All Forum Posts by: Gary Parker

@Bob Faulk @Jerryll Noorden is correct in everything he says.  

I agree with @Jay Hinrichs that it is very important to know the laws when offering to "help" people in foreclosure.  In Utah, for example, you can not tell people you can stop foreclosure and offer solutions if you are not licensed.  Non licensed people can only offer to buy the house or get an appointment for a licensed person.  I also agree that door knocking is the best way to reach these people, and I also think that you need to be there to offer them all of  the possible solutions including modification and bankruptcy if they can and want to keep their house.  This first question we ask people in foreclosure when we meet them is "do you want to keep your house or sell your house".   The answer dictates how the conversation goes.  

Happy Thanksgiving!  Giving is interesting to me.  In the beginning of my real estate business journey we gave a lot of our time that was closely related to Church activities.  We really didn't have a lot of money to give.  Now it is easier to give money more than time, and my wife and I certainly give back to the community.  My late mother instilled this in me.  The things that drive me to succeed, are the desire to increase what we can give back, working with my kids to possibly build them some real estate assets and learning to build my business in a manor I start to get some time back.  More time will enable me to work on charity that requires my time more.  I truly believe one needs to giving to succeed in this business.

I think a good rule of thumb is to be willing to purchase the property yourself at the price you reach with the seller.  If the deal would have been worth it to buyers, you would have been able to wholesale the property because it was probably over priced.  Sellers need a lot of motivation (ie problems we need to solve for them) before they will sell at a price that is profitable.  You might want to try and ask an experienced investor if you can look for him/her.  Ask where they like to buy and learn from them.    

@Anthony Gayden my wife says I will never retire, and she is probably right.  The goal; however, is to keep adding more 1 week vacation to our year and get to a point we can leave for a month and the business runs fine.  

You might be able to look up business names from the jurisdiction where the LLC is registered which will likely give you a Registered Agent you can contact.

New York is a Judicial Foreclosure State which means the mortgage holder must sue the mortgage holder and receive a judgement from the court which I assume is public information.  There should be a way to get that information.

You can search the county recorder for recorded notices of default which also gives you the attorney representing the bank to go after sale dates with a little research.  

The foreclosure market is VERY saturated with direct mail and door knockers, but so is everything else.   If you pursue, go in with an attitude you truly want to help the people.  

I just realized Mart can not door knock because I misread the the original post.  I'll leave this here, s it might be useful.

Door knocking as soon as the Notice of Default is recorded will yield some deals for sure if you stay consistent assuming you are in a non judicial foreclosure state.  Find out how to research recorded NODs, get the address and knock on their door.

You need to be prepared to offer genuine help.  The first thing to find out is if they want to sell or stay and go from there.  Have a solution that benefits the owner of the house like modification or CH 13 bankruptcy.  Stay in contact through out the process.  Most owners want to stop foreclosure as soon as they can, but there are those that will deny it is happening until the end.  We see houses with equity go up for auction all the time because the owners did nothing.  

Follow up and an attitude to help the people will help make you successful.  

I like what Wayne said.  I would be very careful lending in a 2nd position unless there is a lot of equity.  Even then the risk is much higher being in 2nd position vs 1st position.  There is a good chance if you foreclose on the property in 2nd position with little equity, you will get nothing.  And use a professional to do the foreclosure if it gets that far.