multi's that need some work and start communicating with the owners.  I NEVER send one mailer or knock one time, I ALWAYS follow-up a few times and try to make it personal.  Yes, I've been cussed out, I've been told to F-off and get lost, but all in all, I'm far more efficient at getting deals like this with spending very little money than I am buying list and sending thousands of mailers.

I know my market and target areas I know to be specific to what I'm looking for.  For example, I like more rural areas, class C and B specifically and I look for residences that just look to need some TLC in neighborhoods that are typically more kept up.  It sounds cliche, but there's a reason driving for dollars has been around for a LONG time...it's because it does work.  I know the individuals I typically target are 50's and up, I know they are getting to the point of their lives where they are ready for something else, or ready to be done dealing with headaches.  

I can't say I only go on Saturday's or only go at 3:00 pm, but I try to target being in areas when the weather is a little nicer and weekends. I like seeing people outside and seeing how they react, you never know if you'll get lucky enough to catch someone outside of their house.  Lately I've been targeting smaller multi-families and I've been relatively successful in going under contract with 4 and closing 1 so far, the other 3 are set to close after the first of the year.  I target these exactly the same way except I know I won't see the owner outside, but I have gotten owner information from tenants and found out a LOT of information about the location from the tenants.  Nothing special, there is not "secret" to it, just legwork and it's been super successful.

@Brian Wiggins

I complete disagree that driving for dollars does not work. It has worked TREMENDOUSLY for me and I don't spend more time than necessary driving. I purchased a 16 unit multi in August for $151k from driving for dollars, this has also led me to go under contract on 3 other multi's from the same owner. All but 1 of my properties has come from driving for dollars and we've got 5 duplexes and 2 SFR's and now the multi.

I use my time very wisely and am very successful in the properties I target, plus it doesn’t cost me hundreds a month to keep up with.

I finally did it, I finally closed on my first multi-family property. Anyone who tells you driving for dollars doesn’t work is lying to you. Almost a year ago I identified a property I was interested in and dug down and found the owners. I sent them a letter and followed up with a phone call, but never got a response. I continued following up with that same owner every few months and finally heard back from him in May. 

After a LOT of conversations, I went under contract on a 16 unit complex for $151k and on August 11th, we closed. I’m also proud to say we are under contract for 3 more complexes now! I’m happy to go into a deep dive if people are interested, but don’t let anyone discourage you from staying the course, just keep being persistent.

We already started rehabbing the few empty units and my management company already has people standing by for units.  I want to say THANK YOU to the BiggerPockets community, thank you to all of the podcasts, Brandon Turners books, Ian Reeves for talking to me a BUNCH when I first started down the investment world and dozes of others who have let me pick their brains.  Thank you all BP and never give up.

@Brian Harbour I have some questions about this, would you mind if I PM’d?

@Justin Sadauskas how did things work out? Did you learn a lot about the process and RD units?