All Forum Posts by: Stephen Booth

I use Mark Sizemore. He’s really good. Also a real estate investor and business consultant.

Quote from @Sean Wilt:

Hello,

Curious to get opinions on effectiveness of using postcards vs. hand signed and addressed letters for marketing.  I get the the post card route is way more efficient from a time perspective (although at twice the cost), but really wondering about response rates.   I feel like I get laminated post cards from multiple sources/industries almost every day and I just toss them without more than a glance. While a hand written addressed letter, I feel would get my attention a bit more.

I won't be doing thousands of reachouts initially, just 250 or so per month so while letters would be more time intensive, I am open to it if the response rate is better.

I do some of both. Postcards often take several rounds to get a call. I’m at about a 0.75% response rate on postcards but they’re $0.60 each
My letter response was around the same. I just setup a phone number to track my letter responses last month so I should have more accurate response rates in a few months. My cost per letter is $0.82 with postage plus my time to sign, hand address, seal, mail and document send dates in CRM. 

@Nadia Brown, what zip code is the property in? There are lots of C and D neighborhoods in that price range, especially 32204, 32206, 32209, 32254. There’s also lots of gentrification in those same zip codes.

@Ashton Fry, what’s the sellers motivation? Seems like purchase and rehab need to total around 750-800k. Even at that, LTR might be near break even. If they need the money now, I would try going back with a price that works and see what they say. If that’s not it, maybe a seller financing opportunity with a low down payment to get you through rehab?

If wholesaling or partnership is an option for you, I may have a cash buyer but 730k may still be too high. DM me if you want to chat more on it.

@Hector Serna, I'm also pretty new. I have my first BRRRR in progress and almost to the rent stage. Before closing on it, I too had 3 properties under contract. Like others have said, learn from each and keep trucking. Success will come if you improve from every experience.

Here's my path.

1. Near turnkey but still needed work. The seller had flipped and was wanting full ARV but cut a lot of corners doing it themselves. I realized I needed to improve my negotiating skills and find properties at the discount needed to force equity and get capital back for another deal.

2. Got it under contract, inspected with my contractor, made a second offer during inspection to account for everything we needed to work on. The seller gave me a "final counter" so I cancelled and watched it sell at a price that would've worked with a different exit strategy. I again realized I needed to improve my negotiating skills and to be open to more than one exit strategy.

3. Same as number 2. In this case, I got caught up in wanting it so bad, I agreed to a price that wouldn't work and waived the inspection period. Thankfully I kept a financing contingency, and I wasn't able to get the financing because the numbers didn't work. I learned to trust my numbers and not get too excited about getting something under contract. This one still has not sold 3 months later.

4. I found this one through a wholesaler referred by my GC, and I negotiated directly with them. I stood by my numbers and was more confident in the negotiation because I could ask real time questions and respond to counter offers in real time. I was even able to add a commission for my agent for helping me with other deals, even though he did not source this specific lead. Fast forward to now, I was expecting a 2-3 month rehab, and we're almost done before the 30 day mark. My contractor also found ways to save money so we should be about 10-12% under the original budget. I learned that agents can be amazing to help find deals and can help you learn (be sure to get them paid if they're good), and a great contractor can make a big difference, even if they cost a little more than the other guys.

Wow, that’s pretty deep Joseph. On the positive side there seems to be some kind of connection to an actual lender now. The negative side is that it’s a predatory lender. The Google reviews for First Electronic Bank are an interesting read.

@Sudharshan Natarajan, insurance in FL has become a big issue the last few years. You can do some quick searching on it to find more. Short story is billions of dollars in claims over the last few years from hurricane damage, billions in roofing claim fraud/lawsuits unrelated to hurricanes, many carriers becoming insolvent and unable to pay claims, and several carriers dropping policies in FL and not writing new ones in the state.

I have been using Invelo since it’s included with pro membership. I use it to find leads and add properties I see when driving. It includes $50/mo worth of services and you can use that to skip trace contacts. So far every skip trace I’ve done with Invelo is under $1. I called several owners last week.

I agree with Ned. I’m calling to buy and I don’t have a call center calling to say someone else will call with an offer. I’m the one offering directly and give them my number to call if they decide they want to sell.

Jason is right, I bought my primary residence with a down payment assistance program a few years ago. I had to be under a certain income to qualify, and must live in the property for a required period to avoid repaying. My DPA was forgiven at 20% per year for 5 years. FHA loans are often paired with DPA programs since they are low down payment.

BP has books on Mulitfamily investing and investing with low/no money down. Those are a great starting point to give you some ideas on how to get started.

You could find something you can house hack like a duplex or you can rent out spare rooms if it's SFR. Once you pass the 1 year mark or DPA requirement and build enough equity, you can refinance into a conventional and move up to a triplex or quad with another FHA loan and do it again and again until you build enough experience, good team members and access to capital to go into apartment complexes if large MFR is what you're after. Or you can just repeat that strategy, each time gaining small multi-unit properties and build a nice portfolio that way.

Hi BP,

I'm building a hard money lender network and came across someone with Frisco Financing in a Jacksonville RE Facebook group. Does anyone have any experience with Frisco Financing LLC based in Denver CO? The terms look good but all I've seen for reviews is from the website that was provided.

Thanks in advance!

Stephen