Need advice please!

Good for you! Now, don't be nervous, they're people just like you and me. Just talk to them like you've known them for years... LOL! Seriously, let them talk after you ask for them to tell you about their situation, then just say things like that sounds like a great house, or you know like you understand and just build raport. That's the most important thing here, get them to trust you and WANT to do business with YOU! Get it? If you have Dean's questions that's all you need. I don't ever make an offer on the first call, tell them you'd like to talk it over with your partner (ficticious) so that you can give them a couple of options for their situation. Then call back with your offer and justify why and be ready to have that contract accepted and signed, also sign your name and/or assigns. Good luck, keep us posted!
God bless,

Great info as always Elena. Just a quick footnote to what you said concerning the value stated on Zillow.com Don't take that value at face value, no pun intended. Zillow takes a pool of properties in a 2-3 mile radius and comes up with an estimate. These properties may vary greatly in size, year, date sold, etc. It may show something sold in 07' and you definately don't want to use that to determine that same properties worth in August 08'. Go to Zillow and type in the address. From there hit comparables. Look for 4-6 properties that are 1)built within 10 years of your property 2)have the same number of bedrooms and baths 3)have within 300 square feet above or below your property 4)have a similar lot size and 5)was sold within the last 3 months or less. This will more clearly help you estimate the properties value before you come back with your offer.

Your loan to value is at 59%, which is good. It is important to determine what your exit strategy is so that when you get this property under contract you know what you are going to do with it, i.e. purchase it for yourself to live in, assign it to an investor or purchase it or put a renter in the property. When you speak with the person make sure you listen to them carefully to determine their motivation and build rapore. Be sure that you aren't the first to make an offer as you may be surprised how motivated the seller turns out to be. See what work needs to be done on the property so you can determine your after repair value. That will help you determine your bottom line so you don't hurt your chances to assign this deal or get financing. This is where your money is made.

Visualize success before you get on the phone and exude confidence over the phone. Once your numbers are solid in your head and your exit strategy is established there is no reason to be nervous because your homework is done and your profit is built in to your offer. Don't be afraid to walk away from the deal if it doesn't make financial sense. Remember, many successful people have had countless failures but those countless failures in turn groomed them for countless success. Enjoy the process, visualize you making it happen and most importantly remember that the people on this site are cheering you on.

kristy listen, thats great that someone called you from your advertising, a little word of caution, DO NOT let the customer wait too long, you are not the only investor thats trying to "get them under contract", If you wait to long to call back they WILL call someone else.

Also, you need to check more web sites than just zillow.com. Yes, zillow will give you an idea of what the properties worth, but you'll want to pull from a couple of different sources like: www.homesandland.com- this is one of my personal favorites, they will give you "estimates" from zillow, eppraisal, and homegain, I also check: www.realquest.com, they are another excellent site for "approximate values" with local "COMP's", last but NOT least- i then check www.moveup.com, great site that not only gives "estimates" and "COMP's" but also has a feature built in that allows for a more "accurate" estimate of the property, by being able to pick and choose the right COMP's to compare for the property, AND will allow for YOU to adjust for certain "market conditions" like is the property being sold in a "HOT" or "COLD" market? plus they have other "add ons", CLASS DISMISSED.

Thanks for adding those sites! And for the great advice!

Kristy, yes, be careful about your comps. In every experience for me, Zillow has been WAY off. And that is going to make ALL the difference in the world for what your offer will be and determining if you will make money on the deal.

Take Troy's advice, too. (He's got some good experience)

You will do great! Just pretend YOU are the one on the other end and talk to that person with words that You would feel comfortable hearing.

