Walk before you run!
Here is another installment as we are building our REI company. We are part of the Fortune Builders Mastery Program and have spent $1,000s on our education and training. We went to a full immersion in Oct where he challenged us to write out contracts on 10 properties. Well, it wasn't within a week, as my hubby's mom was put in the hospital with a brain tumor, but we did eventually manage to get those 10 contracts written, and 5 accepted! I know, that is a wonderful problem to have, but to us just starting out, it's still a problem! We posted them here on BiggerPockets, Facebook, our Mastery program sites, Craigslist, you name it, we had them on there! And we have Professional Wholesale Packages that include, property cards, comps, video walk through, pics, repair worksheets and contractor bids. We basically have done all the hard work, have the repairs listed and confirmed and contractors ready to go if they need them, all of this wrapped up with everything but a nice little bow (I can add that too if you need it!) What would have been nice to know before writing these contracts is we probably should have started by building our buyer's list, finding out their criteria and THEN getting properties under contract (reverse wholesaling). We have contingencies in our contracts, of course, so we will lose minimum money, but to me we will be losing something far more important, our reputation! We couldn't follow through on these and that hurts worse than anything else could. We have tried direct mail to people who have purchased houses with cash, cold calling, calling the local investors, etc. to really no avail. Topeka, KS is a secondary market, I am told and no one looks here. So....doesn't that make it a pretty darn good place then? The Mars plant opened in March of 2014 and brought 200 new jobs with it. They are currently expanding the plant to add 70 more jobs by the end of 2016. Our housing market was pretty good already, and with more and more people needing to rent here, it's a no brainer! Seriously! So how do I enlighten everyone else about it?
Comments (4)
You mentioned that you should start on building up your buyers list... What is the best way to go about this. I am new to REI and i am new to the Topeka area. I am struggling a little bit on where to get started on building my buyers list.
Rachel Edwards, over 7 years ago
Donna - With this experience and completing the Mastery program, are you and your husband seeing the value of Fortune Builders?
Ken Betza, over 8 years ago
Thanks for your input, Jeff, but we believe in full transparency. So, yes, they completely understood the terms of the contract, and any money that we put down as earnest money was sent to our title company to be held until the closing, not to the sellers themselves. Most of them wanted us to extend the contract to give us more time to find buyers, only two couldn't because we were actually trying to help another local investor who took on too much. So really the only money we are out was the Thanksgiving dinner we bought and delivered to one of these families. And the smiles on their faces was so very worth every penny. Even though most of these were long shots, I don't like disappointing anyone. There will come a day very soon that we can take on these large projects, revitalize neighborhoods, rebuild communities and deliver on every promise that we make, big or small.
Donna White, about 9 years ago
You have most certainly impaired your reputation by tying up properties that you did not have the ability to close on. I hope for your sake that none of the sellers misunderstood your offers and spent money in anticipation of their upcoming move and the pending sale of their property. If any of these sellers calls the State regulatory agency you may find that you have lost more than a minimal amount of money.
Jeff Rabinowitz, about 9 years ago