All Forum Posts by: Benjamin Williams

@Charles Mitchell Take this with a grain of salt as I have zero real estate experience. But I’m from Memphis.

I know a lot of college kids look for rentals north/northeast-ish of the University of Memphis. I think Bartlett is a great area to invest in. The price/crime ratio seems really good.

I’m looking for a helper/apprentice job with a rehabber/flipper in Memphis. I’d love to follow someone around and help, learn everything I can. I’m pretty green in experience but I love home repairs, remodels, and projects when I get the chance.

@Ola Dantis Do you have any tips on finding them? I want to get a job doing this. I’m very green in most stuff but I love doing home repairs and rehabs when I have the chance.

What kind of person would you look for when hiring an on-site maintenance guy for an apartment complex?

Would you train someone with no experience?

I’ve got an interview for a maintenance worker position at an apartment complex. It’s going to be with 3 maintenance supervisors over a group of complexes and they’re going to ask about my handyman skills. It sounded like they wanted a guy skilled in HVAC, plumbing, I can’t do all that. I have a basic understanding of it and want to learn. But I can paint walls, change/fix appliances, drywall, pretty basic household maintenance.

This seems like a great job to get first hand experience while I’m getting through college and saving for investments.

What would you say I need to do to be better prepared for this interview?

What kinds of things should I familiarize myself with?

I went out looking for homes that may be wholesale deals. I found a place with boarded up windows and doors. The grass looks like it may have been cut at least once this year. I found the name of the owner on the tax assessors website. It was an older man that died back in late 2012. It shows that the last time taxes were paid on it was in 2013. The website says call clerk & master for amount due. The house looks like it has good bones, and it is in a great neighborhood. 

I'm not sure where to go from here. This could be my first wholesale deal. Anyone have any advice on what I should do?

 Where do I find these lists? I quoted it in bold above, the lists that you said. Do I find them from a list broker? I also am not sure what a list broker actually is. Do I find them at a local Real Estate company office? Thank you for your time!

Alright great. Are there any specific skip tracing services that you recommend? I've heard good things about "REI-Skip" but I have never done skip tracing before. Thanks!

I have been driving all around my city this past week looking for properties. I found 9 properties that are vacant and need work. I have a list with the address, various problems I saw with the properties, and pictures of all of them.

I searched them all on my county tax assessor website. I'm not too sure what I'm looking for or at.

One of the properties I got the owners name and a mailing address. His address is a nicer house in a nicer part of the city. But it says that the taxes were paid by someone else, with the same last name though. Maybe wife? I don't know if that means anything.

Another I found the owners name, no mailing address though. This one says the taxes for last year were paid by "Tennessee Housing Development" - does that mean section 8? The 2 years prior it says it was paid by "US Bank Home Mortgage".

I found one that has had a "for rent" sign in the yard for 6+ months. I only know that because I drive by it daily on the way to my class. I found the name, no mailing address though.

This next one is interesting. It is in the hood, real bad part of town. Boarded up, bullet holes in the boarded up doorway. Anyways I found the owner on the tax assessor website, and a mailing address that is in the nicer part of town. I found 14 properties that he owns, all of which are in the bad part of town. 

One property I was looking at had all kinds of notices on the door. I had a hard time finding the actual address, there was no mailbox. There was a sticker that said the city deemed it vacant. The mail-lady came down the street while I was there and she told me the address and said that she had done this route for 7 years and never delivered to that house. I looked it up and it said it was owned by the "U.S. Dept of V.A.".

All of the other properties I nothing at all came up on the county tax assessors website. I have zero information about them other than the address.

Also, I know of 2 properties that are in the same neighborhood that are, without a doubt, having drugs sold out of them. Most of the houses in that area are rentals. Is there anything I may be able to do with these?

I don't know what my next moves should be. I don't know what to do with this information. Any and all help would be appreciated!

 I agree! Max Maxwell is #1!

 Thank you for the words of encouragement!

 I am in college just to be in college. It's always been the "best thing to do". I can't honestly say that I am passionate about my major, it was just the only thing that interested me at the time. But I do think I'm picking up what you're putting down. Thanks for the help!