All Forum Posts by: Brian L.

How hungry am I to make this work?

Seller of this house called me today:

http://www.trulia.com/property/3052669985-50-Laura-Dr-Cedar-Grove-NJ-07009

I probably included a zip I shouldn't have. :)

Me: How long has the property been on the market?
Seller: Long time. Over a year.
Me: That is a long time. Any interest?
Seller: Lots of people want to see it, but no one serious.
Me: What is the least you would you take for it?
Seller: Are you serious?
Me: Very.
Seller: $14M.
Me: Is that the best you can do?
Seller: Yes.
Me: If I walked in with $13M in cash and wanted to close tomorrow, you would turn me away?
Seller: Probably not.
Me: Ok, so when your listing expires again and your realtor promises you a high price again to keep the listing, call me. I'll make you an offer.
Seller: Ok, I'll be sure to do that.

Thanks for the script Jerry Puckett, this is starting to be fun. :)

On another note, am hooked up with a fulltime wholesaler. Small upfront fee and 50% of deals. Well worth it IMO. This guy does a lot of volume.

Working on it. Should know by tomorrow.

Thanks Tim G.. I know the payoff is there if I don't give up. I just want to fast forward a few months. :)

Thanks @robert joiner. I am hoping that this thread keeps me accountable and at the same time answers my newbie questions.

Wholesaling is definitely not easy. Two weeks in and I can see how it gets very frustrating.

The calls keep coming in. Have spoken to a lot of sellers. Most are just curious tire kickers. I've had 26 calls, so the mathematician in me is wondering which of the 26 calls was a deal that I missed. :)

Today, I had a call with a landlord out of state whose property has been vacant for 7 years. Too far to manage it properly with tenants. Offered me the property for 160k. ARV is 170k. I walked him through what he would get out of that if he sold it through a realtor (less realtor commission, less concessions, less repairs, less holding costs, etc). I told him repairs likely to be 30-40k, sight unseen.

Long story short, the guy didn't disagree with my number, but he seemed to be emotionally attached to the property. Told me that he always wanted to retire there (to NJ?!?!? really?!?!?!?) as its on a lake, but his son was telling him to sell the property. This definitely doesn't fit into a motivated seller, but I can see how this guy may be down the road. Not sure what I could have done differently, but I'm guessing you can't make a motivated seller out of someone that isn't.

In the meantime, I have been doing a lot of networking, using Jerry Puckett's advice on what to say to realtors. Lots of responses and now I have 2-3 that claim they will help me with comps. We will see how they work out.

I am also talking to a well established NJ wholesaler about becoming a student. My current "mentor" is focused on everything but wholesales. Not sure he cares too much about helping me wholesale, but rather views me as a stream of short sale opportunities. Luckily, the more I network, the much better my resources are becoming. It also helps to have lots of leads coming in that I don't know what to do with. :)

I am going to a local REI meetup next week. When I go, it's hard to have more than a handful of conversations. I think I am going to market to everyone there, in terms of what I can offer each potential person I am looking for. Perhaps a little marketing piece. I've seen a few people do this with good effect for hard money, etc.

That's about it. Expecting my 2nd batch of letters to hit starting tomorrow, so looking forward to applying what I've learned in the past week.

Interesting, joe. I have to admit that I don't know a lot about lease options. Will study up a bit. Right now, the only strategy that I can do is straight wholesales and know that I'm missing a lot of opportunities.

Sean, you are doing the right things. Keep it up!

I keep hearing that the first deal is the hardest and once that is under your belt, the rest are much easier. I'll bet you aren't that far away.

Thanks Ned Carey. I'm feeding leads to other investors in return for education. I seem to be coming across a LOT of short sale leads and am thinking about what I should be adding to my toolbelt.

Thanks Michael. I listened to your Sean Terry podcast the other day. Learned a lot.

I can't wait until I can work leads effectively. Better yet, can't wait until I can scale up my marketing and not miss deals.

I tried searching for this, but the filter button after I search doesn't seem to be working for me.

So, now that I have leads coming in, I am trying to categorize them as to what can be done with them. I may not do short sales, but want to make sure I know all the options and potential wholesaling exit strategies.

Please correct me, but here's how I am thinking about them:
1. Equity deal: Straight wholesale
2. Little equity: Sub2 or seller financing, assuming rents are greater than PITI
3. No equity or upside down: Short sale

What am i missing?