How do I make the pitch?

IS:

with all that contacting, you have yet to make an offer.

Try sending in actual offers instead of asking them.

Cheers!

Congrats on your info gathering

Hi Jared,

It sounds like your new app may be very useful. Does it only pertain to Hennepin County, Minnesota or does it cover all the counties in all the United States?

...I want to make an offer on, find out who the asset manager is and send the PA directly to them with no other contact?

What do you guys think of offer letters giving the price and terms before the fully completed PA? I'm just curious because I think it has some benefits over sending the PA initially. It gives you a chance to explain your offer, leaves room for them to counter, it's more conversational than a PA and it's potentially an easier way to get a response that could be taken to an investor...

Specifically I'm thinking that if they accept the terms from the cover letter you could go to a cash investor and sell them the completed PA and not have to put any earnest money down yourself.

Sometimes I get frustrated because of the number of options there are and the lack of understanding the reasons to use one over the other... starting a new career is soooooo frustrating sometimes!

Then again, it's kind of fun, too.

Well, you're getting closer yet.

When you are still talking about sending in a letter first that's good.... but....
It's still not an offer, just a letter referring to one.

Another thing with your last post what you have there indicates to me you don't have a buyer ready, which would help alleviate some of those other worries

Then put in 25 and get 1 or better

Cheers!

@daltonstrail... I'm trying to find a cost-effective and simple way to get the data I need but if can get that it's really no big deal to make it work anywhere...

@MxChica... I have plenty of buyers inte areas that I'm looking to make offers. As for the offers themselves, I'm referring to a binder, which is a legally binding documennt that defines some of the terms in a PA but not necessarily to the 34-page degree that some offers can reach.

Something to think about, anyway...

Thanks guys, and yeah, I have the approach I need now, you guys rock!

It sounds like you're trying to reinvent the wheel. Sometimes when we're so good in one area it's hard for us to let go as that's all we know. There are thousands of real estate investors and likely 99% of them never had to write an app or software to be successful. If this is truly what you want I highly reccommend you follow in the footsteps already laid before you...if you want to do your own thing then maybe try writing a program that can be useful to any investor across the country or world... At least then you have a chance at making some money off it

I think that what ever works for you, you should do it. Some people need/want to have things presented in a different way that makes more sense or easier to understand for them. I unlike some on DG, use spreadsheets for everything. I think spreadsheets work for me because I like all the information in a certain order and I know where it's at. For me, I can sort the information and in any fashion that suites ME. Some people use the old fashioned method of filing everything in the physical form so they can physically touch and read their paperwork.

Some people also use fax machines still. I myself think that email is faster, but I really do understand the paper trail concept. Just saying it really is not for me.

In the end, you have to do what works for you best. Not, what works for Tom, D**k, or Harry. Although, taking bits and pieces of what others do helps me find my own way of doing things in life.

Congrats on doing your homework first, but now take ACTION.

The first step is always the hardest, at least for me it was.

@MarkL... *shrugs*

There are plenty of REI investors that PAID someone to write software for them, and plenty of them who use other means to collect and analyze the same information in various ways. I know Dean has one, Zack Childress paid tens of thousands of dollars to build one. There's a guy in our REIA that assembles numbers every month and puts them in a spreadsheet for the same reason I built this. Just because they didn't have the skill to build it themselves doesn't mean they didn't need it.

Even if you have a valid point, everyone needs a starting place, and I took mine from what I already knew. I have no money (yet) but lots of skill and time. You read books, I play with statistics... it's all up to the individual to find what sources of information give them the foundation upon which they can base the action they DO take.

And with 10 minutes effort I can produce things like this report of foreclosures per month since April 2011 in Hennepin County, MN:

TheMonth TheYear CountOfProperties
----------- ---------- --------------------
April 2011 49
May 2011 440
June 2011 462
July 2011 371
August 2011 355
September 2011 367
October 2011 329
November 2011 365
December 2011 425
January 2012 400
February 2012 296
March 2012 347
April 2012 356
May 2012 358
June 2012 397
July 2012 279
August 2012 368
September 2012 340
October 2012 205

Now with Dean and Matt always telling us to know our markets I can tell you that foreclosures in Hennepin County, MN, MIGHT just be beginning to slow down... but one short month doesn't mean much. What my data DOES tell me is that there's a pool of 6,000 properties out there and who owns them, who owns how many of them, what their names are and what the addresses of these properties are.

