All Forum Posts by: Aaron Mazzrillo

Another strategy you can use is to jump in the middle of a wholesale deal. Check out my IEInvestor page on youtube. I have a video called Xmas Pimp Cash. It explains it in detail.

Hey Gene,
I am an expert wholesaler out here in Southern California. I did 25 houses last year and my average wholesale fee was $15,600.
Many people think wholesaling is the easiest place to get started. I disagree and here is why;
A wholesaler needs to know;
Marketing - to attract leads
Value - to determine what the property will sell for
Negotiation - to buy at the right price Documentation - to put the property under contract correctly so it can be wholesaled
Rehab - so you know how much to knock off and allow a budget for the person buying from you.

I started as a buyer from a wholesaler. I used a hard money lender to acquire the property, the wholesaler referred me to crew to do the repairs, and a broker to help me sell it. I used my credit card to buy the materials so I wouldn't have to have cash up front. I also had a small equity line which gave me some cash to pay my crew, cover the gap on the hard money, and cover holding expenses while I was waiting to sell. I made $26K on my first deal which gave me more than enough to go out and do it again.

I bought from a wholesaler because he knows all of the above. All I really had to do was sign for the hard money, pay the rehab crew, and wait for the property to sell.

I also disagree you need a huge buyer's list. This is really nonsense. Go to any court house and find out who the biggest players are at the auctions. The guys out here do 100s of houses a year. Why waste time building a list when you can find one guy with millions in his pockets and just sell to him? I sell all my properties to only 5 buyers. I have a few landlord types that will pay more for certain properties. All the rest go to my trustee sale buyer.

If you don't have money, you should find a partner. I strongly believe in partnerships especially for new investors. Investing is a team sport.

I would encourage you to fist start with attending local REI meetings. Get educated. Start reading a lot of books. The success of a person is directly related to the people he surrounds himself with and the books he reads. Be careful of and avoid the shark tanks. Those are the predatory meetings where some sleazeball attempts to sell you some useless system every month. Texas has lots of REI clubs so you should be able to find something in your area.
Good luck!

Sounds like an investor flip. If so, your chances of getting owner financing are probably not great since the investor most likely paid cash or has a high interest rate hard money loan. Your best bet is to contact the listing agent (who probably lists all their properties) and see what the situation is. They may do a short term lease option. My concern for you is that you are counting on your wife getting a job right out of school and that you will qualify for financing when she does. Lenders are getting much more conservative and they like to see applicants with some employment history.
As a school teacher, there are typically very good financing programs available with very low down payments and below market interest rates. Contact a local mortgage broker to find out what programs are available. Even better would be to ask around at work and see if any other teachers have recently purchased a home. If so, ask if they used the programs available to teachers, fire fighters, & police.
Good luck!

I don't necessarily think buying a multi-unit and moving into is the right choice for every new investor. But to answer your question, you should evaluate all properties you are buying as an investment as investment properties. What are the benefits the property will provide? What are the risks?

Your question is as open ended as an investing question could be so I am not going to go into evaluating multifamily properties. It is a different asset class than a single family house and takes a different skill set to deal with.

Simple: How am I going to financially benefit from this transaction?

1) Aug 2006

2) Follow up with sellers. Follow up with escrow to be sure things are on track. Marketing for new prospects.

3) The challenges. The depth of the business. There is always more to learn.

4) When things don't go as planned because of things out of my control; low appraisals, funding issues.

5) I am dealing with people's money and real estate. These transactions involve hundreds of thousands of dollars. Honesty is the most important ethical consideration.

6) 6 weeks. $26,000.

Hope this helps.

You can create your own lists. Go to your county court house and there is a wealth of information available to you; probate, evictions, divorces, bankruptcy, tax defaults, code violations, private party lenders.

You can also filter your absentee owner lists to multiple property owners, out of area, out of state, out of country.

More lists you can work: FSBO, expired listings, search classified ads for rentals with phone numbers from distant area codes.

I didn't understand marketing, negotiation, or contracts. I did know how to figure out what a house is worth, and I knew I could find someone who could tell me how much it would cost to fix the property. I decided to buy a house from a wholesaler. Makes perfect sense; the wholesaler did the marketing to find the property, negotiated with the seller to get the contract. All I had to do was fund it (hard money), fix it up and resell it. I used a broker to that last part. I basically came in with the desire to succeed, signed for the money, and watched all the players do their part. At the end, I was left with a $26,000 profit for playing project manager.
Good luck!

I am an expert direct mailer for absentee home owners. My suggestion is to skip hand written letters. Instead, mail post cards and with the money you save, you can get a bigger list or work your very small list multiple times. If you get a response, but cannot close the deal, follow up with a handwritten envelope, but use a form letter.