All Forum Posts by: Brian Wall

Chris,
Where do you send the letters to the heirs?

In my county, we don't get address info for the heirs, just names. I have been sending letters to the home of the deceased person, addressed to the case administrator.

Just started doing this, so I am not sure how successful yet.

Brian

For those that are looking for a mentor, I am no expert, but I know what it takes to get the job done.

I need some help and willing to pay you for it, upfront, and train you how to do it.

I am looking for short sale deals in my area, which is the East section of Los Angeles County, in Southern California.

You bring me a homeowner that is willing to do a short sale, on any SFR (no condos), and I will pay you $100 cash, as a lead generation fee.

Plus, I will pay you $2000 once I close the deal.

I can provide you with pre-foreclosure list, as well as no/low cost methods of marketing.

The simplest and lowest cost is door knocking. I can provide you with exactly what to say, and how to say it. If you knock on enough doors you will get a homeowner that is interested.

On any given day, you can probably hit 50-60 doors, maybe more.

So if you have more time than money, what are you waiting for?

What are YOU willing to do?

Let me know if any takers.

Brian

Between my partner and I we have purchased about 8 properties, (6 REOs, 2 probates) with none of our own cash.

We use a private party lender that lends us 80% of ARV.

Now, the only problem we have is that he only has enough cash to fund 3-4 deals at one time, so that is limiting my success.

I am currently trying to find more people like him.

So, how did I find him? He is a friend of my fathers. He had just sold a business and was looking to get into real estate investing, and I came along at the right time. He did one deal with me first, that turned out okay, and then he was fully committed. He says he is making more money, and working less, with less risk, than if he were to do it himself. He is retired, and doesn't really want to work anymore.

He has since introduced me to a few other people, and they have loaned me small amounts as well.

That being said, if I had the money, I would not borrow it, so I did not have to pay interest, but for now, it works for the both of us.

Brian

Brandi,
regarding finding a California title company:
Although I have not done A-->B-->C short sale deal yet, in preparation, I spoke with my good friend Corey, who is a title rep for Cal Counties title, he said he has no problem with back to back closings, and has a few escrow companies that have handled several of these types of deals.

Feel free to give him a call, and let him know I sent you.

Corey Velasquez
[PHONE NUMBER REMOVED]


Regarding finding deals/working with Realtors:
I had spent a considerable amount of time and money trying to work with realtors that have existing short sale listings, and most did not want to hear anything about it, and the ones that at least listened to what I have to say, did not feel comfortable letting me or my representative handle negotiations. I am also a real estate agent, myself, and even that did not help. So, for now, I have given up working with real estate agents, unless I know them personally and they understand how I work.

I am knee deep in REO's now, but I am currently training someone to start working on getting short sale leads for me, as listings, then I can represent the client. I, then, can control the deal, and really work in the best interest of the homeowner, and get them out of the house, which is their goal. My friend will be the B buyer, not me. I will have someone, a licensed broker in CA, negotiate for me, he charges 1%, and I can double end the A-->B and then list on the MLS, to find the C buyer, once we are close to getting an approval. Like Nick J. on these boards does, if the approval amount makes sense for the B buyer, then he closes the deal, and sells to C, if it doesn't then he backs out and allows me to sell to the C buyer directly.

Also, something to keep in mind, I just ran into another issue on an REO flip I just did, where the bank (Wells Fargo) would not fund the loan, because the seller was selling for more than 20% more than the purchase price, in less than 90 days of when he bought it. We were told this was a Wells Fargo rule, not an FHA rule. So, when I do the short sale flips, my friend the investor, will not sell to the end buyer, for more than 20% of my negotiated price. That will net him out about 10% after you take out commissions (5%), financing (2%) and closing costs(2-3%).

I, as an agent, will make about that as well. I can double end the a-->b (5%) and then at least get the relisting at (2.5%), and potentially find the end buyer (2.5%).

So, long story short, instead of spending so much time trying to go after existing listings, I should just focus on going after homeowners, if I would have, I would have probably done several short sale deals already.

Hope this helps.

Brian

Mark,
you are welcome.

just go out and do it. There is a lot of assistance right here on the boards.

I am still going strong, I have purchased and subsequently flipped 5 properties so far this year, last year I did one.

The biggest success we are having is by working with an REO broker.

Brian

I would have to say lack of deals. There are plenty of properties in my area, but the owners (banks) are not letting them go for a decent price, even though they are in need of major rehab.

For me, it took nearly 4 years of studying before I took the plunge, but once I did the flood gates opened up.

I now have access to as much money as I need for rehab deals. So, money is not an issue, for the right deals.

and at the risk of arguing with myself, I would say that perhaps even lack of deals is not the problem, but more lack of time to find the deals. I currently work full time, and do not yet have the reserves necessary to quit, but by the end of the year, I will! Then, watch out world!!

Brian

I too, must confess, am a data junkie.

Luckily, I am an agent, and have access to the MLS.

I am trying to find the active REO agents/brokers. I downloaded all REO listed sales (my MLS has a flag for REO listings), for the past year, and summarized by office & broker, to see who has done the most.

I just did this the other day, and now will start monitoring all listings for these agents, and give them a call, to introduce myself, and try to meetup with them. To bring me some deals.

Brian

I would agree with everyone. I am just finishing up a deal in Whittier (unincorporated LA county) that is similar.

The house has 3 bedrooms, the county had it listed as a 2 bd. I paid $205k, the 2bd price for the area.

Before purchasing the house, I had a home inspector, who also happens to be a general contractor, inspect the property. He said that typically, the inspectors will only make you "tear it down" if it is unsafe. Otherwise, they will just make you bring it up to code.

With my deal, the previous owners had pulled the permits, did the work, but never got a final sign off. After I purchased the property, I ended up putting a new roof on the addition, because of the sloppy work before.
We checked with the county, and they told us pretty much the same as you. We had to draw up plans for the entire structure (not just the addition) and submit for approval. Upon submitting for approval, they had us make a few minor changes, once those changes were done, they sent out an inspector.

When the inspector came out, he had a list of 16 items that the previous owner was asked to fix in order to get a sign off. That was the first we had heard about it, but we had no choice to fix the items, most were very minor, one major thing was to replace the roof, which we had already done, so the inspector signed off on that one item that day.

We have now completed all 16 items and are awaiting final sign off. When we get that the house will officially be a 3bd.

We will list the property for $325k, and it should sell pretty quickly.

We spent less than 25k for all repairs, about $1500 for plans, and $500 for permits.

I am starting to look for more of these types of deals!

Brian

I realize that many times an REO cannot be assigned. However, I have done several REO deals, (purchased from Wachovia), where the bank had in their "disclosures" that they would allow assignments as long as the assignee kept all the same terms and conditions, and that they (the bank) was informed.

Just know that there is hardly any "hard and fast", absolute things in Real Estate.

Brian

Thanks Everyone for your words of support and encouragement.

Ana, it is 15% Annual Interest Rate.

Brian