All Forum Posts by: Dan Demers

My friends in Westport, MA were able to rent an incredible waterfront property for about $1500 / month (split between four of them). The property is set up to have 3 units, but the landlord only rents out the bottom floor because she is weary of having too many tenants. From what I hear, the UMass Dartmouth hockey team beat the place up pretty good back in the 70s, and she's kept it one unit ever since.

She is obviously not getting anywhere near what she could out of the property. Install a few appliances, for the 2nd and 3rd floor units, and she could triple her rent (and the first floor rent could be higher as well). I don't know what she is getting for the summer months, but I would hope she would be renting it out weekly for a good amount of money to vacationers.

I'd like to approach her and work out a deal where I could help her manage and rent out the 2nd and 3rd floor units, but where I would agree to be liable for certain damages, to those units to ease her worries.

She also seems like a possible motivated seller since she is letting the property just sit there without much benefit. I assume she's not making much cash flow, because the value is high and taxes and insurance would eat that up.

One possibility I was thinking is lease option out and make some serious cash flow by renovating the upstairs units. I'd even offer to share some of that cash flow with her to be more convincing. 9 month leases to UMass Dartmouth students, and then big vacation rental money during the summer.

Thanks for reading all of that... How would you approach this deal?

This may be a marketing topic, but here goes... Is anyone familiar with using Google adwords to get publicity to a website? I'm considering whether it would be worth having a website to attract customers for entry only agreements (charging a flat fee to list properties on MLS).

I have listened to educational CDs from an investor in Connecticut that speaks of a "relocation" contract. This is basically a combination of a wholesale deal in the first month, and an exclusive right to sell (lists the property as an agent) after the first month. He gets the property under contract, and attempts to assign the contract for the first month. If he is unable to assign the contract, he instead lists the property and collects real estate commission.

This sounds like an excellent opportunity if this concept is legal. Of course, intentions would have to be discussed with the sellers to be ethical, but it is meant for motivated sellers. It almost seems too good to be true, and even somewhat resembles a net listing.

What are your thoughts?

Sure, let's work something out. What do you have for courses?

I've seen Four Hour Work Week at Borders. It's 20 or 25 bucks though. I know that may not sound like a lot but I'm doing what I can do save some cash.

Hello,
My name is Dan Demers. I have been a licensed agent for 6 months, and will hopefully get into wholesaling soon. I still have a year left of college before I enter the "real world," and would love to make real estate work for me so I can stay with it. Otherwise I'll be getting a job in finance for at least a few years and probably reading "Weekend Millionaire."

As a finance major, I can see the value of investing in real estate as opposed to the stock market. It drives me crazy that the finance curriculum completely leaves out real estate investing! I also like the idea of structuring my own time, working for myself, and having my efforts directly affect my income.

As a newbie I have a ton of questions, and it's good to find a place to ask them. (I think I have been driving my broker crazy.) Thanks...

Hi John,
As unfortunate as it is to lose your job, it might be a push in a better direction! I have heard similar stories where people end up making a fortune and saying good thing I lost that job!

I'm just getting into wholesaling myself. It sounds like you've done a lot of deals in a short time. How did you find all those leads and what was your criteria? I know with my current criteria it can be tough to get an offer accepted.

Hi everyone. Does anyone know of a program where we could trade real estate books back and forth? Or would anyone like to do that via mail? My thirst for real estate knowledge has had me reading through books quickly lately, and the costs are adding up. (And the libraries around here don't have anything.)

I have Investing in Fixer Uppers by Fixer Jay, Rich Dad Poor Dad, Millionaire Real Estate Investor, and The Richest Man in Babylon.

I am hoping to find Lease Options and Subject To Deals by Wendy Patton, The Four Hour Work Week, and How I Turned $1000 into $3 (or 5) million...

If anyone has any others they might recommend, I would love to hear your suggestions. Thanks.

I have found a good amount of buyers interested in lease options in the "real estate wanted" section. Usually these are families with bad credit or limited down payments. As an agent, I hope to find them a place and earn commission. But, I eventually hope to work this angle as an investor and lease option out to them (I think that's what it's called).

I have tried to find listings and do entry only agreements by searching "for sale by owner" in the real estate for sale section. This hasn't been very successful, although I did get one entry only listing.

I have also had some success networking with investors through Craig's List.

Does anyone know, when you are wholesaling and have a property under contract, if it is okay to list it on the MLS? I'm guessing there might be some regulations on marketing the property since you don't technically hold title to it. And if it's not okay, what if you disclose your intentions to the owner of the property and get their permission?

An investor who has a property under contract has asked me to put it on MLS as I am also an agent, and I want to make sure I don't do anything wrong. Thanks.

An investor I work with sends out hundreds of letters to people on lists such as out of town landlords and free and clear owners. He only sees around a 2% response rate to these letters, so there is a good chance your one letter may go unnoticed.

He mentioned that many people are likely to just throw out these letters without opening them. To try to get better results, he tries handwriting them, or putting something of volume in them such as mints to entice people to open them.

He hasn't been doing this for long enough to note the difference, but it seems like something that may be worth a try.