All Forum Posts by: Martin Sterling

Great stuff!!

Keep going through BiggerPockets, listen to the Podcasts, go to local REIA's and educate yourself as much as possible.

Condos are typically everyones least favorite, however I know someone who is personally doing OK with them. Still not my suggested 1st avenue.

I would suggest also finding some books on creative financing that shows you different strategies. You can wind up owning and controlling a much more desirable investment with a little creativity. 

With all that said, I'd look into forming relationships with people who are killing it in your area, who are at least 10x where you are, and having them work/mentor/partner with you on your first go around. It will take some time to find the right person, and build that relationship (establish two way trust), but it's well worth it.

Learning the marketing, evaluation and negotiation part of this is a great way to get things going if you don't have capital, but can be challenging if you are not used to that. (Otherwise called wholesaling). It's a great way to pick up lifelong skills.

Become comfortable with the terminology and concepts. I make flash cards for anything new that I'm learning. That may help you.

A real estate license may be handy but not necessary. If you do get one, try to be part of brokerage that has a focus on investors like Keller Williams.

Avoid paying for expensive branded educational products. Run from those things. Usually not worth their cost in the beginning.

Good Luck!!

 Also, in what time frame did you accomplish this?

Super Congratulations!!!

Quick Question:

After expenses, what kind of cap rates are you getting down there?

Greetings,

I wanted to know from my fellow Wholesalers, how many mailers do you typically send out on average per deal that closes? I'm talking about Yellow Letters or Horsey letter or postcards or whatever. I'm trying to budget in a way that the odds are I'd at least get one closed deal out of a 3 month sustained mailing campaign. 

Thanks in Advance

Can I get an example of some of the Buy and Hold investors strategies here, a bullet point checklist of your process you go through before deciding to close on a property?

For example, off the top of my head this is what I'm thinking. Also, if you have any recommendations for the way I'm thinking about going after the information, please let me know:

- get comps from an investor friendly agent

- Research if it's a renter or owner neighborhood (neighborhoodscout.com)

- find out rents for area. (call local property management companies)

- figure out financing options

- go into contract with contingencies based on inspection. (offer based on you eyeballing and asking questions.) (offer 70% of FMV minus repair costs. Is that a recommended offer strategy? Should or can you offer more?)

- get an estimate for repairs.

- do an oil tank search and title report.

- get a 6 month history on water, heat, gas, electricity from owner (preferably from providers).

- find out property tax (propertyshark.com)

What else do you suggest?

Thanks in advance

Recently I had a conversation with someone who was saying that tax lien investing is safer and more lucrative than Note investing. That tends to not be my understanding since I've been studying and networking with people who are into notes. I wanted to know the BP position on this.

Specifically, when the note strategy is 1st position with clear title, 40-50% discount, from UPB or FMV (verified by BPO) whichever lower, 12 month foreclosure state, owner occupied. You immediate foreclose, then set up a forebearance if borrower responds. If not, take ownership and sell to local investor.

How does a tax lien compare to that?

Thanks in advance.

Many on BP feel that real estate investing has more pros than Note investing due to many factors including equity. I totally understand that.

From the perspective of liability and risk, which would you say has less risk? I'd imagine a 1st position note has less risk (example, Property Value: $100k, UPB: $140k, last paid: 10/14/14, P+I: $500/mo, Note Price: $50K) , when purchased between 50-60% below Property value. Even if you can foreclose and the occupant trashes the place, you can still come out making 10% or so by originating a new note and selling the property (example, selling it for 55k, at 12% interest, 10% down, 24-36 month term to a rehabber with an llc and bad credit). Also, if the property is underwater, you could sell off the remaining UPB at a deep discount, 3-9 cents on the dollar, if you wanted to be scrooge about it.

This to me, seems profitable with very little risk if you get a matching BPO and clean title report with no violations, liens, scheduled demolition, etc.

If you have your attorney handle everything it's also hands free. You also have no responsibility to the property.

Worst case you can get a 20-30% return in about a year (provided you purchase in a state with a 12 month or less timeline). Best case, it re-performs and you make 60-90%.

This also doesn't count arrears which I can demand to be paid, or use as negotiation.

Also, if the property is in a state where I can do a Forebearance agreement with deed in lieu I can get cashed out faster and save some cost. If not, I'd imagine it'll cost 2k-4k to foreclose.

Am I missing something? Please correct me if I'm wrong if my perspective doesn't reflect the reality.

What are your thoughts?

Thanks in Advance

Hey guys, here's my listsource criteria I'm looking at now. Wanted to know your thoughts

Here's the criteria

51% - 100% equity

Absentee Owner

2-4 floors

3-400 units 

This criteria equalled 424 Prospect Count.

I put 400 because even past 100 units the number kept going up to include more properties. I know there are no 400 unit buildings in the areas I targeted, but I'm trying to understand the logic here. The prospect numbers seem to go up even when there are no reasonable reasons why. This also happened as I raised the number of floors past the limit I knew existed in my target area. Is this a glitch?

Thanks In Advance

Hey all, I'm trying to pin down the workflow of finding leads other than resorting to listsource.com. I heard that contacting landlords of recent evictions is a way to go. How do I find out this information. 

I get the fact you go to the County Website to locate the owner's information and then use something like Lexis Nexus to find them. I'm curious how to get the ball rolling with finding the properties of recently evicted?

I'm based in the New York/ New Jersey area.

Thanks in Advance

Ok. I'd like someone to answer this question in the most step by step manner as if you were talking to complete newbie on the concept of driving for dollars as well as tracking down information on real estate.

In the state of New York or New Jersey preferably, if I see a house while walking or driving and it either looks condemn or uninhabited , what is the best way to track down the owner in the least amount of time, for the least amount of money?

I have heard of some people using a skip trace service along the way to find owners. Can you recommend any cost effective ones?

Do you call the county and get a mailing address? Is there a way to directly get a number to call?

What if the owner died and no one else is on record? How do you follow up on that?

Thanks in Advance.