All Forum Posts by: Donald Robers

So far most of the comments in this thread have been about Fund & Grow's performance in gaining personal credit for their clients.  Remember that a major part of their pitch is to get a line of business credit - credit that is unsecured and invisible on the client's personal credit rating.

My curiosity was aroused when the OP stated that Fund & Grow was applying for business credit for him before he has a LLC . To get any meaningful line of business credit a business needs a track record or some pretty hefty assets. Obviously Fund & Grow has a method to sidestep the credit department's underwriting standards.

My theory is that they are making use of " shelf corporations ", corporations with no assets or current business activity.  A couple of minutes ago I checked Google and easily found a site that offered such corporations for sale for a one time fee of between $700 and $5000 depending on the date of incorporation.  They promise paprs of incorporation, minutes of board meetings, a company seal... basically a business in a can.  The salient point is that it is a pre-aged business that will get serious consideration from the card issuer.

This is just a theory, but if I am correct the $4000 fee is not only buying you a credit limit, it is buying you a business.  Well...sort of.

An economically smart thing to do is to get your neighbors on your side, or at least do not actively antagonize them.

If your potential sellers are threatening to sue you I give you full marks for persistence but have to take off some points for tact.

It is always best to go to the source for information.  Sit down with a loan officer and have him explain the prerequisites for the program.  Pin down how long the owner-occupied status must be maintained - life of the loan?  One year?  Day of closing?  Also find out what the penalties are in case of your default on the loan program terms.  Will they call the loan or just kick up the interest rate going forward?

You can add another "R" to the acronym standing for "Rent".  that makes the process Buy - Renovate - Rent - Refinance - Repeat.  A method to use if you want to build an inventory of rentals rather than turn over ownership of each property.

If you plan to write 3 or 4 offers per day you should probably learn to write them yourself. Assuming the "shotgun" method is an effective strategy you would then be able to target FSBO properties as well as MLS inventory. Use state-approved forms and do some research on the proper wording for contingencies etc.

The thing is, unless you have huge financial resources to draw upon, you will not be able to offer much in the way of earnest money to give your offers substance.  You are correct - most agents will not spend the time to write endless offers on your behalf if you have no intention of consummating most of the transactions.

It seems to me that you would be better off concentrating on the quality rather than the quantity of your offers.

This business model seems very similar to the Lonnie Scruggs method of mobile home sales.  The Scruggs Method was to purchase a mobile home at a below market price, do cosmetic repairs, then rent to a prospective buyer at above market rates.   Supposedly the renter could, after a specified term, purchase the mobile home for an agreed upon price.

Due to the economic status of many renters the purchase often never happened.  The owner could then evict the renter and do the whole thing again.  Under provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act and SAFE this was considered by some legislators as predatory lending.  As with wholesaling, there are arguments on both sides concerning the legality and morality of this type of transaction.

Certainly not if you are looking for bank financing.  With owner financing, who knows?  But it would require you find a very desperate and/or foolish owner.  Back in the early 80s in the hey-day of cable TV real estate gurus this was one of the go-to methods to attempt no-money-down transactions (anyone remember Ed Beckley?)  Lending practices and laws have changed since then.

" Some of us are gifted with intelligence but all of us must earn wisdom." - Don Robers

Just  saw a pretty bizarre video Clayton Morris put up on his channel today.  He is cleaning out his house, putting appliances out on his front steps with "For Sale" signs on them, and claiming that it is a good thing to sell off your possessions.  I would say he is going for a "lemons to lemonade" but since he is careful to show his children toting around boxes and looking confused I believe he is again playing the victim.