All Forum Posts by: Nancy Roth

Thanks, Will! I have been looking at Line2, and am glad to have your vote of confidence.

A BP member, Blair Halver, has started a service that does all your mailings and you pay for the leads that they generate. I'm giving it a try b/c I realized at the end of 2012 that I had to delegate the tasks associated with putting together mailings. It's rather time consuming and takes me away from other things I need to do.

Not sure if I'm allowed to post the website url, it might be considered promotion, though I have no financial interest in the business. But you might be able to dig it up by running a BP search on his name.

Nancy Roth

Hi, Brandon, thanks for your question.

Coupla reasons for wanting to look elsewhere. First, I wouldn't have a lock on all things investors, in that office or anywhere else, b/c all agents, at least in my DC-area market, have to deal with investors. Cash buyers constitute too big of a factor to ignore.

Second, I am being pushed (not guided, pushed) toward the retail sector by the leader of that particular office, who made her career before cash investors were such a big market presence. So, okay. Not everyone has to have the same focus as I do, and I can take care of myself just fine in any environment, but why should I keep swimming upstream?

When I first gained my RE license in April 2012 I affiliated with a brokerage that I've since realized is not the right place for me.

I did not know how to go about doing my due diligence on the brokerage, so relied on the well-intentioned advice of some long-time friends. Within a few months I realized how retail-market focused this brokerage was, and how little support I'd find for my interest in working solely with cash investors. I have no complaints about the individuals who comprise the brokerage, but it is just not a good fit for me.

Why even keep a license? B/c it gives me access to certain useful resources, and for some reason ( I truly don't understand why) it confers a degree of cred I'd otherwise lack. So for now I'm inclined keep it and re-affiliate with a broker that either supports my interest in the investor market or just lets me go about my business the way I want to. Regardless of where I wind up, I am done paying monthly fees for the maintenance of an office, which I will seldom if ever use.

I don't expect to be pointed toward a particular brokerage, but I'd much appreciate your thoughts on how to to do better due diligence this time around. FWIW I'm licensed in Washington DC, which is part of the Greater Capital Area Association of Realtors chapter of NAR.

Nancy Roth

David, I don't even know you and I'm proud of you! You've surmounted some big obstacles. Go forward and thrive!

I'm doing it via a different path: getting a real estate license, attending many REI meetings a month, meeting one-on-one with anyone who would talk to me. Have been amazed at how generously people share insights and ideas. I have a growing excel sheet of colleagues I can call for advice and help. Through these contacts I slowly developed an idea of how I want to focus my business.

I formed an LLC, which is easy in Washington DC, and have put up a website, which we're still tweaking. My colleagues were very helpful in reviewing and critiquing it.

Also sent out my first mailer. FWIW you were wise to stay away from Click2Mail, which is the frequent choice of RE agents. I've learned this the hard way. I'm getting a refund and working on a new one through a different mailing org. This is frustrating but not life-threatening.

Thanks for mentioning the Sean Terry podcasts, which I'll tune into. But I have not found books to be helpful. Is it me, or are a lot of writers using their books to broadcast how overly impressed they are with themselves? I found interesting tidbits tucked into some books almost accidentally, but on the whole I have not found any I'd recommend.

Oh, and with guidance from BP commenters, I hired a local mentor last month. He has no other students and is still working quite successfully in the business. His advice and support are very helpful.

BP, as you've deduced, is a gold mine.

Nancy Roth

Thank you, Stanley. I did exactly that. But yesterday I went in to set up a separate voicemail in GV, and found I'd have to choose one or the other option provided on the GV website.

I have a colleague who also used Sprint with GV in the past, with good results. Maybe something has changed, I dunno. But what they have now is not good.

Anyone here every use Vumber? or Line2? Both are modestly priced second phone line services. There are probably others as well. I'd appreciate your recommendations.

Nancy

I need to establish an independent business number on my iPhone with a separate voicemail system on which I can leave a business-related message for callers. I want friends and family to hear a more personal greeting on the other line.

I thought Google Voice would give me a separate phone number/voicemail facility, as many of my investor colleagues use it happily. But I'm disappointed to report that, for Sprint subscribers, at least, this is not an option.

GV either lets Sprint users to have EITHER your Sprint number OR a Google Voice number for all calls made to your phone. PLUS it allows for only one message to go to all callers. Below I'm pasting in GV's instructions for Sprint users. Obviously neither arrangement is satisfactory for business use--in fact, both completely defeat the purpose of having a separate number.

"Sprint users can now seamlessly integrate Google Voice on their mobile phone.

"Option 1: Replace your Google Voice number with your Sprint number.
Calls made from Google Voice and Gmail will display your Sprint number. Your Google Voice number will remain on your account for 90 days.

"Option 2: Replace your Sprint number with your Google Voice number. Calls made from your Sprint handset will display your Google Voice number.

"Both options will replace your Sprint voicemail with Google voicemail. Any voicemail messages currently on your Sprint phone will be deleted. International calls from your Sprint handset will be placed through Google Voice."

Has anyone with a Sprint phone, particularly an iPhone (mine is 4S, FWIW), found an app they particularly like that will give me access to two separate operating phone lines?

Forgive me if I've asked a question that has been discussed before. I did check the forums for this specific issue with Sprint and GV, but the resources are vast here, I may well have missed something. If so, I'd welcome a link to it.

Thanks,
Nancy Roth

Joffrey, thanks for your interesting contribution to the conversation. Would you mind elaborating on how you have conducted this research?

I'd also be grateful if you would provide an example of how you used what you found to make a decision about whether to acquire a property.

Nancy Roth

Very interesting stories here, thank you to all who participated.

Let me ask this, Christopher: do you have relationships with any buyers who would tell you the end price they want to pay for the property?

Properties are scarce and in demand in my area (Washington DC), and while rehabbers do put some effort into identifying them, wholesalers definitely have a role in helping them keep up their flow of acquisitions. So buyers who are really in the business (as opposed to amateurs looking for a quick buck) would not bilk the wholesaler. They know that lost trust would come back to bite them later when they least expect it. The industry is very interdependent, and your network is key in getting deals done, so you work to extend it, not shrink it.

That's why, called in advance of a deal, a number of buyers I know will tell a wholesaler their end price point for a property, setting the wholesaler free to negotiate any price they can with the seller, and take the difference as their fee. As wholesaler you should be able to offer your buyer an accurate idea of the likely rehab cost.

The seller should understand early in the conversation that he/she pays nothing for your service in bringing them a reliable cash buyer and enabling them to make a smooth, predictable, hassle-free transition out of ownership of the property--unlike they would get in the retail market. They should also know that you will negotiate your fee with the buyer and you will try to get as much as you can, as anyone would. The important thing to them is, they don't have to pay it, as they would have to pay agent commissions and settlement fees in a retail sale. That is thousands of dollars in their pocket, which the buyer pays.

Also, I commend you for being transparent with both buyer and seller about what you are doing. Maybe I'm crazy idealistic, but I think everyone involved in the deal should get a problem solved and a goal fulfilled. I don't know how you accomplish that unless all parties are informed and on board with what you are doing.

A transparent process should mitigate in favor of an all-in-one closing, unless there are inescapable logistical reasons to do two closings back-to-back.

Nancy E. Roth

Oh, forgot to mention I've set up a wholesaling business in the very prospective Washington DC neighborhood where I live. I just sent out my first mailer and am planning another.

But prices have gone very high here due to scarce inventory, and I don't expect to personally invest in any properties here--unless I find something really unusual.