All Forum Posts by: John Ma

saving up enough for a down payment to house hack is definitely the right step. but when you say "help investors find properties," do you mean in your capacity as an agent? Or some other way?

Yes as an agent, I am looking to build trust and partnerships with investors to help them achieve their portfolio goals by using my market knowledge and tools that I have as an agent. I guess become an Investor Friendly Agent. I know I have a lot of work to do to prove myself as a valuable resource but I am going to do the work, I'm just trying to figure out the right steps. Hence why I was on craigslist lol

Easiest way to get your investor buyer clients inventory is connecting with all the wholesale shops in your area, and connect buyers to sellers.

Some of the seasoned buyers will already be on the wholesalers' mailing list, and thats fine, but there will be many that have no idea what wholesaling is and you're bringing them value by exposing offmarket inventory to them.

Thanks John! When you say local wholesalers is that information easily found?

You can go on Google and type "sell my house fast" and the top wholesaling companies will show up.

0 Votes

Quote from @Aung Satt:

currently I am using free skip tracer but It didn't work most of the numbers are all wrong or didn't connect at all. I'm thinking to use something that need to be paid or if there is a great free website let me know . If you guys wanna suggest anything I would appreciate any advice

Our call team can show that currently Dataskip .io has the best skiptracing.

"the best" skip tracing service can change year to year. Its completely dependent on when the last time the company gets a data update and how often. Many companies will be lazy/cut costs after they have a large enough customer base.

Currently Dataskip.io is the best.

0 Votes

San Jose, California

Quote from @Stephanie Lopez:

Quote from @Nicholas L.:

@Stephanie Lopez

saving up enough for a down payment to house hack is definitely the right step. but when you say "help investors find properties," do you mean in your capacity as an agent? Or some other way?

Easiest way to get your investor buyer clients inventory is connecting with all the wholesale shops in your area, and connect buyers to sellers.

0 Votes

Quote from @Grayson Grzybowski:

@John Ma Thanks for this. I spent a year in pre-foreclosure and had no luck. I did door knocking, emails, and phone calls. 90% of who I was trying to contact didnt answer or the infomation was invalid. The site I was getting my information from was "Roney's Foreclosure Listings."

I recently listened to a podcast and a story of a guy who had success with this in only 2 years. I just wanted to reach out and see if there was another more efficient alternative in doing this.

Its a high volume game. You need to be marketing out to atleast 5,000 people.

If you want to go super niche, door knocking foreclosures never not works. Probates are also usuaslly high intent.

0 Votes

Fort Worth, Texas

Quote from @Michael Quarles:

Quote from @John Ma:

70% ARV is a killer deal in our market. Generally most fix flippers are buying at 80%-82% in our market. Margins are often squeezed. Many people are only making $50k or so on $800k-$1M properties.

These %percentages are market dependant.

How many deals have you actually done?

How do you actually know the purchase price others are paying and their margin?

Are there margins gross or post net?

My partner has done HML for a large population in our market. Lenders see all, including how little margin some flippers are operating on.

0 Votes

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Quote from @Alan Asriants:

Quote from @John Ma:

Quote from @Don Konipol:

Since nobody has posted on this thread for almost one month, I will provide some of my personal thoughts.

If by wholesaling we actually mean “flipping”, that is buying or tying up a property and then almost immediately reselling that property for a profit, then wholesaling will NEVER be dead as long as we have even a semblance of a capitalist system. ‘Wholesaling” may not be as prevalent as it is today; may not be pushed by countless gurus; may not be in the same form as we know it. But people will buy properties at a below market price and “flip” them for profit without changing the property in any way. Here’s an example of what I’m talking about; in 2020 my partner and I purchased a 9,965 square foot office/warehouse which had just been vacated by the tenant, for $625,000. We immediately placed it on the market, and within 7 months had sold it for $1,050,000. Yes, we had information before the purchase NOT available to the general public. If this was a publicly traded security we’d be guilty of trading on inside information, etc., but that does not apply to real property transactions. Further ,we could have “flipped” the property to the same buyer at almost the same price in a matter of DAYS, and would have except that 3 days after our purchase the buyer’s financing was shut down because of the COVID pandemic. Here are take aways as to how I see “wholesale” transactions (flipping properties) in the future

1. Most profitable transaction will be cash purchases followed by sales

2. Flipping contracts won’t exist - it will be replaced by “wholesaler” obtaining an OPTION to purchase at a set price and selling the option.

