All Forum Posts by: Michael Giamanco

I don't know about the program but they are legit rehabbers. CT Homes (As seen on TV) are one of the biggest cash buyers in San Diego, CA. They are flipping anywhere from 10-30 homes a month. I wholesaled a deal to them a couple of years ago. They helped me through the process and I made $10K. Maybe I should have bought their program then but I was going to school and working full time as an apprentice electrician at the time the money was much needed. Now I'm back trying to find deals and the market is really tough here. I wish I knew then what I know now after 3 years of research on Bigger Pockets. I think there is enough knowledge in these forums to get what they are teaching for free. The mentor-ship might be worth it though I can't say.

Call all of the "we buy houses" signs and you will find discounted properties from wholesalers in your area. Do a quick search for "fixer" or "handyman special" on the craigslist real estate section and you will find the wholesale deals out there. 

Was just driving for dollars this weekend and 6 of the 9 properties I wrote down are in a trust. This is my list and I'm gonna mail it! lol It's small but worth a shot.

As far as the Divorce, Notice of Default list goes, both of those criteria need to be met for it to land on my list. It's only about 40 properties. Same goes for the the other lists, all criteria need to be met so either one of those is about 130-150 properties. 

I figured I would mail weekly alternating between the 3 till I can scale it. Only reason I am separating them is for tracking results.  Thanks for the advice Roland. Same to you.

Good Morning fellow wholesalers,

So I'm generating some mailing lists this morning and wondering which lists are the most effective. I'm using rebogateway which is pretty easy to use yet a little buggy.

Lists I plan on mailing to:

Divorce (filed in the last 90 days), with notice of default. *Not a huge list but for motivation I think it will be a good one

Notice of Default, Absentee Owner

Tax Delinquent (2016 Tax Year), Notice of Default. *Pretty good sized list with hopefully good motivation.

I'm trying to keep my mailing small but consistent until I can get a deal and generate some additional marketing cash. I plan on sending white 4x6 postcards with a handwritten, red font which i am printing myself for now. Mail merge is awesome!! Not really, But I am figuring it out.

Just looking for feedback on whether these are a good choice and any other criteria that would be a good list to send direct mail to. 

If anyone can list there experiences with similar criteria that would be great. I did one deal 3 years ago but took time off to finish some schooling and focus on my day job career path (which I do not want to do for the next 25 year! ha). I need to get my wholesale business going with a goal of walking away from the day job, or automate and keep both, we shall see.

Thanks in advance for any feedback,

Mike

I think what he MAY be asking is what is a typical wholesale fee? I'm not quite sure

Just get out there and find some deals. Buyers will come. Don't spin your wheels trying to attract cash buyers. If you haven't already, find out who the most successful flipper in your town is, call them and connect. Bring your first deal to them. This advice I received about six months ago and it helped me to get rolling. I started a facebook fan page, twitter, etc...told all of my family and friends that "I buy houses" and a deal came my way. Now I have some capital to do some more advertising and get MORE deals coming my way. I am working on that now. Bandit signs work. This is proven. put them up as soon as you can afford $180. get the biggest ones you can 18" x 24" and most of all, get some business cards and pass them out to everyone you meet, from the barista to the dentist office. give them to everyone. Don't be afraid of calling yourself an investor, it's what you want to be so believe that is what you already ARE! an Investor! Don't worry about having to back out of a deal because if anyone is gonna back out it's gonna be the seller. Good luck and God Speed my friend!

Thanks Jenkins,

Seller was very motivated. They owed a lot of people money.

ARV would be about $400k after a $50K renovation I thought. My buyer came in at $70K after their inspection.

They owed $214k on the first mortgage and had a second for $75K that they hadn't made a payment on for two years! It was charged off.

I made an offer contingent upon the second being gone for $287K. I brought this to my buyer and they quickly ran a title search and found that the second was still valid and there was a lien on the house.

Seeing as the seller wanted to walk away with some money, a short sale was not an option. So my buyer hired a negotiator that was able to get the second reduced to $18K. Not sure of the holding cost since these guys probably have the money to carry it themselves.

The property was in need of a lot of repairs but it wasn't extremely bad. They planned on gutting the entire place which is why the renovation estimate is so high.

I ended up negotiating the seller down to $280k which made the room for my fee. The buyer will probably make at least $45K on the flip. I made $10K for my fee. We had one close and the buyer and I signed a finders fee agreement to keep costs down.

So after 3 years of studying "how to be an investor" I finally got my first wholesale deal out of the way!! Man, it was a tricky one too and it paid off very well. I made $10K on this deal. It did not cost me a dime since the lead was generated from my Facebook page. It was pretty cool.

I realized three years ago that just throwing out some signs was not going to drop motivated sellers in my lap. Also, three years ago I would not have even known what to do with them. I knew coming in that it couldn't be as easy as the gurus make it seem to just become a rockstar wholesaler doing a deal or two a month. I stayed true to my desire though and finally got my first one out of the way.

Now I have a little capital for marketing, and definitely some motivation for doing more deals. I also have one of the most qualified cash buyers in town on my team. They have taught me a lot on this deal on just how the particulars of a deal go down, estimating (or better estimating) renovation costs, and market value. I also learned a lot about how title searches, liens, loans, and escrow work. It was a very creative deal which I am grateful we were able to make happen.

I am exciting to get my next one. throwing up more signs this weekend.

Thanks for the tips guys. The amount of work didn't really bother me, it was a good workout. What's bothering me more is the lack of phone calls! I didn't expect to have the phone ringing off the hook but damn. They've only been up a couple days after all.