All Forum Posts by: Jeff Rappaport

@Scott J., I am a wholesaler and would be happy to chat with you about what you are looking for.  Also, you might want to attend the BP meetup next Thursday in Cottonwood Heights.  Pm me and I will give you the details!

@Jerryll Noorden, I am a little confused about your post.  Why do you think it takes 6 months to get a deal from a direct mail marketing campaign?  This is my experience in direct mail.  You need to send a good mail piece (something compelling that calls to action), that stands out from the rest and gets your phone to ring.  I am not a big yellow letter fan.  I always send postcards first on any mail campaign.  I want to see how good the list is.  It is a cheaper option than letters and I will be able to clean up my list based on all the returned mail.  I did not see what your target market is in terms of what list you would be mailing to.  So, if you are mailing to absentee owners with high equity you have a lot of competition.  Your response rate may be between .05% to 3%.  In Utah I get about .75% response rate.  

If you mail 2000 postcards I would expect you would get about 20 to 30 calls (certainly the list and your message has something to do with that).  Depending on what you are trying to do (wholesale, owner finance, subject to, lease options) there very well may be a deal in that group of calls.  Maybe more than 1!  Certainly you will want to keep mailing that list at least another 4-6 times during the year.  Multiple hits will definitely increase your response rate and will set you apart from other investors.  The more you have to offer a seller (rather than just a lowball cash offer) the more sellers you will be able to help and thus the more deals you will get! 

 Don't get me wrong, there are deals in this group that may take 6 months of negotiating. Timing in real estate is everything!  Follow up is crucial!  I did a deal during last summer that took a phone call every month for 7 months before I got the deal.  However, I wholesaled that deal and made over $53,000.  

In conclusion, I wish I could tell you that you can mail 2000 postcards and will get a ton of calls and you will have several deals.  There are considerably more variables.  This can certainly work and if it does not you have to figure out what is broken and get it fixed!  I am not sure you can try this once for 30 days and decide whether it will be successful or not.  I find that many investors are moving away from markets because they have not had immediate results.  They find too much competition.  I look at that as a challenge.  How do I still get the amount of deals I need every month either competing or cooperating with other investors?  As investors, we are always looking at how we can modify, tweak or change what we are currently doing to become more efficient and profitable.  

Good luck and let me know if I can be of any further assistance!

@Melanie Daniels, welcome to the wonderful world of real estate and the BP community!  We have a meetup group from this site that meets every 1st Thursday of the month.   Great place to meet other investors, learn from their experiences and network.  The group has only met twice but has been a huge success.  If you are interested pm me and I will give you the details.  Hope to see you there!

@Nicholas Testa

I applaud you for taking some initiative!  I know for a fact you can make this business work starting out with a small budget.  Many BP members will tell you it won't work or you are wasting your time.  Don't believe them!  Believe in yourself!   I will tell you that it won't be easy and you should leverage your time to make up for your limited budget.  

Sending letters/postcards to absentee owners is fine.  However, almost every wholesaler is doing the same thing.  You will need to stand out.  Make sure your message gives sellers a reasons to call you - guaranteed offer in 48 hours, pay top dollar, etc.  Following up 4-6 times is a must!

As far as spending your time to make some money. I am a firm believer that if you become really good at one of three tasks you will always make money in this business. First, finding the deals! You will be doing that with the letters/postcards. You might also want to try some flyers as door hangers in areas you want to buy. How about driving neighborhoods and locating distressed and vacant houses. You may have to track down the owner but it typically comes with less competition. You may want to call or email realtors and property managers and let them know what you are looking for. Keep reminding them. Let them know if they bring you a good deal he/she can get both sides of the commission. You could be calling FSBO and rental ads. They are not usually typical wholesale deals but once you understand the wonderful world of owner finance and lease options you can wholesale those as well.

Second, finding buyers!  I am not talking about the same buyers that are on everyone's list.  Although not a bad place to start.  I am talking about placing ads online, using Facebook, Linkedin, BP etc. and really prescreening what they are looking for.  Did you know you can make money right away with buyers.  I am currently wholesaling a land development project in Idaho and need a developer to come in and buy this project.  I am willing to pay someone $150K for bringing me a buyer.  Start networking and really get to know what they are looking for.  You can work with other wholesalers that will gladly pay you for bringing a buyer for their deals.  

