All Forum Posts by: Michael Otranto

Has anyone ever tried the direct mail flyer delivery offered by the Post Office?  It comes out to around 30 cents per flyer delivered and you can target specific areas, by zip code, income, family size, etc.  Looks interesting.

I love creative ideas like this!  Very inspiring!

I agree with @Christina R. That is a good place to start.  There is a website called the Red Pill Investor that has some scripts that you can use.  I like to keep in mind that I'm the one with the money and who is looking to buy so I'm the customer.  If I don't like the way I'm being treated than I go buy from someone else.  I have said this to defensive sellers in the past.  

If I am wholesaling I do like to be transparent about the fact that I intend to sell the contract for a profit.  I found out that if I try and sugar coat things the deal has a higher probability of falling apart at the last minute.

With signs I've found that 18 X 24 inch, with "We Buy Houses" 123-4567 (no area code), black on yellow work best for me.

Go get em!

@Brian Gibbons  Great stuff.  I'd much rather deal with lease option assignments then get into a 30yr fixed on low end housing.  It seems like the whole nation is moving toward more intense regulation which is making it more difficult to do business.

I think cap rates apply more to multi-family residential and commercial properties.  With single family's you have the sales comparison approach to value.  Multi-fam/commercial your buyers will almost always be investors as opposed to homeowners.  Appreciation is an added benefit although I never "count on it" when making a buying decision.  I always buy based on the current value on not what it may be worth in the future.

The numbers look good.  I agree that reserving 40% off the top of the gross rents for expenses is a good idea.  This is the type of property I wouldn't want to mortgage though.  If things go sideways you'll be stuck with it.   Will the owner entertain doing some type of financing?

Generally, I want to know the details of a property before I invest a lot of time analyzing it. The first thing I look at is the motivation level of the seller. If this is an MLS listing and the seller is firm on the 70k and want sell outright, I wouldn't look at it.

@Brian Gibbons  brought up a good point about getting the mortgage details.  This will help you determine the motivation level of the seller.  If he won't give them up he's selling retail (not that there is anything wrong with that).  

I would call the seller and get the mortgage details.  A question I like to ask on any call is: "What will happen if you don't sell this property?".  Let me know how it works out ;)

I have gotten a lot of these over the years.  I'm pretty sure the post office will forward all mail for 6 months and after that period they leave it up to the recipient to change their address.  I haven't had any luck with "return service requested" on the bottom of my pieces.

I have found skip trace (the good ones) to be very expensive and not cost effective.  I try and have multiple ways for motivated sellers to find me: internet, mail, signage, etc.

Unfortunately yes.  In 2009 I had a large tenant base pick up and go back to their country of origin.  Some did so without telling me leaving an empty (and trashed) apartment for me to find.  As landlords we "see it all", lol.

In my experience the best way to do your first subject-to transaction is to partner with someone with a lot of experience with these transactions. They should have a package of documents that they use depending on your state. In my experience atty's are very hesitant about sub-to's and are more likely to talk you out of it than to help you do it.

I like cashflow depot.com They are a great resource of people who are doing the deal and membership to the site is only about $100 for there which is very reasonable.

Hope this helps :)