All Forum Posts by: Kenneth E.

Chris Martin @Chris Martin Thanks for the info. That is somewhat of a turnoff considering the idea behind that site seems very promising.

This discussion just gave me an idea. I think I am going to identify a multi-family property nearby that is listed on the MLS and post the particulars on a few of the peer to peer lending websites and then review them all in one post here on BP. I am open to comments, suggestions, etc. if anyone wants to chime in to see what options are out there…Though I have already tried two of them:

Money360.com: Already posted on there for a reasonably priced property and requested 75% loan to value (recommended by the site) and got no hits at all.

Lendingclub.com: I requested a business loan for $18k. I was tentatively ‘approved’ for $18k at around 12% though I didn’t pursue it. Once you do pursue the loan you are approved for then it is posted on their site and investors can review your request, credit, etc. and offer to contribute an amount towards your loan. Once enough investors have agreed to contribute and their money collectively equals the $18k you requested then the loan is green-lit. I have a coworker who lends through this site so I know it is legit (for his lending purposes, anyway). He tested the waters by agreeing to lend $2,500 altogether, but broken up into smaller chunks of several hundred dollars that he lends on different loans. His $2,500 is currently yielding a return of 26%. This is because he is lending on risky loans to people who are in credit card debt and are being charged 29% by the credit card companies—so they are more than happy to accept my coworkers loan at 26%.

Be on the lookout for my other post on reviewing these peer-to-peer lending sites.

Tracy Royce Thanks!

Kelly P. I basically had mozenda extract all of the probate records from a six month period and mailed to all of them. I didn't send one of those cheesy ‘sorry for your loss….but sell me your deceased loved ones house' letters and just opted for the basic ‘we buy houses' message. I used typed letters and envelopes for the probate ones, sending them to the last address of the deceased, to the executors address, and even sent a letter to the attorney who was handling the probate case (all names and addresses were on the probate site). The letter to the attorney was basically a typed letter about how I can help their clients who are stuck with unwanted houses. The letter to the attorneys surprisingly yielded a few calls but nothing ever panned out since they were either just feeling me out or wanting to see if I would buy the house their client already has listed on the MLS for full market value (I did not). I also included five business cards with each letter to the attorneys so they could hand them out for me. :) No deals resulted so I didn't do another batch of probate mailers again.

I got one call from a lady who was super motivated to sell her moms house and she wanted to sell quickly because the estate taxes were due within a few weeks. I got her to agree to $8k for a house (including the appliances!) that was worth around $50k but she ended up calling another wholesaler to get a better deal than the $8K I agreed to. What she didn’t know was that the wholesaler she called was my mentor who told her he was working with me on the deal already. So, she got caught trying to shop the deal around……. but wouldn’t return my calls after that. That was the closest I came to a probate/estate deal.

I may do it again in the future but I am not entirely sure of what I did wrong so I would need to research probate mailers a bit more here on BP before doing the next batch.

Paul M. That is a good point. One book on repairs, which is outside of the mainstream, that I recommend is called, "The Creative Real Estate Investor's Notebook of 525 Rehab, Remodeling, Repair, and Maintenance Secrets."

You can get it here:
http://www.shop.reidepot.com/Wittenmyer/Notebook.html

I got it last year and it has tons of money-saving ideas regarding repairs and maintenance ideas for landlords.

Note: I am not affiliated with Mr. Wittenmeyer and am not making any sort of money by recommending his book.

PS If you go to that link, you should also check out his other books--they are great!

Ryan Richard, I asked this to a friend recently and he said there are several ways of making this happen. I am not an expert and have no experience...just sharing what answers I got.

The seller could record a lien (mortgage) on the property at the local courthouse. Or, you could sign a land contract and also file it down at the courthouse. Either way, its filed at the court house.

The key issue, as I was told, is finding a bank ahead of time (ie NOW) and asking them how they would prefer you structure the seller finance deal before they do the refi. One of the seven habits = begin with the end in mind. That is, in this case, you should start at the end (the bank) and work your way backwards (on how to structure the deal with the seller).

Might not be much help, but the advice is to talk to the banks before anyone else so you can pave the way to a smooth refi.

One lady called and left a message and said, "I tell you what---you give me one million dollars and you can have my house. Otherwise, stop sending me crap!" That was in response to a post card. Nice !

To anyone out there who works with virtual assistants, are you willing to share the information which would help me learn how to manage them?

I am considering hiring one or two and am looking for sample job descriptions, interview scripts, email templates, list of tasks, training materials, lessons learned, bonus plans, etc. You can send me a PM and we can discuss...if you prefer. Thanks for any help!

By the way, I am looking for first person data from someone who currently uses VA's....I have already poked around BP a bit and am not looking for someone to tell me about other posts. Thanks!

More coming? That's great! I've seen almost all of the videos on the BP channel.....good stuff. I encourage everyone to check them out.

Seth, the county I live in puts probate records online. I set up a mozenda program to extract the data from that website and populate it into a spreadsheet for me. Then, i had my own list to send mailers to.

Ps none of my probate mailers panned out, so I'm not sure what I did incorrectly.....though, again, that's what my friends say is the most lucrative......but not based on my minimal experience. :)

Sorry I cant help you more.

Samantha M. I didnt track it really, but i can tell you the calls flooded in for about one week after the mailers hit their mailbox...then faded gradually. Whats odd, though, is that people may not call for months after getting your mailer. One buddy of mine got a call TWO YEARS after sending a batch. Ha. But, i set aside time the first week (for sure) they were sent for sure so i would be free to return calls (all of mine went to voicemail because i have a fulltime job...and I returned the calls in the evenings and on the weekends).

Does anyone have any funny stories from their wholesaling experiences?

Here is one I have: Sellers gets my mailer and calls me. I screen her and she really wants to get rid of her house. She tells me the details...how many rooms, how many bathrooms, what work needs done, etc. So, after about 10 minutes of talking about this house, out of the blue she tells me that the house we are talking about was already torn down by the city and no longer exists!

She concludes by asking me if I am interested in buying a vacant lot! HAHA.