All Forum Posts by: Alison M.

Joshua, is the chart with the differences among Basic, Plus, and Pro still available?

Hi Elizabeth, I'm in the DC metro market and here I think most contractors estimate between $100-$125/sq foot for a 3000 sq ft house with medium-tier finishes. You can always spend more, but I think it's tough to do it for less.

@Brandon C. , how is it going with your VA? I followed the same trajectory you did - Pat Live for a year (wasted too many minutes), then a VA for a couple of years (calls fell through the cracks). Now I sent 4-6k mailers a month, get a .5 to 1.25% response rate, and can still answer my own phone most of the time.

I can only speak for myself, but I strongly believe it's in your best interest to answer as many of the sellers' calls as you possibly can, for several reasons.

The first is that you will never have a better chance to hone your negotiating skills and develop your phone "personality" than you will when answering seller calls. The education you will receive is priceless, and the more you do it the faster you'll get good at it.

The second is that it's tough to overestimate the importance of that first customer contact. Prospective sellers are probably getting mailers from lots of investors. What will mean more to the caller - a fully engaged business owner listening and asking specific targeted questions? Or someone using a script, taking down information and promising a call back from the decision maker? Put another way - if you were the caller, who would you rather talk to?

Now if you are working a full-time day job and can't answer that's one thing, and maybe you have an excellent VA who treats those calls like it's her own wholesale fee on the line. Either way please make sure you're giving your prospects the very best customer experience the first time they call and answer the phone as much as you can, for your benefit as well as theirs.

Hi Brian. I'm in Falls Church so we have a growing sub-community here in NOVA.

I try to go to the CAZA and Traction REIA meetings every month, you can check them out on meetup.com if you don't already know about them.

I hear what you're saying about lack of smaller multi-families in this area, and DC has such strict tenant-landlord laws that it's definitely not a good place for the novice landlord to start out. There are lots of other strategies to pursue though so keep an open mind and enjoy the learning process!

Hi James, I have some experience with houses in historic districts here in Washington DC. I agree with @Bill Gulley and his comments above.

One other recommendation - no matter what you choose to do with it, make sure your margins are *much* bigger than they would be on a similar house with a similar exit strategy in a different area. Two reasons for this - your rehab costs will be higher on an historic property because of age and stringent rehab rules, and on the sell side you have a smaller pool of prospective buyers.

I have a contract on an historic property in DC right now that will involve undoing someone else's non-code-compliant non-historic rehab ;-). I'm building in a 50% cushion for rehab costs on it.

I like this! Yesterday was a pretty light day for me:

--Drove to realtor's office to collect referral fee check for last week's close.

--Talked to self-storage partner/lifelong friend on phone for 45 minutes about business and non-business

--E-mailed with wholesale client about his house that I haven't been able to move (yes, it happens). Unwound the deal with a Cancellation of Contract form. Client offered to write me a glowing testimonial even though I hadn't moved his house.

--E-mailed with an investor-partner about a property in DC that we're trying to close.

--Hung out on BP and noted the new Owner Financing blog which I will read today.

--Confered with DC realtor about a property I want to submit an offer on.

--Took 18-yo daughter to VOTE for the first time! Yeah!

UPDATE:

I set out on a quest to find something that worked like Streak and Pipeliner and learned that they are both based on a productivity tool called Kandan Boards. Originating in Japanese manufacturing plants, they are simple and intuitive to set up but very powerful.

I then found an on-line app called Trello where you can create the boards very cheap or even free. I highly recommend checking it out @Jerry Puckett @Max Garcia Jr @Scott Costello and any other Streak fans.

I was also able to integrate it into my Outlook navigation bar so I can pull it up within Outlook.

I also have the original book and second Aaron's comments. His approach is very common sense, and what we would call today "bootstrapping."

Hi Justin. I have found that price is always a factor when I can't find a buyer for a wholesale property but it's now always the only factor.

My coach when I was starting out told me to stay away from houses that were different from the standard type of house in the neighborhood. Examples are the house the seller built by himself on an acre of land in a neighborhood of ranchers on smaller lots, or the tear-down-ready house in the historic renovation district. In our area at least, it's OK to deviate a little from the surrounding houses but if it's too much then the house is viewed as a white elephant and you will have trouble moving it.

Now with that said, if your house fits in well with the area and it won't sell, it's probably priced too high. Check your mls and tax records to see where the CASH sales have come in over the last 6 months.

I also recommend Power Negotiating by Roger Dawson. I refer to it all the time. I also always take a contract with me with blank price, same as others have suggested.

As for talking about money, I'm a firm believer that it's important to know techniques but it's also important to use words and phrases you're comfortable with or else it will come off sounding awkward and artificial. What works for me is a two-parter: "What do you think the house is worth?" (listen) then, "OK . . . so what would you take for it?" Don't assume they'll be the same answer.

Just as important, absorb all the suggestions here then craft them into the words that are comfortable for you. If you're uncomfortable with what you're saying it will show and throw off your whole game.