All Forum Posts by: Andy M.

What's up Justin? I must admit, I didn't read this whole string of posts (this thing is getting long!!) but I did read the beginning. Talk about a rough start eh? Anyway, I just wanted to tell everyone reading that I know Justin personally and he is the real deal. And if you couldn't already tell from reading his posts, he is sincere and genuine. 

I've been a full time investor for about 10 years now and I have a huge respect for people like Justin who are ACTIVELY doing the business and still make time to post on BP. I'm the first to admit how hard and time consuming it can be to spend time "giving back" on sites like BP. I often wonder how people have the time. 

Go get 'em Justin! I'll see if I can serve you up a few more on your journey to 150 in 2014! ;)

Handwriting your first set of letters is probably a good learning experience, but I wouldn't recommend it for your long term success. But it is a right of passage.

Good luck! When people call follow up is key, make it happen!

Rafael has some good thoughts for you. When you are mailing handwritten letters with invitation style envelopes with live stamps you will get a good open rate, which will mean people will read your letter. What you say in that letter will determine the quality of your calls. If you are vague and just say, "I want to buy your house." you will get a lot of "unfiltered" calls. People will ask you how you got their information, who you are, what you are about, etc.

My experience has been that a longer letter that explains some things will get you better people calling. Direct mail is a numbers game, hitting your list frequently will insure that your message is there when THEY ARE READY. I would commit to mailing your list for at least 6 months. That said, If budget isn't a huge issue right now I would consider outsourcing your letters and postcards. You can handwrite 500 letters, but you might not want to do it for 6 months. The right list, volume, and frequency, is key here. The winners in the direct mail game are consistent.

There has been some great advice on here already, but let throw my two bits in.

1. Education is key (already mentioned here and I second it) read on BP, find good books, surround yourself with others who are where you want to be.

2. Don't get caught in the trap of, "I don't know enough". You will learn by TAKING ACTION. The failure rate is pretty high for new real estate investors because most are afraid to take action. The best way to learn real estate is to jump in. Everything works if you do. Don't be afraid that you don't know enough, fail forward.

This business works and you can make a lot of money, the difference I see in people who make a lot of money in real estate and those who fail is action.

With a fresh list I always start out with postcards. That way you can get the nixie's without paying .95 for a bad name. Just me. That said, handwritten letters with invitation style envelopes do get the best response and will give you lots of practice talking on the phone with sellers.

Go get 'em!

As long as the property is worth more than 5k then you could make money on it. Depends on what you get it under contract for. Here are your steps:

1. You get it under contract with the seller (most important, you don't have anything if you don't get it in writing. This gives you "equitable interest" in the property)

2. Pull up title to make sure that the seller actually owns it, and here is where you will find out all of the liens. These liens are not your responsibility, but most of the time the seller won't want to come to closing with a check.(depends on if you are an attorney or title company state as to who will help you with this).

3. Find your buyer and either double close or assign the contract for a fee.

4. Rinse, repeat.

It's a numbers game. You will most likely get frustrated if you just send out small amounts of mail. The more mail you send (to targeted lists, with a decent message) the more calls you get, the more calls you get the better your chances are of striking gold.

Don't give up, just do what other successful people are doing and you will succeed too. You can get lists from companies like list source.com or you can talk to local title companies and sometimes they can help you get lists. If you don't have title companies, then ask other investors in your area who are sending mail where they get their lists from.

Good luck!

P.S. This stuff actually works if you can stick it out and do what other successful people are doing. "What one man can do another can do." :)

Darren,

I'm an active wholesaler in your market (my office is in Farmington). Feel free to contact me and I'll try to get you pointed in the right direction. :)

There is definitely multiple ways to accomplish this.. That said, I would ask first what is right? If he is trying to show a lesser sales amount to defraud his ex wife (if she was owed a piece of the sale) some of the money then I don't think I would want to be involved in that. If he is trying to defraud the IRS, then I DEFINITELY wouldn't want to be a part of it. If he wants to do it for other reasons you could put 100k on the HUD with an agreement on the side to pay 30k to his sister. The IRS might have an issue with that way though.

Bottom line: Make triple sure you understand his full intent and that you want to be a part of that. But when you are dealing with a cash sale between a buyer and a seller, you can do any number of creative things to accomplish what he is talking about.

@Nathaniel N.

I'm an active investor in Utah and I own a few rental properties. If you give a little more information about what you are trying to accomplish with your investments (I'm assuming rentals) then I'd probably be able to help.

Are you looking for cash flow? Or areas that will appreciate well?