Good luck,

Rina

Thank you sooo much EVERYONE for your help and wisdom. I don't know how far i'd go if i didn't have a site like this with great people and them helping and sharing experiences. everyone has been a blessing...SULLY per your advice i will call him tomorrow and get all the info and see what happens. i wrote down questions and a list of others things i need to know and do. ELENA/STEPPING UP/RINA thank all of you also for your motivation and inspiration, you're always wonderful!!....also even after i ask if there's any liens and such on the prop. should i still contact the tax assessor and double check? and when should i ask to see the house to see how much and what kind of work needs to be done? Thank you again for all your help!!

Kristy

Yes, get the info from the assessor's office and whatever other information you would on ANY property you're looking at. And if they seem willing to work with you, ask to see the house as soon as they can let you. You will need all of this in order to make an offer you feel confident in. Would you agree, Lena, Sully, Troy?
We bought a house at auction without being able to see the inside, and I don't know if I'd ever buy site-unseen again. COULD become a nightmare. (Did)

Again, you're gonna do great!

Rina

definitley, definitley, definitley, when you put an offer in on a property without seeing it(sight unseen) your playing RUSSIAN ROULETTE and it's just like playing roulette @ the casino's, "THE ODDS ARE NOT IN YOUR FAVOR", i will never just take someones word about what needs to be fixed, As for double checking to see if their are any other LIENS on the property, even though the owner said there aren't, lots of investors have gotten BURNT from this, you need to do your own "DUE DILLIGENCE", is it annoying-YES, but again, homeowners are desperate when their in foreclosure and people do lie and will lie to get rid of their problem, so if you didn't check, make sure you do-ON ALL DEALS

Kristy, do your research and drive the area to make sure that the homes zillow is using is comparable to what you are interested in. Here in the SW suburbs of chicago they tend to go outside the area and are not comparable to the property I'm looking at. Zillow can raise the price way over your property.

Bruce

Don't make an offer without looking at the property and check the title for any liens as well. The less risks the better for you. It's not necessarily that the seller is dishonest, but they might not know about any liens. So you ALWAYS want to do your homework. I also learned that the hard way Rina.
Keep us posted, we're all behind you girl!!
God bless,

I just refinanced a client that didn't know that they had leins on their cabin. They thought it was only on their primary residence. When the loan was nearing completion we found out they had a $62,000 lein on their primary home and a $10,000 tax lein on the cabin. This should not have been overlooked by my underwriter but it did. From experience always have a title company run a title report to see what is on the property in question but be cognicent of the fact that sometimes people have blanket leins on their name that will affect the first property in line that is either refinanced or sold. This may not always show up on the title report for the particular property in question. These leins than will have to be paid by whichever comes first.

I have a quick question for you. Another DG member and myself are trying to partner a deal on a property that is owned by a HML ( Blazevic Funding Group). How much does a title search cost? Since both Shaun and myself live hours away from this deal,and the owner is going to carry the mortgage,where do we go for the title search. Would appreciate any input that you can give..Jan

I have a quick question for you. Another DG member and myself are trying to partner a deal on a property that is owned by a HML ( Blazevic Funding Group). How much does a title search cost? Since both Shaun and myself live hours away from this deal,and the owner is going to carry the mortgage,where do we go for the title search. Would appreciate any input that you can give..Jan

most TITLE COMPANYS offer 2 types of title searches, you can get what they call a "PRESENT OWNER SEARCH" which is NOT nearly extensive as a TITLE SEARCH, that will run approx $75-$100 depending on your relationship with the title company(cause i built a good repport with my title co, they dont charge me as much) Now if you need a FULL title search done they should be in the neighborhood of $200-$250, again depending on where you go.

