All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Hi Everyone,
I want to get your opinion. I'm going to start direct mail marketing, looking for deals to flip. I live in Orange County California. Prices are high, foreclosures are low (compared to other places). I would LOVE to do deals here but I'm not sure I'll get a good response mailing around here.

The neighboring county that my brother rehabs in is San Bernardino and Riverside. High foreclosure rate, cheap houses. A lot of people work this market because there is a lot of distress situations where people are willing to give their house away at a cheaper price.

We are thinking of trying this in OC because we would like to work in our backyard versus driving an hour to get to our properties.

What is your experience with markets like Orange County? Is there a lot of opportunity for rehabbers?? Or should we just stick with whats been working.

Thank you all!

Lauren

Hi,

I'm starting out in this business with a family member as my mentor. I've read several books and taken the courses, so I'm feeling pretty confident I could do this business. He has had good luck with direct mail. I wanted to get other peoples input on what works.

1. Letters or Postcards?
2. Who are you mailing to? (absentee owners, whole cities, etc.)
3. Where are you getting your lists? Is it free? I spoke with a title agent and they give free lists but they cant narrow the criteria.
4. What is the criteria for your lists?

Any other tips? I wanted to start off with DM instead of chasing the MLS because I work full time and will have a hard time making several offers and checking out properties. I find it would be easier to have motivated sellers call me. But maybe I'm wrong? Looking for any advice you could give to a newby.

Thank you!!

Thank you for your reply! So do you think I should stop trying to rack my brain on figuring out the market value of properties in that area (since it doesn't appear to be very straight forward), but instead focus on getting out there and finding a deal by sending my mailers, following up and once I get someone interested, then figure out the market value of that specific house by the method you just explained?

When I purchased the house I live in, it was so straight forward. All the homes were around $250 psf, and if they were way under it was because they were trashed. (I live in Orange County, Ca) I'm looking in other counties for investment where the foreclosure rates are much higher and prices are lower.

Thanks for your help!!

Hi,

I'm a new investor and I'm trying to find the best ways to determine market values of homes in an area I think I may send mailers to. I'm noticing there are so many houses for sale and the prices are very inconsistent. I'm trying to analyse it by price per square foot, but I cant find any consistencies. In this market there are more foreclosures then standard sales. I can tell there is a lot of investment activity.

Any tips on how you determine market value of a house? Do you look at the price per square foot, or sale price? Is there a rule of thumb here??

Thank you!!

You don't really need either to be in this business, so why waste your time? Your reasoning for getting both licenses, from what I understand is to gain experience. You will not learn anything just by studying the RE or GC exam and getting the license.

What you are looking, you can teach yourself through this website, a little trial and error, and going out there and doing deals. I would focus on that.

As for making your decision, I vote Real Estate. Its More interesting then washing clothes. :-)

Hi, I'm interested in getting some feedback. What is the typical wholesale fee someone would pay to a wholesaler in California for a good deal? Is it on a percentage basis, or flat fee? If its flat, then what's the number?