All Forum Posts by: Lou Castillo

Great. Thanks for the info. That has always been my understanding too. I have heard that some BORs are looking to broaden the definition of working as a realtor.

There are different formulas depending on your exit strategy. For instance a rental house would be evaluated completely different than a wholesale property (selling the contract to another investor).

My formula is this for wholesales: ARV (After Repaired Value - the value of the house after all the repairs are made and it looks great) minus Rehab (whatever rehab is needed to bring it back to look like the other houses selling on the market) - BSH (Buy/Sell/Hold costs - the expenses associated with buying, holding, and seling the property. I use 15% of the ARV for this number) minus Profit left in the deal for your investor buyer minus Assignment Fee (the amount that you make on the deal when you assign the contract).

Good luck.

Thanks for the info. Is Ohio looking at a wholesale transaction where the sales contract is Assigned as an "illegal" transaction?

This is still a great market for wholesaling. Your investor buyers however, are a little more cautious so they want a GOOD deal. In other words, make sure there is plenty of profit in it compared to the amount they have to pay and the repairs required.

The good news is that since it is a Buyers market, sellers are even more desperate to sell so you can gewt some great deals to pass on to your buyers. Just remember not to be a motivated buyer yourself. wait for a good deal and take that one.

Good luck!

Have you tried marketing it on the web? Where would your buyers go on the web to find a house in your area? They would go to "Houses For Sale, Your City,State" right? So go there and see what are the top websites that come up and advertise your house on those sites. Check out the pricing of the other homes in the area - be sure not to go over a $25,000 price jump (i.e. $249,900 will get more hits than a house listed at $250,100).

You should also have a web page for your house that people can visit and get all of the pertinent information. They should almost be able to fall in love with the house from the site. Have lots of great pictures that show off the real ‘selling points” of the house.

Use Google AdWords to drive traffic to your site. Advertise on the same “Houses For Sale” that I talked about before.

Look at your house objectively as a buyer. Is it pristine? Is the outside inviting? Have you staged it to look like a home? You don’t need furniture – just little odds and ends that make it look like a home not just a house.

Visit all of the other houses for sale in your area. What are they offering in terms of amenities and price as compared to yours? What can you do to make yours more attractive to buyers. Remember, it may be a buyers’ market, but there are still buyers out there. They just have more choice. Make your house the favorite choice!

I have found that marketing must be varied and consistent. I try to use at least 5-8 different mediums - so a little of everything you said plus direct mail, flyers, billboards, etc. I target certain areas and will market heavy in those areas, and I will target certain lists that I think will generate motivate sellers: dispossessory; probates; etc.

What is important is to have both direct to door advertising (direct mail or flyers) and mass media (bandit signs, newspaper display ads; billboards). And yes, I use the net a lot.

I got interested in real estate when I realized that I was working 50-60 hours climbing the corporate ladder and missing ll the big events with my kids growing up. I saw of those late night commercials for REI and that's how I got started. The biggest help came from joining my local REIA.

My main focus is wholesaling because it is so easy and the cash flow is great. I now use the internet to attract investor buyers and sellers from around the country. The net sure makes everything a whole lot easier. Bascially I use Goole to drive traffic to a squeeze page where I give out a Free Report pertinent to the type of traffic I am generating. Then I use an auto-responder to manage the list.

When I have a wholesale house, I simply drive traffic to a website, and the house sells quickly. I love it.

I never go under contract if I don't think that I already have a great deal. In otehr words, there is plenty of profit in there for me as a wholesaler and for the investor buyer. Couple that with a good size lize of buyers, and you will very infrequently ever have to go back to a seller.

At worse case, I simply go back and say that I will not be able to purchase the home. Your earnest money is your only liability (if your PSA is set up correctly). For the few occassions that this has occured, I also gave the seller a month's mortgage payment as good will - but there was no requirement.

What you need to do is market, market, market to find motivated seller leads so yuo can be picky and choosy. At the same time, build your investor buyers list. The easiest ways are with your local REIA (investor association and using the internet).

Another idea is to go down to your court house and find out where landlords file dipossessories (evictions); then ask that office for a copy of the filings over the last week to 10 days. This is public info so they must give it to you. Then go back and get the info regularly. This will give you a list of exactly the kind of landlords you're looking for - frustrated.

Hi everyone,

My name is Lou Castillo from Charleston, SC. I just moved here from Atlanta and ready to start up investing here. I have been investing in Atlanta since the early 90's doing a lot of wholesales; rehabs, and some rentals.

I used to work for American Express, but retired at age 37 when I saw how much more I could make in real estate. I am now using the internet to explode the business even further.

I was surfing the net and came across this site. It seems like a very active site with some great people posting. I look forward to being part of the community.