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All Forum Posts by: Pavel Sakurets

Pavel Sakurets has started 48 posts and replied 316 times.

You are welcome. Community/small/local banks have different regulations than large banks that are less strict. Thus work with local guys and do not get discouraged if you will hear a lot of ''No''s when you start. Just keep trying. I'm sure that there are a lot of small community banks that want your business.

Post: I'm surprised that from all the people on BP nobody knows the answer

Pavel SakuretsPosted
  • Investor
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • Posts 332
  • Votes 74
Originally posted by @Hawley G.:
Originally posted by @Pavel Sakurets:
Originally posted by @Marie S.:

@Pavel Sakurets 

What you're talking about is specific to certain counties and states. Some cities, states or counties have an abandoned property list. Chicago is notorious for this. I would start looking at one of those offices in your area.

 Thank you again Marie for your post, but I mentioned before that my team contacted local cities and smaller cities do not have registered vacant properties except Minneapolis and St Paul, that's why I was checking if anyone on BP knew if there were companies that offer reliable information about vacant properties that have been vacant for 6+months.

No answer  has been received yet if there are companies that have reliable vacant properties' information!

Here you go Pavel

 Vacant Property List by Zipcode

:-) It was very nice of you spending the time and giving me such an accurate answer.

One of my agents called 5 min ago and found through a County a list of 7000 vacant houses; next step is to find from utilities' companies if they have connected utilities or not, sort and do the mailing. Thank you very much to everybody trying to help.

Post: I'm surprised that from all the people on BP nobody knows the answer

Pavel SakuretsPosted
  • Investor
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • Posts 332
  • Votes 74
Originally posted by @Marie S.:

@Pavel Sakurets 

What you're talking about is specific to certain counties and states. Some cities, states or counties have an abandoned property list. Chicago is notorious for this. I would start looking at one of those offices in your area.

 Thank you again Marie for your post, but I mentioned before that my team contacted local cities and smaller cities do not have registered vacant properties except Minneapolis and St Paul, that's why I was checking if anyone on BP knew if there were companies that offer reliable information about vacant properties that have been vacant for 6+months.

No answer  has been received yet if there are companies that have reliable vacant properties' information!

Post: ATTRACTING " REAL" MOTIVATED SELLERS !

Pavel SakuretsPosted
  • Investor
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • Posts 332
  • Votes 74
Originally posted by @Lawrence Brooke:

Thanks everyone for responding...I sincerely appreciate your honesty and frankness...no offense taken. I certainly didn't mean to come off as a "negative nancy", but as I'm sure has happened to a lot of us, frustration sets in at times leading to doubt, etc...HOWEVER, "QUIT" is not in my vocabulary, so I persist. As per Michael Q's recommendations, I will do the best I can to send along what you suggested ( my tech skills are limited at best):

Postcard: Yellow w/ black lettering, 4.25 x 6

Purchased a list from Listsource...here is the criteria:

County

SFR, Duplex, Triplex, Quad

Combined LTV 1-70%

Equity 30-100%

Beds 2-4

Baths 1-3

Built from 1950-2002

Absentee Owned ( In state and out of state)

Trustee owned- no preference

Corporate owned-exclude

Mailing address complete...

...set up a PATLIVE account for sellers to call...when they reached the number, they heard this message ( it's quite long, so bear with me):

