HML as exit strategy in wholesaling

[Sage Jankowitz]

I've come to the conclusion that using hard money lenders as a backup exit strategy is the way to go for wholesale deals. What a confidence boost. You can look a troubled seller right in the eye and tell them without a doubt, "I will buy your property for this amount RIGHT NOW". Even if every investor in the state decides to shut their phones off for the next month, you'll be able to save a distressed seller from further ruin.

My question is, in the early going is it too risky to grab a hard money loan and attempt a rehab? I would hate to go forward with a HML and lose points, hurt my reputation, and burn a bridge. At what point is this alternate exit strategy worth exploring? I have 5 HML's lined up, but I'm a bit torn if it's worth the risk on my first couple deals...

[Chris T.]

What I understood from your original question is, "does it make sense to use a HML to go ahead and buy a property if you can't assign or double close within your "option period?" then, continue to try and wholesale it.

Simply put you would be buying the house then reselling it for the same price you were originally going to sell it for. That would still be considered wholesaling but your profit would shrink by however much your loan costs you upfront, on the end, and monthly. That wouldn't leave you with much or any profit unless you considered all of that going in.

As for what has already been discussed.
I agree that wholesaling, and rehabbing are both exit strategies.

Adding a few rehabs is a good idea when you are ready and able. You will probably need to have enough money to pay for the rehab. What you should do in the future is determine how long you can market a wholesale property before it becomes a rehab. Most likely it will be however long that assignment fee that you were planning on will last while you are making payments to your HML. You'll need to figure out at what point the wholesale property becomes a rehab. Account for the time that it is going to take to complete the rehab.

My plan consists of A, B, C, and D. I plan to wholesale every property (A), if I don't wholesale it then I rehab it to retail (B) if I can't retail it within 90 days then I carry the note (C) and if it doesn't sell within 60-90 days then I rent it. (D) {sometimes I just purchase to rent, rehab, or carry the note exclusively with no other plan. although I still try to wholesale them first}

When you have multiple exit strategies and backup plans you have to account for it up front. So, your purchase price would need to allow for you to make a profit even if you had to exercise plan D.

Your biggest goal is to keep all of your expenses under 15% of ARV and try to net 15% of ARV.

The expenses that you will need to consider are:

You buy a house at 65% of ARV ($65,000) - repairs ($15,000) - your assignment fee ($10,000). That puts your purchase price at $40,000.

HML charges 3 pts up front ($1,200) and 2 pts ($800) when you sell it amoritized for 30yrs at 12%. ($412/mo)

You figure that the rehab will take 60 days and it will take at least 90 days (plan for 120 days) to sell it. ($1,648)

Remember, the Realtor will charge you 4% (or more) to sell it and you may end up paying for the buyer's closing costs ($4,000+).

You still have to factor in other holding costs such as insurance, pro-rated taxes, your portion of closing costs, utilities, etc...

After 120 days on the market you will cancel or allow your contract with the realtor to expire and you won't have to pay commission. Keep in mind that your other expenses are ongoing.

After 90 days of marketing your property as OWC then you put a for rent sign in the yard.

This plan assumes that you are only trying to wholesale a property during your option period. If you try to wholesale it longer then you will need to consider additional holding costs; from the time you close on it until you decide to begin the rehab.

My goal is to never get past plan A (and haven't yet) so if you end up past plan A then you need to revise your property analysis.

For each property you can create a timeline to account for every step in your action plan.