All Forum Posts by: Eric Olsen

@John Warren Sent colleague request to be able to PM.

Beware***  Newbie Alert***

Through networking a seller called me wanting to more or less get rid of her home.  It is much further from my area that I intend to begin investing in yet I did tell her that I would look into what options are available to her.  Here is all the info I have.

Seller is on disability and can no long afford her mortgage.  She just did a refi to lower her payments but still too much for her to handle on her current income.  Seller claims to be current with mortgage yet she was given my contact info by a "housing counselor" who stated that she is in pre forclosure.  Forclosure set to start next month.  Obviously getting some misinformation here.

Property is in Lake County Il north west of Chicago

2/1 - 880 Sq Ft without garage - I have not seen the property other than the photo on google maps.

Seller purchased property for $124K back in 2006

Seller believes the property is work $98k

Seller believes she owes $72k

Current mortgage payments set to $588

Comps are proving somewhat difficult but in my newbie opinion (take it for what its worth) property is worth $65k  (again, I have NOT seen the property)

Also, rents in this area look like 1200-1500 for 3/1 house with a garage.  Not much in the realm of 2/1 without a garage so again, in my newbie opinion I would think that 800-1000 for this house with no garage.

Seller needs some "walking" money (stated 8K) and just wants to be free of the house payments.

Being as though I believe the comps to be lower than what she owes, this puts her "under water" on her property.

I am sure I missed something but any help from the forums would be great.  

If there is any investor around Lake County Illinois that has more accurate info please chime in.

This is beyond my knowledge level yet here are my thoughts. At first I thought that a Subject to transaction would be worth looking into for this seller.  However when the comps had shown she was under water it threw a red flag.  Personally, I am not interested in holding a property that is an hour away from me nor to I feel that these numbers would be but I'm the rookie with minimal knowledge.

The reason for my attention to this is that it is a learning opportunity for me and if I could possibly help her out then that creates the WIN WIN that investors are trying to accomplish.

Bigger Pockets community, lets see what can be done if anything...

Eric

 thank you! trying to keep the positive energy flowing!

Hey there everyone! Eric Olsen here. 

I got onto BP about 6 months ago and keep hearing about people joining up then phasing out and never being heard from again. Well...IM STILL HERE!

Ive been working towards my direct mail campaign and driving for dollars for the last few months. Building my list on my own and working through some small kinks along the way. 

Even though I have yet to get anything under  contract I consider myself and investor. I am doing what needs to be done and real estate hasn't  beaten me. 

Keep on keeping on everyone!

Eric

 D4D leads.....Yeah, I like it!

 May I ask about the details of your letters, envelop size, colors, content of the letter, etc...?  The reason I ask is that my effort has been very focused on absentee owners and I have sent out a very low amount of letters as compared to other investor mailing efforts.  However, I am around a 10% call back with what I am doing.  Ill give you a run down..

Invitation Envelopes  - Pink & Light Green, 12ct 4.375 x 5.75  purchased at Hobby Lobby on sale $1.50

White Card stock paper - 50 ct, standard size purchased at Hobby Lobby on sale $4.50

I have a paper cutter so I take my card stock and quarter it.  I figured that the paper would be slightly undersized from the factory so I measured the middle for both length and width on the actual and sure enough, it is just a hair under.  You need to take this into account as you don't want half of your quartered sheets to NOT fit in your envelopes.

Quartered insert content...

Hello (first name)

I noticed you property in Chicago at 123 Direct Mail Dr.  I would like to purchase this property from you.  Please call to discuss details. (phone #)

Thank you,

Eric Olsen

These are hand written and take FOREVER to write.  As stated above, I am transitioning to printed shortly.

I do put my return address on the envelope as well.  Two letters came back and updated my table to dig deeper into the contact info for them.  Still a valid lead at this point in my mind.

Lastly, I am using stamps.  Something tells me that there has to be a cheaper way than just buying stamps at the store and sticking them to my letters.  I will look into this.

Cost...

Envelope  $0.13

Insert        $0.03

Postage    $0.47

Total         $0.63 p/letter

Problem that still remains is the time investment.  The hand writing is rough but my concern is if by switching to a handwriting font, will I lose my personal touch and thus hurt my responses.  Will just have to test it out.

I forgot to add this link that was mentioned on podcast 197. awesome podcast by the way!

https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2016/02/1...

Seems simple and straightforward!

Drive for dollars! Really helps you learn your area as well. 

Also id recomend just jumping into getting your letters printed. Ive been hand writing my own and its very time consuming. Plus your last set of letters dont look as clean as your first set because your hand WILL get tired.

For more consistent letters and better time management I will be transitioning into having them printed ASAP. I still intend to do  it all myself but the actual hand writing has gotten old fast, and I mean real fast!

Good luck

Some interesting thoughts in this thread.  

I just received my first "hot" call back yesterday from my direct mail efforts which has created a problem.  I dont know the next step but this is precisely the problem (opportunity) I was trying to create.

Going to drive past the house today as I do not even recall it anymore even though it was found a week ago.  I want a visual of it and google maps street view shows only trees.  

As for the phone call with the seller, I have two mind sets.

1) offer 30k - this house in an area where the comps are between 150 and 250.  I for some stupid reason have this idea in my head.  Obviously this is NOT an intelligent move because I have not had a walk through of the house and no rehab estimate etc....  If this idea were to be viable for me the backlash of ripping of the seller is what scares me.

2) Just be up front and honest.  Explain to the seller that I am new to all of this, saw this property that sparked my interest, and mailed him.  I am basically flying solo on this and perhaps that we can help each other out.

After thinking about what I wanted to type here it is clear to me what I need to do.  Honesty is always the way.  This way I can set myself up to under promise and over deliver.  If I look stupid after I have declared that I am new, there will be some understanding there.  Also, if this guy does not just kick me out while I am looking stupid, then that would indicate to me that he NEEDS to sell.

Good luck to the OP with his calls.  Perhaps after mine today, I can share some insight.

E

@Keith Goodwine  Do you have buyers ready to roll, and if so, is what you are finding within their criteria?  Also, are you tracking this all in a spreadsheet?

I do my tracking in an excel table and I am thinking of cutting some fat off of it.  When I began I created 14 different columns and I feel that I went over board.

the info I actually use is as follows...

Address, Town, County, Occupied/Vacant, Absentee owner location, billing address, date found, date mailed, phone #.

is this similar to what you have going on?