All Forum Posts by: Alex Gaw

I have a friend here in Austin who owns a house that her parents bought her when she was in college and now she rents it out. The house is in Atlanta. Whenever she mentions it, it sounds like she really doesn't like dealing with it. Since joining BP and reading the blogs and forums I've started to wonder if she'd rather be rid of it, but just doesn't feel like going through the hassle of finding an agent, listing, and negotiating with buyers. So I had the idea that maybe, if I'm right, I could use her house to get my feet wet a little with wholesaling. I'm not sure that I want to be a wholesaler per se, but if this ends up being an opportunity I definitely want to take it.

My question is, how do I talk to her about wholesaling her house? I want to be ethical in general, but even more so because she's my friend. I want to be honest and up front about what I'm doing. Is there some benefit to her in letting me do this, or would it really only benefit me, and she'd be better off just listing with an agent? If that's the case, I'm happy to tell her that. I don't want to try to solve a problem that doesn't exist.

Thanks!

Welcome, Celeste! I'm pretty new myself (just about a month). There's a ton of information all over the site as well as hordes of knowledgeable people who are happy to answer questions. Good luck!

@Gino Barbaro Thanks for the advice! I think overcoming my discomfort with calling strangers will be one of the most important things I do in the beginning.

@Greg H. I really appreciate the offer--I'll definitely keep it in mind!

@Alex Vela and @Greg H. thanks for the feedback. I'm hesitant to bother an agent until I have an actual plan and am ready to start making offers. I just don't want to waste people's time, especially right now when there might not be much I can offer in return. I was hoping there was a way for me to get some practice evaluating potential deals while I continued my RE education and saved up some money.

Thanks for the responses everybody! @Shane Woods thanks for the links!

In case nobody responds and someone finds this thread with the same questions I have, I've found a partial answer myself. Looks like a good place to start is my county tax office. Travis County at least has a FAQ with information about finding appraisals, so that's a start. If people don't respond I'll go ahead and continue to post as I learn more.

I've searched around a little and couldn't find an answer, so I figured I'd master my fear of looking dumb and just ask.

So I'm driving around a neighborhood I like and I see a house with a sign, "For Sale By Owner," and I think it looks interesting. Take a picture, get home, look up the address, find out it's not listed. I know that I can call the number on the sign and chat with the owner about why they're selling, find out if there are problems I can help them with, etc, but how do I find out more on my own as well? I'm super new to this, but I've heard/read about problems with the title, unpaid taxes, and all manner of other nasty surprises for the naive investor (that's me). If possible, I'd like to practice analyzing and evaluating homes while I'm still in my initial education phase and before I'm ready to actually pull the trigger on anything. Thanks for your time!

@Brandon Willin I haven't. I'm definitely in the education phase right now. I've only been learning about REI for about three weeks now. Before I can tell the difference between a deal and a hole in the ground I need to learn more about how to get to know the local market, how to find information about a property, how to calculate the numbers I'd need to evaluate, what my criteria are for what constitutes a "deal," and a host of other things.

I would love to know more about any meetups occurring around Austin. I was invited to one when I first posted, but it meets on Tuesdays and I teach a swing dance class every Tuesday evening after work.

Welcome, Marcus! I just joined here myself and I've already learned a ton!

Thanks for the reply, @Okeoma M.! I'm definitely going to do all of that. I just watched a webinar, in fact, and will commit to analyzing three deals in the next 24 hours to get my feet wet. I guess I phrased my original question poorly; what I meant was how long was it for you between starting to educate yourself and completing your first deal?