I was counting sheep when you were answering that question for me.

have you ever heard of a HML asking for 10% down (To show his lawyer) and then giving it back to you the next day. This is the deal from above. He will hold the mortg. but probably will sell it down the road. Teh renter wants to stay and even wants to buy the house. We know nothing of his credt yet so will probably do a lease/option or rent to own type. Any help on this???..Jan

Thanks for the advice, I knew you would pop in. I guess I am a lot greener then I thought. NIce to hear from you my friend...Jan

i'm just glad i could HELP

ok so i spoke to the gentleman again today and the total amount owed is 97,711. he says it was appraised last year for 130,000. my re agent has not gotten back to me on comps so i think ill have to get another agent. he said its a fixer upper im going to see it next thurs the 25th but he said he will sign a contact if he can get 5,000 out of it. im planning on assigning it and i have nowhere near that amount of money to give. is there any suggestions on how this could possibly work out for me and profit also?

he said he was going thru another investor before who offered him 5,000 but it fell thru because he was in bankruptcy then and he got my letter before he called them back and decided to give me a try. they already purchased a townhouse and just want to get rid of this house and there has not yet been an auction date set.

Comps from last year have changed significantly so I wouldn't go off that. Last year my house's comps were $215k, now they're at $134k. So try to get current comps. You can do that with a realtor, but if you don't have one there are sites that you can use like zillow.com, although I don't think their accurate. You can also take the flyers from realtors signs in the neighborhood of the house your interested in. It's a little more time consuming but hey, it works.

God bless,

I'm sorry but i don't see a deal here, I don't beleive theirs going to be enough profit in the deal for your ASSIGNMENT FEE, and thats banking on the rehabber, or your "end buyer" selling the property at FULL retail, which again, probably won't happen as the market will NOT support those numbers, you NEVER want to base your deal or offer off of the higher end of retail because thats the MOST you can list it for and sorry but NOBODY's going to pay list price, NOT in this BOTTOM MARKET. Another thing that's against you is the year old "APPRAISAL" your going off, that number is NO GOOD, who cares what it appraised for a year ago, the market has gotten worse since then, the most i would go back is no MORE than 6 months tops(on COMPS & appraisals). Do Not Do This Deal, nothing good will come out of it but both parties being pi!?@ off that their time was wasted.

However you could buy this property "SUBJECT TO", depending on how much work the property needs, if you would like more info, just ask me.

I dont know what to do now. i have no money im about to lose my job in 3 weeks and of all the letters i sent that was the only response. all the foreclosures around here are looking pretty much the same with minimal room for a profit. i really have zero money to put up for anything i wish i did. i starting to wonder how im going to pull any of this off...discouraged.

just hang in there, listen, their is a deal there if the REPAIRS are NO more than $5,000, like i said, you can buy the property "SUBJECT TO" here's what i would do: tell him you'll buy the property AS-IS(as long as repairs are less than $5,000) and he'll DEED you the property, so essentially you'll be buying the proeprty for $97,711(the balance) and you will continue to make the mortgage payments, BUT thats another thing, you ARE going to NEED like 3-6 months of "CASH RESERVES", if you are to buy the property this way, remember it's a DOWN MARKET so until you can spend the money to REHAB the property to RENTABLE condition, your going to need like 3 months worth of mortgage payments until you can #1 finish the REHAB, #2 get a LEASE OPTION TENANT in the property, until you'll see any PROFIT. Sorry, i had to be the one to tell you the bad news, but it's better than you going through with a BAD DEAL, possibly ruining your RE career.

I like it..... I wish I knew about this community when I was working on my first deal and I wish I had relied on this community more working on the next few. Not that the first deal was horrible, but I cut it toooooo close for comfort.

Sully, not only do I appreciate your honesty and thoroughness but I am sure Kristy is thankful that she didn't just jump into it and ask questions later.

Kristy, there are literally 1000's of these properties out there, so keep looking, keep learning from this community, and keep focused on your future in REI. It's tough when everything is crumbling and evaporating around you (like your job) but think and act long term.

A quick story, one deal for us happened because we were looking. Little did we know that the house down the street was in preforeclosure but out of conversations, building networks, and hunting for bird-dogs, an opportunity grabbed us! They are there and they have all kinds of variables attached to them - just keep moving forward and keep your ears and eyes open!

You are in good company here at DG.

Regards,
Rohn Everson
DeJor Properties, LLC