All Forum Posts by: Jim Viens

Welcome to KC! There's a great meet up put on by KCIG the first Saturday of every month. Very informal yet informative with great networking opportunities. 

Way to get going! Call them all and shake it off when they tell you to jump in the lake. You have to wade through a bunch of "No"s to get to the "Yes"s. Learn your numbers. If you get 1 solid lead for 20 calls then count on 19 dud calls. When you get those don't look at it as a waste of time...look at it as being one call closer to getting a deal!

I would agree with @Thomas B. That sounds a lot like my target neighborhood here in KC. If it's a scrape-n-build situation you'd have to get the lot practically free. It'll cost you around $10k for demo and I'm not sure what the cost would be to build a similar-sized house on the lot (maybe $70-$80k?) I'd be reluctant to build anything too far out of the ordinary for the neighborhood for fear that it may not sell easily. Don't know that very many people are looking for a "nice" house on an "average" block.

Give it time. Sometimes it takes a couple of days for them to call you. For that matter I've gotten calls from mailers 2 months after the fact. You also need to consider the area itself. It's possible you happened to choose an area that's been over-farmed by other investors and people are just tired of seeing the little yellow cards and letters. Just be persistent and patient.

Having lived here all my life, I'd say that in Kansas City the biggest weather-related danger is probably hail. There have been a some tornadoes over the years but only a very few that have caused significant, widespread damage. Many of them end up going through farmland in the surrounding areas. I haven't let it run me out of the area and wouldn't let it keep you from investing here. Here's a link to a website with related info: http://www.homefacts.com/tornadoes/Missouri/Jackso...

On the face of it I'd say they look pretty hot, but there are questions that come to mind. What condition are the properties in? It could be that they both need a new roof, new a/c...or there could be some other (expensive) issue that could play into it. Is the $1030/mo in the ballpark for rents in that area? Is it too low/high?

Hi Chris. What parts of town are you looking in? Also are you looking to rehab? Buy/hold? Wholesale?

@Allen Brouwer - I would contact the county/township tax assessor or visit their website. Usually on the website there's a way to look up properties and many times the owner's name and mailing address will be listed there. If the address listed for the owner is the vacant property you could try sending to that address to see if there is forwarding. If it's returned as undeliverable you could then try a skip-trace to track them down.

Working on that now. I'm going through all of my processes and mapping them out so I can see where I can streamline, where I can automate and where I can have someone else step in. I'm also ramping up my networking and trying to build some accountability partnerships (which, I think, is going to make the biggest difference.)

Self-Discipline. I am my own biggest challenge in my real estate business. Getting myself to do what needs to be done consistently.