Found Vacant......Now What?

Question

Hello, I know there is a ton of info on here, but there are so many different paths to the same city.  I'm an information junkie, I'll keep reading and reading and never get out there.  I'm done with only reading, there's too much money out there to be made.  I'm looking for someone to help me through my first deal then who knows where that relationship might lead.  I called some bandit signs and found one buyer last weekend.  Today while "driving for dollars" I found 2 vacant ugly houses and I stopped at a nearby house that looked like it was being renovated.  I talked to the owner and found another buyer.  I'm realizing that this does work, you just have to get out there.  So now I have a couple buyers and 2 vacant houses.  Help

Stephen Dillard · Answer

Thanks for the info guys.  You both stated the tax assesors office, so I guess that would be the best place when it comes to contacting the city.  I'm going for my real estate lisence myself because all the realtors I've contacted are not investor friendly.  Plus a lot of investors say that it helps a lot if you can look up your own info and puts you into the middle of the game.

Michael G. · Answer

Ahh yes..the land of vacant houses...I love it! OK. So you need to determine if they belong to the lender or the owner. When I find a vacant house I call the tax assesor to see who the owner is and if there are back taxes owed. The tax receivers office in my town will tell me if the taxes are being paid or not. Usually its still owned by the current mortgage holder but occasionally it belongs to the bank. If it belongs to the owner, then you have to track the owner down and see if they are willing to sell. Email me and I'll tell you how I do that. Most of the vacant houses I found (99%) are candidates for short sales. Once you contact the owner and determine if there is a deal there you need to get their authorization to talk to the bank. That done using an authorization to release information(ATRI) form. Usually has their name, loan number, address of the vacant property and ss #. If its a deal you need to get the property listed with a realtor. Make sure the realtor know the area and understands short sales or it could be a very challenging experience.  I forgot to ask if you saw a lockbox on the front door because if you did that usually means the bank or another investor already has the property. If not, good. Hopefully the owner will have a set of keys so you can get inside and determine repair costs. Its important to get the repair cost and the asking price right because when you go to your buyers with that number, if its off you wont be doing any deals. Sometimes if I'm not sure how to estimate value I invie the buyers to come i and take a look and let them tell me what they think it will cost to repair. Thats a good segue to the fact that you are going to need buyers and lots of them. Your realtor should be able to run a report that shows all houses that sold for cash in that town in the last 12 months. l usually cross reference the address of the properties in that report with the deeds at the county court houses so you can see who the buyers were and what their addresses are. Send them a mailing with your vacant house address and tell them to contact you about getting in to see it. Be prepared when your buyers start calling you to answer their questions. How much can you discount it? What repairs does it need? How did you find it? How do you get paid? Is it your property? It gets more interesting because these days there are seasoning issues. Typically you cant sell it for  90 days from the day you purchase it. You have to have a proper exit strategy in place when that arises. Do you have a team in place? Your basic team for a wholesaler is realtor(run you comps and determine value), attorney (preferably one that know and understand short sales and REI), Rehab investors. You may also need a home inspector that can come in and validate your repairs...on paper...and add a value to those repairs. The bank and the BPO person will probably be more on your side if you have a repair list that shows cost of repairs by a licensed professional. Theres more but if you can get halfway through what I just mentioned then you are in an excellent position to get some deals done. I might have left out some things but that my friend is the basic framework of a vacant house deal. :lol:

John C · Answer

alot of counties have assessor or tax websites. if not go to courthouse

Stephen Dillard · Answer

I suppose my question would be, if the houses did not have notices on them, where is the best place to find the owners, a lot of people say go to the county's office, but where exactly

Stephen Dillard · Answer

I know that I want to focus on REO properties to wholesale.  I have a source for transactional funding and can provide a proof of funds letter provided I have a buyer lined up first

Bill Gulley · Answer

Guess I misunderstood about the seller. If there is anything on the house that says Bank of America, it's going to them or it's with them. If they are REOs which it looks like, you will need to buy straight up. Get with you Realtor to track it down, if you have one.

What about your plan, what have you studied? What strategy do you want to persue? Do you have funds available?

Stephen Dillard · Answer

First I have to find the property owners.  The houses had vacant notices on them from Bank of America.  Not sure on how to find out if they went back to the bank or not.

Bill Gulley · Answer

It helps if you have a plan before you speak to a buyer, but depending on what a buyer says, you need to be able to switch gears. So, what did the seller say and what did you tell your prospects and what did they say to you?