All Forum Posts by: Jacob Michaels

@Nick Stango PM me or send me an email I'd be happy to share the simple 2-pager I use for my wholesale purchases. I personally don't like the standard realtor/state contracts because they are too long and I think as a wholesaler it's important to keep things easy and simple for the sellers to say yes and sign. 

@Anthony Hulse Great to hear you didn't fork out the cash. $40k is outrageous, and I'm sorry to hear that some people get duped into paying that. 

Honestly, I do believe in paying for an education and I have---and a lot of the stuff I've paid for has been worth the money, because it's very niche-specific. But we're talking less than $1000 and a full course with free ongoing training. 

I think the key is if the "guru" is actively involved in that business currently in a big way, so you know they know what they're talking about, and if they seem to honestly want others to succeed and it's not about the training money first for them. 

Most successful investor "gurus" who are legit I think don't need your money and do it partially because they like seeing others' success. 

@Antoine Nelson If your offer doesn't make you cringe when you make it, it's not low enough. If your wholesaler friend is experienced, and he said you need to offer up to $35k, you really can't afford to offer your top price up front. That's now your negotiation starting point in the seller's mind.

@Aaron Thivierge has a lot of great practical advice! Start humble, and learn fast.

@Lian Chavda if you follow this advice and stick with it, 1 year from now will be a world of difference. Best of luck!

@Sheryl Gurvey I agree that there are sometimes deals that are overlooked by buyers, although they're rare. 

There's one I'm looking at now that for good reason most buyers would have overlooked it: it's overpriced for the size shown, has way more repairs than you would initially expect, and the realtor is discouraged about it and just wants to get rid of it. In fact, it's got very convertable space ready to go, it's in a great area, and the sellers are now much more motivated than ever for having lost a few contracts on it. 

Recipe for a great wholesale deal, as far as I can see. 

@Ben Leybovich There are sometimes good reason deals are overlooked, because the signs are misread/misleading.

Two of my first deals under contract I had made the rookie mistake of putting the property out on Craigslist with the address. I had lots of people I didn't know apparently visiting the houses, knocking on the doors, and telling the tenants the houses were for sale (the tenants were unaware ) and they wanted to talk about buying it! Even though I specifically stated the houses have tenants in them and not to disturb them. 

Anyway--- rookie mistake--- and the seller heard about it and called me up and was furious and said the deals were off the table and he had sold one house already (what?!?). I explained that I am an investor and I am in the business of making a profit, whether that's fix/flipping, fix/renting, or simply selling the house to someone else. According to our agreement I could market the property, and I was doing that to establish market pricing so that we could figure out the best way forward. 

I was very respectful and friendly, in spite of the situation, and the seller eventually calmed down and I salvaged the relationship and respect between us. I even negotiated the deals down further over time! 

Ultimately, these deals didn't close due to my being too conservative on them, but it showed me how important it is to stay respectful and friendly, even when it seems like the sellers are trying to back out and screw me :)

@Ryan Dossey Congrats on turning a sticky situation into a win-win!

Those can be tough conversations, but I agree, when you tell the seller that you are fully intentional on closing the deal and getting them the full amount you both agreed to, they usually feel more comfortable. 

@Francisco J Delgado I'm a Dallas wholesaler. It'd really depend on what those comps are exactly. The comps need to represent real renovated properties. Those numbers seem promising.

Also, if I were you I'd go in with the mindset of netting $10k off a property. Even if you don't get it you'll probably get more than $2k. 

Feel free to PM me with more details and I'd be happy to give you a clearer perspective on it, and I can also help you move the property when you get it 

@Don Womble Do you mean having your B-C transaction (the real funding) happening before your A-B close needs to be paid? A "double close" without outside funding? 

Or transactional funding meaning having outside funding provided by a short-term (like 1 day) lender put up the funds to close the A-B first, before you get the B-C funds in? 

@Account Closed Those numbers sound suspect. I would be highly skeptical that a hedge fund were to buy, renovate, and then sell at 30c on the dollar. You should consider getting some feedback from experienced investors in that area to bounce your deal off of.