That puts a whole lot of power in my hands... I'm just looking for input on how best to use it.

Look, anyone who tells you that money is power doesn't know what they're talking about. Information is power, and even if you use money to get it, it's still the information that makes a person powerful. This information is my ace in the hole, and it's enabling me to find the properties and the banks to target in order to build a steady pipeline of properties to my buyers.

So while I may be engaging in a bit of parallel development effort, what I have here is something that was available to me for no material cost whatsoever (i.e. nothing involved but my time and skill), Sure I could have gotten this info somewhere else, but that was out of reach because of the costs involved.

Just saying, don't ding someone until you understand their motivation. I was motivated to build this for real reasons the same as a homeowner may be motivated to sell a property for 65% of it's real value for any number of real reasons.

@All... Thanks for the comments, the feedback and the interest in the app. I'll see what I can do about opening up access.

Beyond that, I am still wondering if anyone actually has any advice on how best to proceed with the data I've collected. I really hate doing STUFF in the hopes that I'll thrash around until something works. But if nobody has anything I'll look at my data and move forward. Heck maybe I'm actually paving new ground here, I dunno...

But seriously, thanks for the comments... I appreciate the interest and the feedback.

...is if you are seeing multiple foreclosures by a certain individual that will tell you that they were buying and holding at some point. You can contact to see if they have any additional properties that weren't in foreclosure yet to see if they would like to just wholesale them to you instead of letting it go back to the bank. Who knows they may have just hit a bump in the road (ie. divorce)and now they have their finances back in order and they are ready to get back in the game, so now you may have just run across a new cash buyer to put on your list. Strike up conversation and see what their situation is.

If you can see how offers have been sent in to a particular property, or what offers that were rejected you can adjust your strategy to maybe give them a little more back in the offer you send them (I'm not even sure you have access to this info, but just a thought if you did). I've read that sometimes it's as little as $1000 or even less is enough to make them bite.

Good Luck and hope some of this helps. This is what I would use it for.

Well all that data is useless unless you try and buy a property! So I would say you need to run the numbers on the properties of interest and contact the bank to determine who the listing agent will be. Going directly to the asset manager of ANY major bank (where 99% of foreclosed properties are) is not going to happen. So called "shadow inventory" will be released in a trickle when the lender wants. They will put them out on the MLS to try and get highest and best. They won't accept some low ball offer first. That is just reality. Now if you or anyone else here gets an accepted offer dealing directly with an asset manager from B of A, Wells Fargo, Chase etc. PLEASE let us know!! So get the listing agent info and make offers, follow up because 99% of your offers will be rejected the first, second and even the third time.
Also, you might think of approaching the home owners BEFORE the auction. Notices of default are a matter of public record. MY software pulls the ones that show 30% or more equity. I also market to the ones with little or no equity. Those are good L/O possibilities.
We also have a list of all properties that go to the bank after each weekly auction in the counties of our choice. Also a matter of public record. Brand new REOs.
All the data in the world does nothing for me unless I sell the program or use the data to acquire property.

Just a few thoughts,

Michael Mangham
Mentoring/Team Building Nationwide
MD Home Acquisitions LLC

Yeah, all that data IS pointless unless it drives the acquisition of properties. My original plan was too early... to suck up mass counts of properties from small-midsize local or regional banks. My second plan, using binders to line up buyers before the properties are off their redemption period was too late. Either would have worked but the timing was off.

However, my current plan should work... which is to simply make dozens of offers (including repeats on rejections) on pre-listing REOs to any number of different banks. Now that I have the information that I need, both on the properties, on the angle to take and the property information I can really start to make this fly.

Thanks for all the input everyone!!

Go for very SMALL banks and credit unions. Larger banks WILL NOT sell their pre listed REOs one at a time to a small investor. If you are syndicated and offering on bulk REOs and/or have $500,000 or more in liquid assets THEN they will talk to you, maybe.

The problem with very small banks is they only have a few REOs. Not really a way to build a pipeline of deals. Maybe a couple a year. With big banks you WILL have to offer through their listing agent when or right before the property gets listed on the MLS. That is just the way it is. I think B of A has some 85% of all REOs available.

If anyone sees anything different happening please let us know!!

Michael Mangham
Mentoring/Team Building Nationwide
MD Home Acquisitions LLC