All Forum Posts by: Nikki Robinson

Thanks Tim & Marlene. :)

That is exactly how my first call went! Even with experience in sales and marketing, I was nervous in the beginning. I am still a newbie investor after all. That's why I only mailed ten letters. In the back of my mind, I was kind of hoping no one called because I didn't feel "ready enough" to get started. But I practiced how I thought the conversation would go, just in case. When she called, it was just like repeating what I'd been practicing all week. That worked for me, and after the first few minutes of asking questions I realized the seller was spilling everything; she trusted that I'm an investor and wanted to see if I can buy her house.

If you've spent any time reading the BP forums, you'll at least sound like you know what you're talking about. That's enough to kickstart the deal-making process.

I know quite a bit of time has passed since this was posted, but I'd like to know how things turned out on this particular deal. I'm currently in talks with a homeowner who's property sits on 24 acres - 21 of those acres are undeveloped and used for hunting and fishing (a stocked pond is on the property).

I'd appreciate any insight you have based on your experience with the land mentioned in your original post.

Thanks,

Nikki

@Carey Edmund @Melissa W. 

Thanks for responding, although I didn't get the kind of answer(s) I was hoping for. I understand how the wholesale deal analysis process works. I was more so hoping to see what other investors thought about the type of property I described. I know some people stick to wholesales only, while others diversify. Under ideal conditions, I wanted to know whether investors would wholesale, flip or hold onto a property like this - with such a large plot of land, rural area with hunting & fishing on site, the sturdy brick exterior many buyers seek & all.

As for the numbers, I think the seller is hoping to get close to her stated appraisal value ($252K) but I plan to explain to her that it's out of the question since I am an investor after all (which I stated in the yellow letter). She told me a realtor friend of hers said the property would be hard to sell because of the rural location and the constant sounds of gunfire (hunting). That's why she never listed the property with an agent. But she responded very quickly to the letter and thanked me several times for sending it. That's what leads me to believe she's more motivated to sell than she's trying to appear.

She pays $300/mo for lawn upkeep (which she let go during these past few winter months) and there's the costs of maintaining a private well and septic tank and stocking the pond on the property. She mentioned all of that right before telling me that there's no income coming into her father's estate. So those expenses are all coming right out of her pocket.

That's all on top of delinquent property taxes. That's the list I'm mailing out to.

Also, the whole house needs new carpet, new appliances, a chimney repair, a few electrical switch replacements and new drywall on one side of the kitchen. The shed in the back also needs to be repaired/removed and replaced.

With all the improvements, I'm estimating the house value to be around $275K (conservatively).

As I mentioned before, I believe her appraisal value is inflated, based on the avg. house value per square foot in this city and based on recently sold houses with similar features. Also based on the tax assessor's valuation of the house.

I think the house's value right now is really somewhere around $215K.

Either way (wholesale, fix n flip or buy & hold), I wouldn't want to go over $140K to get it under contract.

Starting with a $130K offer (pending the mold test results) sounds good.

Hi! I'm a newbie investor and just spoke with my first lead from a yellow letter campaign.

The property is a 3bd/2ba brick house, 2035 sq ft including the attached 2 car garage. It has a 3 acre yard but sits on 24 acres altogether. The seller - who lives in the Florida Keys - is protector of her father's estate; he has dementia.

Seller had the trees on the undeveloped 21 acres appraised and a local lumber company offered $30K for them. She included that info as she described the property's features, which include a stocked fishing pond on the land and plenty game for hunting.

She also detailed repairs that the house would need, which I've roughly estimated to be around $43K. I used to work at Lowe's so I remember the cost of several materials & appliances. The rest is conservative estimates for labor.

I'll be following up with the seller this week. During our first conversation, she told me that there's mold in the crawlspace under the house. She said she'd ordered a test kit to see if it was black mold or not. We're waiting on those results because it will make a big difference if the house has black mold.

The $43K repair estimate does NOT include black mold removal if the test comes back positive for black mold.

She said she had the property appraised as-is at $252K. I'm thinking it's value is more around $215K based on average home values per sq. ft in my small town & similar properties sold recently. I haven't gotten any precise comps from a realtor yet.

My main question with this post is what would you do with this property: wholesale, fix n flip, or buy & hold?

My second question is, how do I approach a property attached to such a large plot of land? It has a 3 acre lawn and another surrounding 21 acres (currently used for hunting and fishing). Would you try to get it all under contract or just the house & 3 acre lawn? 

Any and all input is welcome. :)

@Brandon Proctor @James Wise @Jeremy Tillotson 

@Brandon Proctor @Account Closed 

Thanks again everyone for taking the time to welcome me into the BP community.

Last Wednesday I had my first conversation with a lead. The discussion lasted 30 minutes, and I got a lot of helpful information without saying much. Surprisingly, after about five minutes on the phone I wasn't nervous at all.

I'm motivated beyond belief right now because I only mailed TEN yellow letters so far! I wasn't really expecting a response from such a small mailing. Especially not that fast. I mailed them out only a week prior to the first call.

The property is a 3bd/2ba brick house, 2035 sq ft including the attached 2 car garage. It has a 3 acre yard but sits on 24 acres altogether. The seller - who lives in the Florida Keys (550 miles away) - is protector of her father's estate; he has dementia.

I'll be following up with the seller this week. During our first conversation, she told me that there's mold in the crawlspace under the house. She said she'd ordered a test kit to see if it was black mold or not. We're waiting on those results because it will make a big difference on the offer if the house has black mold.

Any input/advice from you all is greatly appreciated!

@Marlene Michael Lol I could have done the same. I found BP before my 30 day guarantee was up also. But I figured having both resources would be helpful. Thanks! :)

@Jerry Robinson Ironically enough, my dad's name is Jerry Robinson. I had to do a double-take when I saw your comment. Lol, how about that?!

Thanks for the warm welcome. :)

Today I'm finishing up the list of tax delinquent properties I put together from my county's tax assessor website. I'll be sending out yellow letters in this coming first week of February.

The plan is to record results and post here on BP for accountability. I'll come back and post the link to my thread once it's up.

Good luck!

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. I've been reading, reading, reading nothing but awesomeness for the past two weeks, so I know the podcasts must be pure gold.