All Forum Posts by: Jaremy Moritz

Jferrari,

If all else fails, go back to the house and ask all the neighbors if they know how to contact the owner. Actually, that should be the first step. :)

One thing I've done in situations like this is to put up a hand written bandit sign in the yard stating "Investor will pay $500 for any information that leads to me purchasing this house. Call XXX-XXXX if you have any info." I've done it several times and it acually worked once. The caller didn't live in the area (I talked to everyone on the street and no one knew how to contact the owner) but was supposed to check on the house every week or so for the out of town owner. She called me and gave me the owner's info, I got the house, and she got paid.

I've actually got both types - regular local number and a local vanity number and it doesn't really matter. Actually, with some of the new cell phones, it's worse to have a vanity number because phones such as the iphone don't have a keypad with the letters assigned to numbers. I have an iphone and it annoys the crap out of me if I have to call a vanity number because I can't dial from my phone.

Overall, I think I've had better results with the advertising using a regular local number as opposed to using a vanity number. I've tested this with the same kind of advertising, same cost, same everything and the local performed better.

You might want to try and get a number like (XXX) XXX-0000 or something simple like that and get the domain name to match. Then you can advertise your number as your domain name and vice versa.

If you are dealing with someone for the first time, ask who they've done deals with in the past. Call the other investors and check them out. Find out what they thought about your subject, how the transaction turned out, and if they would do business with them again. Call around to other investors that you know and see if they've heard of your subject. A little reference checking goes a long way...

I don't mean to sound like a jerk, but how can you not have the motivation to succeed? Have you had success in any area of your life? If not, why? What's holding you back? Fear? Self-doubt? That's a bunch of crap. Success is all mental. You have to believe you'll succeed or your efforts will be for nothing. A large part of real estate investing is just dealing with people. There's nothing too difficult for you to figure out. If you want to be an investor, do it. If not, move on to something that fits your personality and beliefs.

Whether you remain one of the 90% that just talk about real estate or the 10% that get off their asses and do something, the only difference is taking action. Stop dreaming about doing deals and just do one. Once you do one and you see that it isn't hard at all, keep going.

Curt,

I agree with your points except for one. When assigning a contract, you can take your assignment fee at closing and it's perfectly legal. You don't have to get your assignment fee prior to closing. Assigning a contract is basically selling the contract, not the house. At least that's the way it is in TX. I've done over 300 of them, so if it was illegal, none of the title companies I've closed at would have touched the transactions.

I've checked with my title company and they agree with me on this... is the law different in Tenn? If so, that sucks.

As long as you are acting as a principal in the transaction, no, a license isn't necessary.

Some investors that have their license will tell you that it opens up a few more options - they can possibly get listings on houses that don't fit their wholesale criteria.

Do a Google search for "We Buy Houses" in your city and you'll find a crap load of 'em.

I agree with Brian in that you'll have to close in 30 days, but keep in mind that it can take the REO department several days to get you the signed contract. Make sure you let them know that you'll need 30 days from the time you get the signed contract to be ready to close.

Once you've gotten the verbal acceptance, start marketing the property to your buyers immediately. That might give you extra time - I've had it take a week to get the signed contract back from a bank.

As long as you're closing at a title company, the liens shouldn't be an issue since they will have to be paid at closing. Are your purchase prices higher than the amount of the liens? And do the sellers know about the liens? If so, don't worry about them. They are a non-issue.

All you need to tell the buyer(s) is that they will have clear title at closing.

I've got multiple "We Buy Houses" template sites and I've had the best conversions with the most simplified and basic sites compared to some of the more detailed sites with multiple pages of info. A small paragraph explaining how you operate, a phone number, and an info capture form is all you really need.

Some investors I know have very detailed sites, with "About Us", "Investors", etc. tabs and they don't have anywhere near the conversion stats I do with any one of my "basic" template sites. I ask everyone that calls me off my sites what made them call off my site as opposed to others and most of them say it isn't the site that matters, it's that I answered the phone when they called. I think that's a key issue when dealing with advertising - it's not how pretty the site is but how easily you can be reached when you've got a potential seller trying to contact you.