All Forum Posts by: Jordan Solomon

I've gone through enough real estate education to know that just about everybody recommends pinpointing certain areas -- zip codes or sometimes even neighborhoods -- in which you see a lot of cash-buyer activity and targeting those areas to find houses. That sounds great in theory, isn't it kind of easier said than done? I mean, what happens if you have a website, even one targeting a specific city, and someone contacts you from outside your ideal area? What if you use a list provider that doesn't get that specific and only supplies leads by county and not specific zip code, and then you get a call from someone outside that area? What if someone sees a bandit sign/flyer in that area even though he/she lives outside of that area? It just seems like there are many scenarios in which this could happen. Do you essentially just throw out those leads, or do you try to follow through with them despite being in areas with lower cash-buyer activity? Any thoughts would be appreciated!

@Michael Quarles Even better! I'll be in touch soon. Thanks.

@Michael Quarles Sounds like an interesting and unique system. Again understanding that you're limited in what you can say, is it fair to say that your company's customers receive more information on your text marketing approach (maybe access to an e-book or something along those lines) as well as the identity and contact info of the guy you know? Just trying to figure out how to get this all done!

@Michael Quarles Okay, I understand that your hands are kind of tied here. All I'll say, for now, is that I would have no idea how I would reproduce that!

Quickly, regarding the texting, I have no problem with the technology, but just to clarify my question, how does one come up with the offer amount after receiving nothing but a text with a single word/name on it? Thanks again.

@Michael Quarles Okay so the relatively bad news for me is that yes, it does matter, so I can't create just any postcard and send it out and expect reasonable results. The good news, though, is that at least you provided me with quite a head start by providing those samples -- thank you! I'm aware that you have your own direct mail company. Are those templated on your site so that if I were to use your service I wouldn't have to recreate them from scratch? 

Oh, by the way, maybe a stupid question (and admittedly a bit off-topic from this thread), but how does give someone an instant cash offer from just a text? Doesn't one need to learn about the house first?

I'm sure all of us have seen courses by gurus with one of the selling points being the inclusion of a postcard that gets some kind of astronomical response rate. Likewise, I'm sure we've all seen services that say they will design a postcard for you that does the same. Whether or not those response rates are realistic (they're probably not), how much do any of you think that what's on a postcard (both ad copy and format) really matters at all? Or, is it really more the list you are marketing to as well as how diligent you are about following up that really matter? What do you think?

@Joaquin Rosario Thanks -- I appreciate your help! The only issue I have with Google voice and the local number issue that if I'm going to try a few different markets, Google makes it hard to obtain multiple numbers, as I'm sure you're aware. Theoretically, I'd like to be as upfront (otherwise stated, the least deceptive) as possible with people without killing my chances of getting the deal, so it seems like if they DO find out where I am, the local number could be digging an even deeper hole for myself. But, whatever, no one said virtual wholesaling is easy! 

Anyone else here agree or disagree? Anyone take a different approach?

And, as I asked originally, aside from the location issue, do people reading this actually disclose the fact that they're wholesaling (even if they don't use that term) in general, or try to keep it under wraps and maintain that they'll be the one buying the property? I realize that this is kind of a different issue, but is still, I think, under the umbrella of what you disclose and don't disclose. 

@Joaquin Rosario Nice to get a fairly local response! 

Anyway, my thoughts are that that sounds great in theory but is easier said than done in terms of actually pulling it off. Unless I block my caller ID, even that would give them a hint. In some parts of the country, my accent may give it away! Those issues aside, it just seems like it would be easy for it to come up. Won't they be at all curious as to why I'm talking to them but then sending someone ELSE out to their house?

I posted a question last week pertaining to a technical aspect of virtual/long-distance wholesaling (how to estimate repair costs from afar), but now I have a question that pertains more to, I guess you could say, the psychological aspect of such wholesaling. 

Specifically, for those of you who do wholesale outside of your home market, do you ever face skepticism from people when you tell them where you are located but that you're interested in buying their house,  that's far away from you, anyway? How do you essentially "finesse" the fact that you're not anywhere near their market and will be relying on "boots on the ground" to get the deal done? 

While I'm asking, one kind of related question that isn't even specific to virtual wholesaling (in truth, this could be its own topic, and maybe it should be). When you're in the process of negotiating with the seller, do you indicate that you, yourself, will not actually be the one buying the house, or are you completely upfront about the process and that you'll be looking for another buyer?

@Grant Rothenburger The problem with that, as I see it, is that it opens up a whole can of worms in terms of how to structure that type of thing. I've obviously seen all kinds of wholesaling contracts around the internet (Purchase & Sale, Assignment, etc.) as well as several JV agreements, but I have no idea what kind of agreement it would take to put that kind of arrangement (someone inspects the property for X% of the profit of the potential deal) into writing. Really, I don't think I've ever heard of anything like that before. I'm not being critical and saying it's a bad idea -- I'm just saying that I haven't seen any information about how this works or what kind of experiences people have had with it (or even if people are interested in that kind of thing). Lastly, I have to wonder if the person on the other end is even qualified for such a task. I don't know if you read David Greene's book about long-distance investing (which doesn't really pertain to wholesaling), but he makes the (I think) good point that "most of us aren't appraisers or inspectors anyway," so while this might give me a number on which to base my offer, it won't necessarily be an accurate one.

Tell you what.  Let me rephrase my question for you or anyone else reading this: is there ANY way to make an offer on a wholesale deal WITHOUT already having the repair cost estimate in-hand? Are there any questions one could ask that could at least give one enough of a feel for the condition of the property to be able to make an educated guess, make the offer, and then adjust from there if necessary after I DO pay a professional to inspect the property? Thanks again.