All Forum Posts by: Jonathan Greene

The only people that can wholesale in the 1m range have been doing it for many, many years and have the cash to float the timeframe when it goes long. It didn't sound like from your post that you have been doing this for long. People who want to sell quick in that range want to see the money and often times when you try to wholesale it out, at that price, you will have the same issue. A lot of people will be interested, but will have to talk to some partners or something else. You will get stuck in an uncomfortable position. I wouldn't even walk it if you don't have the cash or contacts to close the deal for him, it could blow back on you as you start trying to wholesale. You don't know who he knows. Higher priced wholesale sellers may know others of the same.

A couple notes that I am sure have factored into the agent's communication routine. You say you are on the verge of your first house hack, but you have not even seen a property yet. That is not on the verge of anything. Depending how much money you have, in those areas you are going to need to see 25 properties at a minimum to get a deal. You have a long way to go and the agent probably sensed that you weren't as ready as you thought you were.

As an agent, working with new investors is a huge time-suck and little pay off. You have to look at it from their point of view. Most investors do one deal and quit so how does he or she know you are the guy who is going to end up doing 10 a year. You have to prove to him or her that you are worth their time to take you out, over and over to see dirt properties. How can you help them? One commission on deals that often fall through isn't that attractive for a busy agent.

That is not a good practice. Everyone will know you can't close on them all and agents will start encouraging the seller to accept on multiple deals to tie you in. What they mean is that you should be submitting a ton of offers, but procedurally you should have them in a hierarchy of which ones to go after first. And you are correct, if you aren't writing the offers yourself, no agent is going to write 10 offers a week for you on dirt properties when their commission will be 2-2.5% on a 100k buy. Later they might when you are doing a ton of deals, but not in the beginning.

If you have the funds to close on multiple deals, it makes sense to spray and pray, but not for new investors. Make an offer, let it get rejected. Make another and so on.

@Patrick Donovan Have I ever tried this strategy? I've done national speaking on content and tech marketing. I've done local speaking and over 50 classes taught on social media and etiquette, as well as targeted marketing. I am an expert in digital marketing and what works and what doesn't and why. I've sent probably 1,000 targeted text and email campaigns that convert the right way. I have also been a real estate coach and coached specifically on the right ways to use social media. I am not bashing you, I am trying to help you. Anyone who think that people want unsolicited reach outs on social media and text messaging is kidding themselves. It's the most grabby form of contact there is and NO ONE who receives it likes it.

Gary V knows a lot, but direct acquisition via social media SPAM is not the intent. Gary V's style is to go all-in and not give a crap about long-term relationships because he knows of the 1 percent that reply he is great with them. That is not what you are looking to do. If you want to build relationships, it doesn't start with an errant DM on Instagram. Any time you are offering yourself or your services for free in the hopes that you get paid business later you are losing. If you give free assistance as a value add and want nothing ever in return, then you will win.

Walk away. If you have never bought a stink house before, don't make it your first purchase. The smell could be from a number of things - animals, prior water leakage, mold, gases. It's not a good first time buy and from how you laid out your post, it does not sound like you have bought before.

If it's listed on the market as an REO a fair rule of thumb to expect is that they will not reduce more than 10% for at least 3 months and maybe 6 months. How long has the property been on the market? If the property was decent for a turnaround, an experienced investor would have already bought it. Beware.

Don't do it. That is a surefire family disaster. I've been investing in eight different LLCs with my sister for more than 20 years, but the power balance is always the same. It's always equal, we think the same, we have the same goals. You are starting this with all the wrong balances to make it work. You are the money, she is the body, it's ripe with disastrous tendencies. Also, you are trying to gain advantages of 3.5% down loans by a workaround, which also could spell issues later.

You can't buy a property on the market on your own, so unless you want to buy with the listing agent, who has first fiduciary duty to the seller, you will need your own agent. You shouldn't worry about turning an agent off, you should worry more about finding the less than 1% who actually know anything about real estate investing. This might help - https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/10015/64777-5-tips-to-find-an-investor-friendly-agent. When you find an agent who is also an investor they won't mind as much showing you properties if they are looking for themselves as well. It's regular agents who don't like spending the time and find it a waste.

There is no such thing as preforeclosure on the market. Maybe a short sale. If you are referring to something listed as a preforeclosure on Zillow, those are rarely real and most never come to market or foreclosure. Preforeclosure is only an indication that a lis pendens has been filed, nothing more. If they do end up as REO properties it could be 2 years from the time it is marked on Zillow and will still have to run through the cycle of courthouse steps (upset value is too high) before getting to on-market REO.

There are other ways to find distressed deals for you first deal, but usually with the help of an investor-friendly agent or straight through REO sites or auction sites like Hubzu. It just would not be worth marketing for just one deal. The only reason to market is to capture multiple leads and use them over the long-term.

I don't see the value in sending a bunch of mailers for yourself if you don't have cash or an establish LOC. It will just be a waste of time. The only reason people call us back on mailers and bandit signs is because we pay cash. If you need to get a mortgage, you need to either buy on the MLS or get on some wholesalers lists who offer HML finance as part of the package. I just don't think it would be worth your while to market like that if you don't plan on actually wholesaling and are just looking for a home.