All Forum Posts by: Barbara Grassey

Hey Tyra,

We recommend starting your marketing with the 5 day method because it gives the most bang for the buck. It only takes about a week to go through the process.

If you dont sell the house, you can then fall back to all the traditional methods like Open Houses, hiring a realtor, or go further afield with eBay or an essay contest. But doing the five day lets you know very quickly what the true market value of your house is.

Best of luck,

Barbara

I am a voracious reader and I have to commend you for reading that far. Unfortunately, I Wasnt Patient Enough to Get Through That Crap. (The title of my next book, LOL.) I made it through Chapter One -- maybe -- before tossing the book aside. Okay. Enough potshots. But I really hated the book...

Re: The Note. Is this hypothetical at this point? If so, when you create the note, you can put the property in a land trust and make yourself trustee or have your company be the trustee.

If the note is already in existence, I would probably need a little more info on it.

My bottom line suggestion: Read a better book. Start with John Schaubs Building Wealth One House at a Time. It is a classic. Also, dont go paying some book and tape guru $5,000 for a bootcamp until you have looked around for a while. You can pick up a lot of courses on ebay and other sites like that for much less.

Best of luck to you,

Barbara

I attend a couple of real estate meetings a week, one of which I host. Last night was Larry Harbolts independent meeting. Jay and I use the meetings as a barometer of the real estate market as well as the economy.

What we are hearing from most mortgage brokers is that the only source of money is FHA. I am in touch with another broker, who has been around longer who is having success with USDA loans. Most popular guy in the room? The one who stood up and said he had $2mm in private money for short sale flips.

What does this mean for people who need to sell? Your buyers, for the most part, cant get conventional financing. Larry Harbolt just completed his manual on seller financing. Jay and I are holding our Paper seminar with an emphasis on leasing. Investors are offering lease options on houses they have not been able to sell. Seller financing is the hot ticket down here.

On the marketing front, we are finding that the local newspapers are ineffective for selling and renting properties. Most of the investors agreed that internet sites such as craigslist are now the way to go.

Thats what is happening in the Tampa Bay market. What are you finding in your areas?

I am switching as much of my business over to the web as possible. Think of websites as single family houses. If the average cashflow of a single family house that is financed is $200 - $300 per month, a simple sales website can easily do the same. And you dont have the upfront costs that you have with purchasing a house, fixing it up, maintaining it, finding tenants, etc. I started with one small site that was kicking off an average of $250 a month. My mistake was not building ten more just like it immediately.

Also, sales websites gain in equity, just like any successful business. And people flip websites the same as people flip houses. It is a lot of fun and less sweaty than swinging a hammer.

Now if I can only get this real estate bug out of my blood.

Barbara

Hi Jason,

I usually buy my domain names at godaddy just for ease of use. If you just have one or two sites, you can use godaddy to host it and if you dont know how to create websites, godaddy has a cool little templated site you can build called website tonight. Very easy to use.

I have a number of sites so I have my own server, but that is something you can choose when you are farther along in this.

Best of luck to you.

Barbara

Hi Mikey,

I have a contract that I recommend birddogs use. I dont want to pump my own book, so I wont but there is a simple birddog contract in there. You can draw up a simple operating agreement, even go on the web and find one and amend it if you want.

Once you have more experience, you may want to move up to wholesaling, which puts you in a much stronger position.

For now, just say something like, I would love to work with you. I have an operating agreement that I use with all of my investors. Let me email it over to you.

Dont ask them to sign. Make it a matter of fact-type thing. This is the way you do business. You are a professional. They are professionals. Professionals use paperwork -- contracts and agreements so that there are no misunderstandings or hard feelings later on.

Best of luck to you.

Barbara

Hard money lenders are just that -- lenders. Depending on the area, they want 2 - 5 points plus anywhere from 12 - 18 percent interest. Payments are usually interest only. Most hard money lenders have a 3 month prepayment penalty and will loan for a year or two.

In areas with a lot of foreclosures, many hard money lenders ended up foreclosing on properties. They may be a good source of houses for you to buy. Like traditional lenders, they are in the business of lending money, not fixing, holding and renting properties.

Barbara

I read the five day auction method book years ago. It is a method that works but you may need to do some tweaking for your market.

This method works best with single family homes that are in great condition. I helped a friend with a five day auction. He has tweaked it to a professional level. There were 11 houses for sale on the street, and I think over 34 for sale in the subdivision. We had close to 200 people at the two day open house. An agent was holding an open house two doors down and she got a few people from our open house and that was it. She came down to our open house to see what we were doing. The property didnt go because the owner wanted to get every last penny out of it but there were good solid offers made.

You have to be a bit flexible in the price and terms for best results and really go all out in your marketing. This is a great way to sell a house, especially if you have other properties because you end up with a fairly good list of back up buyers.

Compared to paying thousands of dollars for a boot camp, the book is cheap. Check for used copies or the library if price is an issue for you. You may have to try it several times before you get your buyer, but people are using it in the Tampa/St Pete area with great success.

Barbara

Taking a percentage of a students profits is a slippery slope. I have seen too many instances where newbies are brought into deals that the so-called guru or mentor is -- gee, what is a nice word for screwing them? My sig other and I consult with people who have been mentored into bad situations. We dont partake of our clients deals. They need a neutral third party.

That being said, many newbies WANT someone to partner or JV with them because they are not comfortable doing a deal alone. It is a typical newbie request. Every time I hear someone stand up in a real estate meeting and announce that they are a newbie looking for someone to mentor and partner with them, I shudder. They are walking victims. Some mentors are responsible and do the right thing but there are so many people out there calling themselves mentors who are just out for fresh meat. A good mentor will give their student the information and confidence they need to create good deals on their own.

Barbara

Stay away from condos if you can. Miami has a huge back supply. While they are cheap, there are so many foreclosures and vacancies that condo associations are not collecting the fees. So maintenance is either not being done or fees are going up or both.

That being said, there are tons of great deals in all over Florida. Before you start buying (you have time, believe me -- this isnt going away for another two years minimum), think about what your long term strategy is. Do you want to buy and rent, buy and sell on lease option (less maintenance, higher payback if you can get good long term financing), sandwich lease, etc.

You make your money when you buy a property. I like to have at least three exit strategies for any property I acquire. A good book to start you out is Building Wealth One House at a Time by John Schaub. Everyone wants to make a killing their first week. Take your time to plan out your long term strategy.

Best of luck to you.
Barbara