All Forum Posts by: Chris Feltus

Shannon Xerri

It's all about targeting motivated sellers, people that want to deal with you.

There are many different sources such as:

Probate
Absentee-Owner
High Equity, Deed Date 15+ years, Over 65 Homestead Exemption
Pre-Foreclosure
Code Violations (If your state is open records, request under the open records act)
& more

You can purchase the aforementioned information from various list providers. Alternatively, you can query it yourself from your Central Appraisal District or through MLS.

As you stated in your original message, driving the subdivisions yourself, is a great way to produce leads. Often times referred to as "driving for dollars" or "dig leads".

Once you have chosen the type(s) of motivated sellers you would like to target, you need to determine your criteria to further filter through your leads.

For example I wholesale here in Texas. Begin to break it down further. What cities would you like to target? In my case Arlington, Mansfield & Fort Worth. Within those cities, which zip codes, what sort of houses, bed/bath/garage, sq footage range, tax assessed value, year built, rent rates, exterior type, school districts etc. This process enables you to break down raw data into something very targeted. Once your data is properly filtered its all about putting yourself in front of these people.

You can do this by taking your lead data and building a simple database in excel. This database can be uploaded onto various mail fulfillment centers, such as click to mail, where one can upload an excel database, and the website will automatically send out the letters for you by "mail merging" your database. No licking envelopes, writing addresses or going to the post office for stamps.

I hope that has helped provide some additional insight, best of luck and please don't hesitate to ask if you have any additional questions.

It depends on what you are looking for. Typically when wholesaling you are looking for houses with both high equity and motivated seller(s). If the house is low equity you can still wholesale it but you have to be more creative, using subject to.

Targeting Neighborhoods:
(In North Texas) $80,000 - $150,000 ARV (After Repair Value) tend to be the most assignable

Deed Date >= 15 years

You can get this information from the MLS or companies that provide MLS data for a fee. You can add various criteria to filter through the data base such as deed date. Typically 15 years + deeds will have the type of equity you need.

Motivated Sellers can be found through various lists as well such as probate, code enforcement, absentee owner etc. Probate and code enforcement can be found in county auditors office/ code violation department. Absentee owner can again be found through a MLS provider or by searching tax roles. Simply any subject property where the owner address and subject property address do not match.

After you have set your criteria, you can then begin establishing your market area. Find zip codes or census tracts that fit the criteria and mail them.

All of the above are criteria I use when targeting neighborhoods with mailers.

Hope that helps.

What has generated the best response for you?

1. Formal white letter
2. Hand written yellow letter

Thanks

Thanks for the clarification everyone.

Here is where I am confused. In Texas, a wholesaler can assign a contract without a license or brokerage, and without needing representation by an agent. In other words, any John Doe off the street can wholesale, assuming they had the knowledge, without having to jump through any hoops.

Why would it be different when I have my license?

Thanks J Scott, perhaps you could help further clarify, but I do not see where the additional risk for the broker is.

I am not listing the property, nor am I representing a buyer or seller. I am just assigning a contract. In Texas, when a wholesaler holds a real estate license, the main thing you really need to do to protect yourself with the real estate commission is to state up front you hold a license. It's all about disclosure, and making sure you clearly state this in the special provisions section of the contract as well.

As far as fees for the broker paying MLS, that makes sense and is fair.

Thanks

Joel Owens

What? You do not even need a brokerage or real estate license to wholesale property. All I am using it for is MLS data.

I have my real estate license, and I will be using it solely for MLS data when wholesaling.

With that being said many of the brokerages I have contacted require a fee of some sort per residential sale e.g. ($175 per residential sale). My initial thought is no, they will not collect a fee, because wholesaling is assigning a contract and not the sale of real estate.

My question is, since wholesaling is "non traditional" real estate, would they still attempt to collect a per transaction fee from me for any contract I assigned?

Just looking for basic sponsorship, no office space or anything like that or extra bells and whistles. Just MLS data.

Thanks

Going to echo Rob Gillespie sentiments here. Websites such as trulia/zillow use an algorithm to aggregate data. This is acceptable to find a ball park estimate, but not reliable when pricing individual comps.

In addition, the data inputted into the algorithm is delayed. While the data from MLS is always instant and accurate. In other words, yes the MLS is significantly more accurate.

How strong would you weigh a comp that is marked as pending in your analysis?

For instance, lets say your subject property is a 3/2/2 1,500 sq ft and you are looking for retail-flip sold comps within .5 radius of the subject property, within 6 months, similar house style, sq footage etc. Generally, you need at least 3 solid sold comps to determine the subject properties ARV.

You find 2 solid sold comps, and 1 pending

1. Sold- 3/2/2 1450 sq ft $120,000
2. Sold- 3/2/2 1520 sq ft $124,000
3. PENDING- 3/2/2 1500 sq ft $121,000

Would the pending comp be able to count as a third sold comp in this scenario? From what I gather, the vast majority of the time a house goes pending its highly likely it will be finalized.

Thanks for your feedback