All Forum Posts by: Jared Anderson

Word on the street is to pickup units 20%+ below market with private money/hard money; make repairs or increase the value of the property to 100% market value and then refinance into long term financing; this way you hurdle over the lender's threshold for a down payment.  You may need some cash to satisfy the initial money but if you plan it right you will get that money back.  DISCLAIMER:  I've never done this, but I have heard of several who have.  Maybe somebody could chime in that's done this successfully.  I am hoping to employ this in the next few months.

@Jamal Atwell In theory all the "property values" SHOULD be relatively the same. However, because of politics with taxes and appraiser opinions they vary.

If you really want to know the value of a property you need to find access to the SOLD data for your market. If you are looking at these websites that pull values out of a magic box, then you will have little confidence in its accuracy. Computers can generate values relatively easy but they can't identify value for condition, quality, and location. This is where you come in and need to become an expert. Learn what creates, eliminates, and sustains values IN YOUR SPECIFIC MARKET. (i.e. certain roads, neighborhoods, views, waterways, access, clubs, amenities, etc. etc.)

You need to know what buyers are really paying in your area and as you follow the data you will become more confident in your decisions and know what makes a deal.

I am curious about the responses you get as well. One thing I have been wondering is if you use a bulk mailer do the pieces of mail sent to bad addresses or occupants get returned to sender?

I've been using first class postage so I can get returned mail to filter my list out better.

http://www.callruby.com/ is another one for your list. Somebody mentioned it at a REIA meeting in my market. Report back if you find a good service.

What are some pitfalls, pros, cons when direct mailing to the Trustees of a Trust? I didn't find a lot of threads on marketing to trustees or trusts. I have a list with several owner names noted as:

First Last TRUSTEE

I am assuming the name listed is the person in a position to make decisions about the property.

Listen to @Aaron Mazzrillo 's show 37. He say's he doesn't even go in homes, or write contracts anymore:

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2013/09/26/lifestyle-investing-podcast-aaron-mazzrillo/

Mike you'll want to keep in mind that if any body purchases a property from you with a loan their appraisal is going to have the same challenges to figure out the value. That could be a problem or benefit. If you can find comps to give the appraiser you could possibly benifit. What is your basic strategy for these properties?

How about supplementing the the question with "in this post Dodd-Frank era?" I hear a lot of big fish stories that are pre Dodd-Frank which would never work in today's market. I like @John Rooster 's comments. If you have the expertise to make it work like @Bill Jacobsen posted then you may be going it without money down. Otherwise plan on bringing some money to the table.

Chudi, What was your experience like? Did you go for any HomePath properties?

Doug, You are talking about several topics in one. But in regards to your question about business income versus employee income:

The bottom line difference between the two is how you pay taxes for Medicare & Social Security and how much. By using a business to pay yourself you are subject to different tax laws than if you just pay yourself as self-employed. Here is how it works:

http://www.stephenlnelson.com/How-S-corps-save-taxes.htm

I was going to post a big long blog about how this works but this link is a lot more thorough.