All Forum Posts by: John Newland

I don't personally know the other investor(s) from Milwaukee on this site, but Jeffery K contributes quite often to this site and has good insight on buy and hold strategies from what I've seen.

The last three rehabs I did where all over the map (Bay View, Racine County, and the near south side,) so I guess if there is a deal that can be had in the Southeastern portion of Wisconsin, I'd be interested.

I tend to do most of my listing business in Milwaukee County, although I do all of Southeastern Wisconsin as well. Milwaukee County and the suburbs of Waukesha get the most action though, with Racine and Kenosha counties seeming sluggish with a few bright spots. Everybody seems to be gravitating towards to Milwaukee's northwest side for rehabs; they tend to be ranches that can be bought cheap, easy to rehab, and sold affordably to first time home buyers (think $100-115K.)

As for the website, it's basically an out of the box template that I customized and slightly reconfigured; I'm glad you like it.

Hi Courtney, and welcome to the site. Have you checked out the two local real estate investing groups in the city? I know there is an investor or two on this board, but feel free to contact me with any questions you may have. I am a broker and investor all wrapped into one.

Hi Robert,

I have a seller with the exact same scenario. I, as the listing agent, am trying to contact a manager to see if we can get somewhere. I'll let you know how it goes.

I had just purchased an 1800 square foot Victorian house for a light rehab. No more than a week had passed when I was wrapping up my day and walked out to my car. There was some goofy looking dude leaning up against a car and looked like some Vanilla Ice wanna be (decked out all in baby blue sweats with some ridiculous looking beret.) He asked me if I wanted to know what happened in this house, and foolishly, I said sure.

He seemed all to happy to report that two of three sons who had lived in the house previously were bi-polar and had hung themselves in the attic on their 18th birthdays. It was unsettling to hear, but really wasn't something that needed to be disclosed to me by the previous owner.

Fast forward two days later, again wrapping up the day and making a sweep through the house checking lights and such. In the attic, I turned around and saw...the previous owner's damn cat staring directly at me. I jumped at least a foot into the air.

I returned the cat to the previous owner, who thought the cat ran off on moving day. Throughout the rest of the rehab, especially on those late nights, every creak and squeak in that large old house just seemed to make me pause and take a look around. And there was one time when I was vacuuming a flight of stairs before listing it that I swear I saw a shadow come up from behind me, and when I swung my body around there was nothing there.

I'm not saying I think the house was haunted or that I saw a ghost or apparition (although I'm pretty sure that shadow wasn't a figment of my imagination,) but I certainly didn't plan on getting freaked out everytime I was alone in that house. It didn't end up costing me any money (except $20 for the Outja board I bought to see if my friends and I could communicate with anything in the house.)

As a listing broker, I will occasionally list wholesale deals on MLS when the seller is excersing an option. My MLS permits this because they view the seller as the person who signs the listing contract and who is offering to pay the commission. As long as there is a legitimate listing contract in place and the co-broke commission gets paid at closing, our MLS is fine.

The problem my sellers run into (all the wholesalers I work with choose a limited-service flat fee option in which they handle showings, phone calls, etc), and Rob hits it on the head, is other real estate agents just don't comprehend what the wholesaler does. Most lenders don't either, so the wholesalers that work with me try to choose properties that will attract a cash buyer. If at all possible, just treat the transaction as a normal A-B transaction and you should be fine. Honesty is the best policy, but the less the agent on the other end knows about your role as a wholesaler, the better, and it's not to be deceitful; it's to keep things simple.

If you receive an all cash offer with no contingencies, you had better be able to deliver that property because you will be held liable by the co-broke agent for their commission and the buyer could also sue as well.

My daily driver is a 2000 Saab 9-3. Turbo performance, fun to drive, hatchback versatility, and 29 MPG is hard to beat. For landlording duties and the occassional rehab and winter use, I have a 1991 Silverado with 203K miles and still going strong. I hope that truck never dies. If I need to haul a buyer around, I'll borrow my wife's 2008 Torrent.

I just closed a Fannie Mae deal with a buyer who wanted to add his wife on the offer after writing and acceptance but before the closing. Basically, the request was made a day after offer acceptance. I was told by the listing agent that Fannie Mae would not allow that once the offer info was inputed into Fannie Mae's system. The way he explained is it just basically boils down to dealing with a govenment entity and all the bureaucracy that goes with it.

Your situation is even more complicated because you have an auction company to deal with. Even if Fannie Mae would allow you to switch names, the auction company is some times difficult to deal with in that regard. I've bought two properties through Willams and Williams with a partner. I attended the auctions, my partner did not. One property I was able to add him after the fact, on the second, no dice. Neither of those were Fannie Mae properties and both were cash deals.

Even worse, you're now looking to buy with an FHA loan.

So, Fannie Mae won't allow you to do a name change, and even if you could, the auction company represents a challenge to do so. The third strike, you are obtaining an FHA loan which will pretty much rule out a double close.

Your best bet would be to try J Scott's advice of talking with either the contact your are dealing with at the auction company, the original listing agent of the property before it went to auction, or even try the title company once they are assigned. Be very nice but explain to them this is not a favor but rather a requirement to close from the lender. Otherwise, close with the hard money lender and refi into your FHA loan when it is permitted. Good luck.

Developing a relationship with an REO broker is a great step, however, it still will not get lowball offers accepted because you have a good rapport with the agent. What it WILL do is put you on their contact list of qualified buyers, so when the really good deals become available, you are contacted before the property hits the market and have first shot at it (along with the rest of their list - at least it beats the rest of the MLS buyers.) I am a broker myself, but I get a heads up from a lot of REO brokers in the area on hot deals before they hit MLS because I've shown I am also a capable cash buyer that WILL close and NOT load a bunch of weasel clauses in my offer. It also helps that I step aside and allow them to collect both sides of the commission :)

I have bid on two and won two. They contacted me a week later and informed me the seller had accepted my bid. Both were auctions held in person, during the work week, before the end of business and had a sparse crowd. The auctions I've been to on the weekends or after work hours are always packed and usually get bid up in a hurry to ridiculous prices. I received clear title to both properties, had an issue with prior year unpaid taxes, and the out of state title company took care of the issue quickly. If you look at the contract, you'll notice a provision for the seller to reject any bid for any reason. Have no illusion, these are reserve auctions, but my experiences thus far have been positive. Auctions with REDC, Realty Bid, and Hudson Marshall have been less than successful in my opinion, with moronic reserves that never get met, and some even have a week holding period AFTER you are the winning bid where somebody can still come in and offer on the property. Pretty bogus in my opinion.

How about driving the surrounding area in a reasonable radius and look for "for rent" signs as well as houses that look like they are under going rehab (ask the crew how to get in touch with the owner.) If you have a good relationship with a real estate agent/broker, you can have them search the area for listings that have sold with cash terms. Sure, you may have to flip him or the buyer's agent a commission, but you've sold the property and should have made a tidy wholesale profit.