All Forum Posts by: Robert Smith

If you are seriously considering a home I would have your title company or attorneys office do some preliminary title work on the home prior to purchasing the home. Generally the major issues on a home can be found within just a few short minutes. Other things that may be owed are taxes, whether local or federal, this isn't extremely common but most liens I see in addition to a mortgage are usually taxes. I have a title company who is "on call" whenever I need them, a good team is invaluable especially when purchasing homes that may have issues. A small fee to the title company can save you a lot of money in the long run. If you know what you are looking for you can always go through the title yourself, but your time is better spent finding the deals and leaving that type of thing to the experts. Good luck. 

Patlive can be pricey ($1 or so a minute) but they are really good at what they do and command the prices they charge. I used them for a long while and was always happy with their services. They not only provide you with a mailing service, they can also ask questions that you give them specifically to screen the callers. They will also update and scrub the list for you as people call in to ask to be removed. Again, pricey but works for a lot of investors. Having a live answering service is a great idea. A cheaper option since you are starting out would be to have a free recording when someone calls in. The turn over rate is much lower and people would rather have someone live on the phone but if they are serious about selling they will give your their information. You could also answer the calls yourself when you are able to keep some costs down, or use a VA company to answer your calls and screen your leads.

Check with your state laws, this is going to tell you what you can and cannot due as far as tenant/landlord rules go. If you are purchasing the property and they have leases in place you generally must take the homes subject to keeping the lease in place. One suggestion that I would have would be a cash for keys option. Talk with the tenants and see if they would be willing to move out if you pay their moving expense and go ahead and refund their deposit or something along those lines. Again, check and see, but more then likely you are not going to be able to give a tenant notice due to their lease so this may be the only way to work something out with them that is a win win for each of you. It may cost you moving fees, but if the deal is in the property and long term you are making money this may be the cheapest and best option. Talk with a knowledgeable property manager in your area or see if there is a good landlords group in your area who you may be able to talk with about your specific state laws. 

@Juan Diaz Great post, it is possible but can be tricky. Having your exact plan laid out before you close and having a good team are key. Great pics as well, good job overall. 

Working with the banks can be both rewarding and frustrating for sure. I have seen many agents do only REO properties and make a good living at it, a system is key and knowing you are checking all the boxes down the line. One word of caution, many times if you are working with the lender you may not be able to purchase these homes personally. It may be a conflict of interest for the lender, and in many cases I have seen agents in the entire listing firm not being allowed to buy the home personally.

Finding a niche is important, however many strategies go hand and hand with another so it can be easy to get too wide. Find something you not only like but also know inside and out. Once you master the one thing you can add more. Sometimes it is better to be great at one thing rather then good at a lot of things. Find someone in your area doing what you want to do and mirror them would be one suggestion. It is better to learn from others mistakes so that you don't repeat them. You are in a great place to begin and continue learning. 

Great find, any money saved is more you can put into your business. I have also found that some great "guru" packages can be found on ebay. 

Sometimes they can take a long time but if you have a good team they can make it happen. I would start with your local real estate investment group and see if there are any stand out agents there that would be willing to help you. Another option you could try is to look for a real estate agent in your area with the SFR designation. This is an additional certification that agents can receive for training themselves and working with short sales and foreclosures, you can find an agent on realtorsfr.org and click on the SFR directory. Another designation to look for in an agent would be CDPE. You can visit CDPE.com and click on the find a cdpe link. There are other designations that you can look for but these are the two I would start with. Good luck.

No they are not, the posted annual income is gross. I am headed out but will send you a PM with the break down shortly. Thanks for the question. 

A large majority of agents in the area use First American. I like them as well as Old Republic. They usually have a few "levels" of packages that will each cover certain things. They only fix what must be fixed but will replace if they cannot repair. Small trade fee to have someone come out is what you would pay either way. 

One of the easiest and maybe cost and time effective for both you and your agent would be to turn the list over to a VA and have them pull the info for you. I have had great success with this and even though I could pull the info myself I still hire someone to do the minor stuff for me. 50+ should not take but a few hours at best, and allow you to focus on finding more homes as well as being able to quickly get in contact with these owners. Usually my VA will not only provide with me the mailing address of the owner they will also give me phone numbers and even email addresses from time to time. I have had a lot of success looking owners names up on facebook from the tax record. If looking to still do it yourself you could always try to google their information or do a revers search from the owners information on the tax record whether using their name or address. Good luck and keep driving, it can pay off greatly.