All Forum Posts by: Lee Haenschen

I am currently in limbo with drivebuyrei, I don't know if I am still a member or not? They have merged with profitdrive and since that happened my password does not work but they are still charging me and I can't seem to find a way to contact them. The system works as it should, it is very nice for stream line the process of connection with potential homes. 

At first I had a big issue that never got resolved. I had tagged maybe 15-20 homes on a drive that I did and before I could send post cards to them, my system had said "Michael" marketed to the houses. ( I am not michael nor do I know one)

There is only one email address to send messages to with drivebuyrei. 50% of the time the emails would bounce back as "Mailer deamon could not send message" error. The owner of drivebuyrei replied a week later and said "That's odd I will look into that" . I never did get a response, and after several more messages I gave up on trying to find out what happened.

I am VERY short on time for trying to invest in homes, so a system like this really looked good to me, it looked like it would cut down the time it took to contact with potential homesowners. I haven't been able to use the system because I am "locked" out of the app, and the owner will not communicate. I also haven't had anytime to even drive looking for homes. In the end I sent out about 400 +/- I did get 3 calls out of that 400, all of them were looking to get retail for a home in dire need of extensive repairs & updating. It was discouraging for sure and has kept me from pushing forward. 

Anyone use it ? I downloaded the app and it works smooth, and has improved my ability to capture info for houses we want to market to. 

On the down side it has been near impossible to get into contact with the company with some issues we have experienced. The "contact or help" e-mail button sends an email to a address that does not exist, so it kicks back all emails. 

So I called him back today and of coarse, was not a good time for him again to speak. I asked if this time was better and apologized for the "off" timing last night. He said "well actually I am at physical therapy, but make it quick"

I said " I can call back later if that would work better" " no no go ahead and ask your questions" 

So I fired off a few questions which led to roughly 5+ minutes of casual talk. He seemed to open up as a nice older gentleman. The home is tenant occupied and he wants to give the tenant a week notice before he lets someone in to view the home. He said give me a ballpark figure. So I shot out $60-80K (most homes of its size are selling for around 125-140) I didn't have time to talk to any realtors to get an arv so I told him this is just shooting off the hip. 

He replied with "well young man that's 20K lower then the last offer I got" I asked if the other person who offered made the offer site unseen? and yes the offer was site unseen. 

I left the phone conversation satisfied that I did all I could over the phone, told him that I would love to come look at the house if he could arrange a time that would work for the tenant. At this point it's baby steps, like mentioned above I doubt I will get to even see the house. 

If you asked what they had in mind for a price and they want what the house is worth after renovations, would you decline to even come look at the house ? 

Already dealing with a small level of push back. I called the gentleman back last night and asked if it was a good time to talk he said " no call me tomorrow" . Very mono toned and one word answers. 

Marcus I do 100% understand that this situation is likely just practice. I'm not expecting anything more than a learning experience out of this. I just dont know how to progress past making the offer. 

Ok, so I've only sent out roughly 15 post cards and got a call today from one of my post cards, it really caught me off guard. I was thinking I was going to have to send out thousands of cards to get 1 call.

When the man called I was familiar with his street/house and talked briefly about his house. He's owned it since the 80's and he is an absentee owner, he only lives a few miles down the road. He rents it out and just wants to sell and get out of it.

I asked him if I can call him back in a little while when I get get to a pen and paper as I was driving at the moment.

My mind is racing, what happens if he does not want me to go inside and bother the tenant?

At this point I want to schedule a time to meet with him at the house and do a once over to check big ticket items over and determine what needs to be done to make it market ready, determine whether this is a good rental or a fix n flip. I want to then contact one of the realtors I have made connections with to get an idea of a ARV. Put together my offer and meet up with them man again to propose my offer.

How long does this usually take a seasoned investor from the time you leave the house to the time the offer is in the homeowners hands? I work 60+ hours a week so I am doing my best to not put this on the back burner and expedite the process the best I can.

IF he accepts the offer what would be the next steps? Trust me I have read hundreds of posts on here and read most all of the mainstream books, but my head is full of farts right now as I was not expecting this to happen this quick. I have a title company in mind that is local. Do I deliver my "contract" to the title company and then they do the rest? Would the title company be the one I give the earnest deposit to? Is that even necessary as this is an off market deal? No other offers on the table so I don't know if earnest money is even necessary?

Ok, so I've only sent out roughly 15 post cards and got a call today from one of my post cards, it really caught me off guard. I was thinking I was going to have to send out thousands of cards to get 1 call. 

When the man called I was familiar with his street/house and talked briefly about his house. He's owned it since the 80's and he is an absentee owner, he only lives a few miles down the road. He rents it out and just wants to sell and get out of it. 

I asked him if I can call him back in a little while when I get get to a pen and paper as I was driving at the moment. 

My mind is racing, what happens if he does not want me to go inside and bother the tenant? 

At this point I want to schedule a time to meet with him at the house and do a once over to check big ticket items over and determine what needs to be done to make it market ready, determine whether this is a good rental or a fix n flip. I want to then contact one of the realtors I have made connections with to get an idea of a ARV. Put together my offer and meet up with them man again to propose my offer.

How long does this usually take a seasoned investor from the time you leave the house to the time the offer is in the homeowners hands? I work 60+ hours a week so I am doing my best to not put this on the back burner and expedite the process the best I can. 

IF he accepts the offer what would be the next steps? Trust me I have read hundreds of posts on here and read most all of the mainstream books, but my head is full of farts right now as I was not expecting this to happen this quick. I have a title company in mind that is local. Do I deliver my "contract" to the title company and then they do the rest?  Would the title company be the one I give the earnest deposit to? Is that even necessary as this is an off market deal? No other offers on the table so I don't know if earnest money is even necessary? 

A investor friendly realtor I was talking to the other day suggested that I pay close attention to the seasons of buying & selling. He was telling me to make sure that I don't put any houses I purchase back onto the market in the fall or winter. That late spring into the summer is the hot selling time and that if I can't have a rehab done in time for a spring or summer sale to not do the deal or hold onto the deal a little longer.

Is this something you all take into consideration? 

I like the features of padhawk, but at the moment being new to REI I can't quite afford the $99 per month. The only part that I want to use of padhawk that I think would help in my negotiating is the feature where you can find out how much the person owes on their mortgage (if any). Is there somewhere on my cities website that I can find this info as well? What is padhawk tapping into to find that kind of info? I think this would really help when negotiating on a house, I would be able to tell right off the bat if I am wasting my time if my offer would be lets say 20K less then what the homeowner owes on their house.