Week 1b: The Struggles

The foundation has been secured! It wasn’t cheap but it sure is pretty. There were cinder block piers and asphalt shingles being used as shims (not structurally sound) but $5,000 later it is a real pier and beam house. Also had to take care of a 1” wide gap in the exterior beam. But that is done. It is level. And work is ready to progress. Tomorrow we have the GC crew going in to knock out about 3 – 4 weeks’ worth of work.

Looking for the Elusive “Next Project”

I have two small time wholesalers looking for projects. Unfortunately, today I found out one of them that has been close to closing a few deals is just working off the MLS. I am okay with this if there is room to make money but I am not holding my breath. It is a very tight market right now. The two agents I have working with me have not sent much in the past 5 days. I only have seen one prospect but it is a little way outside my desired area. I am going to still look at it nonetheless.

Marketing

I feel that now my next step will be to do my own marketing. Back in the beginning of the decade when I did my first round of flipping, we didn’t need to market. The MLS was filled with short sales, REOs, and people just looking to get rid of their houses in a buyer’s market. Now it has drastically shifted and leaves me fighting with a hundred other investors for the little gems that show up for a day or two.

To get an idea on how things have shifted in the Tarrant County market just in the past year, in February 2017 there were 138 REOs listed. In February 2018, there were only 30 listed!

This all has lead me to the decision to market for myself. But how, how much, where, who to target, what companies to use? These are the questions I spent time looking up over the weekend.

HOW?

-Direct Mail, Driving for Dollars, Bandit Signs, and a Website

How much?

-I loved that I found some sage wisdom in not advertising more than you can handle. Figure out how many calls you can take in a day and still get your other responsibilities done. I feel like I can effectively handle about 10 calls a day figuring each will take an average of 10 minutes each. This will put me on the phone for a little over an hour and a half. I want to answer every call that I can. I am still in the process of setting up my google voice to forward seamlessly to my cell phone. I will write more about that once I have a firm grasp on it.

Where?

-I am only going to target two zip codes that are very close to me and I feel comfortable working in.

Who to target?

-In Texas, we are a non-disclosure state (meaning sale price is not made public). It makes it a little more difficult to find the amount of equity an owner may have in their property. However mortgages still must have a deed flied on the property. I am looking to use properties with deeds dated between 1960 – 2011. If a home was purchased in 2011 with just 15% down and assuming payments made on time for 7 years they should have about 22% equity based on a 30-year mortgage. I can work with that number because we have also seen anywhere from 20% - 60% appreciation since 2011 in my target neighborhoods.

What companies to use?

-This is where I am still at a loss. I know a few but I am not sure if there are better out there. I also need to create a flow of how to roll out all these marketing techniques. I don’t want to do them all at once and get flooded with calls for two weeks and then have everything drop off. I also need to work to set up a buyers list for homes that may be good investments but don’t meet my criteria as I am working with limited funds and will only be able to support 2 – 3 projects at a time.

Questions I am Working on (please help by giving advice in the comments)

-What companies do you use for marketing?

-How do you pace your marketing?

-Do you answer all your own calls? Use a virtual assistant? Have all the calls go to a messaging service?

Thank you all for your time reading this and the advice you are giving. I really appreciate it.