All Forum Posts by: Dave Savage

Few additional things:

Find a local REIA and see if they have a meeting in the next week or two - make a flyer and pass it out (if they allow that)

Post the property in the BP Marketplace

Do a search of all cash transactions in that area in the last 180days and send them a postcard advertising the site, might find a rehabber working in that area that way.  (listsource.com is one source of this info)

@Tyler If you truly want to find seller financed deals you most likely won't find them on the MLS. You could do a few things:

FREE: Call every MFH that is FSBO on craigslist and just start the conversation - you need to find someone in general that is free and clear (unless you get into the Sub-2 arena).

Call every for rent ad in your target area from craigslist and see if they might be motivated to sell

$$ - Mail absentee owners in your target area and try and find a motivated seller that is free and clear. 

With seller financing as a target you are going to have to go through a lot more sellers to get there.  

Why not consider getting a HML or Private Money loan from someone in your area, find a cheaper property, put sweat equity into it and then refi out of the HML? Maybe another option

@Tyler Dunlap undefined

Welcome @Luis Pichardo you'll find a great group of Rochester investors on BP.  Feel free to ask us questions about properties you may be buying, need for contractors, or areas to target.  Just put Rochester, NY in any of your posts and we will see it.  

Check out FFREIA as well if you are interested in networking with other investors in Rochester.  The first two meetings are free so come check it out, it's definitely made a huge difference in my success.

 BPs own forum commenter Michael Quarles has done a few podcasts talking about negotiating.  The one I remember is House Flipping HQ episode 26 or 27 is a great approach and is helping me get numbers lower before I ever go out to the properties.

Key is to know the areas, and use the 70% rule-repairs-profit(if wholesaling) as a starting point to know where you need the sellers to get to.   It is a numbers game and you need to get the phone to ring to find the truly motivated seller.  

Two things:

Make sure the split MFHs are actually classified as the # of units advertised by your city.  Many times I find unpermitted splits of units which will need to be de-converted.

Secondly check how the utilities were split with electrical and HVAC being issues when these are converted.  Ask the tenants if they are there when you walk through how the heat is in the winter, etc.    

If the conversions are well done it shouldn't be an issue to pick one up.

My personal opinion - Run away. 

Assume you fix it up and sell it for $75k - $25k in repairs - $10k in holding/utility costs - $15k profit/overages = $25k purchase price.   

It looks like potential foundation issues if the doorway tiles are cracking - there is force there from the roof load, and if something is awry with the foundation it could exhibit it through cracking in the doorways - but I deal with basements so maybe someone in your area could speak up.  

Assuming you need new roof, repair all termite damage and re-drywall, replace all tile due to cracking, probably remodel bath for a few $k, landscape and paint outside you are probably in the $18-25k range using contractors.  You might be able to do it yourself and save a few bucks - but your holding costs will creep up every month while you are working on it yourself.  Seems like a skinny deal with a lot of potential problems.

Maybe you want to get a property inspector to do an inspection.  That $300-400 could save you a lot of money.  

They are a needle in a haystack and typically you will find them as you are looking for properties in a broader sense.  The majority of Sub-2 sellers may not have heard of/considered that before you bring the subject up with them.  

Find sellers and start talking to them, you can find those deals.

Two quick things to get you started:

If the owner is in pre-foreclosure there are two ways to help them:

1.  They may have equity in the house, but are still facing foreclosure.  In that case you can get a contract on the house and wholesale it normally as long as you ensure the foreclosure process won't be completed by the time your end buyer closes on it.  (Note: make sure you know what the property tax situation is by doing research before you start offering it out to potential buyers, also ask for any other liens from the owner, before the title check happens)

2. If they don't have equity you will have to work a short sale.  Typically these aren't assignable, but you might be able to bring in a partner who wants to rehab it and you have them put in the offer to the bank, and you get paid on the backend on the sale.  In this case the easiest way to work is to find a realtor in your area who specializes in short sales and you can have them work with the bank to get the offer in.  Usually you won't get far as an individual investor with the bank.

How to climb to the top? Make offers daily and don't give up. Call every FSBO in craigslist in the target market if you need a way to get started talking to sellers. It may take you a year to get your first deal so just don't give up.

My experience shows that split levels generally sell for 10-20% less/sq ft. than colonials.  Definitely not an ideal floor plan, but first time homebuyers will get into them as they get more sq. ft./$ and may not know what type of floor plan they would like long term.  

If you get it for the right price, you can make money, but just make sure you are comp'ing to other splits and not solely on beds/baths and sq. ft.