What are the best ways to find investment deals in Nashville?

Question

How are you finding deals? MLS? Knocking on Doors? Mailers? Software?

Jill DeWit · Answer

@Benson Juarez

Great question! My answer: software (for data) and mailers.

15,000 wholesale deals later...here is what we do:

We pull assessor data (we have a direct link) of the type of properties in the areas we want and send ALL owners an offer. (Not just out of state or tax delingquent. We hit them all.)

We scrub out the properties with a mortgage and spend a tremendous amount of time on pricing. Why? Because although these offers may be a lot less than retail, they are not out of the question. We explain in our offer letter to sellers that we are serious, we are not agents/brokers, we pay cash, and are prepared to close in as soon as x days. Then we sit back and wait for the serious, motivated sellers to call us.

Works like a charm. And that is how we GET THERE FIRST.

By the time a deal reaches the MLS, someone else beat you to it. And knocking on doors is the 1970s way of doing this. We now have DATA and computers and direct mail. Let's do this right!

Jill DeWit · Answer

@Benson Juarez

Hi Benson!

That is fantastic! Enjoy the call?

Very cool that you looked us up and joined in. We hold a free, live call at 3pm PT every Thursday and answer anyone's questions. (It's technically for our members but Jack opened it up the the public for a while. He also posts the recordings from prior weeks calls on youtube if you are REALLY BORED and want to go back and listen anytime...)

Feel free to reach out to me personally if I can help in any way.

Take care, Jill

Sean Davidson · Answer

Nashville is pretty saturated with investors right now, and all of the buzz means people are asking stupidly high prices for their land or ugly houses. There are always deals to be found, but it seems like people are having to work harder and harder to find them... nothing is coming easy these days. There are a number of wholesalers already canvasing the good areas pretty heavily.. you may need to look outside of town depending on what you are trying to find.

Joshua Hardy · Answer

The competition in Nashville seems to be pretty fierce.  Devan McClish from show 180 of the podcast is doing a lot of deals within 5 miles of the urban core.  I listened to another pod cast he was on (Dwellyn) last night, and he said he is upping his mailing to 13,000 monthly (from 11,000).  @Benson Juarez, have you already saturated your local area?  From my understanding Denver is a pretty great market to be in.

Ray Lai · Answer

@Benson Juarez

I don't operate in Nashville but I've seen a lot of discussion threads about Nashville being a hot seller's market and hard to find deals. What that means is that MLS is a low probability bet since hot markets have a lot of investors operating in them. What that also means is that unless you put together high quality lists, consistently mail, and know how to close a deal (experienced with listening to sellers to queue in on the DMF clues and know how to build rapport), it will be difficult to operate. Door knocking works but is hard to scale time wise. Direct mail works, but not if you mail to the same over-saturated lists that other investors are mailing to. Using software to track and follow up on leads definitely helps.

Grigory Pekarsky · Answer

When searching for investment properties in Nashville there are several common pitfalls that many people fall into that reduces the potential return on your money or even causes you to lose money on a deal altogether. For instance, buying at market peak time could mean paying above market value prices which means more work if you decide to resell later on down the road while taking longer than expected due  to a slower market. This is why it is very important that you do your homework before you get into the market.

Richie Moncler · Answer

@Jill Dewit

Hey Jill

I'm shocked to meet you here.

I had just got through one of your podcasts. "Wholesaling End to End" Excellent information. I love your answer for @Benson Juarez, too.

However, I didn't quite get a chance to mentally visualize what you & Jack meant regarding seller contact and blind offers (timestamp - 8:16 (CFFL 0267). In your case, how is it possible to only have met 9 or so sellers? It even sounds difficult! Wouldn't most sellers be paranoid of signing when it's clear you will not be passing be?

You both mentioned creating deeds on Microsoft Word and emailing the Notary. Although who are these usual suspects ("hammer swingers") interested in property without examining inside, the neighborhood, or investor? I'm unsure if I should investigate out-of-state and international buyers to apply and test this business model.

Benson Juarez · Answer

@Jill DeWit Great answer! Sounds like a very effective approach. I'd like to learn more. I'm on your live conference right now.

Benson Juarez · Answer

@Joshua H. Thanks for the info! Yes, our market is pretty tight. Very little inventory. Everything is getting bid up. Not a great place to be an investor right now.

Thanks @Sean Davidson for the info. Similar situation here in Denver.

@Ray Lai Great advice. How's the market in San Diego?

What are the best ways to find investment deals in Nashville?

Most Popular Reply