All Forum Posts by: Scott Johnson

Unless someone can prove otherwise, I’m fairly certain I was just scammed out of $3,400 by a supposed “Lead Provider.” I’m sharing my story so everyone can be aware and hopefully avoid the same experience.

I received a call from one of my ads that targets probate clients. The caller, William Silva, claimed to be a salesperson for a company called “Estate Legal.” He seemed legitimate at first, and I even had a few friends look over the materials he provided. Everything checked out.

They claimed that Estate Legal helps people through the probate process—especially those with a living will or those who’ve moved into a nursing home and need to sell their house. Supposedly, they connect sellers with brokers and homebuyers in each market. They also stated they only allow three brokers and three cash homebuyer “spots” in any given area, and they only move into areas where they can guarantee at least 600 leads per year. I was told there was already one broker signed up and no cash homebuyers yet, so it seemed like a good opportunity. After doing what I felt was enough research—even though the sales pitch was a bit pushy—I decided to move forward.

Their pamphlet outlined several guarantees and provided additional details. The only slight red flag was that they only accepted payment via Venmo or wire transfer, but that's how I accepted payment when I was selling lead bundles, so I still thought it was worth a shot. So, I wired the money. After that, they sent a few messages mentioning they were working with a couple of probates and would get back to me.

To date, I haven't received anything, and my attempts to reach them have gone unanswered. I recall looking up their LLC in Florida, even though some documents mentioned California.

If you’ve had any interactions with these people, please reply below and let us know your experience. I hope this helps keep others from falling into the same trap. Hope this helps, and God bless!

 Thanks, brother! I left him a voicemail. 

Looking to connect with people who understand vacation rentals on Lake Norman. Have a deal I'm analyzing, but I need some more insight as to how to get a solid ARV, since comps are sparse.

 At least you're getting in a shot 🤷🏻 Have you ever consider hiring someone to feel these calls and work directly with those new investors? You never know what the "I don't want to turn key" can turn into after you provide value. 

 I appreciate that, Kyle! I was also considering asking them if they would like to pay the 1500 month and get the renovations. That point I would have to put them up in a hotel or some temporary housing in order to get the place fixed up.

I'm looking at a duplex that has tenants in place. Each unit is rented for around $800, but market rents are $1500. The leases end in October and August, so if I were to buy it with a loan I would eat a part of the mortgage for four months on one property and six months on another. In order to get to the higher market rent, certain updates we need to be made to the units. The duplex has been hanging on the market for a while, likely to the aforementioned leases being in place.

My questions are: 

Would this be an opportunity you would look into buying, and why?
How do you handle the updates?
How would you handle the tenants?

Thanks so much!

Calling out to all property managers in the Toledo market. There's obviously some cries for education that aren't being filled in that area. Great marketing point to capitalize on and a way to create solid, long lasting relationships with new investors.

 Maybe. Too little information for us to be helpful.

Questions would include:

What is the rate of return on your stock market account?
What's the balance of your mortgage?
Are you planning to just let the money sit in your property, or are you wanting to deploy it?
If you're going to deploy it and you pay off your mortgage, what interest rate would you get if you found a property and wanted to buy it?

Unfortunately there isn't a simple yes or now. Best of luck! I hope this helps!

 4 Green Houses means one red hotel, brother. Another consideration is a 1031 exchange to a multi family unit. Be aware of that syndications where you are a limited partner do not count. Those are ownership stakes in the business that owns the property, not ownership in the property itself.

Quote from @Julian Sanchez:

All this time in this business and can't believe nobody at any seminar, meetup or event has shared this. in summary:

• Hired roofer did a bad job after paying him close to 30k

• City inspector PASSED and APPROVED the permit! Unbelievable 

• His insurance won’t cover because as it turns out commercial liability does not cover craftmanship defects 

they need E&O insurance for that, 

hard lesson learned, 95% of small contractors will not have E&O, it's an extra cost for them and only the larger construction companies carry it.

When doing big jobs always make sure your contractor/GC has this

Happy Investing (:

WOW! That's a hard lesson learned. Thank you so much for posting this. I'm making for darn sure that my roofers have errors and omissions insurance from now on. 

I really appreciate your using this lesson as a teaching experience for everyone else on BiggerPockets. Means a lot.