All Forum Posts by: Adrienne Bryson

Very interesting concept. I probably would consider buying somewhat prequalified leads. I think $500 for a lead that is 1) openly interested in selling, enough so that they contacted or responded to your company 2) looking to sell "right now" or very soon and  3) willing to sell at a discounted price, is quite a reasonable price. As a wholesaler the time saved alone is worth that, and I would imagine a flipper would appreciate the chance to save time and money by skipping the wholesaler.

With that said, being a wholesaler myself I feel like it would be unwanted competition!

What kinds of circumstances are best for a subject to deal?

Good luck Charles! If you come across any other free or cheap lead sources, please share!

That's just the way I do it. There are 1,000,001 ways to get leads haha

My leads primarily come from driving for dollars, so I have the address first and look up everything else, then send letters to those I think are most likely to be interested. I ignore properties owned by commercial entities, bought within the last few years, etc.

I also am using specific lists (recent arrests, code violations, high equity owners over 50...) All of which I have either name or address or both and can very easily look up the rest. For these lists I take a little extra time trying to figure out if the house is a candidate.

You could definitely post on craigslist or put out bandit signs. For Craigslist it might do you good to ask in your post for anyone interested to respond with their name and address so you can look that stuff up before calling them. You are going to have to do a little more talking if getting calls from bandit signs. I'd say at least get their name, address, and ask them to tell you about the house, them schedule a time to meet in the same conversation. Take the time before you meet to look them up.

When doing direct mail it's important you narrow it down to those most likely to call... Otherwise you're going to spend thousands of dollars sending cards and letters to people that aren't even close to interested.

Don't go by assessed value. Run actual comps to get a starting point for ARV and go from there.

@Charles Nyasha I used my county tax assessor site to find owner info for each property on my driving for dollars list.  Same website, different area, is where I found tax delinquent.  The city police department website had a link for arrest records.  And the city itself had code violation records available on the website.  All of this info is free and readily available, which is awesome because I don't have thousands of dollars to throw at marketing.

I actually bought the equity list for $15 on fiverr.  First time buying a list I didn't want to put much money into it until I tried it out.  I was even able to specify which zip code I wanted the list from.

I agree with Diedrick I wouldn't worry too much about getting a buyer's list first per say...  I did both sort of simultaneously, searched for both qualified leads and serious buyers at the same time.

I can only speak for myself and say that I am a novice so just take my word with a grain of salt. But I have a spreadsheet for my leads with relevant info that I try to have filled in before a potential seller calls. That way as soon as I answer and get their name, I can open my spreadsheet and see which house it is, bed/bath/sqft, neighborhood, built/renovation date, owner address (to know if O/O or absentee), if it's SFR/MFR/Condo, my estimated ARV, when I sent the letter to them/how many letters I've sent to them, and the general condition of the house from what I could see and find online. All this info by going to my county tax assessor website and sites like realtor.com and redfin for house info and value estimates, takes me about a minute per lead to get it all. I also have a separate sheet for each list, so I can tailor the conversation accordingly.

Having that info at my fingertips has saved me a lot of time when I actually do get a call, because I don't have to sit there and waste 20 minutes with "what's the address, how many bedrooms, how old is the house, do you live there" blah blah.  I can just ask a couple of open ended questions ("tell me a little about the house" to which the response usually includes if/when improvements were made, why they like/dislike the house, and if they owe a lot on it... and "what are your reasons for wanting to sell" to which the response usually includes their motivation and how much they're looking to get).  At that point we're only 5-10 minutes into the conversation, and the seller feels like we're having a friendly chat rather than an interview/interrogation.

I end the conversation by setting up a time to see the house. Since I already have most of the info, I don't need much time to gather intel. I can actually set a time within a couple hours to meet, which if you ask any salesperson the quicker you move the more likely you are to close. I take a few minutes to calculate my MAO from the ARV I already have, the usual assumptions for cleaning paint etc, and the info I got from the seller, and jot it down in my notebook, which I take with me to the meeting.

Then all that's left is to meet, go through the house and take note of anything that wasn't discussed on the phone (like cracked outlet covers, clogged gutters, faded siding, etc) and jot everything down in my notebook. By the time we sit down to talk I've already recalculated my MAO and we start negotiating on the spot.

I have not used a contractor at this point, however like I said I am still a beginner and I do plan to actually start getting inspections for each property I get under contract before passing them on to my end buyer.  Having read J Scott's book on estimating rehab costs I feel confident and informed enough to go in without a contractor.

You can try presenting her with a basic write up of everything that will bring the price down, including HVAC, new carpet, new counters, fresh paint, whole house cleaning, whatever, with cost next to each item.  Just to show her that there is a reason you can't offer the price she wants and open the negotiation a little.

Good luck!

Looks great!  The only thing I would personally add is some specificity about how you plan to use/reinvest your profits.

These aren't necessarily things your investors will need to know, but it's good to at least think these things through so that when you have, let's say, $40k in your hand you can say to yourself "Ok I'll put $10k towards student loans, $5k towards my car, $15k back into RE, and $10k in savings."

Keep up the good work!

I also started about 3 weeks ago.  I drove around my area in neighborhoods I know are middle class B-ish neighborhoods with high property values (good to know your target area!) looking for houses that were neglected enough to "stick out".  Some were O/O some weren't.  So far I've sent about 40 letters to that list, all hand written, and have gotten 4 calls back: 1 (absentee) interested but not motivated, 1 (absentee) not interested unless getting huge payoff, 2 (O/O) in the works now and hopefully will be under contract by the end of this week.

From what I've seen I wouldn't count out O/O!

I am working on other lists either just sent out or sending out soon, so no results yet.  These lists, if you're interested in trying them, are:

- 75-100% equity with owners over 50 years old

- tax delinquent

- code violation...particularly overgrown or junky, multiple/long standing issues (this is a time/energy intensive list for me, hopefully your city's site is more user friendly)

- recent arrests (sent out Wednesday, believe it or not I've already gotten a call back)

Good luck!