All Forum Posts by: Victor Noriega

My wife and I had an offer accepted for a home in NE El Paso.  We already flip land, and had been looking for a rental to help stabilize the income and build equity.   We landed on Short Term Rentals as we visit the city often and planned on staying there when in town.  We are going thru the closing process, got the inspector lined up.  However my insurance carrier said they would not be able to cover the Airbnb.  What company are other investors using for home insurance?  Anything to look out for?  We are only at the beginning steps, next is getting the appraisal done to secure financing.  

Have you tried click2mail?  They have a 3.5x5 inch option.  I’ve used them for single letters and up to 1000 letters.

@Matt Snow short answer. Bought five properties sold four. Made $20k in profits. Not as good as my first year. But good enough for only working 4 hrs a week. 

To many distractions this year at my 9-5.  I tried several new things to improve automation. And the end of the year has been busy. I'm sending 250 letters a week. I'm working on exceeding the 2016 profit in January.

Good luck to you and all land investors out there. 

don't understand how your comment is meant to be constructive. 

In any case, I've been able to find someone to place a sign for a reasonable price. And valueMLS.com will be perfect for higher priced properties. 

That would be ok. If an agent is willing to take split the 6% of a $10k property. I will try the We Go Look option to place the sign and see if there is an increase in calls. If I don't see an increased interest then I'll try valuemls.com to post it on the MLS. Thanks Greg H. for the recommendation.

I'm dealing with land only.  So there is no home to show.  I'm exploring the option to use a flat fee broker to increase traffic to my properties.  I will handle all the leads, the follow up, and I already have sales contracts ready.   I've already reached out to We Go Look and they can handle the sign placement.  I would use a traditional agent if I was selling homes. 

I'm looking for a Flat Fee MLS broker with the following features, MLS listing obviously, social media listing (trulia, Zillow, etc) yard sign, on-line form (I will not print out, complete, and scan). My max budget is for this service is $300-$400. The on-line form is very important to me for automation purposes, and because printing anything is a waste of time. If the on-line form doesn't exist for flat fee MLS, then I hope a broker will read this and create it.

I buy and sell land within a 2 hour driving radius of my home. The acquisition of the property has been virtual as much as possible. I only need to go into my local credit union for notary services. The selling side is more challenging. The properties I sell are $5k to $20k in value. So using a full listing agent takes a big chunk of my profit. Some have a minimum, because 6% of $5k is $300, and it’s difficult to find an selling agent that will split $300. One example, I sold a $10k lot using an agent, they charged $1k and did not market the property very well, in my opinion. Now, if I sell property in the $20k to $100k sales price, then an agent maybe needed. However I would feel irritated to pay $6k for placing a yard sign on a $100k property.

From my short experience of 3 years, I know that the yard sign makes the biggest difference in selling the property. I can post it on Craigslist everyday, but the buyer usually drove by the property and called the number on the for sale sign. The county where I’ve made most of my sales is 4 hour round trip driving. I figure the cost for me to drive there, take pictures, and place a sign is between $200 and $600, the figure is based on an hourly rate of $50 to $150.

So why use a Flat Fee MLS when a yard sign is all I need? I figure being on the MLS would bring more buyers that do not want to deal with FSBO. I'd appreciate any feedback on this. Also, If I could find a Flat Fee MLS with an on-line form that will create a MLS listing and list it on social media sites and places a yard sign, then my business model for the selling side becomes much more virtual. I'm willing to give the buyers agent their fee, how does $300 sound for them?

To sum up the questions:

Is there a Flat Fee MLS broker with an on-line form, in Texas?

Do you think the buyers agent would think $300 is fair for them to bring a buyer?

Are Flat Fee MLS brokerage services worth the cost for land?

When should an traditional agent be used?

I post an ad on Craigslist.  The ad states that I am an investor and will have land available soon.  I ask that they respond to the ad with their name and email, if they would like me to place them on their buyers list.   If you have a lot available, place a for sale by owner sign on it.  As people call, ask them if they want you to contact them in the future with similar lots are available.  

thanks for all the quick feedback. I will send a notice to rescind the verbal 3month term and the offer to sell. Our realtor walked the home and only recommended minor touch ups. Mostly landscaping and replacing an old ceiling fan in the patio. 

I did think about the days it will take to close. In the area DOM are 3-10 days. So with a traditional buyer the tenants would have 50 days at the most. A cash buyer may allow them to stay. But the risk is on the tenant. I will let them know that I will not renew beyond June 30th. That way they can plan for temporary housing while their home is ready. It is the best option. Because if they are getting a home built, the builder could be exaggerating the completion date. 

We have a investment property in Austin. The current tenant has been there for 2-1/2 years. We had told the current tenant last year that we intend to sell the property and had offered it to them at a discount. They said they needed to fix their credit but they also wanted a bigger home. 

Prior to the lease ending, they said they wanted to stay another 3 months. We gave them a verbal approval and sent them the 3 month lease to sign. They did not respond for three weeks and in the middle of May, they asked to meet for the signatures. By this time my wife and I noticed that the economic conditions had changed and the CMAs were a lot higher then we had anticipated. We confirmed with a realtor. 

Well the lease is up on May 31st and we allowed them to go month-to-month with the lease ending on June 30th. We are placing the home on the market on June 2nd. 

The tenant has been approved to buy a home. This is great news, I thought. Now the request from the tenant is to stay until August 10th because that is when their new home will be ready. 

I want to sell it as soon as possible. What are some options?