All Forum Posts by: Ashley L Smith-Jackson

Thank you. Changing the down payment to 10%, marketing to Spanish speakers, and advertising the monthly payment over the asking price was key. We have multiple offers!

@Denise Evans Freat info! Thanks! @Sarah Montes Everyone in Houston keeps recommending you for RMLO...you must be pretty good at what you do:)

I have marketed my FSBO property with owner financing quite heavily and haven't found any serious buyers. What am I missing? In sum, I acquired this property via subject-to and I want to sell it via owner finance on a wrap. So far I have advertised on: zillow, trulia, fsbo.com, craigslist, 10 FB groups, FB marketplace, letgo, offerup, bandit, signs, and flyers to nearby apartments and businesses. I recently translated my marketing materials to Spanish as well.

The house was built in 2015 and is in a new construction subdivision. My asking price is 15k below market value at 205K. I am asking at least $10,000 down with P&I of $1,400/month at an 9% interest rate but would prefer a buyer with $20,000-$40,000 down with an interest rate of of 6%-7%.

I don't know of any rockstar realtors and I am definitely not interested in hiring a realtor who can't get it sold quickly. I am considering doing a flat fee listing just to get it on MLS. What do you think?

Picture of property and flyer below. Link to my listing is: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/22607-August-Crow-Dr-Hockley-TX-77447/124872074_zpid/?view=public

Please critique my listing and marketing materials. What can I do  to improve and find buyers?

ind buyers?

Interested. I have rentals in EC.

@Jay Hinrichs Excellent advice! I just noticed that you help vets, that's awesome! We are currently working with a vet to help him recover financially from a divorce. His wife was physically abusive and regardless of the biases and stereotypes that often stigmatize our vets with PTSD, he never fought back. But after years of ducking and weaving though her physical attacks, he finally left. Yay! And you'll never guess...his house also had a lien, lol. I guess liens just love me. He placed his house as collateral to bail her out of jail after she was arrested for physically attacking him. That lien was released by the way:) All that to say, thanks for taking care of those who take care of us!

@Pat L. I'm definitely buying your book:) So many questions! Will title co. insure the title or will you have to get a special title (or quit claim)? If it doesn't follow the property, can it ever come back to affect you? What would reactivate it? For instance, if there is a lien on a property that is not "active", would an over zealous investor reactivate it by contacting the lien holder?

Now that I've experienced negotiating a lien, I'm actually quite intrigued by lien laws/protocols and obsessed with thinking them through. I think there may be a niche for buying properties at a HUGE discount that have liens and then using my problem solving skills to negotiate them. Crazy or genius:)

@Tracy Z. Rewey Thank you! I learned SO much from this experience and I have a huge respect for investor friendly title companies. They are master detectives and problem solvers.

@Pat L. From your lips to God's ears! I thought that this experience would leave me frightened but I actually feel emboldened. I'm currently in the middle of structuring an owner finance deal and after tackling that last issue, this one feels like a cake walk!

Update: Lien holder was willing to negotiate. We closed by the skin of our teeth. Lesson learned! We did place a mechanic's lien on the property as a back-up plan just in case but then we had to release it to close. I definitely think my experience as a wholesaler taught me to be persistent, resilient, and creative in my approach to problem solving. I hope that no one else EVER makes this mistake! It was such a headache. I also learned that not all wholesalers are as honest as I am. He eventually admitted that he had no clue what he was doing which is why he was marketing a property with liens, smh. But the seller was a really good person who was instrumental in helping us close and resolve the lien. Not out of the woods yet, we need a tenant asap, lol. We paid cash for the property and for the rehab but we need to recoup what we spent to resolve the lien as that had to come out of our personal account:(

@Jon Lanclos Thank you! Will do. I know better, I should've done my own due diligence...smh!

@Mike Hartzog Thanks so much! I'm 20K in so walking away is not an option. I was thinking about placing a mechanic's lien on the property and then creating a promissory note for the seller to give me rights to rent the property out to repay me for repairs until my lien is satisfied. That wholesaler is getting nada! I'm so disappointed as I wholesale and guys like him make us all look bad. But as you said, I should've done my own research.

@Pat L. Thank you! I definitely believe that I can negotiate the lien if I can get the wholesaler out of the way. I made contact with the seller today and I'm going to try to get a contract directly with her. The house was only 6k and appraised at 11k, there is no way that the lien holder would ever make 33k and I'm sure they'll take much less. 

@Megan Shay Thank you! LOL! I've been using the pregnancy sympathy card with my husband because he is not happy about this. Looking forward to the hazy amnesia! 

@Don Konipol Thank you very much! If I can get this wholesaler out of my way, I feel very confident about about negotiating with the lien holder. His contract expires in 2 days and then I'm swooping in to save my investment.