All Forum Posts by: Walt Payne

@Jay Hinrichs  I think a lot of us could use that kind of training. Having been an instructor in the military, I learned quickly to "wing it" to communicate effectively with people, so I do better than many. But I know I could learn a lot from someone who knows the techniques that help sell. 

That said, I think your point about it being interpreted as "guru-ish" would make it a hard sell to the investor community, but coming from an established member of the community would certainly help.

@Jerald Alford  I start by checking recently sold listings on Realtor.com. Then as much as it is totally worthless for it's estimated value for a home, Zillow can be useful to get comps using the sold listings also. That gets me the initial guestimate. Then after all analysis is done if it looks good I get my realtor to pull comps.

 George, you should have linked to the one from next week, too ... oh wait you can't ... yet.

@Cyndi Fleming  The only thing you need to be aware of if an agent is already involved is:

DON'T DO IT!

@Kim Book  In my opinion wholesaling is not a good starting point. It is what many say to do to start, bit I don't think it is a good place. It takes a lot of knowledge about the neighborhood, ARVs, repair values, and to do it more than casually it involves marketing money. It can be done by a beginner, but that is where the negative comments come from, people doing it who simply have no clue.

My expectations are that the same things I would look at under due diligence will be presented to me up front so that I can evaluate the deal quickly. I want ARV, with actual comps provided. Documented cost of repair, including good pics of all repairs needed.

@Johann Jells No answers for how to make them pay, without a lease. But hit it with oil based Killz as a primer. That will help your coverage immensely when you try to paint over it.

 That is dependent upon state and local laws. Florida had that issue due to interpretation, but it has been corrected. Now you just need to know how to apply the money, and to know if you need to inform the court.

 Joe, besides fly-by-night companies, those who think they are too big and important to deal with customers directly don't list phone numbers. eBay and Paypal may or may not have them now, but I know a few years ago I could not find a way other than sending an email to an auto-responder and waiting for an answer. It sucks, but arrogance abounds and some companies think their time and expense is a priority over customers.

@Account Closed  Congratulations, that is a lesson that takes some people years to learn. And .... you acted. Great first steps.

Welcome to BiggerPockets. You will find this to be a great resource, and a very helpful community.

I bought a property, tore down the wreck that was there and built new. Two years later as I have tried selling it I am fighting Zillow to get it straight because they still list all of the old info, including list price, rooms and bedrooms, etc etc ... and they would not fix it. Of course when potential buyers see $95K for a property listed at over three times that it doesn't make it easy to sell. And I wish I could say this was unique, but it is typical of them.