All Forum Posts by: Alex Huegle

Hello BP!

I'm a recent transplant to Chicago (downtown) and am looking to get back into real estate investing, specifically fix'n'flips, and am seeking advice from seasoned veterans on the ins and outs!

Background: I'm from Cincinnati and did some investing there in the form of a few wholesales and flipped a SFH I found in partnership with my father's REI company. I've assisted with my dad's business since I was 14 doing house repairs for flips and holds, but I'm looking to complete this on my own now.

I work full-time, which I know is a hassle, but from my research on available deals it seems the margins are large enough given the home prices around here to account for private lending as well as a project manager to oversee the rehabbing. Note: I realize this eats into the profits significantly, but I don't have many other options without wholesaling. 

I've anyone who has experience working money lending and contractors rehabbing your projects I'd love to connect and ask you some things!

Thanks in advance!

Thanks for the input! If the battle is getting the letter opened, then would using a unique envelope solve that issue? I hear a good go-to is the invitation sized one. I agree with the multiple touches point as well, but I'm just trying to get my ducks in a row. Thanks again!

I'm just wanting to get a straw poll on your guys' success and/or lack of success in comparing the use of yellow letters against branded letters. Arguably, 99% of what I see points to using the yellow letter format (which most likely answers my question), but I just can't wrap my head around it. I can't really find posts regarding the use of branded letters, so I thought I'd see if anyone out there is doing this. 

In theory, wouldn't someone in danger of losing their house/needing money trust a branded piece of mail offering a solution as opposed to a "hand-written" one? It just feels like a branded piece offers more legitimacy, but then again, I did my first deal off of a hand-written bandit sign, so maybe my theory doesn't stick in this arena.

In my mind, a letter with a unique envelope, logo, brief copy/clear messaging and call-to-action, and multiple ways to contact me make the most sense, but everything I'm reading points against that. 

Any advice from seasoned vets would be appreciated!

Sincerely,

An intro-investor who works full time in advertising :) 

Got it @Jon Holdman Here they're called Sheriff's sales, so I was just confused on the naming. I'll just keep my eye out for that sale and see if we can make something happen! Thanks for the input!

Thanks for the info, @Jon Holdman that's pretty much what I figured though. When you say foreclosure sale, do you just mean the homeowner trying to sell before the bank finally takes it?

I'm wanting to see if anyone can point me in the direction of the best way to purchase an REO from Capital One Bank. I'm having trouble finding contacts, or listing pages online or here on BP.

I went and looked at a woman's house for a potential retail flip, but in the end she owed too much to the bank and in liens that the numbers wouldn't work out. I offered for her to use my realtor and fire-sale the property since it needed little repairs and she could end up being debt free, but for some reason she passed on that offer. She also wasn't interested in attempting a short sale and just wanted to go through the process of the bank taking it back. 

I've been following the court case on my local Clerk of Courts site and see that it is now officially in foreclosure. I assume it will still be awhile until this goes through the banks process, but I'm hoping to position myself to purchase this property from the bank since I've already inspected it, know the repairs needed, researched the comps and feel I can make a pretty solid return on my investment. 

Hopefully someone here has experience dealing with Capital One Bank and would be willing to lend any pieces of advice they have. I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks!

Hey Bigger Pockets!

This is totally a preventative post, but there's a possibility of relocating to Chicago and I was wondering how the wholesale market there is? I've started here in Cincinnati very recently and my hard work is paying off with some deals, but not being from that area I was hoping someone could shed some light on the market there.

I really enjoy the process of wholesaling and see this as a means of entering into better investment methods but the capital just isn't there yet.

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

@Jon Holdman I think you're definitely right. As I said, that's not how I had been framing it up, but I followed the advice of the local people doing it full-time. Definitely a lesson-learned.

@Marius G. The value I bring to the seller is taking care of all the leg work in selling their property quickly at as high a price it can be so that all parties involved win. The seller is in a situation where she needs money quickly and given the current state of the house would be hard-pressed to market it to potential buyers. With my connections and expertise I believe I can get rid of her home quickly and efficiently.

So I'm in a bit of a pickle right now. I have a house under contract and the seller has found the add on craigslist selling her property at 5,000 above what she's receiving. I'm hoping you guys can help me get out of this predicament!

I've taken the approach before of explaining to sellers that our job to connect them with buyers/investors, but people have been telling me it's a wrong strategy and that they only infer they will be buying and that they work with other investors sometimes.

Any ideas on how to frame this up to the seller that will give her comfort? Part of the problem is that it's listed at 25k (the price she was really pushing me for) when I got her down to 20.

I'm leaning toward just explaining that for this particular property we would like to connect her to investors interested in buying the property, but that we also do not work for free... Any thoughts?

Thank you both for the replies! I think can utilize both in my response back to them. Have just did my first deal a little over a month ago I'm anxious to get another one under my belt!