All Forum Posts by: Phil B.

More than likely the Trustee will never approve you to take a loan of any sort until you have settled your pay back and the 13 was satisfied.  He's just not going to let you get into more debt while you are paying off old debt for pennies on the dollar.  He'll say "if you have so much money to take on this new debt, why don't you make additional payments to your creditors."  ......basically.  He'll never allow it in my opinion.

I just sent out about 1000 mailers in the last few weeks to absentee owners and so far, people are really squeezing me.  Im getting a lot of "make me an offer" or "my absolute bottom price is...."

Prices here have gone up pretty quickly and sellers seem to be more in touch with current market prices.  I know there's still got to be motivated sellers out there....I just haven't stumbled on many yet.

My own personal home is almost back to where we were before the bust after dropping off a cliff.

Your pitch is going to be what sells him.  The physical biz plan will be for your reference to help you.  I don't know an investor alive who has been sold by (or even actually read, for that matter) a plan.  He will invest in you, your ideas, your ambition and of course, if there is an opportunity to make money.  I think the "you" factor is way more important than anything else.  He will buy into you - "does this guy have the capacity and hustle to make this work under any circumstances?"  That's what he's going to be looking for - YOU.  If he's confident in you, he will also be confident you will make him money and he will trust you to get it done.

What constitutes a fair deal?  Usually a fair deal comes about at the point where neither party is extremely pleased but each party is satisfied.  If one party is too eager to sign on the bottom line, someone got screwed usually.  That means one party is getting a significantly favorable deal over the other.  Now if you are going to be the working partner and he's going to be the money guy without work, you need to make sure you get paid.  Remember, once you make the deal you have to live with it so don't give away the farm just because the other guy's got money.  You'll become miserable and disinterested and that will show up in your work eventually.  You need to be happy with the deal so you stay motivated to make money for the both of you.  If the money guy is very savvy he's probably been pitched a bunch of times before so you'll have your work cut out for you.  DO NOT make promises you cannot keep.  He will appreciate you more if you are completely upfront with him about everything you plan to do.  You are partners after all.  Good luck.  I hope it works out for you.

If he owes 100k on an 80k house, the seller either has to short sale with his bank or let his bank foreclose.  You can offer anything you want in that case but you'll never be able to assign the contract or get title until the bank gets the 100k its owed or they agree to the short sale.  A mortgage is basically a lien against a property that says "this property is mine until you pay me back all the money you borrowed or this note is somehow satisfied".  Unless that mortgage can be satisfied, there are few options.  You want people who have equity in their house.  You want that 100k house to only have a 50 or 60k mortgage left so the mortgage can be satisfied with your offer.

Jerry, LOVE the Domino's Pizza line.  Never heard it before but that's a good one.  Gonna use it.  :-)

 Maybe we share  some of the same irate leads.  Don't worry about mailing her again.  This isn't a cell phone opt out list.  This is US mail and you paid for the service.  I was a stockbroker for a number of years  so I went numb to this stuff years ago but I know it can be disheartening.  You absolutely need to assume control - control of the conversation, control of your time.  This is your business.  Go in with the attitude you are there to get someone out of a troubling situation and if you want my help you play by my rules.  You have to be super confident on the phone and not let these type of calls rattle you.  I know it's easier said than done if you're not used to this.  That confidence and control has to remain with you through the entire process too.  Once you get a good lead, it's your job to walk them through your conversation.  Pull as much information as you can from them and if they won't offer the info you seek, ask them again.  You gotta have a big pair on the phone.  Your perfect customer is lost and looking for help.  The last thing he or she wants to deal with is someone who is unsure of themselves.  Even if that might be the case for now as you just start out, you have to sound like you know what you are doing and that starts with sounding confident on the phone and controlling the conversation at all times.

If this type of phone work is new to you, practice with a spouse or buddy so you're not burning up good leads. Have him or her play the customer while you work through questions and rebuttals.  Good luck.  You'll get used to it quickly. 

Did you pay for the postage stamp?  So you have every right to mail whoever you want.  Thick skin.  I get irate calls too but it doesn't even phase me.  There's nothing they can do about it and they know it.  My thinking is "who the heck do you think you are to try to stop me from doing business?"  A "normal" uninterested person tosses your letter in the garbage and that's the end of it.  If you're doing volume, hire a call center and let them deal with the irate initial calls.  Even then some people will leave honest info with the call center just so they can yell at you when you call back.  At that point I'll politely say "thank you for wasting my time.  Good luck to you." and hang up the phone.

Why not have them all?

I have a corporate site, nighthawk homes, an investor site "tampa wholesale houses...." and a home seller site "sell now tampa", etc.....I actually use multiple domains for each.....and then there's facebook.....do the same there - corporate, seller and investor pages on facebook.

I own a company outside of real estate.  Its just me.  I purchase group health through my company (me) instead of an individual plan.  Its pretty decent insurance.  Costs me about $580 per month with a $2000 yearly deductible.  I can add employees if I ever need them.

I own a boat and I rent a slip.  Its on the Gulf of Mexico in a high and dry slip.  My monthly rent is $258 per month.  The marina charges by the foot - my boat is 19 feet.  Boats come and go in people's lives faster than cars.  You buy one and you either want to get rid of it or you want to buy something bigger.  I would rent the slips on a monthly basis with discounts for full year, six month and month to month lease options.  My credit card gets whacked by the marina automatically every month so they have no problem collecting "rent" from me at least and there's a waiting list to get into this marina - a nice problem to have if you are the owner.

The downside - WATER.  Everything is wet all the time and with that, something is always breaking/decaying/rotting, etc.  I'm not a fix-it guy but have been around marinas most of my life and I think they can be a lot of work to maintain.  You'll also have to provide some kind of service.  People need electric somewhere near their slips to charge their boat batteries which always seem to die on perfect boating days.  An in-house mechanic helps too (you can clean up if you dis-allow other mechanics onto the property as my marina does.  I am forced to use the marinas mechanic basically unless I pull my boat out, trailer it and take it somewhere).  People want ice and beer and fishing tackle.

Good luck whatever you choose.  I just wanted to share some info.

Phil