All Forum Posts by: Matt Moger

Thank you @James P. Definitely not my target area & the house was pretty terrible, but it would certainly be impossible to find one that cheap in Raleigh or Charlotte. I actually closed on one yesterday on the next street over for $16,000. This one is move in ready though. Also going to wholesale this one, rentals in that area are management intensive. 

This is an exciting story about a wholesale deal!

I received a lead from a bandit sign (I know! I'm terrible) Regardless, that's where it came from. The seller was deeded the property by her great grandfather & the house was in an absolute doo doo part of town. Knowing this, I had very low expectations.

This was a 2 bed 1 bath brick home in a less than desirable area in Winston-Salem, NC (East Side, if you know the area) I believe she wanted $15,000. After visiting the home & gently pointing out a few structural issues, I offered her $5,000. She balked, but was very adamant that she wanted this thing gone in two weeks.

We settled on $6,000. Title search came back clean & we proceeded. My exit strategy was to wholesale for a few thousand. I actually used one of those balance transfer checks at 0% from one of my credit cards to purchase the home.

Here is where the REIA comes in. A Hispanic gentleman came to our local lunch meeting one time only & mentioned that he was looking to help folks connect buyers within the Hispanic community & that happens to be niche that I'm in. We connected & exchanged cards & he asked me to send him properties that I was working on.

The following week, I closed on a Wednesday. My new friend from the REIA meeting had a buyer for me, we sold it to them for $10,000 2 days later on a Friday. I gave my new friend a very nice referral fee & I made a few thousand dollars in a couple days.

All that to say, if I weren't active in my local REIA, I could have sat on a dumpy house that had already been broken into multiple times much longer than I would have liked to :)

We have had the privilege of taking advantage of some non-mainstream opportunities in our local market here in Winston-Salem, NC. A short disclaimer, this was not part of our original plan, but we adjusted to accommodate some income! :)

To date, we have done 3 properties this way. We have purchased some lower income homes that were structurally sound, in not so desirable areas, & needed cosmetic repairs. Two of those homes, we used friends & family partners to help close the deal. We then marketed those properties with Owner Financing available for 10 years. We took 10% down & sold them on a Contract for Deed. No work was done to the properties & we actually sold two of them the day that we closed. 

As I mentioned before, we needed financing on these. The third property we were able to structure as follows. We asked for seller financing on this small 2 bed, 1 bath house. The sellers agreed to an $18,000 sales price. We brought $4000 down & we would start our monthly payments of $200, no interest, three months after we purchased. They would finance to us for 60 months. The sellers also mentioned that they had someone approach them about purchasing the home Owner Finance, but they were not comfortable, nor familiar, with that type of transaction. We were able to educate them & instill confidence in our company & our reputation that they then became comfortable with us. They gladly gave us the phone number of the interested buyers & we called them that day.

Long story short, those particular buyers purchased the home from us on the 10 year Contract for Deed. Their purchase price to us was $38,000. They put $4000 down & their payment would be escrowed at $500 per month for 10 years, 8% interest. 

We closed the same day, so we never had any out of pocket cost. My cashflow is roughly $250 for the next 4.5 years & will jump to $450 for the remainder of the term. Both the seller & the buyer are ecstatic! AND I'm pretty happy too!

A bit of a delayed update, but I was actually able to get my electrician & his wife into this house on a Rent To Own with $5,000 down & $1,000 a month. He moved in right before Thanksgiving & has been like clockwork! 

He & his wife are thrilled to have the opportunity that no bank would give them to purchase a home. 

Thank you for all the encouragement.

I wanted to share my first solo subject to property success. This is the third property that I have purchased using subject to, but the two deals prior I had to bring in some private $ partners.

The lead came from a gentleman I met at church over a year ago. We go to a large church with about 6,000 members, so you may not see the same people every week. Back then he told me about his former residence that he was renting out & I just let him know a little bit about what we do.

Fastforward to March of this year, he sends me a Facebook message & says that he is highly motivated & he just doesn't want the burden of the home when it goes vacant at the end of spring. He knew he wasn't going to make money on it & had some financial things on the horizon & did not want to mess with it. 

This house was built in '94, 2300 sq ft, with a two car garage on half of an acre. It's in a very desirable school district & just inside a county with lower taxes. Conservatively worth $140,000 based on comps & my knowledge of the area. 

He agreed to $115,000 & would accept $5000 on the back end when we are able to sell the property. He knows that could be tomorrow or it could be 10 years, but he is ok with that. He had recently refinanced & his payment including PITI was $745. I gave him $100 earnest $ & we signed a contract in April with my first payment due July 1st.

This place is slightly dated but I planned on selling it as is to a tenant buyer on a rent to own, because that is one of main exit strategies & we've had good success with it.

Through a conversation with my electrician, he decided that he & his wife wanted the house. Their closing on Halloween for a rent to own sales price of $133,000 with $5000 option fee & $1000 per month. 

I took a little less than we were asking because I know they pay on time, they have already made plans for improvements to the property & we are moving closer to those potentially dreadful winter months where things potentially get a little slower. 

The moral of my safe but solid deal is . . . Let people know what you do. We have 6 houses & 2 have come from telling people what I do. 

You can speak with a real estate specific attorney & ask him to draft a standard assignment of contract for Missouri provided that you use him for your closing.

@Norma Cole Use open ended questions just as @Luis Montanez suggested. Some of the questions may not even be related to real estate. Just get them talking. Talking about the house, about their family, about their job. If they're motivated, they will often spill their guts about the situation, without you ever asking them to do so. Sometimes it's too much information :) Their husband just left & their mother is sick & everything is hitting the fan all at once. All of that helps build trust & good rapport which ultimately puts you in the best position to help them & hopefully buy their property.

When they tell you what they need, that is where you can provide the most value in helping them form a solution to their problem. Even if it's not you buying the house, you can add value by offering helpful suggestions or getting them in touch with someone that can help. 

But hopefully they need you, so you can make some $   :)

The beauty of real estate investing is that we get to be as creative as possible right? I realize that you are a broker, but that changes nothing. I would start marketing as if you're looking for your next investment property. Call all the FSBOs, put out fliers or post-it notes. Find a motivated seller who lives in a nice neighborhood where you want to be & see if they will owner finance something to you. Find a subject-to property where you can relieve them from the burden of their mortgage. Those folks are not going to check your debt to income ratio, because you are helping them & in turn, finding your next home. After a year of showing rental income on your former residence, then you can cash them out if that is what you want.

We have a line in our contract that states that we are purchasing the property "or assigns" & we disclose with the seller that we have the option to assign our contract to another qualified buyer. 

We aim for full disclosure, that way there are no surprises for the seller. I wouldn't necessarily walk in & say, "Hey! I'm a wholesaler & I have no intent of purchasing your home myself :)" 

Another way to put it is that you are in acquisitions for local investors. You help them find homes & they close them.

One last thing, schedule your showings at the same time. It creates great competition.