All Forum Posts by: Jason Pritchard

Hey Kevin,

I've been investing full time in the Central Valley for the last few years and I've purchased a number of deals from wholesalers/investors. I'd be happy to look at anything you come across. I also run a local REIA that meets on the first Monday of every month, we usually have 50-60 people in attendance so feel free to join us there as well. If I can help with anything let me know.

Hi Troy,

I currently have a HELOC with Noble Credit Union and use it pretty regularly to fund some of my real estate deals. I originally used EECU when I first started out and decided to move it over to Noble due to their lack of customer service and unwillingness to increase my limit even though there was plenty of equity in my primary residence. I believe Noble CU will go up to 80 LTV on their HELOC but I would reach out to Mindy to find out more specifics on the LTV/rate/term etc.

Let me know if you have any other questions.  

@Justin Yurong I'm not going to sugar coat anything, it's a bad neighborhood.  There's drug/crime issues along with a lot of homeless people constantly walking around.  That being said I own multiple properties in this area and know exactly what I am getting into and really don't have that many issues as long as I have a tenant in place.  If/when your units go vacant you have to get someone in there ASAP otherwise you'll be dealing with squatters and break in's.  

All of this would be less of a concern if you weren't planning on living there but, since you're going to owner occupy one unit for at least a year you need to take all of the issues that come along with this neighborhood into consideration. In this area, I'm normally purchasing properties around 30-40% of the ARV so, in my opinion, you're overpaying for this place.

I do see the value in being able to use FHA financing to acquire and potentially fix cover your rehab costs but based on the necessary repairs I would ask for either a significant reduction, the current owner to complete all major repairs, or just move on. I'm also surprised that your lender will even underwrite an FHA loan on a property that needs this much work. Let me know if you have any other questions

@Justin Yurong What other repairs do you have to do besides the ones that you've listed in your OP?  How familiar are you with this area?  I own a few rentals in that neighborhood, one that it literally around the corner from this property and it can get pretty sketchy over there.  

Ideally, we will see some more "tired" landlords who will be motivated to sell at a discount in order to avoid dealing with the increase in government regulation.  The majority of investors that I've spoken to about this see it as a negative, but I do think that those who are willing to embrace the changes will reap some of the benefits that you touched on in your OP.  

Hi @Jake Snavely I own some single-family rentals in Fresno that I purchased below $100,000 and at that price point best case scenario you are going to be in "C" class neighborhoods but more than likely it will be "D" class.  Depending on the condition of the property and the specific neighborhood rents aren't going to be much more than $800-900/mo but I do have some rentals that get $1,000+.  You're going to be dealing with a "lower" class of tenant and a lot of people that will want to rent with section 8 (which isn't necessarily a bad thing for me).  I have found that if you do a good job screening the tenants and set the right expectations you can get some long-term tenants that are relatively low maintenance.  

On a side note, I don't usually see much available inventory on Zillow/MLS at $80,000 and below, most of the stuff that does come up needs a bunch of work so I would be prepared to take care of some deferred maintenance.

Bandit signs are not legal in Fresno, I've literally put up thousands of them over the last few years. Up until about 8-9 months ago I never received a phone call from the city regarding my signs but they eventually started to call and threaten me with fines. I decided against continuing to use bandit signs for the time being as my other forms of marketing had a higher ROI but they definitely work, as with everything else you have to just stay consistent. When I was using them I would put up 25-50 signs every Saturday morning for over 2 years and purchased 5-6 houses from them.

@Ethan Summers thanks for the response, I've actually taken a hard look at investor fuse in the past and have decided to hold off on upgrading to that CRM for the time being. I'm currently using Podio with a built in app suite for REI that is doing the job, I really like investor fuse but need some time to grow into it.

@Michael Nyszczot  that's essentially what I am doing right now.  I'm printing all postcards, branded letters, and yellow letters from my home office and having someone local stuff and stamp.  Just the process of printing everything and coordinating with my local person can take a couple hours which is what I am trying to eliminate.  

I've found a company that will handle the direct mail for me so at least that part is done. Does anyone have any feedback on how they're currently using a VA to automate their direct mail campaign? Any insight would be very much appreciated.

Hey, @Shane Avila I've been actively investing in the Fresno and Clovis areas for the last few years.  I just recently started marketing for deals in a lot of the same areas that you are looking into as well.  I have an active flip going on in Merced right down the street from the junior college.  If you want to stop by and check it out or just grab a coffee and talk/share ideas let me know.  Best of luck with everything.  

Hey Everyone,

I've been investing full time for the last 2.5 years and in that time I've done 20+ deals, mainly fix and flips.  The majority of my deals come via direct mail and I'm looking for some advice on how to automate that process.  I'm currently sending out weekly mailings of about 300-400 pieces per week depending on the list.  I try to keep it simple and stick to a 3 piece rotation (1 handwritten yellow letter, 1 postcard, and 1 professional letter).  As of right now I am printing and stuffing everything from my home office which takes a lot of time.

I'm ready to hand off the printing and mailing to a direct mail company and am open to any suggestions.  

I also have a VA that I use regularly and am interested in finding out how you would us a VA to scrub and update a direct mail list virtually. All of the mail that bounces back comes to my private mailbox and I'm fielding all the calls myself. I would prefer not to have the VA take calls but definitely want them to update the lists as return mail comes back.

If anyone has experience doing direct mail on a larger scale and has fully automated that process I would greatly appreciate any feedback,  if anyone has any questions please let me know.  

Thanks for the help!