All Forum Posts by: Richelle Bryan

@Richelle Bryan

Not impossible, but doesn't usually happen.

in a one pony town, maybe. Even a very good agent might only handle 4-5 buyers at a time. Most have 1 or 2 at a time, which is why they want buyers to work exclusively with them. The chance of showing the exact same house in the same town to more than one of a few current clients isn't going to be very likely. I rarely have buyers even looking in the same zip code at the same time.

Is the question multiple offers per same property or just representing multiple buyers for any property?

Agents will represent multiple buyers for different properties and I have not seen that they would be exclusive to one buyer. That would not be prudent as a business. If they were exclusive to one buyer with no other work then they would not be in business very long. 

As far as representing multiple buyers/sellers for a given property, you would need to look to your state laws. Here in Florida it is assumed “transactional” unless an agreement for exclusivity is agreed upon. Florida also does not allow dual representation.

Owners of 60+ unit MFH are generally more sophisticated. A lot of them are syndicators/funds/corporations, etc, so they know their best bet for getting the most in their sale is through a selling broker. That's not always the case but generally it is, so your best bet for getting larger MFH is through a commercial broker that specializes in MFH. And yes, obviously way less buyers than SFH but also way less inventory so the competition is still very fierce.

@Richelle Bryan

@Michael Le said it perfectly. I do not own any large multifamily (yet), but I was working with an established syndicator on finding these deals. From being on BP for a while, it feels like there was a time when direct mail could have worked on some of these larger deals. Based on my own experience and the experience of others shared here, in today's market it's a far less successful sourcing channel than commercial brokers.

I did a yellow postcard direct mail campaign over the last six months of 2017 - 600+ pieces of mail every three weeks, 8 mailings total. I was targeting properties of 60+ units.... I got ONE call (from an owner of a 2016 build... great).

After absolutely no success in the larger space I began targeting a new market this year with a direct mail campaign focused on 8-60 unit properties, 30-100% equity (or unknown). My first mailing was 1,000 letters and I got ~8 phone calls. Same thing with the second mailing. The smaller space seems to have wayyy more success with direct mail. My third mailing went out last Friday.

As far as verbiage, my letters read very similar to yours with a mention of having "the experience and the funds to close".

A few things to note...

1. I like to include a return address on the first mailing so I can get rid of bad addresses and not waste money continuing to mail them.

2. Watch out for condo owners. I pulled my list from listsource.com and got a handful of calls from condo owners totally clueless about why they received a postcard from me (luckily, only one called me crazy!). Make sure to delete any addresses with a matching Owner and Property address. Sounds obvious, but it was something I missed.

@Richelle Bryan, yes, all owners are receiving calls and letters almost daily. That's what those few I could speak with told me anyway. 

The "trick" is two fold: 1) your letter has to stand out and attract attention somehow; and 2) your message has to reach them at the live-changing moment (e.g., divorce, death, bankruptcy, etc.). At that point they may be more motivated to sell and care less about the highest price they can get. 

I'll say that I'm pretty lucky to have another business that does well that allows me some solid working capital to continue to grow. I bought my first 9 houses cash. I then put together a small presentation for some local banks on where I sat today, where I wanted to be in a few years, and what I needed to do to get there. I picked the one I liked best and I then got a LOC on those 6 to start doing BRRR. I was doing 1-2 houses a month but still wasn't the speed I wanted, so every couple of months as the capital became available I would buy a duplex or something as well that didn't need much work to keep my unit growth up. I found a commercial property, 14k SF office building that I then purchased outright, spent a year rehabbing and renting and used the equity from that as my primary source for my 71 unit I just purchased. I was at 9 units only about 2.5 years ago. 95% of my financing is with local banks.

Do not neglect another source of solid income, whether that be a job or an alternate business. Tax returns are critical to getting loans, and seed money is also important. I think the BRRR method is great, but you have to be prepared to get your hands dirty. My background is primarily foreclosure maintenance, basic construction, and being a Realtor. Each area was great education for finding deals and rehabbing to rent, so this is the area I've chosen to really focus on.

My growth plan was ambitious, but having that goal is important to me. Each year I set a goal as to where I want to be at the end of that year.