Starting out in Utah

[Jeremy Eisenstat]

Hello all,

Jeremy here from Utah County.

I’ve been doing a ton of reading and studying about investing for a while now and I’m excited to get started. BiggerPockets seems like a fantastic community of investors.

I’m leaning towards wholesaling to start out but I’ve heard that’s difficult in Utah but also possible. I’ve also read some posts about some new stricter laws in regards to wholesaling and I’d really like to learn what I can and can’t do and which title companies are the best to work with, or if that makes a difference. I’d really love to fix and flip and buy long term rentals but I just don’t have the cash yet and I understand that hard money lenders are very expensive for new investors.

Any tips or legal advice for this area would be very helpful!

Thanks in advance!

[Kyle Pierce]

@Jeremy Eisenstat I wouldn't worry too much about the laws honestly. Go out there and start sending mail or writing letters to distressed homes that you find and start getting your phone to ring. Start setting up appointments and put houses under contract (this can be a simple one page contract that shows who's buying, who's selling, the address, the amount, any other terms, and signatures. After you get a house under contract take it to your title company and they will take care of the rest. When you try to market the property to your buyers, just be careful how you phrase things. Just say you have an assignment contract that will allow you to buy the property at xxx address, we are selling our right to purchase this contract. Or something like that. Mainly, focus on being honest and real with sellers and seeing how you can help them. 

There are plenty of ways to build a buyers list. If you have access to the MLS you can search for any homes that sold for cash and call/email those buyers and ask if they would like to be added to your buyers list. Go to the REIA meetings/meetups and take down everyone's email and phone number. Some REIA's even send out the guest list which has everyones contact info. Then just start talking about what you do with everyone and you're buyers list will grow over time. You can also build a website and do some SEO so potential buyers can find you and ask to be added to your buyers list. Going to the REIAs and Meetups is definitely the easiest way to build your list starting out.