All Forum Posts by: John Hamilton

@Christie F. is there any wholesale action and buyers on Kauai? My step-daughter moved there recently. If I can find something for her to do other than her minimum wage job at Hard Rock, that would be awesome.

Maybe she can be an assistant (feet on the ground) for you? She and I are on the outs at the moment, but I still look out for my kiddies. She is 22 yo, so she's not a child, but old enough to work hard. She is a bright kid, and a sweetheart. She is also very outgoing, to a fault. I used to scare off her boyfriends, lol in junior and high school. Told them I used to be in the Hawaiian mafia, which of course I wasn't, as far as people know, lol. Yes, I'm Hawaiian on my Mom's side. 

I just started using LP and one of the best features is, for the time being, you can get multiple pages, up to 3, using 1 account; meaning you only pay $49 for all 3. However, it does costs >$10 for each extra domain. 

It is geared specifically for RE investors. It has other options that can systemize your strategy. I have a buying site and wholesale site. I plan to add a selling site. This will cover all incoming wholesale leads, all other non-DM leads, and flips.

SEO, WP, and tracking all costs extra, and some at a pretty penny's worth. However, like @Dev Horn said, chump change if it gets your leads into the system, tracks them, and markets them, all from 1 site.

I can spend the time developing my websites (like I did with Weebly) and do a bang up job rather quickly compared to others, but my time is too valuable to spend building webpages. It seems LP has insta-webpages. You can change it all around, if you like, just to be different than the other lazy guy. 

The idea is to make your website easy to view, read, use, AND TO SELL YOUR BRAND!

I also have a weebly website that's about 5 years old. It was perfect for what I needed at the time and at a price point that fit my pocketbook...$0...nada

I actually watched @Brandon Turner podcast that he refers to in the previous post and checked out LP. It was great right off the bat in the 15 minutes I researched all their services and pricing.

Hi @Brian Gibbons I appreciate the information. However, I'm not interested in becoming a real estate agent at the moment. To me, there just isn't enough incentive to become an agent just to wholesale, nor do I know enough of the don'ts when wholesaling as an agent. 

I will definitely check out item 2, though I might have already seen this and others. No harm in reviewing again and again. I love BP and use it daily to learn, help, and socialize.

Item 3 is something that I've scratched at in the past, but I would really like to understand these more. I've dealt with plenty of lenders, but have yet to secure financing. Understood about negotiating terms.

Yes, FL is cracking down on certain wholesale activity, but I think I can stay within the legal lines and still be successful. I guess that remains to be seen. If I'm working with a real estate agent, wouldn't that give me some protection?

I'm checking out Wayne Brooks and will reach out to him.

I really appreciate your help!

Hello,

Is it a good idea to get a mentor to do wholesaling in my target area? 

I feel I have enough knowledge to get things going, but not sure if my assumed lack of knowledge will carry me through the pitfalls and downs of this crazy business. I've been studying and reading for months (and been studying REI on BP for 5 years). I've also taken a guru class 5 years ago in wholesaling. I wouldn't recommend anyone doing that.

I have started my wholesale business a couple of weeks ago. I'm ready to get my first DM campaign (1,000 absentee owners with some filtering) sent out in the next couple of weeks and having it tracked using the vendor's system. I already have a business phone, business license, website specifically for sellers and buyers, and email. The next steps are a business account, business cards, getting as much of this process automated to streamline, and then SEO. I hope to pull this off in the next 3 weeks. I will be following-up with multiple DM campaigns until the rest of the year using different media, lists, and filters.

And yes, I've been hunting down all lenders to get the funding in place once a deal is struck. However, I know I will have plenty of deals that I wouldn't be able to take advantage of, so I will be passing them on to other investors and cash buyers. Don't hate.

What do you all think?

@Tanner GishIs that the only indicator to show where the cycle is at? I think it might be for California, but not sure for other States. 

Generally, It feels to me that in Florida the market is starting to take hold and lots of construction (new homes and existing) and more commercial buildings are being filled. However, being new to the area, I'm not sure how stable this is or what it started out as.

It would be an interesting study to see what each State is going through at the end of 2015 to get a glimpse and hopefully forecast 2016.

Hi @John Warren That's awesome. I haven't thought of doing MFH, but I will do that in my next DM campaign. I may get the same success rate. 

What did you use for your correspondence?

Many people have already given great advise, however to make the most out of each response, I would work with rehabbers and split the profits. Otherwise, wholesale and or find buy and hold who don't mind rehabbing.

Much success,

John

Hi @Belinda R. Glad to know you closed for $65K. However, why wouldn't you ask for $66K, if that's what your all-in costs was?

Now, you can use that money and pull the trigger again. Don't let this hinder or hamper your real estate adventure. Basically, you are were you were many months ago. However, you did 1 deal, you walked away at a loss but walked away with a wealth of knowledge and great advise for he next time.

I'd imagine with all of this you will be able to see a homerun deal. However, don't pass up the single or double.

you're welcome @Tim and I will keep checking

Hi @Tim HerndonYou guys have any owner finance situations?

Expired listings, absentee, probate, FSBO, Divorce, landlords, are the alternatives to MLS. MLS is overburdened, over-worked, over-priced, and over-loaded with more retail houses worth 3/4, or less, of their purchase price. And some require some kind of rehab or update, too. You'll find better deals on foreclosure sites.

In order to be ahead of the MLS crowd, you have to be alerted anytime a new property is listed in your target area, which means you need to have access (licensed). Otherwise, work with an investor-friendly realtor to get those listings. Also, they can pull the expired listings. Of course, all of this means diddly squat to them unless they get paid commission somehow. Maybe on the flip side (you as the seller)?