All Forum Posts by: Matt Devincenzo

Thanks Bill, that's exactly what I was wondering. I work in a professional type office (engineering) and we get cold calls for people wanting us to spec their product for our clients, and they never make it past the front door because that's not how it works, our developer clients tell us what they want, and we design for them not the other way around.

So I was hung up on how someone like an atty was going to just want to spend time talking to a "salesman" that just dropped by.

Thanks Bill Gulley , it was just in a long (a very long) list of possible sources on one of the other threads here in someone else's post a few months back.

You were one of the posts I had read that suggested cold calling that was a good way to start getting leads with the different atty suggestions. So you would cold call note holders directly, and for professionals that can refer a note do direct mail ect to generate leads from them.

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/70/topics/81157-how-to-find-notes-worth-investing-in

So I've begun researching purchasing notes, and found a few different threads with the suggestion of cold calling people that are in contact with note holders. Bankruptcy attys, financial planners, CPAs, title companies and the list goes on and on. Now other than an afternoon and the risk of rejection in person, I've figured out this is probably the best way to start finding note leads.

Now as I'm beginning to plan this out I find myself with a question. When you call on say a CPA and you walk in and his secretary is there, how do you get face to face with him for a couple minutes to actually talk about what you're looking for. Obviously just dropping off a business card with the secretary is not as effective as taking 5 minutes of his time.

So what do you do once you're in the door to "seal the deal" with the person you really need to talk to?

Look at it this way, what good is a co-signer without a social? No social means no credit hit so no motivation to repay you. And the id just proves that the card they handed you belongs to the person in the picture.

I'd even tell them exactly like that why it is you ask for the info. I think today there are some younger people that have been indoctrinated with the identity theft fear so they assume anyone asking for a social is out to get them, unless you're a bank, credit card, rent to own furniture place or cashier offering store credit; they're all above board upstanding business members so they're ok. ;)

I think I have seen one of these that a REA pulled for me when I was considering purchasing a residence out here. Basically it showed when different loan/refi's had been done and tax infor, so kind of a mini title report. I agree with Ned Carey I don't think I'd be basing a purchase on one.

I also googled it and came up with the below website for LA that looks like it gives you some information on documents that are associated with that address or parcel. Below is their disclaimer, again I don't think I'd buy a property based solely on that.

http://www.permitla.org/parcel/

The purpose of this application is to allow easy access and visual display of city parcel legal and zoning information as a convenience to our customers. Every reasonable effort has been made to assure the accuracy of the data provided; nevertheless, some information may not be completely accurate and more importantly, it may need to be properly interpreted by city staff. The City of Los Angeles assumes no responsibility arising from the use of this information and it is provided without a warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. We do not recommend basing important business, legal, or real estate transactions solely on this information without receiving validation and interpretation of the data from staff at your nearest LADBS branch office.

And here is a different cities description of a property profile.

Property Profile is designed to provide the public with useful information about a parcel's location and jurisdiction, General Plan designation, Zoning, and other data of interest.

Ok Dave Kay I'm going to part way answer this and I'm not sure how useful it will be, but hopefully gets you thinking about where to get all the answers. I know some of the answers for other areas not SoCal, again may not be as useful but hopefully gets you pointed in the right direction.

First on you pulling the permit, your friend is halfway right from my experience. A homeowner can legally pull any permit to do all the work on their own house normally. However I found out on one of my rehabs that some cities/counties in my area(FL) will not allow you to pull permits for a home you are not intending on living in even if title is in your name. The local permitting office would not issue me a permit for a rental if I did not intend on living there, so the simple answer to your question on that one is to call the local office and find out what they will allow.

As to the HML that would most likely be up to them. If it was me as the lender I would not allow it because my collateral is now at risk. Unless I had a past relationship with the borrower and and contractor and knew he could perform I wouldn't let it go that route.

Now on that permit issue and on the HML thing there is a solution to both with one step. I have a contractor that will pull permits for $500, he knows and referred me a handyman that does great work. So he is comfortable doing this because we have always performed, and he knows the person working under his license does quality work.

If my rehab is all cosmetic, then I just use the handyman like normal and save the $500, if not then I give my guy a call and he comes out and pulls everything I need and we are covered. So in your instance I would do that again, and both issues are solved.

Hope that gets your wheels turning in the direction of a solution, and welcome to BP.

Matt Bill Gulley's advice above is great, try to spend this next year until your 18 slowly chipping at those suggestions to be prepared for getting involved once you legally can.

Also maybe start your "plan" a few months before you turn 18. Figure out how you're going to be building your buyers list, and where you will be marketing for deals and get any prep work out of the way for those so when you do turn 18 you're ready to start right away. Decide what marketing materials you want to use and who you can get them from, what kind of a list you might want to use ect. Learn the neighborhoods now, research what areas are better buy and hold or flip areas so you can start with a solid knowledge base. It might also cause you to reevaluate what it is you want to do and clarify what your goals are as you move forward.

Also in all of RE there are negotiations that are going to be taking place, practice those now with friends and family. It will seem kind of corny maybe, but ask anyone you know that owns a house if you can sit down and act like they're a motivated seller and just work through talking to them as if you're going to be buying their house. This will help you not be as nervous sitting down with your first seller and trying to negotiate a price. Also it will help you learn how to "justify" your price reductions to a homeowner.

Welcome to BP and wish you all the best in your endeavours.

Dejan N. not to hijack the thread, but what is score wizard and how does rapid rescore work?

This is the first time I've heard about it so it's some info I'd like to know about and keep in my back pocket if the time ever comes that I needed it.

Yeah that wouldn't really fly...look at it this way if you have to put "primary residence" it probably doesn't qualify as your primary residence.

If it shows as settled then probably not.

I think you can try to dispute through the credit agency and the party with the negative entry has I think 30 days to respond or you can request it be removed.

Honestly though probably your best bet is just give it time.