All Forum Posts by: Darius M.

Darius Morris. I thought I'd use this forum to get my raw, unadulterated thoughts out. I don't know if this is the right venue to do this, but I've run across some 'as a matter of fact' people here, so maybe they can help. I've literally been in the "real estate game" since 2004 while I was still in college. I started out investing with three college friends and we made our first investment in 2005, which turned out to be a horrible investment as we bought to high. This investment among other things led the partnership I had with these guys to cease in 2006.

I moved to chicago that same year and got involved in real estate groups, calling myself an "investor." But the truth was, I never did anything more than go to meetings and collect and pass out business cards. Even worse, I became one of those people who could talk about real estate based on books and info from the internet I read. However, I had a severe case of paralysis analysis. The next three years, I finally gave it up and said f- it, and accepted the fact that I should be "comfortable and secure" in my 9-5. Turns out, I was psyching my self out, because I know in my heart and mind that this would never make me happy.

Fast forward to 2010.... this was supposed to be my breakthrough, no excuses year. Started going to real estate meetings again. I actually settled on a niche (although I haven't been fully dedicated to it). Somewhere along the line, I'm getting stuck in my old bad habits and it's truly disgusting me. I know you have to have a passion for real estate, besides the money motivation, but sometimes I question my passion. I'm just tired of calling myself an "investor" when I know I'm lying. Entrepreneurship is a passion of mine, and I know I really want to be a real estate investor, not just say I'm one. Now that this is off my head, maybe I can get some sleep. :boring: Peace out!!!

My BP fam, have any of you been in a similar situation I'm in? If so, how do I overcome this?

I use a combination of redfin, trulia, and my county's recorder of deeds and assessor

Thanks for everyone's help. I have went back 6 months and was trying to stay within a mile radius. It seems like I will need to expand both of those search criteria.

House that I'm looking to wholesale:

4bd/1ba, 1725 sqft, unfinished basement, brick, 2 car garage

I looked for similar homes between 1500-2000 sqft, but couldn't find any. But these are what I came up with:

Comp #1

- 4bd,2.5 ba, 1125 sqft, finished basement, brick, 2 car garage
- 0.6 miles away, sold for 121,000 in 5/2010
- newly rehabbed, seems like it used to be a 1ba but 1.5 bath was added

Comp #2

- 4bd,1ba, 1248 sqft, unfinished basement, brick, 2 car garage
- 1 mile away, sold for 117,000 in 6/2010
- newly rehabbed

Comp #3

- 4bd,1 ba, 1196 sqft, finished basement, brick, 2 car garage
- 0.9 miles away, sold for 140,000 in 5/2010

Any feedback would be helpful, thanks.

I found out that the housing complaint filed was for city code violations against the property. Thanks for replying

I was recently contacted by a personal homeowmer about a possible wholesale deal. The house has no mortgage on it but when I looked on the recorder of deeds website, I noticed that there was a "lis pendens" on the property.

So, I did further research, and looked on the county's court website and saw that this was a result of a "housing complaint filed" by the city of chicago. Does anyone know what this means? Thanks for your help.

Great Information everyone. This helps alot.

Matt, I will definitely use your blog as a point of reference

Chicago area home. It's a SFH, 1000 sq feet, interior is completely gutted, floors stripped down to the wood, as well as the walls. Exterior is good and the roof is about 7 years old. There was water damage in this place so the owner had a company come out to clean the place up. My question is, how do I even begin to estimate rehab costs for a total rehab?

My goal is to wholesale the property. Since I won't be dealing directly with the seller, rather the individual who contacted me, should I ask him to have the seller sign a contract; which I can then assign to my buyer.

Also, I thought the equitable interest document only protects me if I think the seller's not going to be loyal to the terms of my agreement

So I received a call today from someone that said they had several homes for sale. After calling him back, they told me that they have access to several unlisted properties in the city and suburbs for very good prices. This person doesn't own these homes, but they are a middle person that would get paid by the seller at the closing. He didn't want to tell me who his contacts were but my question is how will I get paid if I were to bring an end buyer to a deal like this?