All Forum Posts by: Thomas Burnett

@Jon Crosby thanks for saying so. It's easy to let your inner voices talk you out of taking action. Fear of embarrassment.

Self improvement requires you admit you're going to make mistakes, to feel the fear and do it anyway. It's the only way to learn that you can't die from embarrassment =)

Investment Info:

Single-family residence wholesale investment.

Purchase price: $186,000
Cash invested: $4,000
Sale price: $215,000

Purchased wholesale course for $1000. Followed course, and sent out mail to DFD (driving for dollars) list. After about 3 months of consistent action - (still working full time) - found motivated seller. Total costs: program, $1000, direct mail postcards $2500, miscellaneous system fees and gasoline. Put property under contract and marketed contract to cash buyers - Cash buyer property inspection, offers by end of week. Contract assigned for $29,000 and nearly 10x my investment!

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Gaining the knowledge to make money repeatedly is worth infinitely more than the actual cost and profit.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Direct mail. Seller called me after receiving postcard. I returned the call asap and talked to him about his situation and did not ask about price until I understood why he called.

How did you finance this deal?

The purchase was taken over by the investor and I did not finance anything.

How did you add value to the deal?

The seller needed to sell to solve a problem. I listened to understand the problem. I offered a solution that would benefit him. The contract price was a value to the investor who purchased it.

What was the outcome?

I now have an enlarged image of the check I received from the deal that I have altered. The signature was removed and that line is now in very fancy calligraphy text to display the word 'Persistence' to signify that persistence pays off for $28,323.66 and is hanging above my work space.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Wholesaling is simple to understand, but that doesn't mean it's easy. It took me 3 months of spending all my free time during the summer when I wasn't working to be out driving for dollars and looking for houses that needed some love. I wanted to quit more than once when I would get a lead that would dissolve and not finalize, or when money started getting tight because of all the postcards and marketing that I was spending.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence wholesale investment.

Purchase price: $186,000
Cash invested: $4,000
Sale price: $215,000

Purchased wholesale course for $1000. Followed course, and sent out mail to DFD (driving for dollars) list. After about 3 months of consistent action - (still working full time) - I found a motivated seller. Total costs were the program, $1000, and direct mail postcards $2500, and then miscellaneous system fees and gasoline. Put property under contract and marketed contract to cash buyers - Property inspection for cash buyers to inspect property, offers due by end of week. Contract assigned for $29,000 and nearly 10x my investment

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Gaining the knowledge to make money repeatedly is worth infinitely more than the actual cost and profit.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Direct mail. Seller called me after receiving postcard. I returned the call asap and talked to him about his situation and did not ask about price until I understood why he called.

How did you finance this deal?

The purchase was taken over by the investor and I did not finance anything.

How did you add value to the deal?

The seller needed to sell to solve a problem. I listened to understand the problem. I offered a solution that would benefit him. The contract price was a value to the investor who purchased it.

What was the outcome?

I now have an enlarged image of the check I received from the deal that I have altered. The signature was removed and that line is now in very fancy calligraphy text to display the word 'Persistence' to signify that persistence pays off for $28,323.66 and is hanging above my work space.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Wholesaling is simple to understand, but that doesn't mean it's easy. It took me 3 months of spending all my free time during the summer when I wasn't working to be out driving for dollars and looking for houses that needed some love. I wanted to quit more than once when I would get a lead that would dissolve and not finalize, or when money started getting tight because of all the postcards and marketing that I was spending.

I don't have much experience with what you're thinking about doing, so take everything I put out with a grain of salt. - Without knowing much about your history or experience with real estate, I think that having these 9 months to prepare yourself to househack can be a huge blessing.

I have heard stories from so many people who jumped right in without much knowledge, experience or network to fall back on when something unexpected shows up. Bigger Pockets will be a huge resource to call upon for information and advice to make sure that you don't make all the rookie mistakes by learning from those who have made them before you.

Setting yourself up with the money doesn't seem to be your biggest issue, however, understanding what to look for in a property that also fits your budget and price range. Understanding how to screen tenants, collect rents, find vendors for maintenance, knowing what is allowable and illegal in terms of your landlord and tenant laws.

House hacking can be a tremendous starting strategy, but there are a lot of variables that are hidden beneath the surface. Swimming in the deep end will be a lot more comfortable with the right gear/knowledge.

@Jonathan Stone when social distancing begins to lift, be sure to look for your local REIA groups. Stands for Real Estate investors Associations

Signing up on MeetUp.com is going to be a great resource also to get into groups that are focused on what you're interested in. Some of those meetups are still active with video conferencing, but many of them have shut down.

Bigger Pockets is obviously a tremendous resources and I encourage everyone to get in here several times a week and ask questions, add to a discussion and let people start seeing your name more often.

Real estate is a people business and when people start seeing your name, you become familiar and familiarity breeds success.

@Robbie Kelly be sure to stay active on bigger pockets to pick up new ideas and to network organically. I would be happy to chat with your about wholesaling and maybe shed some light on what it takes to be successful. I am a wholesaler in Portland and always looking to expand my network of fellow investors, cash buyers and other professionals in the industry.

@Jason Ma totally agree brother! If you've told me that you have interest in selling your house and there is any sliver of motivation, I will continue to follow up and hold your feet to the fire to seek the truth.

If the motivation changes, or you tell me not to contact you anymore, I am more than willing to respect your request and drop the issue.

You'll lose more deals by not following up then you will by reaching out enough to remain a present and persistent reminder that there may be a solution when you want to hit the easy button.

@Austin Wood I believe batch skip has templates you can download and scrub your list accordingly. I know I saved a template for future orders and it gets faster each time you do it. Also batch skip is one of the best for accurate data these days.

Unless you know of investors personally, I would ask to get an appraisal, or what the property is ultimately worth if it were in retail condition, by asking a realtor. They can tell you waht homes in the area are selling for and why.

Realtors will generally not be an good resource for estimating repair costs. Again, if you don't have a seasoned investor, getting a general contractor or two to give you a bid will give you a lot of information about what it will take to sell the house for the amount the agent told you.

Keep in mind, for the property to be attractive as a wholesale deal, it has to be priced low enough for an investor to make a profit after doing all of the work...

If you really want to use this property to catapult yourself into doing wholesaling it might be worth a phone call to some investor friendly title agents and asking them if they work with active wholesalers in the area and ask if they'd be willing to JV (joint venture) the deal and show you the ropes so that you can get paid while learning from someone who knows exactly what they're doing, and eliminating all the guess work on your end!