All Forum Posts by: Robert Coomer

Here's a slightly alternative view... Being around your age, I know exactly where you are coming from. Whats the difference in driving a lambo at 21 or 22 and driving a lambo at 28? I assure its not that much. Use your desire to get the lambo as motivation to be a responsible saver and invest wisely. Real estate is all about knowledge and the more knowledge you have creates an exponential effect on your income. Simply put, learn all you can about real estate (if thats what you want to do) and use your desire to buy a lambo as motivation for success. When you are financially stable enough to put down enough cash so that the amount you owe is equivalent to an "average" car loan ($20K-$30K) then go for it.

Another option is to look at websites of wholesalers and see the information that they provide under the FAQ sections. Often times these answers can shed some light on the various approaches that can be taken.

From what I understand, wholesaling has not become a main source of investing until the relatively recent past (5-10 years) and many books focus on purchasing properties as an investor, not professionally wholesaling as a viable investment option. I have yet to find a book with comprehensive information centered around wholesaling. Most books that I have read may mention "assigning contracts" over a few pages, but go into little detail on how to successfully do this.

In my opinion, you have found the premier source of information on BP. This site is full of information and has a few noted authors that express their methods in the forums. Take advantage of what they say, its worth more than anything you can read in a generic book.

I love seeing the various occupations that have seen the light in real estate investing. It shows that investors truely are a diverse group! Unfortunately, I'm a college student for the next year which seems alarmingly useless since I'm a full time investor and do not plan on changing that once I graduate. I did work at a restaurant for 3 years prior to investing in real estate though.

I think that blogs are an excellent idea, but I dont think that it should be used as a substitution for a company website. Suprisingly, websites are easy to design and fairly inexpensive. A few days ago I created a very simple website in about 9 hours, and trust me, I'm the least tech savvy person in the world. Yahoo uses various software that makes it as simple as can be at only $12 per month for hosting... The best bargain I've found and you can include a blog on your website if you would like to.

I forgot to answer the last part of your question regarding profit. The profit margin will largely depend on the investor you intend to sell the property to. Some investors want to be in a property at 50% of the ARV (After Repair Value) and others may feel comfortable being in at 65%. First, I recommend that you find a strong list of buyers and know their range. Whenever I purchase a property I have an investor in mind, but I also have a backup investor (or two) in mind in case the initial investor is not interested. I generally follow the principle that if it fits the investors mold and it is a deal for them, then it should not matter if you make $2,000 or $10,000 as your wholesale profit. With that said, there are always investors that do hibitual repeat business and I will regularly reduce my wholesale profit to give them a deal better than they ask for. This keeps repeat business and if they are happy, chances are they'll tell a friend!

Thanks for the addition Erick, I completely agree. Earlier, I wasn't trying to say that you can't be a wholesaler if have a full time job. I was simply noting that many investors are more than willing to pay a small markup in price for the convenience of a wholesalers services because they already have a full-time job and there just is not enough hours in a day or week to spend looking at properties when they have family obligations as well.

You can be a very effective wholesaler if you just want to work in your spare time around your work schedule, but it will take a larger time committment than just driving around and finding prospective houses. Investors generally want other information such as: Estimated After Repair Value (Estimated Appraisal), Renovation Expense, Taxes, etc. All of these things will require you to meet some people that can assist in your estimations. I have an appraiser that will get me comparable sales and the range that he feels the house will appraise in. You should also know the prices for specialty repairs (HV/AC units, flooring, etc.). Many of these vendors will be at the local REIA meeting and can give you a rough estimate based on sq footage.

Hope that helped!

Andrew,

You have the general principle behind wholesaling, but I would like to clarify a few things. Generally speaking, a majority of investors have full-time jobs that force them to miss out on a majority of the excellent deals. I am a wholesaler and spend in excess of 40 hours per week viewing properties and tabulating the other necessary information involved in a wholesale transaction, which would be impossible for an investor with a fulltime job. In many other cases, the market that an investor lives in may not be as profitable as another market. These are circumstances where wholesalers can be very useful.

A professional wholesaler will view many houses each week/month which will increase the chances of finding the properties that are most profitable. Then a wholesaler will resell the property to an investor for a profit (generally the profit is relatively small). Once the investor has the property it is their choice whether to add it to their portfolio as a rental unit or try to flip the property for a profit.

Hope that helped. If you have any other questions feel free to PM me!
-Bobby

Carl,
I've found that sometimes the most simple options are overlooked. Many websites offer lists of foreclosures that are often outdated and not maintained, so I steer away from those and go straight to the bank's website. Bank owned properties are available on the internet for almost all major lenders. Just go to google or yahoo and type in FNMA (Fannie Mae) Foreclosure List and it will direct you to the site. Do this for a few other lenders and you will find a ton of bank owned properties as well as the listing agents to contact. This is a great place to start if you do not have access to MLS.

Thanks for the help guys! I guess I'm so used to wholesaling single family residential homes that cashflow, typically, between $150 and $200+ a month that the profit margin per unit which I came up with of somewhere around $160ish per month just didnt seem like it was a "steal". I mean my personal houses typically cashflow around $250+ per month and it seemed like I would be putting all my eggs in one basket. But on the other hand, wouldnt this be a commercial loan that would not effect the personal residence +3 rentals that many banks are going off of these days?