All Forum Posts by: David Dey

Quote from @Alexander Babenchuk:

Quote from @David Dey:

Quote from @Account Closed:

Quote from @Alexander Babenchuk:

Quote from @Account Closed:

@Alexander Babenchuk Thank you for the Contract! I did want to make sure that in the process of getting deals, I don't break any law. I was looking up if cold calling and text blasting is legal in Florida, and it says it's illegal unless there is consent before, which would basically outlaw cold calling and text blasting.

I don't know a lot of other wholesalers in the area, so I was wondering if anyone else knew if this was legal or not.

Thanks again for the contract! I appreciate it.

Cold calling is legal without a robo-dialer provided they are not on the Do-Not-Call registry and between appropriate hours. Door knocking is legal. Mailers are legal.

I am not encouraging you to break the law, but 1/2 the industry does things that are not legal. Robo-dialing, blast SMS, breaking into vacant houses.

If you want to make an omelet you need to break some eggs.

 Haha nice! Thanks for the info! 

Someone mentioned that half the industry uses dialers and to make an omelet you have to break some eggs.
All due respect, that is horrible advice.
While I agree, MORE than 1/2 the industry does use dialers, it is still breaking the LAW!!
Don’t do it!! While many will not get caught, I don’t recommend you do 90 in 35 mph area. Everyone else is doing it is not an argument against prosecution.

There are now lawyers that are building practices, solely based on suing spam callers to the tune of 1500 per call.

And yes I know a number of people in our industry hit with thousands and thousands of dollars for just this issue.

 You are right. I shouldn't have said that.

It’s ok.  I have given advise I wish I could take back.  And in some cases, (cooking for example😁), it is quite necessary to break a couple eggs.

We just can’t insinuate that it’s ever ok to break the law.  

However, I do appreciate your willingness to share with these new people.  Keep it up.

Quote from @Tom Gimer:

@David Dey or 6) sell your 50% interest

Absolutely!!
probably 10 of my last 15 deals have been partial interest purchases.
However, I didn’t want to be too self seeking in this matter. 😁
@Leslie Johnston yes you can absolutely sell your 50% interest and I can actually refer you to several investors in CA that do buy partial interests, however two things.

1) They will be paying a much deeper discount because they will only be buying half a house, and will have to go through whatever legal hoops they will have to go through.  your husband would probably pay more than they would because it’s worth more to him.

2) They will have to take one of the 5 strategies to go through to realize their equity, which may include the legal process so if you are still trying to be amicable with him, you may want to consider this.

However if you are just wanting to consider this found money and cash out with no extra drama, this might be an option.

Well, on the plus side, he should have the rent.

(You didn’t say if they recovered the money)

So having watched plenty of thief movies like oceans 11-75 and all the ones involving Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnin, I say GO FOR IT!!

They are incredible house keepers, they seem to always be on the move (so less wear and tear on the property.  

And it’s only the good guys that seem to have personal property damage from the bad guys bombing them.  

If Peter Parker were to apply to my properties, I would automatically stamp, “NO!!”
All the movies and comics show him to be terrible renter material.  (You’d think with all that power, he’d include paying bills part of his responsibility)

So I’m thinking villain rental service is a growing niche you should heavily look into.  

I think you have a winner on your hands!!

(PS take everything I said and assume the inverse… except the Peter Parker thing!! He really seems like a horrible renter.  He may have a heart of gold but that don’t pay my bills)

There is no wrong answers here.

Buying in rougher neighborhoods can be very lucrative.

Landlords are there for a reason.

However, you must count the costs of doing business in these areas and determine if this is the right venue for you.

If you do decide to go this route, consider section 8 housing.

The beautiful thing about this type of rental is that the money comes in like clockwork and will be on the higher spectrum of the rent scale.

Further, you should still do your own screening but you have the benefit of knowing that the municipality screened them as well regarding criminal and such as well.

If the tenant breaks the rules of your lease, they stand not only to be kicked out of your place, but may also get kicked out of the program as well. 

