All Forum Posts by: Cornelius Garland

@Joey Hampton I always get my lists off of List Source. You're able to filter by equity on there. If your list provider is able to filter by equity then I would use them. Just ask them because you can spend a lot of money on lists and not be able to wholesale them. I made this mistake on a preforeclosure list I bought and an inherited list.

@Ceary Williams @Joey Hampton I thought I would interject to provide some guidance. Your lists should definitely have equity and you also need to mail more than 200 leads to get a response. I've dealt with a lot of list providers in the past that promised the leads were "good"; however, after mailing I discovered there was no motivation at all. I would really try to stick with an absentee high-equity list. I found that there are typically not enough leads when I'm using other lists to efficently scale my marketing. For instance, while probates or inherited leads may be a good list to target, I'll never make it the basis of my investment business. You're essentially counting on people to pass away to get a lead. I'm not saying is impossible; however, this is something you can add after you close a few deals. 

Also if you plan on wholesaling, then I highly suggest getting up to 500 leads at a minimum. I've landed deals with a list with fewer leads, but I was targeting a specific neighborhood and we did some door knocking and a lot cold calling to increase our response rate. I'm glad you both are taking action; I just wanted to provide some direction so you save time and money! I've been through exactly what you're going through and understand it can be overwhelming.

@Vincent Crane I've encountered these situations and work very closely with my closing attorney to receive compensation from agents. You can get in legal trouble if you don't have your paperwork correct or process specifically established. Firstly, my company is not paid directly from the proceeds of the sale. Instead, I have an agreement with the agent to receive a marketing consulting fee for "managing his campaigns". It isn't a monthly fee; I only receive the fee whenever he closes on the property I refer to him. Additionally, my company isn't listed anywhere on the HUD-1 statement. Another bit of advice is that an agent working for a big brokerage will likely not do this for you. I only deal with local or regional brokers because they're more flexible.

Another tactic that I've utilized is getting specific power of attorney to sell the home for the seller. With that document, I'm able to list the property and receive compensation at closing because technically I'm the seller of the property. In this scenario, I would agree on a purchase price with the seller and sign a purchase and sales agreement with them. Then I bring my mobile notary over and have the seller sign the specific power of attorney, which gives me the right to list the home. Then I record the specific POA at the courthouse and send all of the documents to my closing attorney. The last step is to find a realtor to list the home. You shouldn't receive any pushback from a realtor or broker once you have the notarized document and it's filed at the court house. You are essentially the seller. At closing, your assignment or referral fee will be listed on the HUD-1 statement along with the purchase price you agreed to with the seller. The seller doesn't have to show up to closing and you can deliver the funds to them via check or have your attorney wire them their money. I've closed multiple transactions doing this, and it works in my state of South Carolina.

A lot of people may ask "How in the world do you get someone to grant you POA"? It's simple; we build rapport and only bring the document up after about the 5th point of contact. This is an easy sell to someone who's out-of-state, older, or is very busy. Your seller just needs to be comfortable with you and have confidence that you can perform. I am very transparent with my sellers and keep them in the loop during every point in the process. You are dealing with their biggest asset so this is a huge responsibility!

I want to emphasize that you should do your own research and consult your attorney before doing this. I had paperwork specifically drafted for my company by my attorney to ensure all parties were protected during the transaction. There is always a way to get paid for the value you bring. The "conventional" route is not necessarily the best route all of the time. 

Very Respectfully,

Cornelius Garland

Hello @Pedro Recarey, @Paul Amegatcher gave you very sound advice. I want to emphasize the point he touched on regarding the bank-owned properties. If you're intending to wholesale them, don't even try to get them under contract. The bank only accepts cash for foreclosed properties and you'll need to bring cash to table within 24-48 hours of signing the purchase contract. If you default on the contract, you can be potentially barred from purchasing future foreclosures and it you can quickly tarnish your reputation.

The website you listed should have a mailing address attached to the parcels. If not, go to your county's tax assessor's site and locate the individual's property and find who the owner of record is. There will be a mailing address listed on the property record, and you can write a yellow letter to them inquiring about the property. If the mailing address is the same as the property address but the home is clearly abandoned, you will need to conduct a skip trace to find updated contact information for your prospect. I usually cold call all of our abandoned property leads because it's a lot more efficient than writing the letters and hoping the seller calls us. Please let me know if you need me to clarify anything I stated or if you have any followup questions.

@David Chwaszczewski Thanks for chiming in! I wanted to assist Ceary but wasn't familiar with your area.

Also, @Ceary Williams I've had that issue as well. There are a couple of areas I started out Google Driving for Dollars in where I knew for sure there were dilapidated properties. My area is probably unique because there are hundreds (maybe thousands) of homes that are boarded up, but have huge potential. Charleston is a very interesting market, and my area may be a rare case. Either way, I would say you were successful because you saved gas and your time even though you didn't locate a property. Instead of actually driving to those locations, you leveraged technology and let Google Maps do the work for you. I would try a different neighborhood to see if you have any luck. A great trick to see where investors are rehabbing is to go to List Source and see which zip codes near you have had the most cash sales. This would be a great starting point. I can help you with this if you need any assistance. Just let me know.

I checked the Bergen County website and it appears they only have a directory that lists contacts in the county. One thing that irks me is that there is no national standard between the counties regarding the accessibility of their data. One county may have all of their data online and the adjacent county may require you to call to get access to the information. I would call the county assessor's office to see if they have a way you can access the data online. There may be a small fee to do this; however, it will be worth it if you need to search property records. Seperately, I was able to find Bergen County's register of deeds online. You can use this site to verify ownership and any liens or mortgages in a property owner's name. You can access it here.

@Tameka Daniels If you openly solicit your services on the Bigger Pockets forums, your post will be removed and you can potentially get your account banned. There's an ad section on BP where you can solicit your services. Just trying to look out!

@Christopher Berkely Welcome to BP! I see that you're interested in vacation rentals near the beaches. I'm actually managing a marketing campaign for a company downtown that is looking to snag a few rentals on Folly Beach. We gotten a nice response rate from us just calling 170 sellers. I don't know the exact figures but it's far better than direct mail. We got in touch with almost all of them within the first week and set up our client with 7 appointments.

I say all of this because a lot of people would think that the higher-priced areas are more competitive, but it's literally the opposite. The homeowners we spoke to haven't received a single call or letter about their properties. There is virtually no competition so your chances of getting a deal at one of the beaches is high. You just need to make sure you're in the same price range as your seller or can negotiate terms, like our client. Please let me know if you have any questions.

More importantly, you need to know what has sold within the last 6 months. If there are a few sales, then there is at least some interest in the area. I just don't want you invest and not have a viable exit strategy. Also, to check the market rent in the area and potentially what you can rent the properties for, check out rentometer. It's pretty accurate and you can do a lot of searches on their free plan. Please keep me posted on your progress with this situation. 

@Ceary Williams Is the land rural? And do you have any comps for the area? I would ensure there's a demand for rentals before building them. Rentals and rehabs are not necessarily in my skill set so I don't want to give you any inaccurate information.

@Ceary Williams Yes, please let me know if you need any more clarification regarding the questions I answered. I think I hit on all of the topics. Unfortunately, I'm not too familiar with Rock Hill. It's more closer to North Carolina than me. It's about 3 hours north from my city. I wish I knew somebody I could point your way but I don' know anybody. Are you looking to invest there? I might be able to point you in the right direction.