All Forum Posts by: Ben Roberts

In Memphis, I've had pretty good luck targeting absentee owners with a truly hand written yellow letter "Dear xxx, I'm interested in buying your property at xxx main st. If you'd like to sell, please call me today xxx-222-3333". I sent similar letters to owners who had properties listed for rent. I've sent close to 150 letters so far, in small batches. I've received 9 phone calls. Most were tire kickers "I hadn't thought about selling till I got your email. How much will you give me". One was truly motivated but we couldn't make it work. I've got another dozen letters ready to go out tomorrow.

Hi @James Alston! Are these all your deals or do you / have you ever worked with other wholesalers?  Are you strictly looking for buyer on BP?

Rob Smith PM me. I'll give you the name / number of the contractor I use in Memphis.

@Lance Kamiyama Welcome to BP! I'm a wholesaler in Memphis, TN.  If you decide that you'd like to invest in the area, and would like some boots on the ground, please let me know.  I work with a number of other investors just checking out properties, looking at the neighborhood, that sort of thing.  Let me know if I can help.

@Javier Perez-Karam I used ListSource but I've also looked at AgentPro 24/7.   I'm actually considering using them instead.  

I think the equity piece is important. You may have a motivated seller but if there's no meat on the bone, then I'm not sure there's much we can do. In investor is going to look for 70% ARV, so I really only want to look at houses that already have 30% equity since that's what my buyers are going to want.

With only 200 letters, I would make sure they are highly targeted. Find out what type of homes have the most cash buyers or are used most often for rentals. Figure out where those homes are. Then buy a list using that criteria where the homeowners have at least %30 equity and have had the home more than a few years. You might also want to further narrow that down to absentee owners. This formula has worked well for me.

Thanks to all of you for the input.

Just thinking about alternatives, I wonder if this wouldn't be an opportunity for a short sale? 

@Chad Carson, thanks for the run down.  Looking at it that way, I'm not sure it's worth messing with.  Little too much risk for $768 / year.

@Alex Franks Great question that I didn't think to ask myself.  I've been getting a lot of advice (on this and other deals) from a local property management co.  They buy, sell, rehab, lease, and manage all over town.  As big and reputable as they are, I figured I could trust them to handle tenant screening and management but, I suppose, a bad apple can get past even the most stringent screening.  I can afford cover the current payments each month, and I think I have the cash available to get the property rent ready.  I'll know more after I walk through it this weekend.  So I think I'm o.k. as far as acquisition renting the property goes but If someone destroys the place, or it requires more than $5K-$10K in repairs after it's rented, or over the course of the first year, I may have a problem. My plan was to take all the cash flow from the first year and set it aside to build a reserve fund for future expenses, repairs, vacancy, etc. It sounds like I need a bit more in cash reserves in case something goes wrong in year one.

 @Brad Pickett, you mentioned 'lots of details' and 'doing it correctly'. What exactly does that mean? What are those details? So far, I haven't found ANYONE in my area that is doing or has done Sub2 deals.

@Brian Gibbons, @Bill Gulley

My plan was to hold on to the property for a while and rent it out, leaving existing financing in place. Is this a bad idea?  Do I need to go get my own financing quickly? A year or two down the road?  What would be the smart thing to do?

Abdul R. I am a wholesaler in Memphis. If you'd ever like me to checkout a home in the Memphis area, drive the neighborhood, act as your boots on the ground, I'd be more than happy to do so. I do the same for a number of other investors. They get a reliable assessment of the property and neighborhood, I get a chance to see the local market from an investors point of view. It's a win-win.