All Forum Posts by: Jordan Solomon

@Chaz Reid

I certainly understand your point, and it sounds all well and good, but, really, how far do you take that? So does that mean that if a wholesaler (or rehabber, for that matter) advertises that he/she will buy houses in any condition, it's wrong for that wholesaler to pass on any house? Even one is a so-called "war zone" location? It seems like to do this business, one has to be somewhat selective, even if that's not how one advertises.

This is kind of an awkward question to ask, and I'm somewhat hesitant to do so, but I'm going to anyway. Basically, I'm using a kind of "packaged" website, I guess you could say, in which there is content built into the pages. I like the content, but some of the verbiage concerns me a bit. Specifically, it indicates that I'm even able to help sellers who owe more than the house is worth, and will therefore negotiate with the lender (in other words, as I understand it, attempt a short sale). The problem is that I'm not sure if I AM, in fact, willing to attempt a short sale, especially as a beginner. In fact, I'm not even sure of the legality of it at this time!

The question, therefore, is whether or not I should just remove that text. The obvious answer is "yes," but I also don't want to make it sound like I'm not willing to help (as in buy from) distressed sellers, because of course I am, and to be in this business, HAVE to be. While I certainly don't want to commit false advertising, do you think there's anyway to "finesse" it so that if someone who's underwater does contact me, I can kind of gracefully back out of that particular deal? Hope that makes sense.

Thank you!

@Eric F.,

Thanks! In fact, that type of scenario is exactly what I'm worried about, so I guess I'm not just paranoid. Just wondering, though -- no one (as in, I guess, the USPS) has a problem with you calling your "box" a "suite"? I don't think I've seen that trick before.

PS. No idea why mentions aren't working properly for me -- this has happened before.

What do any of you do when it comes to the return address when implementing a direct mail campaign? First of all, is a return address even absolutely necessary? I mean, it's very unlikely that, whether they're actually interested or just want to be removed from the list, they're going to write to me rather than calling the number written on the postcard, right? And I'm the one potentially buying their house and not the other way around, so I figure it isn't something they really NEED to know. But if it IS necessary, how do you handle this? Do you actually use your home address? That just concerns me a bit from a privacy/security standpoint. Do you use a PO box, or does that look too unprofessional?

So it seems like a bit of a dilemma, for me at least. Again, what do you guys do? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!

Well, I obviously don't know all the particulars. But, regardless, I would have to think that this type of thing would give anyone pause. 

I'm certainly not an expert on this subject, but apparently it's a very emphatic "no." Considering that you can apparently spend 30 years in prison for doing so, according to this article: 

www.flippingfrenzy.com/category/short-sale-fraud/

So two responses, and two completely different perspectives! Which, I guess, just goes to show that, like apparently so many things in real estate, there's no right answer and it depends on the individual. 

Let's say that I focus on certain neighborhoods, possibly because that's where my buyers have indicated to me they are interested in. When doing direct mail or looking for leads off the MLS, that's easy to control. Now, let's say I have a website, and I get a call from a motivated seller from my area, but in another town, though not one all that far away. What do you recommend I do with that lead? I would hate to give up a good deal, but also obviously don't want to get stuck with a house I can't sell. And how do I explain to the seller who calls that I can't buy his/her house just because it's in a certain town? Thanks.

Okay, so it seems like, sure enough, no hard rules here -- pretty subjective. Thanks to everyone who responded! Obviously, if anyone else reading this has any other strategies, I'd be interested in hearing them as well.

Hi. One thing I'm still confused about how to come up with my own profit amount. I always hear, of course, that you take 70% of the ARV and then subtract repair costs and then your profit amount, but how do I come up with that profit amount? Is it just "what I want to make," or is there any kind of objective rule of thumb to determine how much is "fair" to target? Thank you.