All Forum Posts by: Mark J.

@Kristina Mullings- thanks!  I'm going to speak to HVAC contractors about options.  The oil is about 2K a year so would be fairly significant saving for me.

@Kristina Mullings thanks for the info!  So is it 1 gas furnace for 2 units that you're able to meter separately?

@Kristina Mullings - curious if you ended up converting?  I'm in a similar situation myself.  I've read a lot of people saying don't switch to electric due to inefficiency compared to oil and gas, but it's also seems inefficient for me to cover the heat/oil bill for 2 units.

@Kyle J.  Yeah, I was in a rush writing and afterwards realized how jumbled it sounded..thanks for making i through!

Appreciate the advice and your take on the situation- sounds like you're really familiar with the process.  Yeah, they don't seem very forthcoming, which is an immediate red flag and good to know all my other concerns are valid and not the norm.  

I'm going to ask to see the contract between them and the seller and try to get a better idea of the relationship.  Also definitely not wiring that kind of money, or any money, directly to them- I have a hard time sending 1K to a legit agent with a standard, signed contract!  I can't tell if they're just really amateur, brazen or actually hiding something, but 100% agree it's better to be on the cautious side.  If I do go through with it and get scammed you won't be hearing from me again as I won't even have the funds to pay for the internet service to come on here anymore:)

I would imagine they will have a "good" reason they can't share the contract. Will see what they say tomorrow and follow up.

@Nick C. Thanks for taking the time to read my jumble and the sound advice!

Agree, that it may not be an actual scam, but something doesn't seem right.  I think the property is actually for sale, but worried about possible complications "under the covers".

As recommended I'm going to ask to see their contract with the seller and also let them know I want to have the deposit held by my attorney's office or title company of my choice.  If they balk at these things I will probably walk.  Given how cagey they've been regarding their role in the deal and unwillingness to explain their relationship with the seller I don't think they will share. 

I'm not sure who would fork over that type of money without more facts, though an experienced flipper that knew what they were doing could probably make a decent profit, but even so seems risky.

I've never been involved with a wholesaler or "daisy chain" so not sure if I'm being overly cautious or overly optimistic....I need a little help....

Here's my question-  What can I do to confirm a wholesale deal is real and not a scam? I've read posters say that I should demand to see the contract between them and the seller. 

Below is the scenario....

The property came up on the Zillow with the only description being it's a "4 unit at $1m", which didn't match the actual listing price.  Agent doesn't have any reviews, info, etc.  So it already seemed a little scammy.  (also found out it's really only a 3 unit.)

I left a message with the listing agent, but received a call back from a construction company representing the property.  They didn't have any info on the property, but said they could get any info I needed.  They couldn't/wouldn't tell me their relationship with the seller, but when I asked if they were wholesaling the property they said yes.

They texted me the next day saying there would be 1 showing for the property and all buyers have to see it then.  I received a text the day of the showing saying not to ask any questions to the agent and to tell the tenants I was with the construction company if asked.  I was going to blow it off since it seemed scammy, but I made the time to go check it out.  I got there about 15 minutes late and they were already closing up the property.  The only thing that made it seem a little less scammy is the owners were there and I could over hear them talking about the property.  They were also the ones with the keys, answered/avoided a few questions, and let me into two of the units.  They couldn't get into the 3rd unit. 

I looked up the tax records and there's 3 owners all with the same last name, so I think it may be an estate sale?  Possibly some drama involved.

Looking up the "construction" company they market "we buy houses" through their website . So I'm thinking best case scenario is the seller reached out to them wanting to avoid selling fees/hassles and they are just wholesaling or daisy chaining (not sure what that means) the property to make a quick buck.

Anyhow I reached out to them expressing interest.  I get a call requesting my terms, pushing for a quick close, and 10% deposit. The admin seems to be just going off a script and doesn't seem to know much about the process.

I get a call back from the owner of "construction company" wanting to confirm the details of the offer. I talk with him for about an hour. He's telling me my offer isn't the strongest because I want to do inspections. Says a flipper will buy without because they are buying knowing they have to fully renovate and that's why it's a deal, it's based on ARV. I think he's wanting to avoid a lot of back and forth with the seller over cosmetic or general issues. I agree with him as it's priced under market. I tell him I still want to do inspections for informational purposes and to know about bigger ticket items. We agree on a 7 day inspection window and I can back out for oil tank, foundation or electrical issues over 50K. I agree to put 7.5% down.

I get a call this morning from the admin saying they want to go forward.  I ask if the seller accepted the offer and she says they are the seller and is sending over a contract for me to sign and wants to know when i can sign and send the deposit.  I receive a "contract agreement to purchase real estate".  It's not dated, my name's not on it and the seller is listed as an unknown business name with t/a the company name I'm familiar with.  The first page is 13 points of fairly generic purchase agreement info and the agreed inspection terms.  The second page is there TD Bank info for wiring purposes.

So....saying all this "out loud" makes it seem like a scam, but I'm not familiar with this type of process and lean to being overly cautious/risk averse for the most part. I can see how they'd want to get this done as quickly as possible and with the least amount of friction given they probably don't have a strong relationship with the sellers.  They also could just be extremely amateur, which they are, but don't have bad intentions.

Either way I'm definitely not sending money directly to their bank account and will definitely have them fill in the basic info of the contract.

@Ronald Bowser thanks for the rec!  Is this Justin Rhen?  He checked a job for me and gave a quote and then could never get a hold of him again.  I heard he's decent and price was fair.  Will try again, it gets a little tiring trying to chase these guys down..haha..

Just adding on that deals in the area right now are extremely hard to come across and investors seem willing to take an unusual amount of risk (waiving all inspections, waiving co's, paying way above asking, etc.) at the moment to get into the market. 

@david london

Lehigh Plumbing is good.

please let me know if anyone has any handyman and/or roofer recommend.

@Mark Mettias I like the towns you mentioned and have looked into Bloomfield a little, but not extensively.  Would you mind giving a rough idea of the types of numbers you're looking at- purchase, rent roll and taxes?  Interested to see how it looks in "real life".

I haven't been able to get the basic "rules of thumbs" to work in most of my NJ analysis for buy and holds.  To be fair I haven't put a significant amount of time into it.

I saw a listing for a multi in Union City that looked appealing, until I found out the units are filled with long term tenants paying about half of fair market value under rent control laws, so the returns were wiped out....