All Forum Posts by: Sean OToole

@Jay Hinrichs I'm blushing. Thanks again. Have been working hard on that expansion for quite a while, but we are finally getting close. :-)

@Kuba F. I'd love to connect sometime. I'm mostly in Tahoe, but make it down your way somewhat regularly.

Wow @Jay Hinrichs! Thanks so much for the post. Super great to hear that you guys are using it and happy!!!

A couple of ways to do this, but easiest is probably setting Equity(%) to at least 100% under the Property criteria. That together with a recent purchase date, and any other criteria you desire should do the trick. :-)

@Braden Hobbs - that is great advice, and is number one mistake I see people make when pulling lists. Every county is a little different and while all of us service providers do our best to normalize things like property types across counties, there is no perfect formula. For multi-family I regularly see counties where property type works great, but they have no data for number of units, and vice versa. This can vary not only by county, but sometimes even by subdivision. Locally we have a large development where the unfinished lots were all misclassified as single family residential (which typically indicates that there is completed single family own on the property). Public records are the absolute best way to source deals as a real estate investor, but doing it well requires a bit of research.

Never heard of them, and we track every competitor in the space. Also couldn't find them doing a google search, do you have a URL or other info about them?

You might try Black Knights product Agent Pro 247, or First American's DataTree. For national property information those would be RealQuest's primary competitors. We'd be another alternative, but we're not in your area yet.

You are right that Listsource serves a different purpose. Since it is also a CoreLogic product, you'll also likely find the same data issues you are finding in RealQuest, so that likely is not going to help.

Bigger picture, my guess is the problems you are seeing are not with the product, but instead with the county assessor in the area you are working. Completeness and accuracy of data varies a lot from county to county, and there is very little the data providers can do about that.

@Jim Growfer if you create a list on listsource that you like, you can always do a "phone match append" to add phone numbers to that list. You'll find quite a few vendors online by searching for that specifically. Depending on which states you are working, there may be other alternatives as well. Definitely PM me if you are in AZ, CA, NV, OR or WA.

Hi @Christian Ciabal until we get out your way later this year, Corelogic's Realquest and Listsource, or Blacknight's Agent Pro 247 are probably your best bets.

Best,
Sean

@Andrew Earle the advice from @Greg Dickerson was right on, but let me share a personal story that may drive home why he is right.

I had a couple of partners at one point, and one of those partners took responsibility for doing the rehabs. He had a "contractor" that he'd been working with for years, and who he exclusively used for all of our jobs. The guy had a crew, and the rates were great. Never even occurred to me to ask about stuff like licenses and insurance, as my partner had done hundreds of more flips then I had.

Well one day the contractor steps on a nail. Only reason I even knew is that he had to take the afternoon off to go get a tetanus shot, and we were on a tight deadline. A week later his foot is swollen and he can't work. Turns out he has a bone infection. All said and done, he has a $120k hospital bill. I'm thinking bummer for his insurance company, still not realizing it has anything to do with us.

Except the hospital wants to get paid, and it turns out he's let his license lapse, and he has no insurance. Things I now know we should have checked - and my partner actually knew >:-(. So now even though the contractor is trying to protect us, the simple truth is that he was working on our job, and we were responsible. So I call the attorney.

Turns out we've also violated employment laws, and we are potentially facing $250,000 in fines for our failure to have workers comp insurance. The hospital's next step is to report us. Long story short, we settled with the hospital for $60k. and only made $15k on that house. Ouch.

I've never again hired anyone without dotting my i's and crossing my t's. Sure you may save a grand here and there, but you literally face losing everything. We got off cheap. And all our guy did was step on a nail. Imagine if he fell off a ladder and became a paraplegic, or any of the other serious accidents that are COMMON on job sites.

Finally, no agreement you make them sign will magically save you from labor laws. I believe your only safe choices are 1) hire individuals directly and follow all labor laws and insurance requirements, or 2) hire a licensed and insured contractor.

Driving for dollars is a great way to look for properties. I like it because not only can you find situations that will either never appear on public records based lists (bad tenants), or may not appear quickly (neglect), but you will also learn a TON about that market, what's for sale, etc.

But lists also have their place. For example, the situation @Andrew Earle mentioned of large lots that can be split, is a perfect place to use lists. For example, make a list of all properties in a certain neighborhood. Sort it by owner name, and look for the same owner on 2 properties, one which is land, one which has a structure. Or a list of every lot that is double the square feet the county/city requires for an individual lot.

For folks with little money I recommend starting with driving for dollars. Then as you find patterns, use lists to find all the properties that match those patterns. This enables you to scale in a way that driving can't. Similarly when it comes to contacting people start with door knocking (cheap and you get better feedback in person, but slow), then phone (still cheap, less likely to get feedback, but you can reach more folks), then direct mail (expensive, almost no feedback, but you can reach a ton of people). As you move up that chain you need to have a better and better message to succeed, which is why starting in person is so important.