All Forum Posts by: Stephen Barton

Honestly I would say that you can just use a one page purchase agreement and close with a title company or closing attorney. That's it really. Nothing special about buying unlisted properties. Just make sure you do your due diligence and you are on! You can do it. Just have faith and make sure the numbers work for you. Plan for contingencies is always wise.

@Roy Vereen I used list source.com but the best way is to have MLS access and get them yourself. This will cost you money to start but will save you money on buying a list. Cost for around 1200 absentee owners was around $240. Well worth the money spent considering I have 2 deals from it already and still have some in the works. Good luck! Feel free to message me with any questions!

@Don 

@Don Harris I believe we are going to meet every month. You can join the meetup here: Indy BP Meetup. Hope to see you at the next one. You can also contact @Taylor Jennings  who is the event coordinator. He might be able to answer any questions you may have. 

I have only been making deals happen in the last few months. But, I have to say, you are not going to buy every house that an owner calls your phone. I know I want to, but there are so many reasons why you shouldn't. I just want to encourage other beginners to just be honest in your approach over the phone. Today, I had a seller who had lost her son a couple of years ago and was left with the house. I think Ben Grise said it a few times in podcast show #91. He said to establish rapport with sellers. Man, that is so true when talking with a woman who lost her son tragically. I mean, if I was a shark and called her up just giving her my price and telling her the house is worth nothing-what would that say about who I am? I was able to give her options on what could be done in her situation. This was such an "ah ha" moment for both me and for her. She realized that she was talking to someone who genuinely cared about what she was going through and someone who really isn't all about the money! I hear people say that, but I really want to see the best for people. Sometimes the best for someone is for them to list with a regular real estate agent for the top dollar the property can bring in. 

I think if we can give advice and guide someone on what is best for them and not us. Then, we will really win (in the end). You see, she may run into someone else someday who really needs my service and she may give them my number and I may get a sale someday. If not, I can at least sleep at night knowing I gave the best advice to the ones who are around me. If we are all about the numbers and not about the people-then we will fail! It all comes back around. You do good, then good things will come back to you. If you do bad things to people, bad things tend to find their way back to you. I am so proud to be apart of a community that promotes positive actions in each other. New investors please take note:)

@Shawn Holsapple  will do. I will put you on it now. It was good to see you at the meetup and maybe I will see you next week.

@Patrick Britton my business partner sent letters to them. Then they called me about the details. A letter was sent saying that we understand you have bought properties in this area and we thought you might be interested in a property that we have for sale in the same neighborhood. You would have to have MLS access and choose cash transactions in last year or six months in the area you are working in. It was a great strategy and I believe we will continue to use this as often as possible!

I know there is nothing that I could possibly come up with that has not been done before, but I really want to share this idea. My business partner and I were having some trouble finding a buyer for one of my wholesale deals that we have. Thankfully he is experienced and I am learning the in's and out's of investing. He got on the MLS and found all the cash buyers within a mile radius of where our property sat. Sure enough we had 2 inquiries and after talking to two different buyers I was able to get a purchase agreement signed. We would have been lucky to get 2k off of this deal. We were even wondering if we could sell this house. Experience pays off and we found a buyer who was willing to accept our asking price with no negotiation! Wow! I am just so thankful for BP to have linked up with such great people in my area who really want to help one another out. Really we all are in competition but the comradery between the Indianapolis group of real estate investors that have come together because of BP is incredible. So, if you think you just have to settle on what you will wholesale a deal for or if you think you need to accept the first buyer that shows interest in your property-think again! We will be able to split a decent amount because we bought it right, and we left enough "meat on the bone" for the next person. Here's to the BiggerPockets Indy group-Salute!

@Myles Coles while I am not a seasoned wholesaler I have put some deals together. I would like to say it doesn't matter how much you read or ask questions real world experience is worth a thousand years of reading content. You are doing all the right things and I would just want to encourage you to just get out there and do it. I had to just be scared, pull the trigger, and make things happen. That was me, and your situation may be different. It is not rocket science and as long as the numbers work, and you have a property that you can buy and a buyer that wants the deal-fall forward! You can do this. You have an entire community of people to talk to here. Feel free to colleague request me and I will help you in any way I can. I spent my first 6 months analyzing, reading, and asking questions before I decided to make some real moves. I am so thankful I just got out there and started doing it. Man, I could have just played it safe and would be still sitting on the sidelines today. Thankfully, I am taking baby steps. Just work on a solid buyer's list(which I am still working on) and then BUDGET for the next 6 months on marketing. You have to be able to let people know what you can do for them. So my advice is to save some dollars to send out some marketing of your choice. I use letters, but your market could be different. I am here to help you so colleague request me and we can talk if you want. Good luck to you! You have got this!

@Account Closed thank you for the vote! I just wanted to give Jynell a reference for what she has done for me to say thank you but the system will not allow you to do so. Or is there a way? 

I had a legal issue come up with some title work that I did not know how to handle and wow! @Jynell Berkshire was there to answer my questions and really educate me on the difference between a surplus sale and a tax sale. She is incredibly brilliant and not to mention very affordable. I just want to let anyone know that if they are in Indianapolis and they have an eviction, or any Legal Real Estate issue-you have now been informed. So many professionals out here are just concerned about their bottom line, but Jynell is not one of those people. She really took the time to guide me through a tough situation and after calling around for different legal services, she beats the competition by a landslide! Plus, she has been doing evictions so often that she has been able to build a rapport with the local judges and clerks of marion county. Anyone who is in need of real estate legal services should feel honored to have Jynell working for them!