How Do We Know Which Homes To Visit?

I would say that while in the learning process you go to every house you possibly can. Any truly successful investor I know has been inside hundreds of houses.
If you are looking to wholesale fix/flip properties they will ALL need repairs.
Your numbers need to be accurate when you present the deal to your buyers.
ARV
Rehab/Remodel costs
Your buy price Mr/Mrs Buyer
Expenses based on a 90 day hold
Your NET profit Mr/Mrs Buyer

If you are planning on doing the fix/flip yourself or buy and holding your repair costs need to be accurate down to the last drywall screw.

Good Luck!

Michael Mangham
Mentoring/Team Building Nationwide
MD Home Acquisitions LLC

Michael,

You have responded to quite a few of my posts and always provided terrific advice and insight. I really appreciate that. Thank you. I am new and will be wholesaling these homes, so yes visiting hundreds homes should be part of my experience to become a truly successful investor. If numbers hold up to the norm, making 25 offers/ visitations per month would mean it would take approximately 8 months to visit 200 homes. Does that sound reasonable or should it be more?

Thank you,

Greg

Hi, Greg!

Yes, in the beginning you should walk through/view as many houses/properties as humanly possible to get a feel of a what the physical condition of each one is like and what to look for. However, with the photos available on the MLS and access to the Internet today, I do not believe you need to physically view ALL properties. That would involve a bunch of your valuable time, not to mention a lot of gas, and dragging your agent around all day long.

I suggest streamlining the properties you're actually interested in (have run the numbers on & you've gotta have it!), and then setting appointments to do a walk-thru those properties. If your target properties are similar (or in the same subdivision), then once you've looked at 10 or 20, you can get the feel of what repairs need to be done based upon the year the house was built, square footage, situation, etc. If/when you do view a property, take a handyman partner (or your contractor) with you, so he can silently assess necessary repairs with you. (You may want to take photos while you're there for future marketing). Now, off market (private seller) properties, you will definitely want to view in person, every time.

Presuming you will be making offers on MLS houses you will assign and/or flip to a rehab buyers, remember there is the option period in which each buyer will have time to run their own inspection. If the properties are intended for your own purchase (rehab/flip or hold), then by all means check each 1 out, like any savvy investor [buyer] would do.

PS. When the MLS listing isn't showing adequate photos, I ask my RE agent to take some photos for me. They're usually sent to my iPhone or emailed the same day. I need to see the interior, not just exterior photos!

Google the property address. You might get different results if you put the address in quotes "123 Main St. Town, State ZIP" Zillow, Trulia,Craigslist, Youtube,any site that the seller might have posted an ad, could have interior pictures. I found a website that one FSBO made just for the property he was selling that had pictures and video. You never know what you'll find.

Or, just ask the seller what repairs the property needs. If they say it needs no repairs, then make your offer with no repair costs, then when you show up to look at the property and the roof is caving in you can renegotiate a price minus the cost to repair it. Make sure your offer is contingent on "buyers inspection AND APPROVAL" not just "inspection" that way you can renegotiate or back out of the deal. Nobody is going to expect you to show up with a team of contractors before you make an offer, thats what the inspection period is for (and to buy time to find a buyer if you're wholesaling)

I try to look at every property before making an offer, mostly just because it's a chance to talk with the seller face-to-face and maybe find out more about their situation. I seem to get more of the "real story" once the seller is showing me the house.