All Forum Posts by: Marvin McTaw

Hey @Rick Magennis I would recommend building your Buyer's List first. It definitely helps to know what you're looking for and there's nothing worse than having gone through all the motions and getting a deal under contract at a good price and then not being able to sell it and get paid. You don't actually have to have mailed a cash buyer's list in order to know where to do your marketing to find deals. If you're looking to wholesale your deals, you can ask an agent to find out where all the cash transactions are taking place at. 

Another option is to go to a foreclosure auction and find cash buyers there. This is a piece of advice Sean Terry (one of the wholesaling gurus) recommended and that I implemented in my business. Foreclosure Auction buyers have to be cash buyers, you know they can make a decision fast and they will generally be willing to tell you exactly what they are looking for.

A third option for finding cash buyers or where to do your deals is search for other investors in your local area and see where the deals are being done. You can check out sites like MyHouseDeals.com or look on craigslist for the "Cash Only" deals to see what's there. 

A fourth option is to ask the other local and active wholesalers "where are the deals being done?" They will generally know and be able to tell you the zip codes and neighborhoods to target your marketing to. 

All that being said, I tend to prefer to look at the actual cash sales data in the MLS or tax records versus going off of what people tell me. I hope it helps!

Hi @Account Closed it might be a little helpful for you to explain what it is you're actually looking to accomplish. The fact of the matter is you might not even need a tax specialist. Based on your profile, it looks like you're just looking to invest in real estate. There are a variety of ways you can do that on a tax advantaged basis (e.g. self directed IRA).

Thanks!

@Spencer Shadrach - what you are doing is essentially what I am implementing in a portion of my business right now. I have several virtual assistants and local assistants that help me with a variety of things. I'm looking for an acquisitions manager right now to go out and view properties as well as lock them up under contract. I read the "four hour wholesaler" book which is actually a little bit different than what you're doing. It's basically co-wholesaling in various markets. 

Who is the coach you hired to help you automate your business? 

@Johanna Anderson - I was watching a webinar the other day and the speaker said something that stuck with me: not every deal is 100% finance-able but every deal can be 100% financed. What he meant by that is you can't always get 100% financing from one source for your deals. Most hard money lenders will only lend 65-70% of the ARV and some will do gap financing for another portion of it. You can however combine a hard money lender, or traditional lender with a private lender to cover 100% of all the costs/expenses needed to do your deal. If you think about it, many people do this without even thinking about it. They'll get an 80% to 95% traditional mortgage or FHA Loan and then "borrow" the other 5 to 20% from family members or friends thereby getting 100% financing.

All that being said, your idea to buy the house, sell it to another investor and then rent from him just doesn't seem to pass the smell test to me. I don't really see how you make money on the deal and with a five year horizon, who's to say the person you're going to buy from will even honor the agreement or that you will even want to buy the house for the option price at that point in time. 

My advice: work on building up some liquidity (cash savings) and improve your credit to a pristine level. You can build cash by doing deals with homes you won't be occupying or do rehabs or get another job. The possibilities are endless. On the credit side, get a free credit report and credit score and do what's suggested to improve your score further. 

Good luck! 

So @Andy Cross, time is truly your most valuable asset. What your mentor is recommending not the worst thing ever but its also not the best use of your time.

In my opinion, this strategy fails to recognize the difference between a prospect and a lead. While the pre-foreclosure owner is a prospect that does not necessarily mean they are a lead. Going door-to-door and knocking means you waste your valuable time talking to every lead instead of letting them self select and tell you they are a lead and are ready and willing to sell. 

An easier thing to do would simply be to send each of the pre-foreclosure leads a postcard or letter in the mail explaining what it is you do. Then let them self-select and call you if they want to take the next steps and move forward.

You're welcome @Martha Blumel

@Eddie Atkinson I generally do my wholesale deals with Shafritz & Dean unless for some reason I can't use them. They are familiar with the gamut of structures and deal types and have helped me close on deals that I otherwise would not have been able to do. Their advice has also saved me a ton of money in the process as well. I highly recommend Matt Schuurman and the team there.  

Hey @Mike Anderson, @Rush Wall is correct: Decatur is hot right now! Especially in 30032 and 30034. That being said, do your diligence before you make a deal.

Pick what's easiest for you @Martha Blumel. I use Podio as my CRM and project management system because I can make it into whatever I need. I used FreedomSoft in the past and thought it was OK but slow (like it would take forever for pages to load). I also thought it was expensive. That being said, I barely used any of the features available mostly because, like you, it was way more than I needed at the time.  

My advice: if you're happy with REI Blackbook, stick with it. If you move to FreedomSoft, copy everything over and make sure you follow-up. Whatever helps you to be consistent is what matters most.

Either way works @DuWayne Jones. Just be consistent. 

You can do a more closed campaign or just send the same thing every time on a monthly basis forever. I personally have never tested the conversion rates on a month long campaign versus every month but as long as you keep sending it, that's what counts. I do direct mail (postcards and letters) under a campaign style and do 7 mailings (5 postcards + 2 letters) in a month. I then rinse and repeat mail the same list three months later under the same cycle.