All Forum Posts by: Joshua Martin

The way I understand it as it's used around me, is the 'trustee' is the individual who manages the 'trust,' i.e. what a lot of people that plan their estates well will put property into in order to avoid probate, and that person has the full authority to manage and sell the property. So yes, they're worth marketing to.

I know Cali is a little bit differently, generally, with probates and inherited property, so I look forward to seeing someone chime in.

Best of luck!

  JTM

@Jessie Boyce Larger companies will mail merge for you. Yellow letters.com, etc., but with a list the size of a driving for dollars you may have a hard time finding a printer that will work with such small quantities, or that does mail merge at all. For example, my local printer who I use for brochures and other materials will do any quantity, but they don't mail merge at all.

You're probably best finding a way to print them at home. I'm not sure hand addressed names on a postcard will be very meaningful or add much to the fact that it is a postcard.

People hand address to get their mail opened. I don't think you'll have that problem with postcards.

Best of luck!

  JTM

Find a good deal, and the money will appear.

Hey gang, This deal seems to be a good one, but when I crunch numbers I don't know if it is impressive enough. At least I know many investors who probably wouldn't settle for this return in my market. Keep in mind that being a newer guy I might be willing to settle for a bit less of a return than the big guys. In any case: Duplex 2/2 Rents at $775 GSI: 1550 Vac @8.3 128.65 Tax 242.42 Utility: 75 Maintenance & Capex @12% 186 Manage 155 Insurance 100 Expenses: 887 Debt service at 30 yr, 5%, 82,650 mortgage $463 Cash flow - 200. It would be a BRRRR and I have cash lined up for purchase at 57,5k or 60k, and fairly confident appraisal would come at 115k. Needs about 15k in work to make rent ready. Should everything go well, COCR is infinite if I completely cash out, but in a B- / C+ residential pocket with minimal appreciation, is the cash flow sufficient? I think I'll go for it either way, because I'll self manage and repairs will be done up front, but running the numbers accounting for vacancy, repairs, and management, the cash flow is less than I anticipated. Are my expectations unrealistic? Or how do this deal sound to you? Thanks in advance. Best, JTM

Where are these guys, Shawn, approximately?

Excuse me. I misunderstood that you were in my market place. I don't know jack about Billings ;)

Ryan Rogers Short answer, yes. But less money for sure. The bigger investors I know are buying off market and selling on the MLS to people who demand less margin. 'Wholetailing.' From someone who watches the Milwaukee and Waukesha county hot sheet every day, there are deals, few and far between, and they're under contract in typically one day. It's tough out there. Honestly, probably better driving for dollars. Best of luck, JTM

@Terrill Clark! Welcome aboard.

I have practically the same amount of money (a few thousand more), and while my long term play isn't going to be small residential units, the O/O play is so brilliant you have to do it. 

Clarification for someone who said something about an FHA - you can't buy with an FHA out of state, you have to owner occupy when purchasing with an FHA, and same thing with a low down payment conventional loan of 3 or 5%, O/O only. Otherwise you're looking at the standard 20-25% which might price you out of your market.

I would watch HUD homes, and REOs that are offered to owner occupants first. Fannie Mae has their home steps program which you can easily set up searches on, and the same with Freddie Mac first look. HUD homes are also offered to owner occupants first, and from what I'm seeing here, their 'AS-IS' value actually leaves quite a bit of meat on the bone (comparatively speaking). I've written on two where I could've turned them into rentals or flipped them, depending on what I chose, but got beat on both. While the competition is less on these properties, it still exists, and some people who actually intend to occupy the property are simply willing to pay more because they don't require the spread.

Most of these programs you have to occupy for a year, but so what. Gives you enough time to do much of that work yourself and save on contractor costs. Otherwise lenders in my marketplace offer a duplex product with 5% down and 6 month habitation requirement. Also a good play.

And one other thing, there are costs on top of the actual 3.5%. If you're putting that little down, you'll need more cash to close in the way of pre-paid insurance and tax reserves. Additionally, buying an REO they may or may not be generous about closing costs and title work. For example, the 65,000 property I just wrote on would've been 5600 to actually close. Have some credit cards handy, or line up some private money ;)

Best of luck!

As a friend of mine on here likes to say, Persist and you will win!

Best,

  JTM

Yeah try peoplesmart and look for linked persons. You may be able to get a family member on the phone and find actual contact info. Normally peoplesmart is pretty good, but sometimes there just aren't records for a person.

There definitely is. And it does sort of seem like a requirement over there. I was hoping for 1200, but I think only with a garage. Thanks dude.