New Member from Florida

[Penny Kimbrell]

I am currently in the process of getting my Florida Real Estate license.  My husband is a contractor and we have completely renovated two homes one we lived in for 10 years and sold and the second being our current home, which we are considering selling to be able to invest in the real estate market.  Just trying to learn all I can before jumping into the real estate investing market. 

[Account Closed]

My advice to new investors is to start wholesaling properties. This does not require any money to start and to get deals closed.

First pick a neighborhood that you are either in or close to. Driver around all the streets and look for vacant houses. (Not by using Google maps because they can easily be outdated pictures) There should be some.

Then look in the county assessors website to find the owners. it should give their name and mailing address. Send them a letter (not yellow letter because they are getting dozens of them) telling them you found their house to be apparently vacant. But if it is obviously abandoned, say so in the letter. Tell them you will pay them cash for a quick close. Write it up as a personal letter.

When you do all that, then contact a local RE Agent to give you a list of all the houses in that neighborhood that have sold in the last 5 years with all cash. That typically is investors. Then again go to the assessors website and find their name and mailing address. Also do a name search on the assessors website to see how many other properties they own. If they own several they are obviously investors.

Once you get a response from the seller of the vacant house, negotiate a deal to buy it for all cash and get it under contract. Then immediately contact all the cash buyers you just found that buy properties in that neighborhood and tell them about the house and would they be interested in buying it. If you negotiate a good enough deal that pays you then complete the transaction with the investor to buy the house you have under contract.

Once you have done all that with that neighborhood, go to the next one and 'rinse and repeat.'

I hope this helps. I also have over 50 properties I'm marketing in central FL if you are interested.

Steve Anderson