All Forum Posts by: Mike Nelson

@Michael Kev you should run your list through smartystreetz prior to even mailing them. Once you find out which properties are vacant you should then use a service to skiptrace them, I myself use accurint.

I'm in the process of working with a credit partner that will go in on deals with me as we refinance properties into a portfolio loan. My question is, is it bad if this person could potentially get married in the future or would a prenup protect any property that is accquired during the marriage that's a part of the partnership?

The reason why I ask is because someone who I look up to has recently went bankrupt after a their partner went through a divorce.

That's great, Jonathan L. ! Driving for dollars is one of my favorite ways to look for deals. And what's even better is, you ride your bike so you don't spend on gas and good exercise. Way to go!

Good for you that you see a lot of these distressed, abandoned properties. What I like to do is I look up the property addresses in the real estate assessor's office for my county and that'll pull up the address and it'll tell you if the person who owns the home lives there or not, you can talk to neighbors, look up yellow pages.

I also use this tool called Accurint that private investigators use. I talked about it in BP's podcast where I had the honor of being interviewed by BP's Best, Josh Dorkin and Brandon Turner.

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2013/10/31/wholesaling-podcast-mike-nelson/

Good question, @Douglas Christian . For me, it's basically because I know that Wholesaling works. I have been doing it for a few years now and I know there are months that I don't make a single deal. But on times that the market is good, my efforts pay off and I get more than enough luck...it's all worth it. I've had deals that earned me more than I would for some months of work in a regular job.

When I was starting out and didn't have an idea how well this business could go, I stuck it out because I changed my attitude towards things. I try not to give up on something until I see it work.

Forums like BP is a great way to meet people and learn about success stories that you can relate to. Get to know like-minded people. They do very well in keeping you motivated. :)

That's something we all can relate to. That's why I have my VA do the initial calls with the sellers. She has so much more patience and great at rapport-building. But I totally agree about a lot of them going through something difficult thus the tendency to be irate.

It's good to still just be gracious, courteous and be the bigger person in this kind of situation.

BiggerPockets is one of the best things that happened to REI. Happy Birthday and many more to come. :)

Chad, I do share some secured and confidential information with my VA's like email accounts but I would definitely think twice about delegating that kind of work where you will have to give someone else access to that kind of sensitive info. Unless of course, the person has worked for you a long time and you have gauged her integrity, if you've come to fully trust someone.

You can outsource most admin and support tasks but if there are monetary transactions and funds or bank accounts involved, you'd want to limit it to where the VA won't need to have access to it.

I understand how those kind of work can eat up valuable time on your part, as well. Maybe what you can do is, hire from a VA company instead. Those agencies that have people work for them and accept clients wanting work to be outsourced. I think these companies have contracts and the workers are managed. Cost may be slightly more but I'm almost sure for not much.

My VA's are freelancers, they work on their own so I wouldn't know of any specific place where to find those but I'm sure there are out there.

@Steve K , this reply is kinda late but I utilized VA's from the Philippines for a number of tasks...

• Answer Seller Calls
• Determine motivation
• Gather comparable sales
• Make the offer and gives supporting evidence for figures
• Set appointments
• Tracks follow-ups
• Sends out Direct Mail
• Advertise and Generate Leads on Craigslist and FSBO's
• Social Media
• SEO

I distribute the work between my 2 VA's right now. Just make sure to keep them busy.

I would do what I feel is right. I personally think you did the right thing, prioritizing safety over anything else. I would have done the same if I was in your position.

I'm sure more sweet deals will come your way...that just wasn't worth the risk of putting your family's friend in such an uncertain situation, especially when you knew something could go wrong.