All Forum Posts by: Elliot Smith

You could use a few different methods. A lot of people send letters/postcards. We do that but also on vacant or really really ugly homes we will skip trace them and cold call directly. You should be able to find plenty of advice on here if you search for direct mail.

Are you making offers on MLS properties or are you going direct to sellers?

@Brad F. I think that is a great idea. @Mike Nuss did a great job recapping the market at his Rarebird event and I think it would be great to hear a quick recap from him. I did like the Seattle format where you were mainly networking the majority of the time. I am in.

Well after a full year of investing part time as a wholesaler and landlord ( 2 SFR) we took the plunge into fulltime. My wife has been fulltime since August of 2015 as she runs all the marketing accounting and day to day of the business. All I had to do was answer the phone and meet the sellers ( still hard to do as I worked 65+ hours at job) We finally decided back in February that it was time that I go full time as well! We were very strategic about this as we have no debt besides 3 houses, had 15 months of expenses in the bank, and had built great momentum with closing 4 deals just in January.

So the first week has been awesome, we closed on our first short sale deal on Monday with a partner $108500 PP $35k Rehab $220 ARV. We have a $10k wholesale deal closing on Friday. I started a new short sale, and I have 2 offers out that I expect to get accepted as I was able to basically give the sellers what they were asking for. I also started to volunteer on a 7-9 year old little league team which I am very excited about and got to play golf twice. At this point I am not really sure what to do with all the extra time that I have as I have basically had no time in the last few years for anything but work. I am very thankful for all the people that have helped me get to this point in my life and am very excited for the future!

Couple key people @Tarl Yarber @ Tucker Merrihew and a few others that are not on BP.

@Patrick Britton

Thanks for clarifying. That defiantly makes sense as why that can be a bad thing and I hadn't thought about it that way. Our market is the same down here in Vancouver WA as well but if you know where to look you can get deals. We closed on 2 this week, started a short sale, and I have two offers out that I expect to get accepted as they are direct to home owner deals.  

@Patrick Britton What about it makes it illegal? Say I have a house that I am on the fence about selling and I tell my agent that I would consider selling if you had someone willing to pay X but I am not motivated enough to list on the MLS. Or I just don't want a bunch of people walking through my house. I am just curious. Thanks!

Danny, 

Your not taking everything in to consideration. I work in the vancouver market and have done a good number of deals.

Your going to spend closer to $20k in closing costs 2.8% for excise and escrow %5-6 in agent fees and then add %1 for concessions in that price range and thats just to sell when your done. To buy it from the guy your going to spend another $4500 for closing cost. Then your $20k and also what is your money costs? How long is it going to take you?  Do you have good contractors that you have a relationship with? If you dont then plan on spending retail and not getting them to take care of you quickly. Your going to need to get it for less than $125k and then its still tight. And that doesn't even cover the costs to get the squatters out. 

Best of luck. Feel free to reach out if you need anything. 

I would agree with Robert. Before you start looking for finacing start by lokimg for ways to get into the game. IE bird dog, meet ups, networking. What kind of experience in the industry do you have? 

I am in the Vancouver WA market and have had success going direct to owner on the duplexes. I am routinely getting them around %65-80 of market value. Most of the time you do not want to go conventinol to start but you can refi them out in 6-12 months. The deals are there they are just not on the MLS.

I am actually interested in coming up. As we are now transitioning into full time I would like to expand our contacts!