All Forum Posts by: Isaac Guzman

Maurice, there is still a few things you can do. In no particular order:

-Visit your local REIA and start networking. This would be more to find buyers once you do have deals.

-Hand written bandit signs are cheap and actually convert pretty well. I would recommend targeting ideal neighborhoods based on likelihood of a good deal. Regardless of saturation. 

-As for who you target with your mailers, that's tough to say as I am not familiar with your area. There are probate, pre-foreclosure and divorce information available to the public. You may want to build a list based off that. Also, driving around and just finding ugly homes (especially boarded up) and researching owners to add to your list. 

-Another trick which may help (depending on your ability to create working relationships and your area) would be befriending local municipal inspectors. They may have the inside track on homes with code violations. Owners would sometimes rather sell the property at a discount than fix the issues themselves. 

-Every person you meet and/or talk to should know that you buy houses. You'll get leads this way as well. 

Lastly, although I agree with James for the most part, getting any traction as a real estate agent is all about marketing as well. I mean you can get your license but to truly start getting deals as an agent, you would have to invest in marketing as well. 

Hope this helps!

I may be missing something here but if you have the house under contract, there's nothing sketchy about closing with the buyer first. I am by no means an attorney, but if the seller signed the contract the buyer should have no problems closing first. 

The reps at the title company are not legal advisers and are most likely trying to avoid any liability in the issue. 

I would recommend talking with the buyer(s) you have in mind and confirm. If they are fine with closing first then you're all set. 

Welcome @Nick White - Have you checked out the BP podcasts? Also, buysellfixflip.com has some good wholesale information. 

Hi Jason, here's my two recent additions:

HouseflippingHQ.com - fix and flips

Buysellfixflip.com - marketing and negotiation 

Welcome to BP @Marc A. I always suggest setting up keyword alerts for topics or regions that interest you. Great way to connect with those in your area and with similar interests. 

Enjoy!

I agree with @Nicholas Miller . Depends on liquidity. 

@Jeb Armstrong - Do you trust your father? If we remove your age from the equation, is this partnership reasonable? I have a few friends who work with their fathers. From what I have learned from watching is that its all about the relationship. Also I have recently hooked up with a couple veteran investors and their advice to me is always regarding the relationship. 

There are hot markets in which money can be made hand over fist, but if you don't have a solid relationship with key people in that market, there's no money for YOU to make. 

That being said, there is money to be made flipping houses. The real question is, will flipping with your father make YOU money?

Welcome @Kyle J.  BP is a great resource. If you're looking to find more local investors, my best recommendation would be to setup keyword alerts. That's how I found your post LOL. It will give you a notification when you come to BP and let you know who is talking about things that interest you. 

Its great roaming around through the forums but having keyword alerts allows you to quickly identify threads that are most likely more valuable to you. 

Have you tried approaching the Local real estate agent association. In my experience, there are certain associations which will allow you to pay for access to the MLS without being an agent. I have no clue as to your area but it may be worth a shot.

As for the mentioned avenues, Realtor.com is owned by the same group that owns move.com and more importantly ListHub.com. Listhub.com just acquired point2 and now have access to 85% of residential listings in the US. (I know all this b/c I used to work at a Real Estate software company which syndicated listings) That being said, Realtor.com seems to have access to a large database with accurate information, as Listhub (their syndication) has RETS feeds with most MLSs in the US. 

Enough of my babbling. hope this info helps. 

@David Cohen I agree with Rob for the most part. However, please consider the following as a possible reason for the monthly fee. I was given a car my senior year by my dad. I trashed that thing! I had not paid a penny for it so although it was worth X amount of dollars, it had no value to me. The same can be said for unpaid mentoring, coaching etc. I used to manage a gym and during the first 30 days of membership (free trial) people came maybe once a week. Once they began paying they started coming 2-4 times a week. I'm sure you can see where I am going with this. When paying for something, even if its a very nominal fee, we take it more seriously. 

That being said, if the energy and personality don't match, that's an obvious mismatch. I just wanted to make sure you didn't get scared off completely by those that do charge for their services. Just like anything else, weigh the cost versus value. 

Hope this helps.