All Forum Posts by: Jon C.

Every city is different but I doubt you're going to find everything at one place or be able to cross reference various things. If only city governments were that organized.

For probates, you might find them here: http://www.txheadlines.com/index.php/public_notices/ I search my papers for "deceased" and "personal representative".

For taxes, my city has them on the county assessor's page, with the property info.

For code violations, I'm still working on that. Apparently no one at my city code enforcement office has any idea of what is available.

I think a 24 hour turnaround time for any communication is reasonable. There is no way anyone is SO busy that they cannot take five minutes to respond in an email or voicemail. Not with today's technology. 2-4 days is too long and I would not deal with it.

As to your other questions, I am in a simialr situation. I have an agent to make my bids on REOs and HUD homes. The only reason I am using her for REOs is because I am new and fairly clueless. After I get a few deals under my belt, I will likely submit my own offers. Also, the first time I made offers on REOs, I sent over a transactional funding letter and didn't hear form my angent for a week. I assumed she laughed at my "transactional funding" and assumed I was a tire kicker. Then a week later, she sends me a new list of properties to check out. So I'll give her a chance for now.

I tried 500 absentee owners from List Source as well. I only got 3 calls. Two were completely unmotivated and one was only slightly motivated. No deals.

I can only give a partial answer to this. I initially signed up when this program first started so I am not sure how its done now. I did not sign up for the whole thing, but for a smaller fee, got access to the messageboards, videos and other materials.

I would say the messageboard is pretty bare. BP is 100x better. The videos are pretty good though. They are thorough, step by step, and cover a lot of things. Sean Terry focuses on wholesaling and subject-to from private sellers. He is all about finding motivated sellers, negotiating with them, and finding buyers. There is nothing about REOs, buy/hold, or other methods.

I'd say the biggest benefit would be the fact that you can call him and he will help you through a deal. I don't know if he partners with you or what but he appears to be very hands on with his core group of members. He is also a nice guy.

Its definitely not a scam but like most training, much of the info has been posted elsewhere for free and its not cheap. Sean's hands on approach may be worth though if you can afford it. I'd love the hand-holding through a deal but I don't have the cash.

Also, he is a member here but I don't think he posts much.

I must admit, I am also getting pretty frustrated. I have sent out hundreds of letters and put out 50 bandit signs twice(100 total). I've only gotten two calls where they were even remotely motivated out of approx 900 letters. I only got 9 calls total among absentee owners, probate, and long time owners. Heck, I got zero calls from my 100 bandit signs. That really disappointed me since everyone talks about how great they are. So far, the cost and hassle to put them out was not worth it.

That guy on Flipping Vegas looks really familiar. I know I've seen him on tv before. And I think this show is the most fake-looking of all the flip shows. Thw two flip shows I enjoyed was Property Ladder and the original Flip This House with Richard Whatshisname from South Carolina.

I have a simple splash page to gather motivated sellers info and just started using Adwords. It specifically states I buy homes in Phoenix, Arizona. My google ads also specifically state Arizona in them. But I am getting out of state leads. Is this normal? And is there anything I can do to either eliminate it or make some money from it?

I guess I could pass on the leads to investors in those states but I've only gotten a handful of them and they are all over the map.

I don't see the point in a fake ad. Just make a real one. I advertise for cash buyers once a week or so with a link to a simple page for them to fill out basic info.

I'd like to know this as well. And I have two related questions.

1. Is it considered one or two closing transactions?
2. Do the seasoning requirements(if any) disappear for my end buyer(cash buyer) when I do a deal this way?

I am looking to bid on an REO. Its listed as a 4/3 but that's because the garage was converted into a bedroom. However, every single house on the block as a 2 car garage. And this added bedroom is weird anyway. First you have to go through the laundry room to get there. Then the closet contains the water heater. So I think it would be better served to have the garage back.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/850/housewithoutgarage.jpg/

I have no idea what it would cost however. I wouldn't think it would be too much since I assume its basically a framed out wall in front you just tear down. Clean out the floor, add the door and mechanics. But I dunno.