All Forum Posts by: Jennifer Nicole Lapinsky

Thanks for letting me know.  I'll definitely run it by my attorney.  However, my husband is in no way the principal to any of my investment transactions - or even part of them at all.  The business is not tied to him in any way.  I guess I just need to find out if me recommending him as an agent if asked per my letter is a violation of some sort.  Luckily I haven't sent out that verbiage in any of my mail campaigns as of yet.  I'll wait until I hear back from my attorney to do so.  And I'll keep everyone posted - of course, every state is different so it goes without saying YMMV...

Even as an ISA, the broker has to put your info into Trend MLS (or now it's technically called Bright MLS) for you to "legally" have access with your own loginID and everything. Might be a better bet to develop a relationship with a Realtor or ISA who will get you the info you need from the MLS system and eliminate the gray area with your job.

+1 to @ Eric Armstrong... Find a local attorney that you can trust and use often.  They are a wealth of information, especially when they know they get the majority of your business.  You can often get free advice.  Idk what I would do without mine!

I'm sure I will mention it to him next time we speak, but do you think that's really necessary if I'm not using his name? There is nothing with my wholesaling business that is tied directly to my husband or the brokerage.  I'm operating through a separate S Corp.  I'm just offering at the end of the letters to recommend an agent if the seller would prefer to go that route.  

So I'm in a somewhat unique situation.  My husband and I were both Realtors when we started in this business about 4 years ago.  Over time, it became apparent that only one of us could really dedicate the 12+ hours per day required of a new Realtor.  We have 3 kids and someone had to be around for them in the afternoon/evening.  My husband already had a very successful sales career prior to real estate with ADT, so he kind of had a built in pipeline.  Pair that with our broker having a longstanding relationship with his dad (my FIL funds most of our broker's fix/flips), the obvious choice of who would give up their license (and the thousands per year of keeping it up) was me.  

My husband wanted me to focus on administrative tasks and marketing, but I've found that to be kind of demeaning... I mean, before I got pregnant (SURPRISE!!), I was headed to Johns Hopkins for medical school.  I don't want to just create spreadsheets and stuff envelopes.  It seems like such a waste of what I can bring to the table.  So I am now starting out with wholesaling as a stepping stone to much more diverse investment strategies in the future.  (I have a long-term plan)

Anyway, right now we are doing a lot of direct mail.  I am doing much of it on my own because I know it's often a gray area to have a Realtor involved in wholesaling. However, I am putting verbiage in some of my letters that if they wish to go the traditional sales route, I can put them in touch with a local Realtor who may meet their needs.  At the end of the day, all of our money goes in the same pot and I don't see anything wrong with this two-pronged approach.  I'm sure there are plenty of potential sellers out there who may not be ready to sell at a deep discount, but may be willing to list with a Realtor.  It's kind of changed my mailings vs the examples I've found on BP and online.  

Just curious as to the thoughts others have on this.  I'm also bringing this up because I can't be the only person with a spouse/SO in the business who could benefit from a two-pronged approach.

You can get this information from your local courthouse.  If the lender has filed against the homeowner, everything is at the court and is public record.  The amount the bank is claiming is listed in the filed paperwork along with how the interest accrues so you should be able to accurately track the payoff amount as time goes on.  At my courthouse, it's free to use their computers to look up the cases.  They only charge if you print something out, so I created a form that I use to gather the info I need and just write it down really quick while I'm there.  I can usually get through 50-60 in an hour although I will be outsourcing this task soon.

I'm not licensed in TX, but here in Delaware banks & short sale attorneys are going to respond better to the standard contract. When you're dealing with a traditional agent/seller situation, verbal offers can go a long way before ink and paper have to be involved.  They aren't really binding, but can save time if you and the seller are too far apart on price. If you are making a cash offer, a lot of the info on the contract can be marked "N/A" because it applies to inspections, well/septic, financing contingencies, etc.  In the case of cash offers, proof of funds may be sufficient for the purposes of making an offer.  If you will be using financing, you'll need to submit earnest money, but it won't be placed in escrow until your offer is accepted.  There is also an option to submit the earnest money within x days of your offer being accepted and if you can do this in TX and will be writing a lot of offers it might be a great option.  It would certainly save you the writing and voiding of a lot of checks.  Again,  I don't know how any of this will translate in Texas, but hopefully some of it helps! 

Thanks, Michael!  I certainly don't have the cash to jump into any deals right now.  I'm the exclusive agent for a pretty experienced investor who just happened to take a liking to me.  I'm following him and learning what I can until I can jump into investing myself.  Thanks for reaching out and with all your experience, I'll certainly reach out in the future!  

Thanks for the response, @ Eric Armstrong. I will have to check out the next meeting and connect with Reed. I am hoping to secure a mentor in the REI business and DelREIA is probably a great place to find one!

Hi everyone! I have stalked the site for quite some time and picked up some good pointers. I finally verified my email and made my first post. I am looking forward to getting more involved with the Bigger Pockets community.

A little about me...I live in Delaware and currently work for a small start-up brokerage. I have been licensed for about a year. I had a strong start, but things slowed down when my grandmother was diagnosed with brain cancer. We also have 3 kids and the 12 hour work days became too much while dealing with everything. Family always comes first for me. My husband also works in the same brokerage and I temorarily am doing more of a supportive role for him. When things get back to normal, I plan on jumping back in to real estate full time. My long term goals are to do well as an agent, invest my earnings into a mixture of flips, builds, and buy and holds. Eventually, I would like to focus on investing more than being an agent. I have a contractor I trust and a couple of investors. We are hopefully going to start our first project this summer. Thanks for reading and I look forward to learning from everyone!