All Forum Posts by: Sharon Vornholt

I'm pretty good at time management Josh, but I'm basically a "solopreneur" building two businesses with some outsourcing. I'm looking for another VA at this time.

Bill Gulley. I have put several properties under contract that had existing code violations and fines attached to them. The first thing that I did was call up the code official, introduce myself and tell him my plans and my time frame for getting the work done. I was always able to begin a good working relationship with that person and get extensions of time and get the fines stopped.

I just never took the next step to ask about properties that the city has that they might want to sell, and how I might be able to help them with this problem. That's a great suggestion.

@Josh Dorkin. I think the problem for a lot of us is simply that we have too many irons in the fire. It's easy to look up find that you have spent an hour or more just taking in all the articles, comments etc. There is no doubt that it's a great place to learn and participate in discussions with "great minds".

I have used cash for key to get tenants out in the past that didn't pay the rent rather than go through the eviction process. Maybe they are miserable too and would go for this. If this is the case you could cancel the lease, give them back their deposit and some cash to move.

@Michael. You will get your fair share of folks that have nice houses, that want to list the house and get retail. That is no different than any other niche. You are looking for the motivated sellers. Different people take differnt lengths of time to grieve and even start the process. Remember that even after the houses are listed for what they think they should sell for, some will call you in 12 - 18 months when the houses are not sold. I keep them on my list especially if I think their price is unrealistic. You have to let them get tired of paying the gas and electric, cutting the grass etc.

I just closed one 10 days ago where the lady had every one of my letters I sent over a whole year. They just couldn't get around to cleaning out their mom's house which was a disaster by the way. It took them that long to even make the call. I told them to take what they wanted and leave the rest; I would clean out the everything else. This is often the thing that will get the deal. Find out what it is that they need or want in addtition to the cash in the house.

Family members working with estates often take a long time to "begin". Some won't even open the probate process for a year or more after the death. You want to be the person that is still sending letters when they are ready to finally sell.

I have found that probates are no different than any other strategy in that you wll get 85% of you DEALS after the 4th and subsequent mailings.

@Bill. You were right to bring up the SAFE Act of 2008, Anyone that is even thinking about seller financing, should understand these regulations, because there are some hefty fines. It is very hard to seller finance a house unless unless you are a mortgage person, or it is an investor to investor transaction.

So long as the lights are on in the house, I don't think you have to have an expensive camera. I get great pictures and video with my Kodak flip camera. All I'm trying to do is to get a few pictures of the house to pass on to my investor buyers.

@Ryan Webber. I think each person has to run their business the best way for them. I have no problem anyone with getting a the best price possible for their properties, myself included.

Like you, my business model is that I sell at a discount. I am in the business to build long term relationships and make a to profit at the same time. I sell to the same buyers time after time because I have taken great care to build a good solid reputation. In the example that I mentioned, this particular person knew that he was dealing with an inexperienced investor and he had a long pattern of doing this with out of town buyers. Unfortunately, there are those people in every area. I wasn't implying that anyone on this forum is doing that.

I think there are many differnet business models, and there is no right or wrong way to run your business. A lot depends on your location, your market and your circumstances at each particular time you do a deal.

@K. Marie Poe -

I market regularly to absentee owners, and I have dealt with a lot of people from California and other high priced areas.

Back when property was so expensive in CA, they thought buying a house in Louisville for 80K was a steal. The problem was that the houses were only worth 30-40K at the top of the market. By the time they decided to sell them, they were worth 15-20K or less. They got screwed on the day they closed the deals by the agent or investor that sold them the houses.

In one case, after being taken for a ride by the property manager he just gave up. The houses were vacant too long, they were vandalized and the copper was stolen out of several houses. One of the properties he purchased had serious structural problems. But because the agent that sold it to him wasn't ethical and he himself was not experienced, he ended up with a property that was almost impossible to sell. He should have had an inspection on this property.

I managed to get these properties under contract and wholesale them for what the market would bear which was less than 20K in each instance. He brought almost 50K to each of 4 closings to get out of the mess he was in. I begged him to just hold on for a few years, but he just wanted out. I felt terrible for this guy, but he blamed no one but himself for the mess he was in.

I have one real estate investor on my list that has over 200 SFH plus numerous multi-million dollar commercial buldings. He will pay me a fair price any day based on the ARV and the formula. Could I get a newbie to pay more? Probably. But like @Nathan Paisley, I make good money on each house and just move on. I'll make 10 or 15K on a house all day long.

At the end of the day, I have to know that I made ethical choices on how I ran my business that day.That's just my personal feeling.

@K.Marie Poe I did misunderstand you. If I had a house that didn't need a complete rehab - more of a "wholetailing" situation, then the MLS would bring more money. Most of what I wholesale are homes that are in bread and butter neighborhoods that need quite a lot of work. They are not for newbies.

The folks on my buyer's list are experienced rehabbers and landlords, and they are a great source of cash buyers for me. I have found that in my area whether the house comes from a wholesaler or the MLS, experienced investors are going to follow the 70% formula either way.