Third, raising private money!  Not hard money although there certainly is opportunity there.  I am talking about reaching out to everyone in your personal circle (never know who has money) and let them know you can make them a significantly better rate of return on their money than what they are getting from the bank or stock market.  I am talking 6-8% interest secured by real estate.  Very secure!  Don't do this one without looking into the guidelines and laws of your state about whether you need to be licensed.  

I know, there is a tremendous amount to learn!  However, you can make money ( a lot of money) if you focus on one aspect and become really good at it!  Hope this helps you and I wish you the best of luck!  By the way, don't ever discount how important education is!  

@Charlie John,

I like your ideas of structuring owner finance for properties.  I do it on every lead that comes in.  I usually give the seller several owner finance options to choose from.  I may offer more that what the property is worth with a low interest rate (usually the lowest federal rate) over the course of 3-7 years.  The obvious reason is to structure it so there can still be a cash flow and of course the principle pay down.  I try to structure these with little money down but usually am flexible as long as the seller does not want 10% or more down.  I know I can flip these all day long!  The less I put down the more I can get from another investor.  

I will also offer a more traditional owner finance with a larger down payment and a higher interest rate (4-5%) over a longer term but with a lower price.  These are properties I am always looking to flip to another investor.  This would be more of the traditional owner financing scenario.

I may offer an interest only option.  I will offer less for the purchase price and show the seller that he/she will get more over time.  I will structure these from 5-12 years with a smaller down payment.  

If there is any debt owed on the property I will use many of the same options as above but structure is as contract for deed where the deed is held in escrow and will not trigger the due on sale clause of the underlying loans.  I will also look at taking property "subject to the mortgage" and structuring something around the existing debt.  

Keep in mind that even when you can't structure something to fit your personal buy and hold needs that there is a potential exit strategy to still wholesale that financing to another buyer and get paid fairly handsomely.  

I am curious why you are only focusing on townhomes.  I do it on houses, multi family, commercial etc.  If you keep at it you will find that you can become very creative with these offers and if you listen very intently, you will find out the seller's hot buttons.  Once you accomplish that you become a problem solver.  A very highly paid problem solver!  Good luck!

@Tony Kogan, you seem to have a great problem.  I think everyone is right that has posted on this thread.  The question becomes what is your experience?  If you have no experience fix and flipping I would suggest staying away from buying at the courthouse steps.  If you have no experience with buy and holds how do you know if you are getting a good deal?  Are you prepared to deal with tenants, maintenance and the property managers?  These are all great ways to make money on your money but just like anything else you need to know what you are doing.  

You could lend your money at a pretty good rate of return to another investor.  You could invest in tax liens! Notes - performing and non-performing!  What type of risk are you willing to endure?  Typically, the higher the risk the higher the return!  I could keep going with some out of the box ideas but until you determine how involved you want to be with the degree of risk it is very difficult to steer you in a particular direction.  One way might be to partner up with an experienced investor and use your funds to acquire, rehab or hold propeties.  Whatever you do, be careful!  Real estate is a fantastic vehicle to develop wealth but it can take away everything just as easily!  Good luck!  If you want to chat further email me.  

@Jared Johnson, there is a lot of information to be learned to be a good wholesaler.  If I were you, I would start by listening to some of the podcasts on BP and begin attending some of the Investment groups around town.  We do a meetup from this site on the first Thursday of the month.  Great place to talk to all kinds of investors.  We have a wholesale meetup group that might also be beneficial to you.  If you need more than that, I would begin looking at either working with another investor or being mentored by one.  Start learning as much as possible!  Good luck!

Was previously used as a triplex.  Can be renovated as a triplex or converted to a single family home.  This project is only for very experienced fix and flippers. Needs about $150K in renovations.  Would easily be worth $700K+!  Contact Jeff at [email protected] or at 801-209-2945.  Showing the property at 1:00 on Monday afternoon.  

Hey @Tim G., congrats on your two deals! I am a wholesaler in Utah and Idaho. I expect to do 5-6 deals this month in Utah and 2-3 in Idaho. The goal is to do 10-15 in Utah every month and 5-7 in Idaho. My philosophy on wholesaling is maybe a little different than most. I certainly still look for properties I can buy at 40-60% LTV and wholesale them to rehabbers. I also create financing whether it be contract for deed, all inclusive trust deed, subject to or lease options and wholesale them to either other investors or owner occupants. That strategy has been working very well for me! Oh, by the way, I have probably spent over $200K on my education over the last 15 years and continue to do so today!

@Jack Aduwo, the meetings are scheduled for the first Thursday of the month.  I belive it will be the 4th of February.  You will have a notice on BP and I will send you an email reminder.