All Forum Posts by: Jason Pachomski

@Bradley Smotherman when you say you're marketing to "below median home value" do you mean that the ARV is below median for the area? Or the assessed value is below median?

Thanks!

@Shane Foster Great info. This software for finding vacants that you mentioned... is that something you developed in-house?

Thanks for all the responses. @Wednesday Lynn I actually have started looking in Palmdale and Lancaster as well as the other weird little desert towns out there. I want to take one weekend and go out there and "drive for dollars" for two whole days and see what I can come up with. On the whole, though I haven't done any yet, I just have a gut feeling that a vacant property whose owner has to be hunted down via skip trace would be a great lead -- especially if they're in tax default. 

Last night I sat down with my friend Google Maps and essentially drew a radius of ~2 hours from my house. Lots of areas I hadn't considered (Bakersfield here I come!) and I think I'm going to start blasting these areas with direct mail. My last campaign was only 500 letters as I didn't want to be overwhelmed by the volume of calls. Well, as it turns out, I didn't need to worry about that as the calls are coming in at a trickle as opposed to a flood. So I think my next one will be bumped up to 2000. We'll see what happens.

Hey-O

Does anyone know of a service / piece of software that will let you feed it a list of addresses and in return it will tell you if the property is listed on the MLS or not?

Note: I'm not an agent, so I don't have direct MLS access, but I'm hoping there's something out there faster than cutting and pasting addresses into Redfin/Zillow/Trulia.

Thanks!

@Rick H. I've been wanting to check out Property Radar. I'm currently subscribed to Rebogateway. I don't know if you're familiar with that (?) but I'm curious to see the differences.

Hello everyone,

All told, between studying, marketing and up to present day where I have made a few offers but have had none accepted yet, I have been "involved" in real estate investing for about 9 months. I know... it's nothing in the grand scheme of things. I feel though, and I'm curious to hear from others who are in the same boat, that everything I've read and everything I'm learning about how to find "deals" or, at the very least, prospects (motivated sellers) is geared towards functioning in a down market. Of course, I suppose it makes sense that there is going to be a lot more distressed properties when the market isn't doing so good, but what am I to do NOW? 

I live in Los Angeles. Now, yes, I still have LOTS of learning to do about the market(s) here, but from what I've seen there is virtually no inventory right now, prices are higher then they've been in years and houses are being snatched up off the MLS mere days after they're listed -- and often for more than the asking price.

It seems like many of the "quick-turn" methods I've studied and have tried to pursue are geared towards people who have some reason to work with an investor as opposed to just listing their property with a broker and selling it. With a market like the one I'm in though, what reason does anyone have not to just list it and sell it? If houses are selling faster than they can be listed and people are getting more than what they ask, how does little ol' me compete with that?

Take wholesaling, for example. I know, I probably don't know enough to justify having an opinion, but honestly I have no clue how anyone wholesales in LA. Zero. (I bitched about this in a different thread as well, so if you've read that one my apologies for being redundant). The area is literally saturated with bandit signs. I've also always been told that the appeal to a seller when it comes to an all cash offer is how quickly you're able to close (as opposed to selling traditionally). Well, it seems like that's not so much a draw anymore when people know their house will sell quickly if they list it. AND they get fair market value for it.

I'm rambling, I know. I also know that my woes probably apply less to the buy-and-hold people -- a group whose ranks I hope to eventually join. 

Guess I just needed to vent, but if anyone else is starting out and, better yet, finding at least some success in a super hot market I'd love to hear about it.

Thanks!

@Brian Huber I use Rebogateway

Inevitably, when a lead contacts you off a yellow letter or some piece of direct mail, they're going to ask "how'd you get my name?". In the case of a divorce lead, I'm not gonna say "well, Jim... I hear you and the missus are on the outs..."

Does anyone have experience dealing with divorce leads? How do you approach the conversation when first getting them on the phone?

Thanks again everyone. This is exactly what I was hoping for: to find out what I didn't know... I knew the scenario I initially laid out was too easy (otherwise everyone would be doing it). I think I'm just frustrated by the lack of prospects I have. Los Angeles, I'm discovering, is a tough market as it is and I'm coming into it (this past year) at a time when houses are selling mere days after they're listed and at prices higher than asking. There's no inventory and it seems like everyone I talk to -- usually someone responding to a piece of marketing just to tell me that they don't want to sell and to take them off my list -- thinks their house is worth way more than it actually is. One offer I made on a probate lead recently was overbid by another investor who came in at a number that baffles me as to how they're going to make any money. On top of that, evvvvveryone thinks they're a wholesaler. You can't drive 100 yards in Los Angeles without seeing a bandit sign. So much so that I haven't even bothered putting them up (until I figure out a way to make mine stand out from the saturation).

This all is what's got me frustrated and looking for different ways to find properties to make offers on. Hence, the HUD exploration. I appreciate everyone's responses though and I'm going to look into it all some more. Thanks so much!

Thanks everyone for the responses. This is why I love these forums..

@Nathan Paisley wholesaling them was definitely my first thought as well. As far as I know you can't assign the contract on a HUD deal though, right? I suppose I could do a simultaneous close, but wouldn't I still have to have a POF in order to make it that far?

@Ben Leybovich Wait, so, Vinny The Knee Surgeon isn't a reputable lender? :-P No, I totally get that. I wouldn't give myself a HM loan either. I am however in a position (maybe should have mentioned this) where I'm working with another very seasoned and successful Los Angeles investor who has her team in place (HM lenders included) who I am able to use, as she'll partner with me on anything I bring in. This all is, of course, contingent on the deal being good and feasible. I love working with her because her forté is transaction engineering and I trust that if something is a **** deal she's not gonna allow me to pursue it. 

@Shaun Reilly as a fellow Masshole, I appreciate your sarcasm.