" Hi, and thanks for calling. As I mentioned in my postcard, I'm interested in buying your property "as is", making you a fair "cash" offer, and closing whenever you want...even in as little as 30 days. Here's how I can make it easy and convenient for you to sell your house to me. First, I'd like to pay all of your closing costs...this alone will save you thousands of dollars. Normally when you sell your home, you, as the seller, are responsible for certain closing costs on the transaction. These closing costs would be in addition to any realtor fees or commissions that you would normally pay. However, when you sell your house to me, there is NO realtor involved, so there are no commissions to pay, AND, as I've already mentioned, I will pay all of your closing costs so you'll end up making more money on the sale of the property. Secondly, when you sell your property to me, you don't have to worry about having your tenants move out either...even if they are not paying rent right now. If you have family members living there, that's ok too. I can close on the property, get you your money, and then make arrangements for tenants or family members to move out later or perhaps even allow them to continue to live there after I buy the property. Finally, if the property needs some repairs or fixing up, that's not a problem either. I can handle making the repairs when you sell to me so that you won't be inconvenienced. That means that you don't have to worry about spending money to make repairs to the property and incur additional costs or expenses...Not to mention, avoiding the hassle of dealing with contractors or handymen to coordinate repairs. Of course, when you sell your property to me, you'll be able to avoid all of this. When you sell  your property to me...I'll explain everything in clear and easy to understand terms, and I will handle all the paperwork...and of course, you will have everything in advance so that you can have enough time to review it and make sure you feel comfortable with it all. I'll have the transaction handled by a licensed and insured title agent or attorney in the local area. This way, you'll know that everything is being done above board, legally and ethically. Now, most of the properties that I purchase are in need of repairs or updating. As you can imagine, because of the sometimes substantial expenses involved in doing this, I am probably not going to be able to pay you full, fair market value for your property. However, I can easily pay you a fair price based on the condition and situation. The bottom line is this...I just want to come up with a fair value based on the condition of the property, the situation...and your sense of urgency. If my fair offer is acceptable to you, then you'll get CASH in 30 days or less..and avoid having to wait the typical 4-6 months it normally takes to sell a property in this market. Now, just to be completely transparent, there is nothing funny here...nobody is going to try and sell you anything, so rest assured that I'm not interested in convincing you of doing something you don't feel completely comfortable about. I'm just an investor looking to find a few properties and I want to make sure everyone is happy in the end. If this isn't right for you...then I certainly don't want to push you into doing anything...In the end, you can decide if working with me is right for your situation. Here's what I need you to do next. Take a few moments and leave a message with your name, first and last, phone number with area code and the address of the property that you are thinking of selling, as well as any details about it's condition, the number of beds and baths, and so on and so forth, and your asking price. Once I have some of the basic information about your property, I'll go ahead and review it, and then I can call you directly to go over any other details that may be relevant, and then be able to give you a firm offer within 48 hours...then, you can decide what's best for you. At the end of this message, you'll hear a beep...when you do, go ahead and leave the information that I requested earlier. Again, thanks for taking the time to listen to this message and remember to speak slowly and clearly, spell any uncommon names, and give me as many details about the property as you would like to. I look forward to speaking with you soon. Have a great day. Bye bye"

Investment objective: 2 closed deals per month @ approx $5000/deal ( broken down...approx 100-150 leads per month, sell 75% of the deals, approx 35-50 leads per contract, contract on 3, close 1-2, working 5-7 days a week.

Thank you all very much for your input and expertise...all is appreciated.

 Use live person to answer your calls with Patlive or other answering service. Nobody would be listening to such long recording. When we get sellers calling us, our answering service gets seller's info and transfers the call to us. If answering service is not able to reach us that given moment, they say to the seller that we would get back to them very soon. We receive text message with sellers info and email and folow up with them right away. Do not get discouraged, I tried yellow letters to absetntee owners and from 900 that were mailed with real stamp and handwritten address, only 5 people responded, but no closed deals. I'm sending 6x11 color postcards this week to 1800 people, because they do not need to be open, maybe they will get a better response rate.

If not, not a big deal, will try again several times.

Post: Marketing for motivated sellers.

Pavel SakuretsPosted
  • Investor
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • Posts 332
  • Votes 74
Originally posted by @Dev Horn:

The 3 dependable workhorses are direct mail, pay-per-click (PPC), and billboards.  (I leave out bandit signs because they are illegal in most urban/suburban markets in the U.S.)

Within direct mail, the top group to target is absentees with high equity.

PPC is mostly focused on Google, but you can often get less expensive clicks from Bing because there is less competition there.

Billboards used to be out of reach of most individual investors in larger markets (e.g., $5,000 to $30,000 per month per board).  Now, with electronic billboards, you can buy the number of billboard impressions that fits your budget.  And in smaller markets, you can still get a reasonable price on old-school billboards (e.g., $500-800 per month per board).

