All Forum Posts by: Sebastian Valdez

Hello everyone,

I have been doing research about starting house hacking this year, I have been looking at properties to start with at FHA loan in the TX RGV area, starting with a fourplex.

My BIG question here is, would you think it is riskier to start with a brand new fourplex having a bigger monthly pay at the end of the month but; on the other side thinking on not having to get as many repairs as an older building ex. 5 years older. The difference of a new building ranges:

New fourplex building: around 450k-500k

Older fourplex buildings: 375k 

Any thoughts or tips?, The reason I am inclining to start the house hacking with a brand new fourplex is that of course feels more convenient but I am not sure if it is most profitable. 

Any info is appreciate it, thanks in advance.

@Sebastian Valdez

While wholesaling real estate doesn't require a large amount of money, it does require that a wholesaler do the necessary property research, the networking to find the right investors, and the work to craft a financial deal that the investor will accept.

Here are the steps involved in real estate wholesaling.

1. Conduct Research
Learn about the wholesaling laws in your jurisdiction. In addition, look into the locales and neighborhoods where you want to buy property.

2. Locate a Distressed Property
Look for properties that may be listed below market value and owners who are motivated to sell. Owners of homes that are being foreclosed or have liens may be open to selling for less than what the house is worth. These resources may help you find such properties:

Multiple Listing Service (MLS)
Networking organizations, online real estate auction sites
Social media platforms
Foreclosure sites
3. Do the Math and Due Diligence
Once you find a property that fits your criteria, make sure your wholesale real estate transaction will make financial sense. To do this, first find out the property's fair market value. Looking at comparable properties sold in the area, occupancy rates, and cash-on-cash returns can help. Then determine what any required repairs will cost.

This information will allow you to calculate the after repair value (the fair market value after repairs are done). With that, you can calculate a maximum allowable offer (the highest price you can offer for the distressed property and still make a profit).

4. Contact the Seller
Explain your role as a real estate wholesaler and how working together may be an ideal way to sell their property. Clearly describe how the wholesale real estate transaction would work. Wholesale real estate transactions are perfectly legitimate (as long as state laws are followed) and there's nothing to hide.

5. Obtain a Property Contract
Present your offer to the seller and get the property under contract. Be sure your contract includes the right to assign the contract to another party. Also, include in your contract a contingency that allows you, as the wholesaler, to withdraw from the deal if unable to find a buyer before the contract expiration. This limits your risk.

6. Find a Cash Buyer
Once you’ve found the right property and have a wholesale real estate contract with the seller in place, you need to market your contract to potential cash buyers.

Use your networking skills, both online and off, to connect with potential investors. You might also contact local realtors and ask about cash purchases made over the recent past.

7. Reassign the Contract to the Buyer
Now's the time to close the deal with the investor who fits your wholesale real estate transaction best. Both of you have to agree to terms and conditions. Of course, as the real estate wholesaler, you want to be paid for the work you did to find the distressed property and to put the deal together.

All the best!

 Google the owners name, check the county records to see if their name comes up associated with some other case (lawsuit, delinq prop taxes. civil suits etc) check to see if they are deceased. Familytreenow will give you relatives names and locations. Speak to the neighbors, see if someone knew that person. 

Find relatives, call neighbors, knock on the door. 

When you say skipp tracing do you mean using a software to do it for you? 

I have googled the address and searched county records for the owners then searched their name and a mailing address. Mailers are a great way to reach people but may take some time. 

Not having ever invested in a non disclosure state, what does it mean?  Does it mean selling agent cannot disclose the selling price?  How do appraisers value the property/obtain comps?  If i use a commercial valuation tool, how has it determined the RE value?

In my market, I enter an address into the pricing tool and am provided a tool generated market value and the comps used to obtain that value.  I then manually go through those comps, eliminating the inappropriate comps and adjust the tool generated value up or down as appropriate for the tool generated comps that i eliminated because they were poor comps.  My guess is in 15 minutes I can obtain a fairly close valuation (closer than the tool generated value).  

 RUN COMPS!!! If you do not know what its worth you should not even be looking at it. Connect with someone doing deals. Learn then apply what you learn

Good Luck, 

Hey, I don't think it is realistic for me to give you a course on how to figure out ARVs and cost of repairs, but what you should do is  Google it. Youtube it.

There is a lot of info out there on how it is done.

Start with doing a bit of research. Try not to ask other people as your first course of action when you are stuck. You are training your mind not to work and think on your own. 

I do mean this in a positive way.

Start with youtube and go from there!