All Forum Posts by: Jason Bentley

I HAD to give Tim a +1 vote on his post for what he said and also for his avatar pic.
My wife and I are gearing up to simultaneously build capital and start buying rental property and the thought of minor "good deeds" for tenants during the holidays had crossed my mind. Posts like Tim's put an interesting perspective on the topic from a seasoned investor. I appreciate all the input on this topic!

It's possible that you don't have an organized set of daily tasks because you haven't identified exactly where you want to go. As the saying goes, "it's hard to hit a target you don't have".

Someone else above mentioned that you're the one who'll end up deciding the right mix of daily activities to do based on your needs. I think it helps to start backwards. You've probably got a sense of how many deals you want to be doing per month, lets say that number is five. Based on your past experience you should also have a general idea of how much of your 4 core activities it takes to complete one deal. The 4 categories being:
Marketing
Prospecting
Networking
Meeting (face to face)

Once you break down the amounts or time spent for each category to reach your monthly target, you can average them out in time/quantities on a daily basis and have more than enough things to do to keep you on track.

Thanks Eddie!

Kevin made a great point. I'm not comfortable investing in the kinds of areas where the typical tenants "pay in cash and don't have checking accounts" either. Personal preference I guess, but what's the point in getting great cash flow up front only to have it offset by higher refurbishing and more frequent vacancy costs? In the end it would seem that a good 'bread and butter' house is the more solid, less worry investment.

Thankfully, as I mentioned in the post above, deals in Memphis can be acquired in good neighborhoods that cash flow adequately even after property management fees. Can anyone list other similar markets that they have experience with? I'm close to a group of investors that might consider doing business in such an area so I have some interest in more answers to the original question of this thread...

Chris,

It definitely feels good to give back to the BP community that has been so giving to me since I joined.

I can't answer your first question but you might have better results if you do a search on BP profiles of agents in your city (click the *Networking* navigation link under the search bar).

I think the answer to your second question depends largely on two things: your exit strategy and your creativity (which I think is most important). If you intend to wholesale, you most likely wouldn't require agent representation so you could pay the agent after you get your check. However, people should be rewarded for giving you some of their time and effort so you might consider paying a small gratuity after maybe four or five lists received, etc. This is good will, good business practice, and good networking in my opinion. If you come across a deal in which agent representation makes sense, of course the agent providing you with the expired list should receive the benefit of representing you in that transaction. You could refer listing clients to the agent, which is a HUGE deal because the agent will LOVE you after that. Especially if you do this multiple times.
Or if you plan to rehab and retail on the MLS, you could guarantee the agent the selling listing as well.

The possible incentives could go on and on. If you provide a valuable service, you could even make some fair trades. This list is far from comprehensive. If you feel you still need more you can PM me and I'd be fine with helping you identify some things that might work for your particular situation.

@Jawsette: Thanks for the luv on the forum! I've seen a bunch of your posts. You're very sharp as well and I look forward to more of your contributions to the BP community : ]

Troy, regarding "finding properties long distance" on the seller side, I believe the two I listed are the most widely used (and most obvious?). Bankruptcies and Probate lists might also work for you. If you have an R/E agent you've networked with locally, you should be able to get an 'expired listings' list that should yield a respectable amount of motivated leads per batch. However, in working with an agent you'll want to build in some benefits for the agent into your business plan. If you have questions about how to make it a win-win, you could probably network with an agent here on BP who'd be happy to share some tips. I hope this helps. Best of luck to your investing endeavors!

If you're asking this question then I'm gonna make an assumption and guess that there are other pieces of your new business plan that should be set up and worked on first, things like establishing a solid database of buyers, having good and legal contracts to use, market knowledge, industry contacts like an agent, title company, and so on.

There are plenty of good blogs, forums, and articles here on BP that have covered the question you asked. And while they're free of charge, they DO cost something valuable: your time to search for and read.

To give a general answer though, the list service websites you're referring to have databases of individuals (with their mailing addresses) that fit searchable demographics. You can purchase lists of people to market to based on things like Absentee ownership, pre-foreclosure, etc.
Once a list is bought, many people use www.click2mail.com to design and mail postcard marketing material to get their phone ringing. Purchased lists can be easily uploaded to the site, then mailed to your target market.

The list service and postal service websites will usually have a written or video tutorial on how to use them. Do some searching here on BP and on the sites you'll potentially use; you should be able to learn the mechanics of it all in a short time. Of course, there's more to wholesaling than just that...

Welcome to BP Dwayne. I hope you've had a great experience with the community so far. I know I have. How long have you been here in the Memphis area?

I like the idea of getting an informational experience that will go way beyond what you would pick up in a book (although the idea of what I'm about to say actually came from a book written by Kiyosaki). What I'm talking about is mentoring. And the idea I'm referring to is to "work for free".

I think the time it would take to learn quality information would probably be cut by 75% if you found a seasoned rehabber who took you under their wing and taught you. Many people with knowledge find it rewarding to teach and pass on their passion to a passionate disciple.

Offering a business person free help for the benefit of knowledge is a great way to work your way into a mentorship. You could offer to take care of an investor's logistical headaches (which would do wonders for your learning experience in itself) like phone calls, appointments, emails, marketing, etc.

If you present yourself as a newbie who most likely won't be any serious competition, you probably won't get much resistance. If you do, move on to the next entrepreneur. Also try to find ways that you could increase someone's bottom line profits as you're working with them. Who knows, in time your relationship with your mentor might earn you a partnership on your first deal, which would be a priceless result that going it alone with books and seminars could rarely beat.

Have you considered a lease purchase? It works basically the same was as a lease/option but the language in the contract doesn't give the buyer the impression that they can walk from the deal if they change their mind later.

You could set the lease term at 4-5 years when the market should warrant your current asking price. Plus, you'll hopefully end up helping them out (for helping YOU out) in the end if the house appreciates to more than your contracted price.

It sounds like your biggest concern right now is the debt service and not having to come out of pocket at closing. The L/P might be a viable way for you to sell and could allow you to collect a little bit of cash up front in the form of a deposit.

One caveat: if the buyers have money now that they were going to place as a down payment for the mortgage, you'd want to take measures to ensure that they don't spend it in the meantime since they'll most likely need it for their mortgage in 4-5 yrs. Set up an escrow maybe?