All Forum Posts by: Andrew Davis

I took the driving for dollars route this weekend and have a list of about 100 properties that I'm doing research on. I'm not sure how many houses will get cut from the list during research, but I assume I'll send less than 100 letters.

With that said, should I use Click2Mail or another mailing service, or should I just hand mail the letters? I guess what I'm really asking is what's the threshold for using a mailing service vs doing this in-house?

And a bonus question: should I even bother sending these letters out to such a small group or should I go out again this weekend and try to build a larger list to mail to?

Are there any commercially available software programs that will pull a full spectrum of property info? By full spectrum I mean property and mailing addresses, tax information, and potentially eviction or lien notices for properties or owners?

I am trying to determine whether this exists currently or if I should find someone to code a solution for my market. I know there are web scrapers out there already, however they won't necessarily compile all of that information into one spot for me.

Looking for a mentor/partner in the Dallas area. I'm new to the game and would like to have someone to consult with on wholesaling properties.

Planning on sending out some mailers to small multi-family properties in the next two to three weeks; I'm more than willing to split assignment fees on any contracts, just want to get some real world exposure and feedback from someone with experience.

Please reply or PM if interested.

I've seen a lot about using listsource to build a seller's list, but I'm wondering if anyone uses it to find buyers.

For instance, I suspect that sold in the last 30 days with equity value greater than 70% would yield you cash buyers/flippers etc.

Any thoughts or experiences?

The idea that the software was unaffordable but creating your own software was affordable is pretty funny. Did you have some background with that or did you just go out and find a coder?

Thanks for all the info!

@Jeff Richardson Thanks for the info, that's encouraging. My biggest concern is finding a way to cover the maintenance costs of the license on the side, but I figure if the costs aren't insane it could be covered with a sale or two during the year.

If you don't mind, how did you find clients/listings? Existing relationships or some marketing system?

Reading through a bit of the material in the wholesaling forum and have a few questions so far:

1. What is your process for wholesaling, assuming you've been successful? IE did you build a list or were you active in the market and found your connections led to wholesaling?
2. Is the MLS system useless in building a list of homes due to Realtor agreements (meaning the Realtor attached to the listing has exclusive rights on the property)?
3. How much evaluation/analysis do you perform on properties that you find when building a seller's list (for example, an owner calls after receiving your mailer with a price, do you visit the property before responding, rely on your knowledge of comps in the area, etc)?
4. What software, if any, do you use to build lists (aside from the obvious like Excel or Access)?
5. Would you recommend purchasing a sellers/buyers list, and if so, where would I find lists (for instance, InfoUSA has huge mailing databases, but I don't know how helpful they'd be in this case)?
6. What legal documents do I need for wholesaling? I plan to do any business through a pre-existing LLC. I know at a minimum that I'll need a contract with the seller, but what should I do when reaching out to buyers (NDA, etc)?
7. Last but most important: What would you do differently if you had to start over?

I'm interested in real estate investments and have seen mixed advice on whether to get a RE license. Questions I have after doing some basic reading:

(I am in Dallas, TX and would plan to get my license there)

1. What are the costs associated with maintaining your license? I've seen courses to get the license so I have an idea of the initial cost, but maintenance is an unknown to me right now.
2. Is it possible to practice while working full time (by possible I mean practical/have you made a sale while also working full time)? While I'm starting out I'd like to be able to carry the maintenance costs during the year by making a few sales; however, I do not plan to quit my current job to practice full time.
3. How do you go about finding a broker? I had thought it would be simple to get MLS access with a license, but it seems after reading a few threads on BP that your broker will determine the MLS area you have access to.
4. Any recommendations for license courses?
5. Assuming I attain my RE license, what would you recommend as a next step for someone just starting out in terms of finding a broker to work with (ie, go for the biggest name like Keller Williams or find a smaller local company)?

Thanks in advance!

Hi all, my name is Andrew; I'm originally from Alabama but currently live in Dallas, TX.

My family remodeled our homes and always had projects going on fixing and tweaking things, my mother sold residential real estate for a bit, but no big real estate business overall.

I'm an accountant with a bit of time on my hands and I'd like to take the basic knowledge I have from my family's various real estate experiences and try to turn it into a business. I'm interested mostly in residential flipping/renting and a little bit of commercial/other (drilling acreage and mineral rights).

Hoping to learn here and network with more experienced real estate investors; I'd love to help out with anything accounting/finance related in exchange for some advice on getting started.