All Forum Posts by: Travis Bontrager

The important thing is to not become a motivated buyer. I would hold out for the property that is in the location you are comfortable with and accomplishes your goals. Never buy a property because it was the lesser of two evils. Stick with your buying critiera for return and location and WAIT for that deal to come along. Hope this helps

Travis

Rob,
An important point to remember when looking at deals is that Excel is the biggest liar in the world. The numbers will NEVER be what you put into Excel. I know from personal experience. I also know that getting into your first deal as a landlord might be a mistake. I would suggest you listen to Jon's analysis, it's dead on and learn from it. Personally I would get more education on income property before diving into buying a rental at this stage of the game, especially a condo. What is your exit strategy with the condo anyway? If you need to sell quick, how will you get out of it in a hurry? I would look at single family homes, there are plenty of those out there to wholesale to other investors. Becoming a wholesaler will be the education you need to get into the landlord game. Just my two cents.

I've always found that the most beneficial education is to sit down with another local investor and tell them your deal. Every market is different. I would agree that your estimates of repairs are a bit low but who knows maybe you can get it to the point of renting the house and and flip it to a landlord buyer.

You also get a tax advantage for the interest deduction. Make sure first that you can afford your home and then take into consideration the advantage you get from the tax deduction.

I would agree with the comments here with one exception. In order to grow a substantial real estate business you will need to place multple properties under contract on a monthly basis. Whether that means private seller of bank owned homes you will have to find a way to have access to private money to fund the earnest money deposits. What I do in my business is borrow my earnest money from private lenders and pay them back their loan plus interest upon a successful closing. Works for me and that way I can fund multiple deals each month.

Why would you spend all that time on something that doesn't make you any money?? That's the question. Ask me how I know that.

Definitely depends on the market you are in and the local rules about bandit signs. I would ask other wholesalers in your market what has worked best for them.

Travis
For private money information you can check out http://www.attractprivatemoney.com

To add to this also.. make sure you are creating doubt in the mind of the seller as much as possible. When they say how much they think the house is worth ask them "Is that fixed up or in it's as is condition", For repairs ask "Is that with me doing the work or hiring it out?"

Just remember, you are helping them solve a problem. You should never care how much they are asking for the house, only how much you can pay. Your offer is your offer. I would encourage you to do a practice run if you are uncomfortable. Look up some listings on craigslist FSBO in a different market than where you live. At least you can just hang up if you feel nervous. It's not like they are every going to see you on the street.

My experience has been that a PO Box doesn't play a role in conversion of direct mail postcards. You are looking for the motivated seller anyway, so if someone has an issue with a PO Box they aren't motivated. I usually include a call to action in the form of them calling an 800 number with a pre-recorded message. You can quickly ferret out those motivated from non motivated and call those back.

p.s. I would strongly suggest using yellow postcards. Upload your csv file with addresses at Click2Mail.com