The WORST investments for RE investors are (1) radio and (2) TV.  Super expensive and they don't drive inbound leads as much as you think they would....  And I'm less than impressed with social media such as Facebook and YouTube - they have not been good producers in our trials.

 Hi Dev, have you done billboard advertising? For how long? Are you still doing it? What is the cost per closed lead through a billboard advertising? I just did a radio campaign for 3 weeks on WCCO in MN, spent 3.5k got 3 week leads that go to trash.

In your opinion, what are the 3 best that work for you? For me #1. Our site (comes on 1st page of Google search in MN. #2 Bandit signs, #3 Letters to expired listings

Originally posted by @Rodney Kuhl:

@Pavel Sakurets I understand what you are saying. At this point, I can't go back in time and re-buy the property under the LLC. Also, with most lenders who would lend to an LLC likely not lending to an LLC that is less than 2 years old, wouldn't you say I'd be better off purchasing properties under my own name rather than sitting and waiting around until my LLC would qualify for lending? I think in that time frame I can acquire several properties and be over $1000/mo in cash flow. Aren't I better off with that than waiting?

If your personal financials are strong you can still get a loan from locally charted banks or credit unions under newly formed LLC. Ask people on BP that buy under LLC names in your area or read my previous reply to you.

If a banker tells you need 2 years financials for the LLC, find another banker. In commercial lending new entities are formed one day before the closing and bankers lend money to them the next day. I've done it myself many times. If you are buying under LLC and personally guarrantieng the loan, for a banker there is no difference what llc you are buying it under.

Post: I'm surprised that from all the people on BP nobody knows the answer

Pavel SakuretsPosted
  • Investor
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • Posts 332
  • Votes 74
Originally posted by @Hawley G.:
Originally posted by @Pavel Sakurets:

Thank you Marie and I'm sorry that I didn't make myself clear. I'm a wholesaler and rehabber. I'm looking to find vacant properties that have been vacant for quite some time, that costing money to their owners every day, so the owners are motivated to sell them. I buy both commercial and residential properties up to 5m any size only in MN.

I know how to find a property owner, but where can I find actual houses that are vacant except driving and looking for them? Is there a website or Co that keeps track of vacant properties where utilities may be disconnected, etc.

I hope it makes sense now.

Just because a house has been vacant and costing an owner money for years, doesn't mean they will be motivated to sell.

 Agreed, but if you know of any other type of sellers that could be motivated to sell who have good equity, please share.

Post: I'm surprised that from all the people on BP nobody knows the answer

Pavel SakuretsPosted
  • Investor
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • Posts 332
  • Votes 74

Thank you Marie and I'm sorry that I didn't make myself clear. I'm a wholesaler and rehabber. I'm looking to find vacant properties that have been vacant for quite some time, that costing money to their owners every day, so the owners are motivated to sell them. I buy both commercial and residential properties up to 5m any size only in MN.

I know how to find a property owner, but where can I find actual houses that are vacant except driving and looking for them? Is there a website or Co that keeps track of vacant properties where utilities may be disconnected, etc.

I hope it makes sense now.

Post: I'm surprised that from all the people on BP nobody knows the answer

Pavel SakuretsPosted
  • Investor
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • Posts 332
  • Votes 74
Originally posted by @Christopher Baustert:

I apologize for what you will consider my being a jerk, but I tell it like it is.

Thank you for your feedback. It's OK, I always tell things how they are and sometimes regret it because people do not want to know the truth :-(

 I share everything that I know with people because I believe if I give more, I get more back.

I'm sorry that you don't feel that away, and it's OK. I did a search of vacant properties as well as people in my team. BP was the last resort for me to find the answer. But thank you for your opinion.

Originally posted by @Rodney Kuhl:

@Raj S. Thanks for your input! What kind of umbrella policy would you deem necessary/desired for someone with only a couple of properties?

2m or higher, we have 5m. The difference in premium is small. Make sure that all properties have their own coverage and do not do a blanket policy, because if you do and your insurer decides not to renew insurance because of accident or fire, etc, it will be difficult to get a new coverage.