All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Scott Williams
I've mailed to over 3000 leads, once. I plan on hitting them again every 4-6 months. The deals I got close on weren't in escrow but the sellers and I have agreed on a price but always a hang up like "But I need to have a realtor come look at the property one last time just so I know what I'm losing out on..." (That one ended up calling other investors until she got someone to pay $20K more then me.)

I'm marketing OC but have dabbled in IE as well. There is more distress there so the people I speak with are way more motivated then OC. The problem is I work full time so its hard for me to look at the properties in the IE. Have you had any luck in OC? My intent is to wholesale and fix and flip. Lets connect, love to hear what your looking for.

Hello All,

Looking for some experienced pros to evaluate my progress in this business so far.

I'm a newb to this and haven't gotten my first deal. I've been working at it for three months and have sent out over 3000 pieces of mail. My mailing criteria is absentee owners with at least 50% equity, then I narrow by cities and keep track of my calls. I get about 2% call backs on my mail. (Most are not motivated at all)

I have gotten close to buying my first deal but something always happens to ruin it (like they shop around and find someone else to over pay for the property.)

Overall I have not spoken with one person who is truly motivated. (like death, divorce, debt, etc.) Most the people I talk to just don't want to go through the hassle of listing the property and want me as their quick fix, but want me to pay them retail. Not to mention the current California RE market is smoking hot, making sellers feel pretty confident they don't need me.

Am I doing something wrong? Should I have a deal by now at 3000 mailers deep? I just want to know if this is normal or could I be doing something better. Could I filter my lists differently, use a different mailing criteria? Is it the area I'm mailing to? Any ideas to get me on the right track would be greatly appreciated, my bank account is getting smaller by the minute with marketing expenses and I'm terrified I wont get a deal to make this all worth it.

Thank you all!

I am starting out as well and have been doing this for about 2 months now. I haven't landed my first deal yet but I'm close. I also work 40 hrs a week and have a one year old. Here is what I've been doing.

I get my leads through direct mail. I hire people to do the envelope stuffing and address writing. My mailers are so personal you think your getting a letter from someone you know. I pay the assistant ten cents per mailer. Its so cheap and worth it to pay someone to do this and get that off your plate. I have a network of college students now that I work with that are begging for the job.

I got a 800 number that gets forwarded to my cell phone. 800 numbers are great because you can capture the number so if you cant answer because your at work, call them at lunch. I have reminders on my phone at 11 and 3 to follow up with calls (Just take a quick ten min break.) Or just do it all at lunch or at night/weekends.

Look up comps when you have spare minutes at work, or at home.

I live in an area where I can pretty much make the offer without seeing the house. If they are motivated and accept my offer, I go see the house before escrow opens to make sure they didn't lie about its condition over the phone.

Until I can quite my day job, this is the best I can do. Hope this helps you get a system going.

K. Marie Poe:

Thank you for the advice, I totally agree. He let them stay because she was a tenant of his at another rental he had and she used to pay until she lost her job. She keeps saying she'll pay him when her tax return comes in... Seems like a nightmare. I'm not sure I have the stomach for it. I guess there will be other deals.

You are right. I'll offer $135 and call it a day. :)

@K. Marie Poe Yes, seller owns it free and clear. He bought it wish cash at $205. The comps are around $200-210. My original intent is fix and flip but there is no way he is going to let it go for the amount I need to buy it out. Which is why I thought to do seller financing and get "creative." Any thoughts on what I can do to put something together, or is this a NO DEAL? Thanks for all your help!

Joel Owens Do you suggest I lower my sales price?

Hello BP Friends! Would love any help or insight on this one.

I have a seller interested in seller financing. I told him I would get back to him on the terms of the deal and he was open to negotiation.

Back Story:
The house is worth $200,000 if sold on the market with a Realtor. He bought it for $205,000 so he isn't willing to sell it low enough for me to buy it cash and rehab it. His current tenant is 5 months behind on rent. A family of four. Been rough on the house and it probably needs a major clean up, paint and carpet.

Here is what I was thinking of offering (Open to suggestions)

$185,000 purchase price
3.75% interest rate, 30 amortization
Balloon payment due in 10 years, but no prepayment penalty if I pay it off earlier
Interest only payments for the first 2 years (Give me cushion to deal with the eviction, clean up, etc.

Now here are the numbers for me:
Monthly Payment, insurance, taxes and maintenance- $1265 Per month
Average rent in the area $1600-1700

I have three ideas for the property 1. Hold it as a rental, 2. Lease Option it, 3. Hold it for 1-2 years and see if it appreciates then sell it.

Deal or no deal??? Any suggestions on price, interest rate, etc??

My question is for wholesalers and flippers- I've been experimenting with different methods to shoot offers over to sellers. Some investors do it right over the phone. Others have a formal purchase offer form they send through email or snail mail. I'm interested to hear how you do it? What has worked best for you?

A very successful REI does it through snail mail. He includes a front cover to explain how he arrived at his number. He includes summary pages of comparable sales with his offer. The seller receives it through mail, has a moment to read in through and hopefully all their questions are answered right there regarding comps and how you got your number, then the buyer calls them to talk. It sounds a lot better then getting yelled at over the phone when you tell them your offer price, right??

I heard that some people make multiple offers to one seller. Like they give one seller three options to choose. I'm guessing that means they suggest owner financing and other creative real estate options... I'm not exactly sure what they do and I've tried to look more into that but cant really find anything on it. Does anyone use that method? I'm interested in giving that a shot too.

Sharon Vornholt Thank you so much for the details. I'm going to change my criteria for my next mailing.

K. Marie Poe Big thanks to you as well!!