All Forum Posts by: Jonathan Pflueger

@Jay Hinrichs

Mr. Hinrichs! Yes, I am still waiting to buy you dinner at the Trout Farm Inn the next time you are in town (when are you coming through - seems like you have to now the Trout Farm is back in business). The market is very niche, which compliments my marketing and style and is an extreme example of what niching down can do. But finding any sort of niche and exploring it is a very powerful thing. People value service and if you can find a way to truly serve people (a servants mindset) by adding value you will find deals, lots of deals.

With that said, I just took on a partner and we are working on a plan to expand into other local markets doing something similar. Just like the mountains (really San Lorenzo Valley) the outlying cities like Santa Cruz, Aptos, Monterey (and so on) are also very niche in their own way and especially when compared to the rest of the country.

@Zach Chilelli

Yes. I am calling off a custom list. However, because I live one of the most expensive areas in the US (if not the most expensive) I employ a different strategy than most cold callers. I realized that I cannot complete with all cash offers that are $1 million plus, zero contingencies, and various other advantages that institutional and very wealthy buyers have to their advantage. I knew I needed an edge that would matter more to the sellers in my market that those aforementioned advantages if I was going to acquire deals that I considered worth my time.

So, I niched down.

I focused on the mountains surrounding my area (still medium home price of $850k) and really got to know the sellers - who they are, what they do, and most importantly, what they value. My cold calling focused in adding value and not pushing a sell - I got to know the ones who might be interested and added them to my CRM. I spent the next 18 months nurturing those leads and the ones I was getting in-between until I finally got a deal. I started this 24 months ago and have since closed 4 deals, 3 off-market, with another one in contract this week. Overall this has netted over 3/4 of a million in equity in that time (sure, not a realized gain but still amazing) and produced true cash flowing properties.

There is an infinite amount of ways to get and attain deals. Not all of those ways work in every situation. The real magic happens when you can drill down and really tailor marketing to your audience. And then repeating over and over and over again.

I find all my deals off-market. I don’t go through wholesalers and very rarely do I go through an agent (though this does happen from time to time). I live in one of, if not the most, competitive market in the US and I still find deals.

I would recommend finding a niche and getting really good at that. For me, it was cold calling and relationship building. I took a long term approach and it paid off huge. In my market you can drop two deals a year and easily net half a million - so I focussed on quality and not quantity.

Cold calling is not for everyone but there are other methods. The point is, there are plenty of deals everywhere you just need to be in front of this deals (people) when they want to sell. Figure that out and you have got yourself a winning strategy.

Ask questions, ask questions, ask questions. There is usually always a reason for the way things are - more often than not people do not ask the simple “why” because they are too embarrassed, make assumptions, or simply prefer to ignore their knowledge gaps. The real deals in real estate are when you go straight to the source and ask WHY.

“Why questions” allow you to find out about issues you did not know existed, pain points that you can solve, and “black swan” desires that can net you amazing deals. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER assume a seller knows that they want, ask them and then ask them again in a different way. The more you know the better you can serve the seller and yourself.

Just like @Devante S. said, get to know the seller or agent by asking questions. Never assume something is a negative until you find the WHY behind it. Everyone else may be thinking the same thing you are and simply pass on the property and the one dude or dudette that asks why could fins the deal of a lifetime. This happens all the time in my market. ASK, ASK, ASK!!!

@Lyndsay Zwirlein

Yeah, I do not want it to hit my credit. 

@Eliott Elias

I will DM you, thanks. 

@Vinnie Da silva

Interesting. Do you know anyone who lends in CA that could do a debt service loan without a personal guarantee of any kind?

@Vinnie Da silva

Are there any debt service loans that do not require a personal guarantor? I would like to utilizze one of these loans for a short term rental property but I do not want to personally guarantee the debt. If the property has 70% or lower LTV does that make a difference?

@Kushaal Malde

Sure thing, I will DM you my number. Give me a call when you get the chance for a chat. 

@Roy Puli

I own property in Boulder Creek as well as Ben Lomond (5 minutes up the road) - great place to live and invest. I have lived in Ben Lomond most of my life. If you are interested in chatting about the area hit me up via DM and we can set up a phone call - I love talking real estate and will help out any way I can.