All Forum Posts by: Michael G.

Mubasher is a newbie. Why would anyone suggest that he not have a buyers list?

Not having a buyer to sell deals to actually seems like mistake number 1 in Seven Mistakes to Avoid When Wholesaling.

Someone please show me in the Wholesaling 101 manual where it says you dont need a buyer before you find a deal?

A bird in the hand ALWAYS beats 2 in the bush.

So lets imagine a deal falls into Mubasher's lap TODAY. Are all the 0 buyer advocates suggesting he now start looking for buyers? That process in and of itself can take 2 weeks minimum to sort out and find "qualified cash buyers". Not just tire kicker fake rehab investors who respond to a craigslist post.

Mubasher - heres my 3 cents. Time is money my man. I don't suggest you not have clients to sell your inventory to when you get some inventory.

FIND 20 CASH BUYERS. In the end you may end up doing business with a HANDFUL if not less of those 20 but better to be safe than sorry.

When I had to fatten up my buyers list I went to my favorite realtor and had them run a report of all the short-sale and REO properties in zip code xxxxx knowing full well that the buyers of these properties will probably be cash rehab investors. I took that report to the county clerks office and looked up the deeds for those properties which gave me the purchaser and their address. Some of those same purchasers had bought several properties for cash in the last 12 months. I then sent them all a form letter stating that I have come across fixer properties and to call me to discuss future fixer's I may come across. These were not tire kicker's. These were real players (alot of them were listed as corporations on the deeds) who are in the game buying houses. So when they call I collect cell phone numbers, email addresses, what type of houses they like and what price range so I have all the right info when I come across a deal.

I cannot see the value in having a deal in the pipeline tomorrow and no one to sell them to.

Do any of you guys use internet marketing to capture good, high quality leads?

Do you target specific demographics in some way shape or form? ie - Divorce, bankruptcy, etc.

I was thinking of launching an internet marketing campaign but I wanted to measure the pulse of the wholesaling community to see if its worth it.

The cost of the probate leads is minimal because I get the leads and do the mailings myself.

The bandit signs get pricey but pay for them selves 10 times over with one deal.

I'm looking for a cost effective way to drive more leads into my pipeline so I can increase my deal flow.

Congrats!

I havent been up in the Roc for a while. I did a good amount of business in the city of Rochester buying rental properties.

Are you focusing on the city or the other areas like Chili, Henrietta, Gates etc?

The trick is to find quality deals that rehabbers are gonnna want to buy from you. Your post says you have made a decision to start with wholesaling. What have you guys done so far?

-Mike

I so wish my county had an online presence. I still go to the county clerks office. The leads are fresh and I can start my mailing campaign early enough to get my marketing in the executors face before they decide to go the realtor route. Yes, its not very sexy but it works. I know investors who pay (a ton of money) for probate leads. I guess I see the value in it if its not the highest and best use of ones time to trudge out to the CC office and spend hours searching through who has property and who doesnt but that value doesnt exist for me. I like being able to target the ones that are 1) out of state executors 2) only 1 heir 3) in my favorite farm area. Its kind of like treasure hunting for me. Go figure. The original poster is dead on about probates vs short sales. My probate deals are usually home run's. Short sales have so much bs attached to them. The sellers on the probabte side are so easy to deal with.

You want to run your business like a business.

If you have to collect a few checks in your personal name so be it but like Mike said, there are tax concerns.

I'm not an accountant but that money will be taxed differently than if you received that money from your corporation AFTER expenses (stamps, paper,envelops, bandit signs, advertising, gas, business cards, seminars, etc.)are paid.

Amerilawyer.com offers the benefit of reduced online pricing as well as legal counsel.

-Mike

Welcome to wholesaling. You should read through the wholesaling forum extensively because a lot of the questions you want to ask as a wholsaler will probably be there. As, a wholesaler your customer will be the rehab investor\flipper.

Some basic questions I can think of are...

1) What is your price range?

2) What areas do you prefer to rehab in? Which areas do you dislike?

3) Wjhat type of houses do you like? 3/2's? What type of houses do you NOT want

3) Are you a cash investor and how quickly can you close? (i only deal with rehabbers who have instant access to capital)

4) How many deals can you handle? Can I bring you 3 or 4 houses? 10 or 20? (I've had investors tell me that I will run out of deals way before they run out of money.)

I may have forgot some but these are kind of basic.

Right now I deal with almost exclusively with 1 rehab investor. He's got deep pockets. He told me he needs 40 properties this year so I just bring him whatever I have and we have a nice relationship.

I just cashed a $3k wholsaling check on Friday from a guy who called off a bandit sign about an estate property he inherited.

Should have another closing next week for $5K.

The trick is to keep the deals coming in.

Remember that every deal is not a deal. You have to go through the duds to get through the deals.

Happy wholesaling!

-Mike

...you can't put anything in the trunk of your car or SUV because its filled with bandit signs.

...you are up @ 4 am putting out bandit signs.

...you drive by an intersection and think "why is my bandit sign not here?"

...you get slightly upset when you see another investors bandit sign magically appeared next to yours.

...you call that investor and see if they want to do a JV on any deals. :D

I would say it depends on the transaction.

The last transaction I did with a lender on a short sale where the offer was cash the lender INSISTED that the money come from the business bank account. No exceptions. They wanted to see the corporations bank statements as proof of funds.

It's pretty simple to set-up a biz bank acct. You need the articles of incorporation, the certificate of incorporation, drivers license or passport. Just call the bank and ask what you need to set it up.

You may want to buy in your name and deed to the corporation after the fact if you don't have cash in the corporate account.

This is what happens when written words and ideas get misconstrued and taken out of context. I understand how Sam may feel considering he's coming to the forum for advice and getting his cohones handed to him. However, I'm from the REI school where MLS listings are like the black plague of investing. Ive been told since '05 to always stay away from MLS listings so I can't help you in that arena Sam.

One rehab buyer who I know , when I mentioned a property was on MLS (even though we got the seller down to the price he wanted to buy it at) got a look in his eye, spit on the ground and said it's with an F'n realtor!

He said Realtors just get in the way and F' up the deal. Don't shoot me....I'm just telling you what he told me...LOL. So I kind of first hand understand the sentiment associated with MLS deals from a wholesaler's standpoint. Not popular.

I dont think you need a deal in your pocket to build a buyers list. One runs the risk of not being able to perform if they don't have buyers in place for their deals. When I had to fatten up my buyers list I went to my favorite realtor and had them run a report of all the short-sale and REO properties in zip code xxxxx knowing full well that the buyers of these properties will probably be cash rehab investors. I took that report to the county clerks office and looked up the deeds for those properties which gave me the purchaser and their address. Some of those same purchasers had bought several properties for cash in the last 12 months. I then sent them all a form letter stating that I have come across fixer properties and to call me to discuss future fixer's I may come across. These were not tire kicker's. These were people (alot of them were listed as corporations on the deeds) who are in the game. So when they call I collect cell phone numbers, email addresses, what type of houses they like and what price range so I have all the right info when I come across a deal.