All Forum Posts by: Jeremy Rotert

Very thorough, Jan. I understand most of this, and appreciate your post! 

I am active in the Indianapolis market. As a franchise owner specific to the investing world, I'm working diligently every day to locate new ways to identify properties to buy, either as wholesale transactions or to possibly flip, occasionally I may hold a rental if it's low-hanging fruit. One avenue I've not intentionally explored as a lead source is probate leads. That changes tonight. I've been given a rather robust list of "fresh" probate leads covering July-September 2019 for my local areas. My acquisition manager and I feel as though we are pros at cold-calling and generating buy appointments, given our combined 40+ years in all manner of competitive sales, but we don't like going into something new without some advice and direction from those smarter than us in specific arenas. I would appreciate some relevant feedback specific to how best to approach these.

1. Who exactly am I contacting? These leads have names, numbers, addresses, etc. Is it the court, the executor of an estate, etc.?

2. What is the most appropriate way to approach these folks by phone? We love proven scripts, and use them in our current practices.

3. Once the ball is rolling on an appointment to make offers, are these "deals" more complicated to usher to the closing table? Do they take longer to close (like short sales as an example)?

4. What exactly is the role of the probate court in relation to me making offers and placing properties under contract?

5. What pitfalls/mistakes do I need to be aware of specifically for probate leads?

6. Are there specific pieces of information I need to be asking for on these calls that I wouldn't normally on any other type of seller lead?

Thanks to all of you in advance for any help and advice you can provide!

Cheers!

I am active in the Indianapolis market.  As a franchise owner specific to the investing world, I'm working diligently every day to locate new ways to identify properties to buy, either as wholesale transactions or to possibly flip, occasionally I may hold a rental if it's low-hanging fruit.  One avenue I've not intentionally explored as a lead source is probate leads.  That changes tonight.  I've been given a rather robust list of "fresh" probate leads covering July-September 2019 for my local areas.  My acquisition manager and I feel as though we are pros at cold-calling and generating buy appointments, given our combined 40+ years in all manner of competitive sales, but we don't like going into something new without some advice and direction from those smarter than us in specific arenas.  I would appreciate some relevant feedback specific to how best to approach these.

1. Who exactly am I contacting?  These leads have names, numbers, addresses, etc. Is it the court, the executor of an estate, etc.?

2. What is the most appropriate way to approach these folks by phone?  We love proven scripts, and use them in our current practices.

3.  Once the ball is rolling on an appointment to make offers, are these "deals" more complicated to usher to the closing table?  Do they take longer to close (like short sales as an example)?

4.  What exactly is the role of the probate court in relation to me making offers and placing properties under contract?

5.  What pitfalls/mistakes do I need to be aware of specifically for probate leads?

6.  Are there specific pieces of information I need to be asking for on these calls that I wouldn't normally on any other type of seller lead?

Thanks to all of you in advance for any help and advice you can provide!

Cheers!

I'm posting this here to do a little "venting". The wholesaler craze is alive and well in Indy. I am on multiple buyer's lists, and am bombarded daily with off-market "deals" under contract by local wholesalers. Not long ago, I used to be able to buy properties from some of these folks, at reasonable numbers that made everyone happy, and I was able to make sense of the flips or buy/holds. Recently, it seems as though there is some kind of neurological disorder running rampant through the Indy "wholesaler" market. Either everyone is trying to make $25k on a wholesale assignment, or they've all gone completely mad on how to accurately comp properties or estimate REAL repair costs. I don't need to make $80k on every flip, but I certainly need to make enough to justify buying the house at all. That becomes a moot point when everything coming across my email is being contracted at 85% of true ARV and "only needs $10k rehab".

And where have all the real buyers gone? Many of the buyers I once could rely on when I wanted to wholesale properties quickly have been afflicted with this same disorder. It's almost more practical to take down properties and then just immediately list them on the MLS here in Indy. Retail buyers are very reliable here, and the market is fast, with low days on market. Some of my partners here locally and I have been discussing trying to have a monthly meeting to try to "recondition" the local wholesalers to be more realistic in their deal analyses. I don't know, maybe I'm just being overly critical.

There. Off my chest. :-)

I agree with Bob's observations. However, I am a local wholesaler, flipper, and occasionally will hold a rental if it makes sense. I still do legwork for out of state investors, including accurate scope of work reports, very detailed photography, and as a licensed broker, I believe I am very good at determining accurate and relevant SALES comp analyses to assist with your due diligence.  Rather than waste time with random properties, I've learned it is beneficial for both parties to take the time to really learn what an investor wants to buy, then go find it for them. As long as you respect my time and follow through when the purchase is right, I am happy to take on more work for serious out of state investors.  Please reach out!

Greetings All!

I am working with a former client for whom I assisted as their Realtor, selling a rental property for them while they live out of state.  This client was very pleased with my assistance, and has now expressed an interest in allowing me to utilize their SDIRA in some flipping projects.

I am an avid wholesaler, and flip when the deals are right for me. But, I've never partnered with an SDIRA before. Can any of you help me with examples of an agreement or contract specific for this purpose? What does an agreement look like for JV flip projects? Is it a better option to have an agreement for an interest percentage instead of a JV split of profits in this scenario?

@Bryan Lutz

Jelly?! Please. This is my CHOSEN day job. I understand the math intimately. You have a Realtor working for FREE? Now I know this post is not truthful. This is clickbait for the Noobs. 👍

@Bryan Lutz

I really have a problem with all the math thrown around in these blog sites. Yeah, sale price - (buy + rehab) raw numbers ALWAYS sounds amazeballs. But reality includes the following: unforeseen rehab costs (they ALWAYS pop up), selling commissions, holding costs for loaned money, utilities, taxes, etc. I do this full time in Indy. Using your buy and rehab numbers, I wouldn’t take this deal. It makes little sense for the time it takes to complete. Unless you paid CASH, rehabbed WITH CASH, and sold WITHOUT COMMISSIONS all within 30-60 days of buying, your profit was marginal at best.

@Don Gouge

I totally agree here. I just posted asking why you would EVER pay over list price for an investment. Your words, not mine. Math doesn’t add up for me, either. And I do this full time in Indy.

@Alex Kamunyo

Why on EARTH would you ever pay $7k over list? For ANY investment deal? Was this a listed property at $145k, as your initial paragraph suggests?