All Forum Posts by: Terrence Smith

@Azeez K. Count me in. 

Hi @Al Bunch 

how did this turn out? 

of the 6k mail drop what did you break your test groups into? Any lessons learned between then and now on testing you can share? 

I was searching for info on how to test direct mail campaigns when I came cross this thread. Comments from Dev and Michael suggest testing on small batch mailing of 1000 or so can't really be counted on. 

@Todd Whiddon  This is great stuff, thanks. Any schedule for the second open house? I will be attending. 

thanks @Dev Horn  

as I'm sure is usually the case, I found an older post that detailed much of the same information including more points on the base list criteria.  thanks again. 

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/87/topics/104703-my-direct-mail-campaign-results-have-been-atrocioushelp-please?page=3

Hi @Dev Horn 

Recreating your Arlington, TX example was easy enough. As an exercise I am trying to recreate the absentee table you've inserted above. My numbers are not matching. 

Take League City (77573). My absentee count is 375. 
My absentee filters are:
ZIP: 77573
Current Home Value: 1-200k
Equity: 41-100%
Property Type: Residential SFR
Option: Absentee Owned (In & Out of state)
Standard Complete Mailing Address included
Standard Corporate Owned Excluded

Again in League City, my total SFR count is 2132
All filters are the same as above, EXCEPT Absentee Owned - which is set to No Preference. 

I switched between Current Value and Total Assessed and added Bedrooms/Bathrooms, but have not been able to match your count. 

So I the general questions are

a. Did  I select an incorrect filter?
b. Are their additional filters you've added to the metrics in your table that I did not use, and do you mind sharing what they are? 

Thanks in advance

@Brandon Turner wow..Brandon Turner just addressed me directly. My life will never be the same ;-)

@Account Closed thank you for the info. 

I believe buy fix and hold is the best long term investment strategy, and I am looking at long term investments. One day, when I've mastered my marketing and have more deals then I know what to do with, I'll rehab and flip, or wholesale. But for now, I want to find those wholesalers and marketers who have the deals, purchase less then market value (much less), rehab and then ride the remaining upside in appreciation provided by the improving market.  

If you sell house #2, strongly consider a 1031 exchange. I recently spent time crunching the numbers on a similar scenario. Should I refi, sell or leave it be. In the end I decided to leave it be, but in doing my homework the light bulb went on about 1031 exchanges. That tax hit you take to put some cash in your pocket goes away, and your buying power on the next property is increased. 

As you will learn, in real estate there are lots of different ways to do everything. So in the interest of providing a simple answer for a beginner, my suggestion is to finance the properties and I say this for a few reasons. 

1) If you qualify for conventional financing the money is very cheap still, so take advantage of that. 

2) The loan underwriting, inspection and appraisal process can help a newbie catch problems with the house they might not see themselves, saving you some headaches later on. 

3) If you want to rent the property, it needs to be in good shape to attract and keep good paying tenants. That means you will likely need to put some money into rehabbing the property, if you pay all cash, will have the extra money to fix the place up and make it a desirable rental?

4) Using loans should allow you to stretch your 50K into multiple properties. 

I used conventional financing on my first 4 properties, and I would gladly use it again so long as rates are as low as they are now. Yes, there are low and no down payment strategies out there, but I wasn't ready for all that. Its worked out well for me. Good luck to you.  

Greetings BP, 

I'm not exactly a "new" member, I've been lurking in the shadows of BP for quite some time. During that time I've used information from forum posts, podcasts and file downloads to purchase, rehab and lease 3 SFR's in West Georgia. My desire to grow this business has forced me out of those shadows and into the fray.

I am a member of the GAREIA (just started my second year) and my primary focus is establishing a network with which I can purchase additional properties and add to my POSITIVE cash flow portfolio. 

I also want to continue to grow my knowledge of investing practices such as marketing, wholesaling and creative financing strategies. That translates to, I want to learn how to find deals. 

The markets I am most interested in right now include areas in Cobb, Paulding and Douglas county. (East and West Cobb, Marietta, Smyrna, Powder Springs & Douglasville)

So that's me. 

Thanks in advance for your feedback and support. Looking forward to the journey.