All Forum Posts by: Brian Wall

hey Brent.

Good luck, it is a jungle out there!

It is difficult to find good deals these days, without going direct to homeowners. I also, am starting up a direct mail campaign, down in my neck of the woods.

What is your buying criteria for flips? Will you buy 75 cents, 80 cents on the dollar?

Brian

Hey Brian L.,
Can you elaborate on how you work with your VA to weed out unmotivated sellers.

I am looking to start a mail campaign, and want to make sure I use my time wisely.

Brian W.

Hi Ruben,
In addition to all the great advice, above, I would ask you the following:

1) How much money do you have to spend on marketing? (I would say spend money on marketing rather than on a "guru" package.) You should spend a few days reading through BP to get tons of ideas. Hint: search "yellow letter"
2) How much time do you have available to devote? Do you work full time, or is RE going to be your full time business?
3) What are you willing to do? Door knock, cold call, etc.

I can guarantee that you could have a number of "mentors" for free, if you but found a deal for them.

I am just up the 605 fwy from you. After you get some reading under your belt, feel free to reach out.

Thanks,
Brian

I recently attended a Bruce Norris event, where he put this topic in perspective for me.

He said investors are the "Car Max" of the real estate industry.

I recently sold a car to Car Max. It was easy, simple, & fast. Did I get the top dollar for my car, NO! and I knew that going into it. What I was able to do is drive in with my car and pink slip, then 30-45 minutes later drive out with a check.

We, as investors, provide that same service for real estate. (usually takes a little longer than 30-45 minutes though!).

Our service is not for everyone, but for those it can help, it is a welcomed service. The majority of homeowners probably don't even know this service is available. It is our job to market our services, so that homeowners become educated about what we can do.

Thanks,
Brian

If you/we ask enough members, and/or do a poll, I bet there are many "frequent fliers" that go to Vegas, and have racked up some comps.

Maybe that can pool it together to get us a great deal!

Brian

Jonny S.
Yes, I am getting them direct from court house.
I see you are a wholesaler. How are you currently getting your leads? Do you have a steady flow of leads coming in?

Thanks,
Brian

The process is easy to describe. But the hard part comes in finding the deals.

Once you have a steady deal flow coming in, the rest will come in to place.

Brian

I recently purchased a property from GoHoming.com which was the predecessor to Hubzu.com

First of all, it is totally legit and for real.

It took me resubmitting an offer (I am an agent) several times to get the property. You definitely need to have patience.

From what I have observed, here is what I think is happening.
Buyers/agents go to the site, and place a bid, based on the pics and the comps in the area, without seeing the property. They bid high enough to get the highest bid. Then, they get their offer accepted. Then they go out the see the property, and see it is REALLY BAD! (the house I ended up getting was totally gutted, and had a bad "flow"). So, the buyers seeing a crappy property either cancel completely, or they try to ask for a credit, which they don't get. (why would the bank/seller give a credit, they have other buyers waiting in the wings). Eventually, bid goes low enough that somebody with enough patience actually buys it.

Hope that helps,
Brian

Define "operating". If you are actively participating in the business, like in our example, if you are the one swinging the hammer on a rehab, then you are correct.

But, you can manage your investments, e.g. you can direct the investment.

People buy businesses, with their SDIRA all the time. For example, you could buy a website business, and hire someone to run the day to day stuff.

But, like Will said there are potential tax implications that you need to be aware of.

Brian

Great point Will.

Here is a wiki that talks about UBIT.

http://www.wiki-investor.com/page/UBIT+-+When+does+it+apply%3F

Brian