3. Commercial real estate won’t be affected by these changes and will continue operating a it always has

4. It will require a LOT of capital to do this as a business

5. Consumer laws will be passed making flipping or wholesaling homeowner property nearly impossible.

Interested to know your thoughts….

We can come up with all kinds of definitions of what wholesaling is and isn't. I think we all know what it means when talking about "wholesaling". They want to get rid of people posing to be cash buyers (when they don't have any means to purchase) and locking sellers under a contract to resell.

I spoke to the CEO of a publicly traded brokerage recently about NAR and wholesaling to see if its something on his radar. His immediate response is they're coming down on wholesaling state by state and there will be legislation everywhere real soon.

That said, SC was the first state to really come down hard. Yet people are still doing wholesaling in SC. There are closing attorneys still doing them, but they won't reveal who as they don't want to draw attention. There will always be ways to do deals, and people will always do them until you can't that way anymore.

I know people that will go on a cash appointment and pull a bait and switch and become the Agent for them. Its an easy convo if you tell them they'll just charge the buyer (just like a wholesaler would charge the buyer a net fee).

I have a friend who will even do a novation on a listing agreement, where he found a buyer that will pay significantly more than what the seller wants to net, and novate the listing agreement to make the commission 10%, 15%, ect to reflect what percentage the pay out from what the buyer will pay.

Theres a million ways to do a deal.

Net listings are illegal when operating with a license. Wholesaling is a net listing without a license, and on top of that the wholesaler poses as a cash buyer.

I think the lack of transparency, operating without a license, and taking advantage of people is the issue.

There are a million ways to do a deal.

0 Votes

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Quote from @Kylie A.:

but the thing is alot of this title companies arent even offering double closing

So don't wholesale it. Find a buyer for your seller, and charge the buyer. This is exactly what wholesalers do.

1 Vote

70% ARV is a killer deal in our market. Generally most fix flippers are buying at 80%-82% in our market. Margins are often squeezed. Many people are only making $50k or so on $800k-$1M properties.

These %percentages are market dependant.

1 Vote

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Best exercise is going on a job site and working with a contractor line item on pricing.

I like to estimate line item in incriments of $5,000 or $10,000. Its quick and easy and keeps you safe. Example would be for a SFH fixer upper in grandma condition: $10k for demo and permits and prep, $10k for wall removing and layout revising, $10k for basement framing, $10k for drywall, $20k for paint, $30k for flooring, $20k for kitchen, $20k for baths, $20k for any MEP upgrades, $10k for trim work, $10k interior finishes

0 Votes

Columbia, South Carolina

Quote from @Kyle Lam:

Hi Everyone,

In terms of rehabilitation for a house that you might want to flip or rent, what is the best strategy to analyze how much rehab might cost you. I understand that rents and flips will have different criteria's of renovations and that I could always get a contractor to go out and get a quote; however, is there a way to learn on my own and be able to analyze how much a rehab will cost just from walking a house and going to a showing. I know it will not be 100% accurate, but I want to be able to have a range in terms of prices for renovations, just from eyeing the property myself. Let me know, thanks!

You would use different ways of estimating depending on how quick you want to do an estimate. If someone is bringing a deal and you're determing if the numbers might make sense, I use a Dollar/SQFT estimate based on amount of rehab needed. $30/sqft for cosmetic interior reno. $50/sqft for a full interior and functional update, $100/sqft for a full gut down to studs, $150/sqft for newcon .

If these numbers make sense I would want to visit the property for a true estimate, where it would be line item work scope development. I use a $5000 rule, where I est everything in incriments of $5000. Demolition $5000. Dumpster, permits, and inspections $15,000. Framing interior $25,000. Windows $5000. Roof $5000. MEP $40,000. Insulation $5,000. Flooring $25,000. Kitchen $15,000. Bathrooms $15,000. Drywall andpaint $15,000, ect.

3 Votes

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

All Forum Posts by: John Ma

John Ma has started 26 posts and replied 146 times.

Post: Advice for a Newbie

Post: are there any skip tracing websites high on accuracy?

Post: Advice for a Newbie

Post: Mail listings for finding deals

Post: Fix n Flip 70% rule

Post: Is this an end to Wholesaling?

Post: WHATS YOUR WHOLESALING PLAN WITH NEW LAWs

Post: Fix n Flip 70% rule

Post: Scope of Work Pricing estimates

Post: How to Estimate Rehab Quotes