All Forum Posts by: Douglas Rath

Good morning everybody! I feel like i need advice.  First i'll tell you a little about myself.  I'm 34, i've been in the construction trade all my life, i'm a very skilled electrician of 16 years.  I've also grown up around the remodel scene, as my father has a remodeling company.  It's been my dream to get into real estate since i could remember.  Because of my background, ive always been interested in the buy and hold, and the fix and flip side of real estate.  I currently hold a 9-5 job you could say, i do access control, data communication, and security camera installation.  

I dont have great credit, and i've been trying to figure out how to go about getting that first property.  I don't have the savings for the typical 10-15% downpayment.  So how can i break this cycle and get started?  Fixing my credit seems like it will take years and years of payments(i don't have much credit, other than one credit card).  I feel like once i get started, the ball will start rolling, i think i have the skill and motivation to succeed.  What are the different ways to get funding with low credit and little capitol?  What are the options?  Where do i start?

very inspirational! I kind of dove head first into REI, I have to say lately I feel very unorganized! I need to find my niche, this post will help me with that I think, in the very least it will help me get organized.

@Seth Williams, thanks for the info. I generally make sure they do want to sell below market value first. I don't know when to cut the deal off when I'm doing due diligence. For example: my one client practically wanted to do a quit claim with me, needed to sell asap! However, when I did a little research, I found out he had almost 10k dollars is back taxes and liens, and he want going to pay a dime. The house is only worth around 35k in my opinion. Should I have still put it under contract? It needed a good 15k dollars in repairs too. And that's what I'm a little fuzzy on. Would somebody still want to buy it?

@Gary Parker, I only got to do one round at this point. 120mailers, about 15 called, 3 were close deals but no actual deals. They were all to pre foreclosures. The house in my previous paragraph came from an ad I put on craigslist.

Hey everybody,

I'm new to investing, I've been trying to snag my first wholesale for months now. No luck, did the direct mail campaign thing, a lot of responses, no deals. I'm racking my brain, to try and figure out if I'm spending too much time on due diligence. First off, is it really customary for a wholesaler to do deep due diligence work, such as liens and back taxes, mortgages, everything? Or is that something that is the end buyers responsibility? I feel like I should do some, but I also feel like I'm stressing out about it too much. I'm new and trying to streamline things so if anybody could tell me, in general, my responsibilities so I can streamline things that would be very helpful.

Thanks!

How would you run it through ncoa? Upload to a link or something? Or mail the physical list to them? How much does it typically cost?

Im going through a similar situation. my client wants 5k for his property, however he has about 6 or 7k in back taxes in municipal liens. my thought was: id just subtract all those liens and taxes from my purchase offer, and when I find an end buyer they would settle the taxes and such at closing. however all the contracts ive seen say that seller must provide a clear and marketable title upon closing. Talking to the seller, he went through bankruptcy and has no money to pay for closing costs or anything. Im assuming that, that means he isn't planning on paying all the encumbrances on the title. Furthermore, its my understanding that in Florida, its impossible to close on a house until all liens are paid for. Im very curious to hear if anybody has this same experience, id like to know the detailed ins and outs of this particular process.

Forgive me for asking, probably a stupid question(newbie).
What do you mean "cash for keys"? Do you mean there was tenant living there when you flipped it? you had to pay them 10k?
excellent job though, im still waiting for my big break. I still have a lot to learn, but have gotten very far.

I know "killer deals sell", but here's a hypothetical that worries me, as I have not made a deal yet: lets say you get a deal under contract, you fax over your paper work to the title company, you send out a mass email/text message/phone call to all your investors. What if none of them want them, or you find one, but its after the contract has expired? what do you do about the title company that thought they were going to close on a house? do you have to pay fees for their "waste of time"?

Hey Steve! I too live in Jacksonville, west side. I'm very curious as to what your marketing plans are. I'm just starting in investing and I got to tell you I'm nervous as to the massive amount of bandit signs I see every day, from different people! I guess I'm worried that the wholesaling market is saturated, but I'm optimistic and hopefully all those people are cool, and we help each other out.

Good luck,
maybe give me a call.

Thought of another question in my sleep last night

what if you get a property under contract, you send the contract to the title company, and come to find out there are a few liens, what have you...its just not a clear clean title. what are the chances somebody will still buy it? what do you do? just let the contract lapse? try and get the seller to pay them off? can you re write a contract and offer less money to compensate?