All Forum Posts by: Pablo Avila

Simple steps on getting your first Deal! Don't overthink it, just do it!

Boils down to these simple steps:

1. Buy a list of records
2. Skip Trace the list
3. Call the list OR Text Blast

In Detail:

1) - Buy a data list (Can be any of the following)

• - High Equity Absentee Owners
• - Potential Absentees (Some individuals may not have changed their mailing address)
• - 20 Year Owner Occupants
• - Potential Vacant List
• - Age 55+ 6.
• - Vacant Houses
• - Empty Nesters
• - Tax Delinquent
• - Code Violations & Others (Probates, Pre-Foreclosures, water shut-off etc.)

2) - Skip trace the list (you can use any providers)Here's some reputable ones that I've used:Batchskiptracing or "dataskip"

If you're dealing with probate or if the primary owner is passed on

Skipgenie (For manual individual skiptrace, these will also show the relatives of the person ).

3) - Call the list - Pick up the phone and dial those numbers.You can use Calltools or Readymode (Whatever youre preference is)

Cold calling is too hard for you? Then send SMS.You can use Launchcontrol to send mass text messages.

That's it! I know I'm simplifying this, but the main thing is don't be afraid of failure! Take action, YOU WON'T HAVE EVERYTHING FIGURED OUT. Just do it! You'll thank me later!.

Lastly, make sure you reach out to potential buyers and network, your buyers will tell you exactly what kind of property (and where) they're looking to buy. Reverse engineer the process!

Lastly, use whatever call tools, sms, skip tracing tools you want, I have no affiliation with the ones I showed above. Additionally, if you're serious about doing this long term, invest in an inbound leads channel and create a "we buy house in _____" so long term you can get motivated leads come to you. 

I believe there's 90% of great, practical, free content on Youtube! Don't spend your $ on these Gurus (Also note that many folks here are paid for by some of those big Gurus). 

My advise: 

1. Educate yourself for free on Youtube

2. Anything that you're unsure about, ask questions here in BiggerPockets, Reddit, and or other communities in Discord that are also free and everyone is willing to chip in. 

3. Attend local Real-Estate events locally, and perhaps find someone who's already doing deals, offer your help in exchange of Mentorship.

Lastly, use those thousands of dollars for marketing (Building a good website for inbound leads, ads, and hiring some help later).

Best of luck!

 Yeah, you'd save precious time and gas $ doing this. 

 Good idea!

Using your city's 311 service you can "Virtually D4D" to find off market deals that might not be in commercial realestate software such as propstream/wire/listsource, etc.. that everyone uses. Look at your city's 311 service, it's public data and will have hundreds if not thousands of reports such as abandoned lots, homeless/drug activity, high grass & unkept properties, trash being dumped and [insert your favorite "Karen" complaints here]. Again, No need to spend gas $ driving around to identify distressed properties, this is what I call truly "Virtually Driving For Dollars VD4D.

Majority of the time this is what most major Metropolitan cities utilize to determine code violations/enforcement, so if you request that list, typically it's the result of those "311 complaints". Additionally, these are updated daily and typically have the "incident opened date" which you can easily sort by along with some sort of description and "case type" (i.e. High grass, abandoned vehicle, water leak, etc.)I'm ready to Virtually Drive For Dollars - How I accomplish this?

1. Find your city's 311 website (Google 311 service request your city name)
2. Locate the full data list (This will be raw data, you will need to open it with excel or a text editor (Notepad ++ works great for large datasets)
3. Format the data (Depending on the city, this might already be categorized such as Vacant/Overgrown Property, or it might have a full description. If it does have a descriptionHere's some of the keywords you can look for:ABANDONDED,unoccupied,homeless,squatting,Prostitution,uninhabitable,disconnected,destroyed,water leaks, ,damage,rodent,utilities,moved out,not secure,maintain property,Encampment (You can DM me for a comprehensive list).

4.Determine the full address and now tie this information together to your county appraisal data which should have the owner name/mail address along with the type of property.

5. Once you tie these determine the parcel # and identify if there's any tax delinquencies, or whatever other indicators you typically use to increase the likelihood of a motivated seller (i.e. tax liens, evictions, etc..)

6. Take action and call them - The information you found will give you an intimate profile of the property in question as you'll know exactly what kind of issues it currently has.

Q: But what if my state/city do not have these "311" list that you are referring to?A: Many cities have private 3rd party vendors/mobile apps that are advertised to citizens to raise these complaints. You may find yours via "SeeClickFix", "PublicStuff", "Citysourced","NextDoorNeighbor","Qscend","neighborlysoftware", and many more. Some of these may have a public view for you to review current opened complaints and manually review them.

Again, This is a great way to find vacant properties as neighbors or people that have an intimate knowledge of those neighborhoods are the ones that report these properties which tend to be eyesores for their communities.

Most people you'll find are most likely data-resellers (same data as propstream), you can probably just a subscription yourself and apply the filters you're interested. 

Alternatively you can DM me with your criteria's, I run a data company and we can help!

Honestly save your $$!

You can probably accomplish the same by sticking to 1 or 2 reputable Youtubers that have provided all the free content out there. The rest of the money you can use to:

1. Invest in a solid inbound leads website (i.e. mickhangbuyshousesintexas.com)

2. Invest in a good lead list (Propstream,Listsource, or our company can help too)
Alternatively you can drive for dollars (or we can also help with virtually drive for dollar lists). 

3. Get a good call tool that supports at least 3 phone lines so you can cold call individuals (or hire someone reputable on fivver to assist with cold calling). 

And close on your deals! 

 Depends on what you mean by "tired landlord", if you're pulling the same lists as hundreds/thousands of people based on a youtube video which guides you on doing this via Propstream or similarly then you'll end up with an upset homeowner. If you're trying to do mass scale, you can pull up larger amounts of lists, and even re-target those same lists again. We used to call lists that we had pulled 3 months ago and would get a % of people ready to sell by that time. 

Let me know if you need any help with future lead lists! 

Truly motivated sellers will come to you! I'd suggest you create an inbound leads site. If you're serious about this, invest in a website relevant to your business (example: webuyhousesintexas.com) or similarly in which you have a short form for someone who's truly motivated to find it and fill out the form. It's an upfront investment but over the long run it may generate truly motivated leads. You can also invest some $ on ads to target your audience. 

If you want to try a different approach, you may purchase "potential motivated" lead lists. 
Here's some based on what my clients have best success (Applies to big counties like Harris County TX) Best lists to pull:

1. - High Equity Absentee Owners
2. - Potential Absentees
3. - 20 Year Owner Occupants
4. - Potential Vacant List
5. - Age 55+ 6. Vacant Houses
6. - Empty Nesters
7. - Tax Delinquent
8. - Code Violations & Others (Probates, Pre-Foreclosures, water shut-off etc.)

I hope this helps in your Wholesale journey, or at least to get started!