So if you have good strong management skills and understand that there will be issues that will be specific to this property class, you can make an informed decision.

First, I’m not an atty. (I just play one on TV) Anything in my post are my opinion only based on 25 years of investing including situations like this as well.

So CA stuff aside, if you were on title prior to the divorce, you should still be on it.

Property cannot be taken from you without due process.  If it wasn’t addressed, the only thing that changed is the way the ownership changed from married to single.

So for example, in Florida, if one buys property as husband and wife, they have bought it as tenants in the entirety.  Both husband and wife own 100%.

If they get divorced, the properties change to tenants in common (each side owns 50% individually)

Once this happens, you have 5 options.  
1) continue to own the property jointly

2) sell the property together

3) you buy them out 

4) they buy you out

5) if you both come to an impass, sue for partition which will give the court jurisdiction to force a sale and split proceeds based on whatever claims may be brought before the courts.

(Like who paid the bills and that sort of thing)

Quote from @Kimberly Balzli:

@Patrick Ng Can you provide an update? 

Did you investigate filing an "Unlawful Detainer?" We just hired an attorney to do this in Florida, since it is rumored the squatters are felons and active drug users. Plus in this part of Florida, most everyone carries. The attorney says the squatters will be served and then they have 5 days to leave. We will see! 

Kimberly,
I just used the new statute(that I mentioned in my post here) in Orange County and Hillsborough county with great success.
if you are in either of these places I may be able to point you in the right direction or even the officers to speak to.
if not, the statute still applies and I can show you how to take it up the flagpole.

Quote from @Patrick Ng:

We had recently been rehabbed and put on the market a single family home. When a scheduled showing was taking place, we found people had moved in and claimed they have a lease that was signed with an individual who had owned the home in 2016, who is claiming title. Title company confirmed we have clear title to the home and this was conveyed to the individual claiming they own the home.

Despite this, we found that the "tenant" there signed a lease with the prior owner who claimed they have ownership of the home. Law enforcement said this is a civil matter and cannot ask them to leave as it is not considered trespassing. Does anyone have experience with some thing like this? Any insight and advice would be great. Goal is to try and have these individuals who are living there under the fake lease vacate the home, and protect against the old owner from 2016 from continuing to disrupt operations/ continue claiming ownership to home. 

Thanks!

First, I’m not an atty (I just play one on tv) and this post should not be construed as giving legal advice.  My opinions are my own strictly as an investor who has been in the business for over 25 years.
Second, the police are not experts in the law either and their statements do not have to be taken as gospel either.
1) if I were you, I would go to an atty and/or research myself, statutes regarding squatter removal and unlawful detainer...  
For example there is a statute in Florida that is relatively new that allows one to write an affidavit regarding the pertinent info, and if it meets the standard of the requirements, the police can remove them and their arguments are not a grounds to stay.  
If they were removed wrongfully, they may have a cause of action against you but not the law officer or agency unless they acted in bad faith.
i have used this statute twice with success.
I have also had pushback from the officers and have taken it over their head to the legal dept(their atty) and then had my stand upheld and they removed the squatters.
2)Based on your specific situation and TX law that I’m not familiar with. You may have to go the civil route.
In your situation, I may join two actions in one. I may sue the previous owner for civil theft and also sue for immediate possession and push for immediate access to the property to review condition and then go for an injunction against the parties from doing further damage to the property which would give you grounds against both should they do any damage against the property.
i certainly hope you have pictures of your work on rehabbing the place so you can have a standard to go by.

i hope this helps

Quote from @Cameron Ward:

I have access to willing and ready real estate buyers but a lot of sellers in my area are typically greedy or uneducated which makes business harder than it has to be. I've worked in other regional markets like Tennessee where things are a lot less saturated than South Florida so I was wondering if anyone knew how to find people worthy of working with.

The reason that it’s tougher in South Florida is because there is MUCH more demand in South Florida.  

This makes sellers, not greedy and uneducated, but actually the opposite.  Educated and not willing to throw away their hard earned equity.

