All Forum Posts by: Hal Cranmer

Sharad,

The legality of the duplex was one of my main concerns. Your analysis makes a lot more sense than mine - thanks. I think I will pass on this one.

I sent out 100 yellow letters and apparently they hit today because I got two calls from free and clear homeowners. Both seem like they are retirees

One said that her home is 'ugly', she owes $20K on an insurance loan, and would like downpayment for another house. The tax value shows $130K and I am working on comps.

The other said that her house is in great shape, and that she and her husband just want to sell it. I'm not sure how motivated they are. The tax value is about $190K.

I have appointments to see them both this weekend and this is the first time I have done something like this.

I was wondering about suggestions on how to approach these people? For the first I am thinking about a low offer/wholesale/flip kind of offer, and maybe the second would be interested in some kind of owner financing. Anyone got ideas? Thanks for the help. I'm going to be nervous.

I found a duplex on CL near a bunch of my other properties. The seller has dropped his price to $106K and says it does not need any repairs. The duplex is a converted SFH so the utilities are not split (landlord pays). The rents for each unit are $800 per month for a total of $19,200. The seller says taxes, insurance and utilities run about $6,800 per year consistently.
The seller also said he would do a contract for deed (seller financing) with a decent downpayment.

So I was thinking of seeing if I could wholesale it to a newer investor. They could put $10K or so down and clear $6-$700 per month cash flow. Then they could refinance it in a couple of years when the CD comes due and not owe much at all if they saved the net rental profits.

I would be interested in what everyone thought? I will verify everything and I have a few prospects of people who want to get into this.

Hi,

I was looking up probate records at the courthouse the other day and saw the names and addresses of lawyers involved in each case.

I was wondering if anyone has sent letters to these lawyers to find leads. What kind of letter did you send? How was the response rate? Any tips for contacting them?

Thanks,
Hal

I have been scanning BP to find the best way to sell a property and it seems like there is a lot of information but it is all over the place. Does anyone know of a blog or good article (or maybe even a good book) that lays out a whole selling strategy for your property?

It would be great to have in one place a guide that might go over:

1. How to advertise using payments instead of just purchase price - as in "Buy this house with your tax refund check and $920 per month!" Then work with lenders to make this possible for people.

2. The best places to advertise - obviously MLS but also all the internet sites, flyers, networking etc.

3. Showing and staging the house for maximum profit.

4. Possibly using the auction techniques.

5. Incentives to offer buyer's agents and how to get creative.

6. Lease option selling and how to attract a buyer that way (this may make the scope of the information too large).

7. Multifamily house selling - should you leave one unit vacant to show it like an owner-occupant property? Should you have both units vacant? Filled?

8. Any other tips and techniques I have not thought about.

Maybe this is a lot to ask, but I noticed that Ron LeGrand is advertising his how to sell houses in a slow market course for $1495. Seems like the BP forum members could do a lot better than that?:wink:

Thanks for any ideas people have. If I missed previous forum posts that are really complete and comprehensive, my apologies and would appreciate you directing me to them.

Hi Everyone,

I was thinking of putting together a little booklet for my new tenants welcoming to my rental property when they move in. I was wondering if others do this and what they put in there. Here is what I am thinking (along with some ideas from this book "http://www.amazon.com/Landlording-Auto-Pilot-No-Brainer-Profits-Headaches/dp/047178978X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1307357465&sr=8-1":

- A welcome letter from me
- Local bus stops (the property is near a big state university and downtown big city)
- List of local restaurants/attractions
- How to fix minor things (don't pour drano down the drain, where the circuit breakers are etc.)
- Local good to know stuff (where to park cars during snow etc.)
- Move in move out procedures
- Review of pet policies and rules for living there

Any other ideas?

The threads on how to get discounts at Home Depot are great! One other way to get a discount at Lowe's and Home Depot is to be a veteran. All the Home Depot's around me give me (Air Force vet) a 10% discount. I believe Lowe's is the same. They don't advertise it much, but they will give it to you if you ask.

So if you are not a veteran, ask a vet to buy the stuff for you!

There doesn't seem to be a limit on the amount either. I've got the discount when I have bought up to $2K worth of stuff.

William - Thanks for sharing your story. It definitely helps. If you don't mind - how did you justify getting a profit out of the deal? How much profit? Did they accept that this is a business and you are not just buying it to fix it up out of the goodness of your heart? Thanks.

FinanceExaminer - Thank you for your reply. I have been in touch witht the lawyer I met at the courthouse, and he gave me a list of six properties - one in probate and 5 in conservatorship. He told me that the properties in conservatorship had appraisals on them and that's probably what they are looking for.

I tried to explain to him that I needed to purchase the properties at a discount to cover the cost of repairs, holding costs, commissions etc. plus make a little profit. He advised me to call the conservator and discuss it with them but they may need to change the court order and get another appraisal? Any experience with getting these discounted?

He also told me the probate property needs work and I could get it for a very reasonable offer.

He gave me the personal reps contact information on the probate property and the lawyers working on it and told me to contact them.

He also gave me the contact information for the conservators on the other properties.

Any ideas or tips on how I should proceed with this?

Thanks.

Hi,

I was wondering if people have much luck going after leads who are behind on their property taxes? It is pretty easy to look this up at my city office, and some of the people are several years behind in paying.

Do you go after the people with the biggest tax bills? The longest period of delinquencies? Property that has a different address than the taxpayer?

There are a ton of people with delinquent taxes in my city - just wondering what is the best way to target them? Thanks.