One good way to find deals is with bandit signs. Although you may want to check with your local ordinances/laws. I found a good deal by putting up bandit signs "We buy houses CA$H" ... I have since stopped doing bandit signs as my City Inspector called me and very politely explained that the city don't want those "types" of signs put up. I just decided that I don't want to fight city hall. There are other ways to find deals.
We put up a LOT of bandit signs and finally a lady saw one of our signs and told her son about it, who was looking to sell.
Initially I was trying to wholesale the house and maybe i was trying to make too much money for my fee. Couldn't find any interested buyers, so ended up buying it for my own residence.
We bought the house over a year ago in February and today I am getting the 15 year term - refinance going to be able to exit the land contract.
This was all done with No Money Down and Poor Credit.
We offered a delayed down payment, which was to put a new roof on several months after buying the house, which we did put a metal roof on it last fall. (so maybe that would be considered money down, idk)
And credit was never looked at.
What was considered was during the several months I tried to wholesale his house, the owner and I had developed a relationship and trust.
One mistake I made: Was not telling the owner up front that I might buy it. All i told him was that i was going to find a buyer for him. So I would have been better off saying that either a buyer or myself would buy it.
Another potential mistake might have been, when doing a land contract, it would be good idea to see if the owner has a loan with the bank is a first time home buyer type loan. My owner did, but was past the 10 year period that allowed him to sell the house. At least that's what I've gathered from talking to the owner about it.
Forgive me if I have not wrote all the correct wording in here, as I'm not super at vocabulary. And also keep in mind that I have done a few deals (experience) prior to doing this deal/most recent deal.
Experience helps but if you don't have experience you can always try and bring people into the deal that have experience. Maybe you could have a general contractor look at the property for an estimate on repairs. How can you pay him? Maybe offer to recommend him to your buyer. Get creative.
One thing that I did was have a realtor come along and he took pictures of the place, when I first went to look at it (inspection). I also used a smart phone and went through at the same time as the realtor and video the walk through so that I could show my buyers pics and video.
Anyways, yeah... you will probably be looking for a needle in a haystack and have to go through a lot of marketing/time/leg work/etc to find a good deal. At least that's my experience.
Best to you!
Kel
