All Forum Posts by: Marcus Geiser

Go online and get his institutional number and write him a letter. HE can then call you, the collect call may be $15 or so but if you buy the property thats probally the same as the gas to get to the property. You could also call the prison he is in and ask for his counselor and have them give him the message. I woul;d avoid the attorney altogether because he may wish to try and sell for higher price if possible wether it will sell or not. The attorney is not in need of cash as much as an inmate. No matter what write him a letter.

If you need help with this situation PM me and I will give you my number. I have experience in this area.

Your sone is an addict and if he stays there he will not be able to stay clean and recover. Recovery is the key for any individual with a substance abuse probelm. I would suggest he Attend NA, Narcotics Anonymous meetings where he can truely develop a support group to help him deal with this problem.

If you truely believe he is clean then it is a matter of helping out of the situation. I would get a PFA, restraining order and keep her away from him and kids and let her come to court. Get them out and a place to stay. I wish you the best of luck and if you need more help PM and you can call anytime day or night.

IMO, wholesaling may seem to be an easy way to get into the business. The reality is you do need to know the game and what an Investor is looking for.

I have studied a considerable amount of information an wholesaling and it seems to be a bunch of hype.

As far as no money needed, I just don't see it. It costs me money for gas, phone, advertising, web sites, copies, record searches, etc. It can be an inexpensive way to get into the game but be prepared to use up hundreds in operating capital just to get started.

Most importantly I can't take a crappy deal to anyone. I have what I call a Property Development Plan for each deal. It takes a few hours to put together but it is essentially a business plan for that property. I have even had structural engineers come out and provide documentation for deals. This accurate picture of the property is what I put together in exchange for $1000-$3000.

Spent about 20 minutes downtown this morning. First stop at the Department of Real Estate. Found the record for the mortgage the owner told me about. He stated that the people agreed to let the $6000 go if he did not make any money on the sale. I am looking into this.

Total Cost: $7.00 and 5 minutes.

Second stop was across the street to what was once the Pronthonotary. I went in and asked for help. I went to where they instructed and found a very nice guy who helped me to search through the records and get what I needed. I now have a print out of everything recorded against the house in the county. All taxes pretty much in the amount he stated. Roughly $9000.

Total Cost: 10 minutes

I did call the water authority and there is a past due balance of around $1200 for the water, sewage, and meter fee. I need to pay this to restart service.

CONCLUSION:

I like the deal, 4 unit building, 2 units need paint and carpet, 2 donwstairs need full rehab. The upstairs units will bring in about $850 per month, and the downstairs units another $1000 per month.

I believe I will continue to negotiate the Quit Claim Deed. However, I am meeting with my Attorney to ask for advice. She will do a Title Search for me I think but I would have saved $300 or so if something would have came up during the 10 minutes it took me today.

Any Advice?

What else I wanted to add was as REI's we are entreprenuers first, real estate is our vehicle. There are a handful of people I respect on this forum who I would gladly pay a couple hundred dollars to spend two days over a weekend answering my questions and sharing their wisdom. Seems to me like the success they enjoy can be passed on as another income stream for them while helping newbies.

I attended one of their mentees seminars on wholesaling. It was worth the few hundred I spent to attend. I can still call the two guys I met there and ask for questions and help. We also formed somewhat of a networking group and help to market each others deals for a split of the assignment fee.

The thing that appealed to me about the upsell was not that I got to shake Than's hand and get a smack on the behind as the next guy came up, but that they have real world systems in place to run the business like a finely oiled machine. I don't have mentor money soooo. I keep watching what they offer on the mailing list and learning. IMO they run things very smart.

@JScott, I believe I have just ran into someone who wants to be free of the burden of owning the gutted downstairs property with $5000 or more in rehab work on the remaining two upstairs units. No cash so the place just sits. He was in a bad partnership with another guy that I believe went to jail. This left him holding the bag and owning the property with no labor side. I am a contractor so the work upstairs is a few days for paint and carpet which I have in storage.

The $500 per month is to cover the agreement for the back taxes with the collection agency. I will pay it to the tax agency directly. We have talked about a quitclaim deed, which I am meeting with my lawyer tomorrow about. She will perform the title search and give me advice about the best way to proceed. Most importantly I am a contractor working on becoming a REI. So all feedback is appreciated. I am a good judge of character, I believe this guy seriously wants free of the headaches. He just closed a deli, works at UPS, and is probally worn out. The property was advertisied for $16K a while back and no takers.

I will keep you posted.

@Jackeline, The home is located in Fair Oaks, Pa which is just outside Sewickley(Mario Lemuix), and is in Quaker Valley school district, which is fantastic. Pittsburgh Suburbs, 25 minutes to downtown, airport, and I79.

It has been a long year of ups and downs. I have made offers, made mistakes, procrastinated, but all along kept it moving. The other day I stumbled upon a property while out for a walk with my newborn. 48 hours later it is under contract and ready to move. You can take a look at it at www.gridreiblog.com. I will uploading new posts as I make progress feel free to follow along as I undertake my first project.

I just went to a two day wholesaling bootcamp that was hosted by a local investor and Fortune Builders. It cost me three hundred dollars and was well worth the investment. If you already he options on properties you do not need americo to give you 10%. I'd be insulted with that offer. At this event I met other investors, they all offered to split deals if I bring a buyer or if there buyer purchases my property.

If you have GOOD deals under contract buyers want them at least here in Pittsburgh.

My buyer came in from Ca this weekend and was called away because of irene. She had several dozen properties from the MLS all garbage at top dollar. I had nothing that met her criteria and called Dave. In the same area she was looking he had 3 multi unit properties, with tenants in place, HUD Section 8 approved and inspected, newly rehabbed, with a sreadsheet of the income and expenses. When I showed her the package we put together she was blown away. My properties were $10,000-$20,000 cheaper than the MLS properties, rehabbed, and rented. She got up walked to the garbage and threw away all the pages except one a gutted house for $12,000 she asked me to check out.

When she buys we will be splitting between $5K and $15K, my investor gets exactly what she asked for and saves money, time, and headaches.

In Pa I pay under $100 for $1M liability and it is a must.

Workmans comp for all employees otherwise they get hurt and you are in litigation.

Commercial Vehicle is needed liability has limitations for loading and unloading.

One phone call and I can have an email or fax sent adding an investor as additional insured.

If you use a handyman type make sure they are insured even if you pay for it, and have them sign a 1099 and sub agreement BEFORE they start work.