All Forum Posts by: Travis H.

I'm bracing for some pretty strong inflation in the coming years. If you look at historical money supplies and gold and silver "values," it is pretty clear, IMHO, that we are in the middle of a currency bubble right now. Also, there has never been a currency in the history of the world that has survived for much longer than 100 to 200 years. That being said, it don't think hyperinflation is necessarily imminent. I do think that we are certainly headed in down an inflationary path, and as investors should take heed. That doesn't mean, though, that we need to cash in all our chips and buy gold ounces, just that we need to weigh the effects of high inflation on each investment that we make. In this market, it think it is certainly a good idea to look for investments with strong ROI under steady conditions, as well as an upside in inflationary conditions.

ps - the Social Security Administration is not giving our seniors a COLA this year, because they claim there 'is not inflation.' Funny how my silver is "worth" about $30 per ounce today, and it was only "worth" $17 - $18 last January... Problem is, I can't find anyone that wants to rent my silver, or give me a 30 year fixed rate loan with low interest to leverage... :)

Just thought I'd toss in what I have learned so far with regards to rehab costs. I was in the same situation for quite some time, unable to come up with estimates, and trying to form strategic partnerships with general contractors who would give me a written estimate that they would honor if my buyer hired them.

Anyways, about a month ago, another wholesaler in my local area told me his rule of thumb - a full rehab, excluding foundation repair (which is common in Texas), should cost at or below $15 per square foot with a cost competitive general contractor, and closer to $17-$19 per square foot with a more expensive GC.

I took this rule of thumb and ran with it, comparing it to all of the emails from other wholesalers that I receive, and it holds true, at least in DFW. All of the wholesale deals that come across my email are about $12 - $14 per square foot.

So I'm using $15 per square foot and moving forward with that - all of your cash buyers should be coming up with their own estimates either through their own experience or with their GC anyways. If I overshoot the repairs, then I should just end up with a more satisfied buyer because he has an extra few thousand in profit.

If the house looks like it needs only half of a rehab, I might use $10 - $12 per square foot. Either way, I am not taking the time to itemize the rehab costs, I just want a quick and dirty so that I can market the property. I want to spend that time getting more houses under contract!!!

Kenneth, do you actually own and use on of these sign sledges? I have had that page and also the sign stapler bookmarked for several months but havent bought one yet.

Sounds like a pretty successful campaign to me. Was there any cost associated with obtaining the direct mail lead list? I browsed click2mail briefly but didn't buy anything. I think I'll be buying the same pre-foreclosure list next month that I got this month.

I definitely need to switch over to postcards, I didn't realize the postage was lower.

Where are you having them printed?

I sent out 161 hand written letters on monday to folks in Collin county whose homes are going up for auction on January 4th, and have only received one call so far :(

I don't think I can hand write many more letters than that, but I would like to be getting out 300+ letters per month.

Edward, what would you say is your average response rate with postcards? And how much are they costing you to produce?

Has anyone here purchased a list of leads from usleadlist and then sent them yellow letters?

What level of success have you had?

Thanks!

Can you give a few good examples of out clauses?

Scott,

Interesting point about enforceability! I think I'll have to remove that clause!

I've already spoken to my attorney once about it, but from a 10,000 foot view. He was the one that wanted to use the traditional TREC contract rather than a custom, concise contract. I was trying to explain the benefit of having a very short contract written in plain english, then I told him I wanted to make sure I was protected and that the contract would be solid for the buyers that I assign it so, and he said "don't you think the buyers would rather have the TREC contract?"

So, to bring this thread back to square one, the first thing that I need to determine is if the buyers would have a strong preference to get a TREC contract, or if they would be ok with a custom, concise contract. What do y'all think?

I'll be starting with FSBO and won't deal with REO or MLS properties listed by a Realtor.

I definitely have the earnest money deposit as sole remedy for failure to execute contract.

I will not have inspections or financing in the contract - in fact, I'll be trying a sales technique that involves having those clauses in the contract scratched out while we are contracting so that the seller feels confident I'm serious about the sale.

The exit clauses that I have in place are "subject to approval of Buyer's partners" and "subject to written approval of contractor's bids at Buyer's sole discretion"