All Forum Posts by: Jason Regan

@Ross Williams I did texting for a little while.  The the regulations tightening and the little amount of motivated sellers I found made me stop.  Here is an article I found and what scared me the most is the $1,500 fine per text.  That's per text and can add up real fast

Is mass texting illegal? It's a question many of our customers ask us before signing up for our service. The reality is that regulations are governing certain aspects of mass messaging, and there are a lot of gray areas as well. There's also the issue of enforcement and holding spammers accountable for breaking the rules. In this post, we'll take a look at what you can, can't, and shouldn't do when mass texting.

Given that we spend a considerable amount of our time on smartphones, taking advantage of a mass texting service is a logical choice for help with communications needs for a new business. As long as you're reaching out to people with the information they want, and you have consent to message them - a mass texting service can be a very powerful communication tool for delivering reminders, notifications, and alerts. Is mass texting illegal? Let's look at the law.

While mass texting is by no means illegal, it is heavily restricted. The U.S. government has a long history of regulation, protecting consumer privacy concerning telemarketing and robocalls, and this also extends to texting. The most critical piece of legislation narrowing the scope of acceptable telemarketing practices came with the TCPA of 1991, which amended the original Communications Act of 1934.

Unless recipients had given prior consent, as of 1991, companies wishing to employ mass texting or calling had to heed the following restrictions:

● Calling before 8:00 a.m. and after 9:00 p.m. (recipient’s local time) is prohibited.

● Anyone registered in the National Do Not Call Registry cannot be a recipient of an organization’s mass calls or texts.

● Unsolicited faxes for the purposes of marketing are prohibited in any case.

● Robocalls to emergency services, hospitals, doctor’s offices, healthcare facilities are prohibited.

● Any calls made to lines for which the recipient is charged for the call are prohibited.

● No artificial voices or recorded calls can be made to residences without the recipient giving prior consent (opting-in). (This portion gets more specific with the amendment that came in 2013, discussed below)

● Business conducting mass calls or texting must identify themselves, or identify who they are calling for.

● Companies must provide a callback number or reply option.

● A company or organization advertising via mass calls or texts must maintain a Do Not Call (DNC) list of recipients who do not wish to be called or texted. Opt-out requests must be honored for at least five years.

● No solicitations can be made that take up two or more lines of a multiple-line business at a time.

● Violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act give the recipient of any unwanted call or text the right to sue for up to $1,500 per unsolicited text or call.

I built my list of wholesalers by going into the Facebook groups and just adding my email and you will end up getting more and more sent to you as you continue to drop your email.  as @Jonathan Bombaci said don't believe their numbers when they send a deal over.  ALWAYS do your own due diligence as the numbers are very often inflated to make the deal sounds better.  

@Erick Sembrano I agree that you should not let the seller agent represent you unless you are very confident that you know what you are doing.  They cannot advise you on anything if this happens.  The Seller agent could Dual agent as @Account Closed said.  I am an agent 2nd, investor 1st.  I have done both sides of a transaction as an agent and told the buyer I represent the seller.  This means I need to get the best offer for the seller and my goal is to get that out of you.  With my investor hat on I don't mind letting the seller agent represent if it gets me a better deal.  That is only because I am confident in my ability to assess the home and negotiate.  I would not recommend that someone newer grab a buyer agent to protect yourself.  I am saying this as an investor with no sales pitch as I don't represent buyers in the Boston area.  

Investment Info:

Single-family residence fix & flip investment.

Purchase price: $215,000
Cash invested: $50,000
Sale price: $400,000

We bought this house with the plan minor updating upstairs and adding space downstairs. We saved money by keeping the cabinets and adding new doors and hardware in the kitchen.

Purchase Price Plus Purchase Costs - $225,859.72
Rehab Costs - $79,829.79
Holding Costs - $9,153.13
Selling Costs - $22,591.03

Profit - $62,565.43

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

I know the market very well here having lived and worked here most of my life. Also, this project had most large repairs such as the roof and heating system already complete. After viewing the basement I knew we could add a lot of square footage and a bath to greatly enhance the value.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

This deal was found through a postcard sent to absentee owners. I viewed the property and gave them my number. He came back with his higher number and then I gave him my drop dead number and told him I could not move anymore. After thinking about it for a day he called me and accepted the price

How did you finance this deal?

This deal was financed through Hard Money and a Private Money Lender

How did you add value to the deal?

We finished about 600 square feet in the basement moving the home living area from 1400 to 2000 square feet. We also added a bathroom in this new finished space. The whole upstairs was cosmetically updated and new countertops added to the kitchen

What was the outcome?

A successful flip that earned more then projected when originally purchases. We went over our rehab budget by $10k, but sold the home for $20k more then originally underwritten at

Lessons learned? Challenges?

1) When in doubt call the city to see if you need a permit. This cost us another 14 days hold time
2) FHA Loans need a 3 month hold time before the loan can be summitted. It is not until closing. This costs us another 30 days of hold time

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Cutter Hill Capital was the hard money lender and are very easy to work with. The agent really knew his market and was amazing (ok bad joke, the agent was me)

Nice!  I am a fan of the Fitchburg market. I have a 2 family there now

Congrats!  I would love to hear how you bought it and such.  I will be looking for a cabin there starting the new year.  

@Jose Betancourt

Hey man I live and flip in the Leominster area.  Feel free to reach ouch anytime.  I also have my RE license. 

@David Menapace I would love to know what market you are in for BRRR. I am currently working on a BRRR in Cleveland. It wont be a full BRRR, probably will leave $20k in it.