All Forum Posts by: Michael Miele

@Jats A.

I'm in central Massachusetts and we use JK cabinets. If you google JK cabinet New Jersey it should come up. They have dealers all over. The prices are very reasonable. 3/4 boxes with soft close drawers and doors. Lots of accessories to really make the kitchen pop. I pay the extra $10 per cabinet to have the factory assemble them. You can assemble them yourself if you want to save the $$. Good luck.

@Richard McDonald

Have you looked into Entry Only listings. You can search online for entry only agents in your area. Typically they charge you a flat fee for putting the listing on MLS. you handle all the calls and showing requests and negotiate any offers. You do have to offer compensation to a buyers agent, in my area people go as low as 2% to a buyers agent. In this case you get your listing in MLS and all the major websites that pull listings off MLS like Realtor.com etc... and you only have to shell out the buyers agent fee. I'm a Realtor and sell my own rehabs also and I think the more buyers you can get the listing in front of, the better chance of a bidding war you may get.

@John Ma

Besides scrolling through MLS everyday, I drive for $$. I have a letter typed out explaining how we buy houses etc... I sign the letter, handwrite the envelope and drop it in the mailbox. I send a letter to any house that looks distressed and I even go after expired listings that way. I think the handwritten envelope is a little more personal so the owner will be more likely to open it opposed to a flyer/postcard.

I've never bought through a wholesaler but would like to start. 

@Creig Leu

I would fix and flip the house. Separate the 2 other lots, if they aren't already, and sell the lots to a builder. The reason I flip is because it only takes a few months from purchase to resale. Building typically takes 4-6 months of construction then another 1-2 months to sell. Good luck. 

@Brandon Weedon

I'm not in your area. I'm in Massachusetts, but I would highly recommend obtaining your license and trying to join a reputable firm in your area. You want to find a company that offers weekly and/or monthly training. I started in 2008 and went to a large firm and they started me from the bottom and walked me through everything. The manager was there for my first deal helping me every step of the way. After working there for a year and learning as much as I could about the business I started my own company with my father and now we focus mainly on buying properties for us to flip. The time I spent with the large firm definitely gave me the knowledge I wouldn't have got from a small local company. Hope this is helpful. Good luck in your journey.

John, thanks for your response. 

I'm also a realtor and know a lot of realtor in the area. They all know that we invest in distressed homes. I've received a few calls on leads from other realtors, but it was for properties they were putting on MLS. Back in the day Realtors used to find off market deals for their buyers but with there being so many people looking for flip homes, the realtors are not working in the best interest of the seller if they don't get it on MLS for everyone to see. Almost every potential flip on MLS gets a bidding war and the price gets driven up to where its not worth buying it. I've lucked out to where the past few deals I've done have been word of mouth but theres got to be another avenue to explore to find deals.

Hello All,

I stumbled upon this website this morning and I think this is going to be helpful for me. Just a quick background on me before I get to my reason for writing this. I have a full time job outside of Real Estate. My real passion is for RE investing and most of all Flipping houses. My father and I have a Real Estate office that we use to help family and friends purchase and sell their homes. We also use that company to purchase and sell our flips through MLS. Our flipping company consists of myself, my wife, my father and my mother. My father gc's the flips, my wife and mother design them. I do what I can before and after my full time job, which makes for long days, but well worth it.

So, my question is for everyone out there, how do you find flip properties without them being on MLS? The properties on MLS are good but with everyone else bidding on them, the prices are getting to be to steep. In the past we have sent out letters and called expired listing for potential flips but most of the time we never hear back. There has to be a way to contact potential flip properties before they get on MLS. I'd love to hear how others do this and how successful you are at acquiring flips. We like to work about 30 minutes from Marlborough, MA 01752 so if your outside that area, we would not be in competition with you.

I look forward to reading the responses,

Mike Miele