All Forum Posts by: Michael Hartman

@Ethan Summers I guess I'm just wondering what search criteria you find the most success with for wholesaling.  I have used listsource and generally get a lot of unmotivated owners that are generally landlords that really are just "window shopping".  I search for things like 2+ bed, equity above 40%, in the zipcode/area i am looking for, absentee owner, etc.  

@Ethan Summers May I ask what you use for your list criteria? 

Hi Curt,

As a wholesaler I do ask for a non-refundable deposit but usually we have it sit with the title company or closing attorney until everything goes through.  The reason we do this is A) makes us more credible as it doesn't look like we're just taking your money and running and B) there are certain stipulations we set where it can be refunded (the title comes back not clear or the seller backs out, etc).  Usually the deposit for a wholesaler is to see if the buyer is serious about purchasing or not.  

My suggestion would be to have the wholesaler place it with the title company with those stipulations to protect yourself.  Honestly if you just paid a deposit and the deal fell through for some other reason not to your fault I wouldn't understand you not getting that back.

Just my two cents.

Michael

Hi Grant.  I definitely understand where you are at. Before I got my first deal done I felt like I never had enough information.

My advice to you would be to join your local REIA and network with the people there. They are not going to try to sell you anything and most of the time you can find people who are willing to give you quality advice and point you in the right direction.

For my contracts I actually worked with a real estate lawyer I met through my local REIA. He has done a few contracts for me and gave me a decent rate. All in I've spent about $300 and a lot of stuff I've asked for he hasn't charged me anything.

As for your second question you can do all of those things if you'd like, it depends on your strategy and your research. My first deal came from driving for dollars. I actually met a code enforcement manager with the city who sends me leads regularly and sometimes gets me in contact with the sellers. 

You need to figure out your strategy, join your REIA and network and at some point you just have to quit researching and start doing, that's the hardest part... Once you start executing you start figuring out what you need to do and how to do it.

Thanks for all the replies everyone.  Here is an update to where I am now in the process.

I am working with 2 sellers right now on 2 different properties. The first, the one this post originated from, seller has given me permission to walk the property and the city has offered to meet me out there with a police officer to clear the property. (The property has had squatters and multiple break ins.. figure it is better to be safe than sorry). I presented the property to a few people at my local REIA and they are excited about it and want more information so I may have partners and or buyers already lined up... obviously they want a bit more information on the property. I have 2 general contractors that have worked with members from the REIA that can come out to give me a bid on the property for estimated repair costs.

At this point I am coordinating a time next week to actually get inside and get an idea of what all is damaged, the estimated costs, and the time it may take to repair.

This last week has definitely been a huge learning experience, everyone at my local REIA has been awesome and super helpful. Talking to sellers was a bit nerve racking at first but I am much more confident than I was the first few calls and it's actually starting to be fun.

I'll try to do an update next week when I have more information.  Thanks again for all the suggestions and advice.  BP IS AWESOME!

Wow... I guess this post back fired. Reading my post I guess I didn't really lay out my question clearly. I have done comps for the area so I have an understanding of what the ARV will be. My plan is to wholesale the property which is why I posted in the wholesale forums... My question... Basically was since I am not an expert in estimating rehab costs 100% accurately should I have a few bids done by professional contractors prior to making an offer on the property... I didn't know if I could do that since I don't own the property but this is a potentially really great deal but I obviously want to do ALL of my research. I understand the wholesale process I just want to be as accurate as possible on the rehab costs. Thank you to everyone who posted so far... I will try to be clearer

Okay BP... Just talked to my first seller today. He owns a vacant property that needs a ton of work. After speaking with him he definitely seems eager to get rid of the property, he owes 3 years of back taxes on the property and after talking to the tax accessor they will be foreclosing in May. When I asked, "How much were you thinking of selling the property for?" He said he wasn't sure and wanted me to come up with some numbers. He told me he knew that the property would need a lot in repairs (which I already knew). I told him that the back taxes would be a big part of my total offer which he seemed fine with. I have seen the property, there are holes in the roof, all the windows are busted out, mold, kitchen is not too bad but the bathrooms are going to need to be redone, etc. I believe it will be a total renovation so my partner and I are assuming a huge number of repair costs... (Approx. $100k) Would it be a good idea to bring a contractor out to take a look at the place to give me an actual bid? Should I just assume with a total renovation that even if I overshoot the repair costs it's okay because that improves the flippers profit? Side note, I was told by the city that they work with investors and Lowes to reduce repair costs, offer grants and can even help sell the property to retired veterans. What is my next best course of action? I could use all the help I can get!!

Okay BP I need some help. A representative from the city forwarded me some properties that are vacant and the owners own them outright. After researching one of the properties I noticed that the owner hasn't paid taxes in the last few years. On the tax accessor site it says "This account is in subject to or in foreclosure." It then gives a number to call. My question to you is what is the best way to go about this? Also I plan on calling the number ASAP so what are the questions I should be asking besides how much is owed and what the process would be to purchase this property.

So during my Drive for Dollars yesterday I found a property that basically looks like it was forgotten about.  The windows are all boarded it up, it's completely empty and this thing is ugly.  Anyways after doing some research it looks like it is owned by the city... how exactly would I go about doing a deal to wholesale this?  Is wholesaling this property even possible? Has anyone from the BP nation run into this? Any guidance or advice would be greatly appreciated.

My partner and I decided that today was the day we'd go around driving for dollars around some neighborhoods we are interested in wholesaling.  We drove around for about 3 hours and found some quality leads that we think will end up being pretty profitable deals.  There were a few that were in nice neighborhoods but were VERY ugly, boards in the windows and definitely stood out.  This was our first time out and we felt that it was VERY successful and definitely pushed our motivation even further.  We are now in the process of researching the properties online and trying to find the owners.  I thought I'd post our story here and try to update you on what happens next.