All Forum Posts by: Philip Williams

As always the answer is it depends, do you have a crew you need to keep working or risk losing it to another flipper? Do you have a plethora of deals and this is just next in a long line, do you have 4 deals under contract to sell and your gonna have a huge pile of bank in the cash soon and need to spend some? I have manipulated numbers on offers based on my personal situation. When I have plenty of deals i'm working on i'm not buying anything that I don't think could be a home run. On the other hand when I haven't won a property in 2 months projects are finishing up you better believe my offers change and I accept a double or a base hit lol!

My experience personally has been horrible lol, I've only actually bought two deals from wholesalers. Neither one I ended up making more than 10 percent and to date are the two worst flips I've ever bought surprise! I'm on track to do about 10 flips this year and they could all be from one quality wholesaler, but they seem to be more interested in one huge profit rather than solid consistent business. 

I find off market distressed properties several ways, first I physically go to judicial auctions 5 days a week. I also go to sheriff sales courthouse sales etc. I also drive for dollars as it's called, since i'm always out looking at auction properties I find a ton of for sale by owners. I also work with a few realtors and have been brought off market deals by them as well. I think the main point i'm trying to make you kinda proved with your statement. If your having a heck of a time where you can physically go manage everything imagine the stress if you were a plane ride away instead of a car ride. Managing flips is an art in an of itself, managing from a distance especially without a team in a nightmare. If you think moving cities is going to make contractors more reliable I am sorry to disappoint you, if they know you are out of state you will be there last priority. 

It depends how hot is your market? If it's anything like the ones we are flipping in I would estimate your success rate at around 0 percent lol. Not to discourage you but we put in nothing but all cash offers everyday and usually don't even get a response because they want highest and best and no offers for first 7 days etc. In hot markets realtors have to incentive to sell low for cash even on highly distressed assets. 

The biggest disadvantage to installing a flat roof is the drainage, or lack thereof. Flat roofs do drain, but not nearly as efficiently as a roof with any kind of pitch.

Whatever you do don't buy out a small bookstore with the intent to donate them to local schools and libraries. If you do however do that make sure not to have them unloaded in your parking spot in the garage. If you also do that well I think you get the idea......it sounded like such a great plan help the schools help the libraries not my best charitable effort lol 

Man this is a complicated question lol, Dodd-Frank has restricted overall loan making by banks making it much more difficult for smaller businesses and new investors to secure favorably priced loans. It has also created banks that are too big to fail and consolidated some of the banks which has resulted in the elimination of some community and smaller banks. A couple that I deal with have hired compliance officers to deal with the regulations. Most investors I know would rather there small community banks be hiring more lending officers rather than more compliance officers lol. Also it limits the products that small local community banks were "famous" for being able to make. Whether or not I agree with Dodd Frank overall is a subject for another day but these are definitely some of the arguments smaller real estate investors might make in favor of repealing hope this helps!

@Cynthia Miller Hey have you ever done flips before? I think everyone should flip close to home before trying to flip long distance. I see your from Michigan which certainly isn't a crazy expensive market like California or anything. I am almost positive you can find off market deals within an hour of your house, chasing after a hot out of state market is likely a mistake. You will run into higher entry costs, will have a harder time finding contractors which is difficult from any distance and then once you find them holding them accountable and checking up is harder as well. Not that this all can't be done but for someone without a team in place it is often much easier to build a team where you live and can visit the property. 

Not sure if this is even feasible but an insurance company might be interesting. Much the same as how you get a discount if you bundle your home and auto, what if we could leverage the millions of units owned by bigger pockets members to get us all a discount. We could argue our insurance costs should be lower because we are pro members, we know how to screen tenants etc. 

@Jorge Vega Well thanks lol I have always wanted to be someone's hero! Since it looks like you are in cook county have you ever checked out the judicial auction there? There are always a bunch of properties daily you should check it out.