All Forum Posts by: Stephen Barton

@Dulce Davis I know exactly what you mean! Oh boy do I. Yes, I am now just going straight to verbal offers only to save time. I know people will probably tell me that I would be better off just writing offers but there is not enough time in the day. 

I just made another post asking other agents here on BP on how they source their deals for clients. It is a tough market here in the midwest (Indianapolis) and I feel the exact same way as you. It does not make sense for me to do a direct marketing campaign to find deals. However, we both might want to consider doing FSBO's or absentee owner lists as agents. What I mean is calling them like traditional agents but offering them two solutions: list with me or maybe I have a buyer who will buy from them. Almost every high dollar deal I have done was working an off market deal as an agent. I basically just brokered deals for investors. I miss it! But that was when I was in the trenches of trying to do wholesale deals so I already had a wholesaling business all built out. Let me know what you come up with!

 Hi Lucas. I just have experience with buy and hold landlords and flippers. I started out as a wholesaler so I know the game. There is just so much competition that I think you and @Brett Deas are right. I need to get in with a wholesaler. And yes @Beth Rook I know the owner of Simple Wholesaling Brett Snodgrass. That guy is a total rock star investor. We both basically started out together. He just went down the wholesaler path while I focused on being an agent. So, I am on their list. We just cannot get the numbers to work. Which has led me to believe exactly what Lucas is saying and I have to go back to being a wholesaler in order to source my own deals for my buyers. Indy is a pretty popular market and I already have investors who have totally pulled out because they believe this market it toast. I guess I am biased or I simply am too stubborn to believe that. So, I am just trying to look outside of the box to source new deals that wholesalers have not already marked up in price. So Lucas you are on it man! That is exactly what I was thinking too. 

Thank you everyone for your advice here! It has been absolutely amazing. So thank you!

Thanks Sheena! Yep just trying to look outside of the box and find out what other agents are doing to source their deals. This is great stuff! Thank you so much!

@Mohammed Rahman I love this! I need to get back to my roots. That is where I started out- in the rooms of investor meetups in my area. This is exactly the medicine I need. Thank you sir!

Are you serious Stan? I am finding them deals. There are not enough deals. How are you sourcing deals is my question? What are you doing to be so successful??? You must be a multi-millionaire agent by now to speak to someone like this. So, what is your net worth?

I would love to hear what other agents around BP are doing to help find their buyer clients deals. There are never enough good deals on the MLS. We always submit lower offers but they end up selling regardless. I am on every single wholesaler's list in our area-none of them actually have good deals. They are always overpriced. I have been in this business really close to 10 years now and am starting to feel that working with investors is just no longer doable. The competition is just too much. I am now starting to attack this problem with my investors by telling them: "What is the max price the deal still makes sense and let's offer that" just so I am no longer wasting my time and neither are my clients. What are your thoughts?

My passion for real estate stems from my own journey as an investor, as well as from my desire to help others achieve financial security. I leverage my skills in social networking, real estate transactions, and customer service to provide honest, professional, and personalized service to each client. I also apply the leadership, teamwork, and problem-solving abilities that I developed as a medical specialist, infantryman, and team leader in the U.S. Army for five years. My mission is to deliver value, quality, and results to every client and partner that I work with. My roots in real estate began as a wholesaler who bought and sold houses with very little money. I had to learn as I went along. As the deals got bigger and better I continued to grow myself. I was able to complete several flips, two rental properties, and close to 200 houses bought and sold in the first few years. Not to mention completing deals involving land, commercial, multifamily and residential. My ability to find deals for my clients is what separates me from my peers.

 Tyler I could not agree more. Yes house hacking is still possible. I mean, anytime you can buy a property where you live in one side and rent out the other half is a great idea. People do not think far enough ahead. In my opinion having cashflow is nice. However, if it does not have a crazy amount of cashflow- who cares! Even if it is just helping you to pay some/most of your mortgage that is a win in my book. You have to think about the longterm play here: Eventually, you could rent out the entire property and find another one to buy. Bam! Now you would have 2 houses. You just keep adding them as you can. Appreciation is the real long term play here. You are going to see the value on your home go up and up. That is the "gold" here. That is what you want to see. Just buy in a decent area, and try to make it better than the other houses in the area if possible. I think you are on the right track!

 I would tell you try to stay anywhere south of downtown. Around Raymond St just south of Fountain Square and Bates Hendricks area. You should be able to find what you need in that area for that price point. 

As a real estate agent I am always telling my clients: "Marry the house, date the rate" and as someone who has flipped a few houses, owned a couple of rentals, etc. I would say stay away from Hard Money at all costs. Try to use other creative financing: seller finance, FHA which can be 2%-5% down sort of thing. Even find someone locally who can help you finance a deal. I know a couple of wholesalers who sell houses and will also finance them to a certain degree. Just try to be conservative in your approach. If you know you are going to have to finance at a somewhat high interest rate then make sure you are actually getting a good deal. Certify that deal with multiple independent sources who are ALL telling you that what you are looking to purchase is actually a deal. For instance, don't just take the word of someone like me who is a real estate agent. Get multiple people to underwrite your deal.

Doing a refi is not a bad thing but it could leave you in a tough position if there was a market correction or if your flip failed. Then, you could be losing 2 houses not just one. I would say try to keep what you already have (get it rented) and wait until you can add that second property (without a refi) using financing. The problem I see so often with newer people who do flips is that they either hire the wrong contractor or they severely underestimate the rehab amount. Not only will this kill any profits but it could put you at a loss. 

Quick story: One of the smartest local investors I have ever met (who is about your age) started when he was really young. He got his first house for around 15k or something and did the rehab himself. Fixed it up and it was worth 3 times what he paid (all in). Then, he took that money and got another loan on another house. Rinse, and repeated this cycle until he was up to around 8 or so houses. He used financing but he always bought houses well under value. So, when crazy stuff popped up he had room to allow for it. He just kept buying better and better houses until he was happy. He was always paying off a previous loan in order to fund his next purchase. Always thinking ahead and never going all in without having some breathing room. Food for thought!