All Forum Posts by: Alison M.

I know several people say you should scrub the trustees off your mailing lists, but I disagree. I have done several successful deals, both wholesale and rehab, with trustee-owned properties.

If it is shown as "John Doe, Trustee" I will usually keep it. If it is shown as "insert business name here, trustee" then I take it off. Hope that helps.

@Manny Cirino how many of those responses each week turn into deals or at least warm leads? Thanks.

Manny, how do you get the 25 leads/week from CL and Backpage? Are you advertising there and sending people to your new squeeze page? Just trying to figure out the linkage here.

Hi Gerald,

Around here code violations can be looked up on a case by case basis but it's very difficult to get a complete list of them. That said, you can call your local jurisdiction and see if they have a list available. They may charge a fee.

We also have a local county here (Fairfax) that sells subscriptions to its on-line land records for a monthly fee, and several that provide on-line land data for free. Your local city/county may have a similar arrangement. Scratch around and see what you can come up with!

My personal opinion is that it's better to present yourself as what you are, a business. When I sent yellow letters many of the callers were unhappy to find out I wasn't just someone who drove past and fell in love with their house :-).

That said, I have enclosed business cards in mailers before and did not get any better response rate than when I didn't enclose. Your area may be different though so you won't know until you try!

Hi Josh, I have had churches call me on property before. I think it could be a decent niche if you've got enough information on the property to know it's the type you want.

I spent $1925.44 per closed lead in 2013. Of course, some of the leads I cultivated in 2013 may not close until 2014. I haven't spent much time trying to figure out how to do carry-over accounting for those types of leads yet :-).

Does anyone have an argument for a refundable EMD? If you do, how often have you had to refund the EMD?

Thanks @Wayne Brooks and @Dick Rosen. I agree it is a good screening factor. Are there ever situations where you refund the non-refundable, such as if clear title can't be given?

Hi all, I'm wondering today how you, as a wholesaler-assignor, deal with the EMD coming from your end buyer/assignee. Many local wholesaler/assignors I know stipulate that the EMD from the assignee is non-refundable. At the same time, a casual perusal of forum posts here shows that many buyer/assignees say that they would not pay a non-refundable deposit.

I have done it both ways, and find when I state that the assignee's EMD is non-refundable I get a lot of push-back. My position is that it is my opportunity cost - if the assignee doesn't perform I have lost my opportunity to do the deal with another buyer.

Would appreciate everyone's thoughts on how you handle EMDs. Do you make them refundable, or non-refundable? My EMDs are usually in the $2500-$5000 range, depending on the price of the property.

Thanks, Alison