All Forum Posts by: Charles Whitaker

Joseph,

A great point to remember when peforming mailings is to put "RETURN SERVIcE REQUESTED" on your cards. You may or may not have to pay the additional postage required by the local post office but you will have, if available, their new address for future mailings.

Jon,

Everyone here has stated a different path to take when searching out the deals, in actuality, the deals are everywhere. As an investor you will have the most success in following all of the motivated sellers; for whatever the reason. You can easily watch probates, foreclosures, tired landlords, expired mls listings, active listings, sheriff's sales, etc all at the same time.

Success is in the numbers. If you were to watch the active listings on the mls for say a year and that's all you did, you'll probably come out with a few deals. If you kept track of all of the probate real estate for a year then you would probably find some deals. See where this goes. Look everywhere and never stop, always tell people what you do. This is purely a numbers game, some talent but mostly numbers.

Good luck

Just my curious nature but why on earth do you have the keys to a house that you do not own?

Also, using a "blanket" number system such as offering 40%-50% off from list price will get you nowhere. You will be lucky to buy more than one house this way. Your offers should be calculated, the easiest to remember is retail value x 70 percent. The 30% reduction usually covers holding costs, insurance, taxes, as well as your PROFIT. Then you would subtract the materials costs for fixing the place and then a wholesaler fee if you want to go that route.

Comps $280K
Minus 30% $196K
minus repairs of $12K 184K

If your comps are accurate, very accurate, then I would offer around $165K and work up slightly if I had to. I tend to go with 65% of retail or less for calculations, depending on the neighborhood and the ability to sale that particular house.

Good Luck,

Charles Whitaker
Amarillo Investors LLC