Here’s the issue, investors/wholesalers so often forget that sellers don’t owe us discounts.  

This is their home and if you dont have something to offer them that is of equal or greater value then their equity, then we are actually stealing from them.

To be clear, I get stupendous deals, throughout Florida and specifically in South Florida.   

What I’m giving in exchange for the equity is problem solving.

I'm doing for them, what either they can’t do or don’t want to do.

Being a true real estate investor is being a professional problem solver.  It’s a service industry.  Anything less is running a con job.

Once you understand this truth, you will be successful in any market.  All you have to do is find people with problems and work with them to solve them.

PS And selling their home for a quick cash offer is only ONE solution and isn’t right for everybody.

Believe it or not, many times it’s not the right solution at all!!  That’s why people get a “NO” so often.

The best advice I can give you or anyone is to take on this mind set and add to your problem solving tools.

”if the only tool you have in your toolbox is a hammer, all your good for is nails.”

PSS  please don’t take this as a rebuke.  I am actually sharing this with you and also people who will be reading this as well that need an answer.
it is meant to help and I would be happy to take some time to discuss ways you can implement this “service industry” strategy to grow your business.

Quote from @Murray Reginald:

Quote from @Russell Brazil:

Who is the target they are calling? Is it random, or a tight list with specifics.

The target that my VA is calling are Probate/Inheritance, Vacant & Absentee's it's not random.

This is very much an issue for 3rd party trained Va.

Even if well trained, third party va’s are trained for generic calls.  

VA: "is this Mr Smith?"
Owner: “yes.”

VA: "I see you own the house at 123 abc st, would you be interested in a cash offer?"

While this may be an acceptable, if not generic script for a generic lead, this is completely off for a probate or absentee lead.

You will have to train them to do this.

@Murray Reginald

@Caleb Brown is absolutely correct in his question/assessment.

I was coaching a colleague who was also having an issue with his Va leads.  He was considering moving his market because he was getting no traction whatsoever. 

Before he took such a drastic measure, I suggested that we audit his Va calls.  What we heard surprised him.

The Va was not following the script at all.  They did not come off as professional at all. (Not rude or unfriendly, just full of verbal pauses and stumbling over any semblance of what we were asking him to say)

When we heard this, my colleague realized that the problem wasn’t his market, but the lack of oversite on his employees.

Further, I am not a huge fan of 3rd party Va vendors.  Not because they are dishonest, but because one believes that their training is sufficient for your specific business.

Would you hire a third party employee to run your business without training of your own?

Vendors training should be the beginning, but this is YOUR BUSINESS and you have to take personal responsibility for making sure your employees are representing it to your satisfaction.

Honestly, Caleb pulled out the biggest problem in his short but succinct post.

You have admitted that you have not done any cold calling yourself.  

If you haven’t done it yourself, how can you train someone to do it correctly?  which make no mistake, you have to train the Va on the specifics of your model.

You should do your own cold calling until you are good enough to train by example.  Then you can offload the responsibility to someone else.

And yes you may have a full time 9-5 job, but the best time to call an owner is 6-8pm.

I’m going to make a bold claim.  If you will make 2 hrs of consistent calling 8hrs a week, you will get 3-5 deals a month.  

I’m going to even push it one step further.  If you will actively work on your business for 40 hrs a MONTH, you will get 3-5 deals a month.  (This is targeted proactive work.  Setting up your cram and watching YouTube training is not part of the work.  Lead gen and active calling/knocking/texting.  This is the 40 hrs mo result generator.”

I blame the gurus for this, they present a rosey picture of hands off business dealing, but the truth is it’s as simple as they say, it’s definitely not as easy.  It takes work!!

I hope this isn’t coming as beating up on you.  It certainly isn’t meant to.  Believe it or not, you are closer than you think.  All it will take is some adjustments on your part, with the biggest adjustment being make the commitment and follow through.

Looking forward to seeing you on the other side of success!!  I believe in you!!