All Forum Posts by: Mike Watkins

Do you need a real estate license for each state that you intend to do virtual wholesaling?

Hi Guys, I just want to say thanks to ALL who have helped me on my journey starting out in REI. I've been a bit discouraged before this post but I got re-motivated and got on so BP so here I am to explain that:

I'm a new wholesaler & I have an home owner and a cash buyer responding to my basic follow up but my next steps consists of merging these two contacts together. I'm not sure how to be the most efficient in this situation. Please Help!

Hello BP my name is Brian Roberts, in 2016 I have made the jump to pursue a career in real estate. Joining the BP community I hope to gather knowledge and build relationships in the real estate industry. As a newbie I am sure i will make some mistakes and give you guys a laugh or two along the way, maybe asking repetitive questions that you probably hear all the time. My previous experience was in the golf industry. As a former PGA professional giving lessons and talking with members/guests who are in the real estate business (wholesaling specifically) I became interested immediately. As a creative thinker and a people person looking for a career outside the cubical or office desk this grabbed my attention. Well here we go! thank you for reading and hope to make some new friends quickly!

Hey all, I wasn't sure where to post this. Got a hairy situation...

I'm a licensed agent here in Ohio, and recently started looking into a local abandoned property for a friend. I used public records to figure out the owners are an elderly couple living in Georgia. The property taxes have been paid on time through their mortgage lender and are current.  I used every possible "person locator" online and found their Georgia address but no valid phone #. I sent a postcard to their Georgia address but no reply.  I saw they owned another property here in town, and that property actually had a name and phone # listed for a local rental contact person from 2010.  I contacted the number, expecting it to be disconnected, but the woman actually answered. I very nicely told her I was interested in this abandoned property, and saw her name was on the owners' other property, and asked if she might have contact information for the owners. She immediately got extremely defensive and wouldn't really talk or answer any of my questions. She told me that tenants were going to be moving in soon (which I knew was a lie--this property has been vacant too long for someone to be "moving in soon").  She finally very abruptly ended the call with something to the effect that she is buying the property, and they have a recorded land contract. I noted the fact that she said "recorded", as in with the county recorder.  I didn't believe a word this woman said and knew something fishy was going on.  I searched for a land contract on this property on the county recorder site and unsurprisingly found nothing.

I googled her name and found a local newspaper article about a property she owned burning down and she didn't address it nor could be reached for comment. She owns a couple rentals in "less than desirable" areas of town, meanwhile living in a mansion in a nice suburb.

I know this lady is up to no good. My hunch is that she's collecting some sort of property management fee from this couple, and/or telling them it's rented for X and only sending them Y amount that she's collecting from some other property--basically she's figured out some way to profit off this couple. They probably have no idea this place has fallen into such disrepair since they're old and live many states away. I also noticed it was listed on the MLS like 3 different times from about 2005-2009, so they tried selling it in the past.

So I'd like some advice as to what I should do next?  Do I call an attorney? The police?  The real estate commission?  My friend still wants to buy the property so I just want to find the owners and make sure this lady isn't taking advantage of them!

Looking for a good cash flowing market for a long term buy and hold rental property in the 100-150k range, no war zone, good neighborhood. 

Atlanta was first on my list, but after some research quickly learned that there are massive amounts of rental properties and it is tough finding any tenant, much less a good one. There is heavy institutional investing in the area and it is tough finding deals there in general. 

Is there any opportunity left here? Where are better areas to find long term buy and hold properties around Atlanta? and if not Atlanta, which states/markets are best?

Thanks

I'm not sure if I'll get any serious answers but I thought this was worth a shot.... 

Where do I want to market to in Atlanta? I'm working with a partner and trying to iron out a farm area. We are looking for wholesale, flip, and rentals. Looking to drop 3-5k pieces of mail a month. 

If you're looking for deals I'd appreciate any help!