All Forum Posts by: Matthew Enos

My callback rate is good. I market the letters and provide mutltiple means of getting back to me including a web site so the sell can do some research before reaching out to me if they so desire

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I have been hand mailing. I use mail merge to combine info from the xcel list into a letter or print the address directly on the post card. 

I have had success with a number close to 1000 so I would say that you should also. The question i have is how many per week and ensuring you have the time to screen and then make offers on the callbacks. Marketing gurus say the magical number is 4 to 7 touchpoints. I do a combination of letters and postcards. Letters are more time consuming but get better response rate. Postcards are easier, and cheaper, and I use durable ones so they can "go on the fridge".

When i am marketing I send out about 100/week and I do the screening.

I prefer to talk to an insurance broker vs a specific insurance company. Find a good one and they will answer your questions. All my properties are in an LLC and I occupy none of them. I have insurance with Travellers, Grange, and Millers. The fact that the property is in an LLC doesn't mean that you need commercial. I have both commercial lines and personal lines. You may in the future have to convert them all to personal lines or commercial lines if you apply for an umbrella policy. A personal umbrella won;t cover commercial and vice versa. Again, my best recommendation is to talk to a reputable broker. Reach out to a REIA or facebook group in your area. I bet the investors there know who the best broker is.

Talk to the seller and understand why they are selling. They usually fall into two buckets. 1. Just want to be done with it NOW which usually is a low cash offer 2. Wants the highest price which usually is a terms offer (buy on some form of payment plan). The key is to find out what the selller wants and why. 

if your wholesaling then think what your end buyer/investor is looking for.

Seller financing is the seller is willing to act like the bank. If I am the end investor I can get bank loans for 20 years/20% down 5% interest all day long. So i am looking for seller financing that can beat that. 10% down, longer terms, lower monthly payments, etc.  The seller doesn’t necessarily have to carry the note for 20 years. They only need carry it long enough until the principal balance remaining is low enough to refi out with none of my own capital

Buying subject to is buying the property but the existing mortgage remains in place. 

As long as you can add your fee to the deal and it still remains a deal, someone will buy it. Whether that’s a retail buyer or investor. Leave meat on the bone.

We invest in Pittsburgh also. We use Will Stunkel of Stunkel tax and accounting. Kim Kisner of Kisner Law Firm for setting up LLC. Also we attend the West Penn REIA

If you use them letting them know we referred them would be great 

I ask my accountant with specific questions but there is generally up to a dollar value when expensing (deduct fully that year) or capitalizing (add to the cost basis and depreciate). The amount is always the amount paid.  

If you are increasing the cost basis of the house by installing windows, then that would depreciate at 27.5 years, the same as the house. 

The cost basis of the property is split between land and building. The building depreciates, the land does not.

Can you provide more details such as after repair value of the house, purchase price, estimated rent, property taxes, insurance, and any rehab needed.

Also what would be the minimum amount per month the seller would be willing to take? The fact that he will do owner financing is a good start. You could try strategies to lower the monthly payment? Would he take interest only and a balloon later? would he be willing to amortize over 50 years with a balloon at 20?

You could also try to increase the value of the house by doing a creative exit.

What if you could buy the house from the seller and then do a lease option exit? You could see if you could get 10K as an option consideration and then also charge a higher rent. If you could find a tenant buyer willing to plop down 10K you could enter the deal with little cash