All Forum Posts by: Sharon Vornholt

Eric -

You absolutely don't need an office.

You can just put the house under contract with the seller while you are at the house. I always get permission to put a lock box on the house to show it (the properties are almost always vacant). If by chance they go home to "think about it", you can either fax or email the contract to them. I do that a lot too.

Then I send my investor buyer over to look at the house. Once they have agreed to buy the house, I just email the contract, and they mail the deposit check to me. I generally work with the same people over and over again.

If the buyer happens to be new to me, I would probably meet him at the house, at Starbucks or another similar place. I get the contract signed and get the check. It they don't know you and have any hesitation about giving you a check, just have them make it out to the closing attorney or title company.

My next step is to email both contracts over to my closing attorney. they run the title and in a couple of days, we set up a closing time.

There is no "right amount" to mark up the property - or an amount that is too much. You should be buying every property using the standard formula which is 65-70% of the ARV (after repaired value), less repairs, less your wholesale fee. This is your MAO or maximum allowable offer.

If the seller names a price that is lower than your MAO, then more power to you. You have just made more money. You can find a ton of info on this topic here at this site and also on my blog and other blogs.

@K. Marie-

I agree with you 100%. You make a much better spread just calling up a cash buyer from your buyer's list, and it's a whole lot easier. Everything gets complicated when you add the MLS, agents and extra steps. I only did that once, and unless I can't just sell a deal I probably won't do it again.

Building up a buyer's list just isn't that hard to do. And once you have some active investors with cash, it just can't be any simpler. Put the house under contract, resell it to your cash buyer and move on in 10 days or two weeks.

I think it was Ryan that said "investor buyers from the MLS end up whining like retail buyers". That is so true. Working with a Realtor that looks for deals on the MLS is how a lot of investors get started, and there is nothing wrong with that. But all new investors are inexperienced and are slow to make decisions. We were all at that stage at one time, but happily now I can choose to work with experienced investors that walk through the property and call me to say they wuill buy it.

Another thing about only working on the MLS; that's where everyone is. I much prefer to do my own marketing and not have to chase deals that a dozen other investors are chasing. There's not much competition in my world.

Brian - In my area the average house sells for about $160K. Those figures are very different in California and some other states.

Assuming you are the listing agent and someone else sells your listing, you only get 1/2 of 6% in KY or about $4800 (less what your broker gets which might be half). In theory, you could only be left with $2400 for your hard work. Even if you get the whole $4800, that's a whole lot less than most wholesale fees. I can easily get $10-11K on a low end house (under 70k). It would be more like $20K on a higher value house. For me, this business is just a whole lot easier than being a Realtor.

Any reputable wholesaler will have no problem providing you with the names of other investors that they work with and the people they do thier closings with. And yes, you should check.

Like any other plumber, contractor, electrician... you fill in the blank, there are the good people and bad people in any group.

If you are a reputable wholesaler like me, you will have people calling YOU to get on your list. No where than in real estate investing is your reputation so important.

If I were you I would learn to wholesale. There is plenty of information right here on BP about this strategy. Wholesaling is one strategy where you need little or no cash of your own. Put this cash away and build your down payment.

Join your local REIA if you haven't already done that. Network with those experienced investors and learn from them. They sell houses all the time and carry back financing. You may be able to find a multi-family (in this group) that meets your desired criteria.

If you do this and spend the upcoming years rebuilding your credit you will be in a much better place than today.You just have to remember that this is "just a season in your life". This to will pass. Just spend this time getting for your future success.

I would use that money to make downpayments on 5-6 single family homes in good neighborhoods (that were great deals). Then I would work on paying those off by wholesaling other deals.

@RussWalk. Great job!

I just finished up a video interview series on my blog called "Escaping the 9 to 5; How I Did It". These interviews were with investors just like you - regular folks. It's great that you are sharing your story. People need to know that it really is possible to escape the "rat race".

In my area we do simultaneous closings routinely. One reason may be that we close with attorneys rather than in title companies. They don't have a problem with them. Since they already have certified funds in place for the B to C closing, there is no chance the A to B closing won't get funded and closed.

@K.Marie Poe. I see your problem. Do you work absentee owners too?

Marie -

I have someone that pulls the decedent up on the PVA to verify that there is real property. In my area, there are never as many as half that don't have property.

Even if they are listed as living in a nursing home, we still pull them up. A lot of those people still have property that they own. I usually end up with 60-85 leads per month. (We remove all of the ones that have spouses too). Some of these folks will list the house as it will just be too nice. But then again, if it sits on the market long enough, I will get a call when they have finally become motivated.

I live in a city that is smaller than yours. We probably have less than a million in population including nearby counties. I personally get good results from probates. They have a house they don't want; they just want the cash from the house so they can be very motivated. I also target absentee owners which are a great source of leads for me.