All Forum Posts by: Jackson Pontsler

My wife and I purchased a flip off the MLS a little bit ago. Everything went along well till a bit of a hiccup at the end when the seller (owns the neighboring property) realized they didn't have a direct driveway into the property and tried to 3 hours after anyone signed get an easement off of us to get access to use our driveway (no way too much liability). Well that same neighboring house is now under contract and I'm concerned that the selling agent may not have disclosed that the driveway isn't communal. Is there anyway to verify because the last thing I would want is a problem for the new buyer and me because the old owner didn't want to dish out money to put in a drive way on his property.

@Corey Adams and @Doug Pretorius we on this forum appreciate your input on this discussion as we appreciate the input from @Russell Brazil. Lets keep it clean and not attack eachother. REI is hard enough as it is without starting a dog fight with eachother when we should be looking the best way to support eachother.

@Christopher Gutierrez regardless of wholesaling or rehabbing you need to know how to tell if a deal is a deal.  If you can't determine accurately what is a deal point for your buyers then you are just wasting alot of peoples time.  On the flip side if you can determine the deal point for your buyers you can then determine how much of a profit you can make.

Here is an example using the MAYO (fastest way) ARV * .7 - repairs = purchase price

ARV: 500k

Repairs: 100K

Meaning purchase price is 250k.

If you could get the house under contract at 200k then you and make effectively 50k profit.  Heck even 100k if you can get it under contract for 150k.  

Thats why when people say run your numbers. You need to accurately determine ARV and repair costs.

@Nadine Delille 

So here are the options for low cash investors (just a few)

Wholesaling off the MLS: need to double close more than likely

Wholesaling: find your own deals via marketing

Bird dogging:  Might get money for any lead you find with your own marketing and turning it over to someone thats more experienced.

Lease Options (alot of stuff here but lets simplify it:  you become a middle men for hooking up a landlord and tenant)

Flipping houses: if you have PML and HML who are willing to pay for everything but for a newbie will be extremely expensive on your end profit (plus if you need to pay points for the loan)

yeah many agents are investor friendly meaning that they will go with you and see houses write up offers etc but when it comes to wholesaling off the MLS what you need to do is the double close. In most states the agents in their contracts won't have an area for you to assign the contract and furthermore it tells the agent "Remember how hard we worked to get a house to a price that works well now we have to go and find someone who is willing to pay more than we were for it." It throws another hurdle where an agent wishes to just be done with the deal. In all honesty I don't blame them.

Over the weekend I learned from a facebook group about using beacons for marketing (using bluetooth to connect with other phones to send a message of some sort). Basically a digital bandit sign

Has anyone used them before and if so could you share with me your experience?

If you have used this does this significantly differ from ringless voicemail or broad text messages?

@Annie Levan

I went to a seminar never did any of their classes.  I hear they teach good information but the way it was pitched to me was to Multi Level Markety.  With too much emphasis on pay for a class and if you get 2 friends to go with you, you will get a check for half the class cost.

I always advocate getting an education from where ever is possible and as long as they teach ethically as well.  One of the worse things I see in my market is when newbie investors follows some guru or course program get a property undercontract they knew wasn't a deal and then try and nickel and time in down to a price while its under contract.  Such tactics just give investors a bad reputation in my area.

@Matthew Paul I understand that contractors want money up front.  For me as a Rehabber I once put down 50% to have the contractor run off and not do work or return phone calls.  What is a better solution?  I don't want to blindly lose money but I want to help my contractor get running.  I personally have no problem paying for the paint and materials myself and then pay a bit once the primer is put on.  Or for an electrician pay for the materials myself and then pay a percentage/check as soon as part of the work is completed.  

What would be for you a fair compromise for a Rehabber and Contractor starting to work together? Know we have both been burned by someone not valuing the other?

What I do when it comes to negociating.  T

ake the lowest comp in the area, - (retail cost repairs) - resonable profit = purchase price

provide a list of repairs and what those costs are.  

Show him the lowest comp and how nice it is.  

Then when it comes to financing this is where you can increase your offer slightly if its owner financing because he can provide cheaper financing than a bank and he will ultimately make more because he is getting interest on a loan.

When he asks "why do you get a profi"t you mention that you are taking on the risk of fixing up the property.  If you find another skeleton it will cut into your profit.  The house has been vacant for a year and a half who knows what else you find (cracked foundation, drugs, look up police acitivity in the area) but if the house gets worse and is condemed by the city for being a hazard to the community he will get basically nothing for it.

@Cisco Hood we bought a duplex with 20% down first.  Now we are buying a property with a Fanie May Homestlye loan to get a property and the funds to fix it up, this was 5% down.