All Forum Posts by: Jeremy T.

Answer: drones.  

The buyer kicks back with his Google Glass and goes on virtual tours.

They (the drones) will also be set to taze and subdue any unauthorized trespassers.

Next question.

Great thread.

I do see tech disrupting the current real estate paradigm.  

For example, what happens when Google decides to allocate a few 'billy' of the cash they have lying around to get involved with residential real estate? GOOG will acquire Z and TRLA for a premium. When (not if) that happens, the sweat forming on the foreheads at NAR will be palpable.

That's great @Ryan Dossey !

Keep banging on that list.

@Account Closed 

Evidently you were a bit early with the popcorn .gif

@Tom V. 

BP makes it difficult to quote and reply (like you, my preferred method), so my apologies if this is hard to follow.

My point is that a motivated seller either cannot (most likely) or does not want to sell their property through traditional means.  A "cash buyer" is going to offer them as little as possible for their property (i.e., 0.50 on the dollar).

10-18%: 6% for agents, 2-5% closing costs (roughly 4k), 60 days (conservative) holding costs and you are already close to 10%...and that's if you get your asking price.

I agree that it is both greedy and stupid to take advantage of someone and/or egregiously break laws.  The first is a personality flaw.  The second can be mitigated with education and proper legal documentation.  

You mean to tell me that licensed agents aren't greedy/take advantage of people?  LOL.  I'm not sure taking a few classes at the local community college and passing a simple test (forgive me, I'm a licensed engineer) is going to transform someone into a bastion of integrity and honor.

Of course I don't think it is ok for someone to take advantage of an old person.  Nevertheless, bad stuff happens ALL THE TIME amongst people of all walks of life.  You are pinpointing an argument toward a very very select subset of individuals who may get 'lucky' once or twice, but it's really really tough to make a living off of ripping people off (unless, ironically, you happen to be an executive at a bank...).

Are you asking for my mom's phone number?

The credit crisis has little to nothing to do with the wholesaler debate.  I was just using an anecdote about trusting people with the appropriate qualifications/licensure.  I trust very very few people...and due to first-hand experience, realtors are right at the top of that list.

I know those are rhetorical questions in your last paragraph, and I completely agree with the last sentence.  Maybe your experience here has been different, but IMO, BP seems to do a damn fine job of educating people with applicable, real-world knowledge/experience and promotes (in general) conducting one's business with integrity and honesty.

@Ryan Dossey 

Definitely don't give up on that list.  I think you probably have to build a little more trust with the customer in that price range. The only way that is going to happen is with repeated exposure.

Learning how to do lease option assignments or giving those leads to someone who does (for a fee, if the deal closes) may be a good way to explore deals with sellers who are motivated, but don't want to sell at 50 cents on the dollar.

@Tom V. 

Sorry for the delayed reply.  The deal we are speaking about had too many moving parts for my taste.  My eyes started to glaze over reading that thread.  

Maybe I'm wrong, but I haven't heard of many sellers holding investors at gunpoint, forcing them to accept their life circumstances and properties.  IMO, he was 'forcing the trade'. The kind of Real Estate transactions I am interested in do not require (that) many variables.  

Someone really wants to sell their house, I want to help them recognize that there are solutions other than selling their house for 50 cents on the dollar (but that is an option if they so choose) or paying 10-18% of the sale price to sell it retail (which they are also free to do, and I can refer them to trusted agents if they are interested).

I'm still unsure what the hangup is with 'wholesalers'.  Yes, in my brief experience here, I feel like the majority of people getting involved with 'wholesaling' do not seem to have great deal of fundamental RE knowledge.  

Who cares?  

I'm sorry, but some schlub who 'takes advantage of' some old lady to the tune of 3k is not going to give real estate investing a bad name (not with any staying power, at least).  

Lest we forget, it was the 'really smart guys who we should blindly trust because they work for banks' who got the ball rolling down the path to financial destruction, realized in 2007, not Cleetus the Slack-Jawed Wholesaler.

Sure, it's honorable to come to the defense of the desperate seller who gets taken for a ride by an ill-prepared 'wholesaler' who, for whatever reason, can't close.  The fact remains, there are unsavory people in every business in every walk of life.  Nevertheless, that guy probably isn't going to be in business for very long...as that doesn't seem to be a very sustainable business model.

::enters thread, immediately thinks about being 17 and a senior in high school (didn't turn 18 until college)::

Nice thread guys (and gal),

@Ryan Dossey I'm interested to know...with that list that you are mailing to (100-250k), are you finding motivated sellers that you have to scrap because of limited equity and/or an asking price that is too high?

@Brad Kirkwood 

There has been a lot of talk and possibly capital allocation on a commuter train that would run up the Allegheny valley to Lower Burrell/New  Ken which would provide a nice alternative to using 28 to get to Pittsburgh. I think that would lead to more people moving to the area for the Westmoreland Co taxes if nothing else. How are the schools?