30 Days Quick Cash Formula

Tina,

Thanks for taking the time to read my long post. I was able to follow the property's history through other resources to realize that I didn't have the true cash buyer, but rather the old owner's name that sold their house for cash. I did this by looking at the history of the property and the names associated to each transaction through these other sources (i.e. Dataquick). I also looked at the dates of each transaction. That is how I knew for certain that I didn't have the real cash buyer but rather the old owner that sold their home for cash. So you were right on target there.

I haven't tried calling the county's recorder's office to see how far behind they are on updating the records. I have been meaning to due that, but haven't had a chance yet. I wanted to call just to know for certain how far behind they are and if they had any suggestions to get more up to date info. I also haven't asked my realtor to go further back than 90 days yet. I thought about doing this if I couldn't find another way to get the info I wanted.

I found a way that has worked about 50% to 75% of the time, but unfortunately double checking each listing through a few different databases that I have access to is time consuming, but at this point, it is the only option I have to get the info that I need.

Thanks again for all your help on this topic. Had I not worked through it slowly and painfully already, you would have helped me get through the process more quickly.

Thanks,

Michael

I Read this thread and wow.i have learned so much..Too too good.Have a question to someone a little or should i say alot more experienced than me...i know a landlord with homes that he is wanting to sell...He told me he would sell with no down payment.Just closing cost and then 12%...How would some of you structure this too make a profit?Thank You All Again!

You said: "FYI, this is a buyer's market which means you'll get more landlords selling than buying, but they're out there." Wouldn't it mean that more landlords would be buying rather than selling at this time? Is it just me, am I just confused here?

You basically look at current market conditions and see who it favors. Right now it's a buyers market, prices are at the lowest they've been in decades, interest rates are at their lowest, there are more homes for sale than people are buying. There's a glut of foreclosures and REOs. This market benefits the buyer.

Now, back in 2006 or so, when you could stand on the front lawn with a for sale sign in your hands and sell the house in 5 minutes, that's a seller's market.

It's not a seller's market right now because conditions do not favor the sellers.

If there's less people buying than there are selling, your proportion of sellers is higher. If you call 10 people that are in the market, you'll find more sellers than buyers. Whether they are landlords or not doesn't matter. Not all landlords have a dg education
Also, as I have found out myself, some landlords were thrown into their situation by inheritances and other uncontrollable circumstances and they tried to make a decent run at it but couldn't sustain the day to day operations. This one landlord I'm talking about inherited 13 properties and he was already running his own construction business on top of that. Another landlord is tired and wants out. It goes on and on. Just have to keep calling and looking and you'll find your buyers, they're out there.
Not to mention, if you have 3 or so sellers before you find your buyers, well, you have something to offer to your buyers already right?

That's why I would think landlords would be more inclined to hold onto their properties for the cashflow rather than to sell low. I would think they would want to hold onto them and wait for the prices to rise.

I just qualified 2 more cash-buyers today and it's not even 10am yet! One of them was from a Ghost Ad I placed a couple days ago. If you're not using Ghost Ads yet to find buyers, DO IT! They work! To find out what I'm doing and my exact response to ppl who call, check out the link below (a previous post of mine).

http://www.deangraziosi.com/real-estate-forums/everything-else/86517/30-...

The other buyer I qualified contacted me b/c of the letter I sent him (got his info using the list of cash-purchases my REA sent me). Now I'm calling For-Rent ads in the paper to find and qualify more buyers. Something I picked up on: if you find that more than one ad has the same telephone number, check out who the owner is via tax assesors website. Most ads I call whose number was listed more than once, the phone number was an office or property mgmt company. I was able to get the mailing addresses of 4 landlords that I will use to send the "Hello Mr./Mrs. Investor" letter to! Are these landlords cash-buyers? I don't know, but contacting them won't hurt

Yesterday I was talking to a REA in a town about 75 miles from where I am currently living (my husband and I are thinking about moving)this gentleman was kind of elderly but a sweet old guy. I asked him about how the market was in his town and he said it was steady. I asked him if there was a good buyers market there, he said it was kind of slow because people did not have good FICO scores. I asked him were there any investors that were doing pretty well there he said yes....but I don't know how they're doing it! I wanted to laugh out loud because the way he said it was adorable and yet I found it kind of sad that he didn't have the knowledge we have here.

I was hoping that I could get some opinions from people here if they beleive have what I just said if that area would be a good place to invest in RE. Please let me know, I know I need to do some research on the area but I really like other peoples opinions too.

I still haven't made it through all the great posts here yet, but wanted to share something I learned from one of the RE brokers I talked to. He seems like he might be a good candidate.

Anyway, he told me he could set up something called an MLS Gateway for me that automatically updates with the search criteria I give him. So if I'm looking for $80-120k houses in a particular zip code that have closed with cash, it would be automatically updated on a daily basis! Even better than that, he said the gateway is actually my own personal internet portal that I can log into at anytime to see these listings.

Has anyone else heard about this or know more about it? I wonder if only brokers have the ability to set something like that up or is it all realtors?

No but I would LOVE to hear others' opinion and insight on this as well! In theory, this is AWESOME!!!

YES! this can be done. I just checked with my agent (not a broker) she is setting this up right now! This will streamline the process, for my agent and me - for specific zips. Will also filter based on your purchase criteria i.e. vacant, "as is" , price reduced. - Great tip! Thank you

If Investors are buying in the area, then it's a good area to be in. When you get your list of Cash Transactions from your REA, then you should be able to track down some of these cash buyers and let them know you can find deals for them in those areas.

Just remember, that when you are pursuing a Assigning strategy, then ANY area that investors are buying is a good area.

See you at the top,

I received my first email from my realtor with listings with the criteria we were taught to ask (As-Is/Vacant/Price Reduction)...

Is there any way to really tell if these listings were actually pulled with that criteria?

Before I answer your question, did you also have the REA manually go through each one and check the description box for any mention of "needs repairs, work, tlc, elbow grease, etc."? This should've dwindled down the number to about 25 listings.

I don't think there's a yes or no answer (unless you ask the person who did the filtering). BUT you can bet that if the property is being sold through a bank (REO) or government (HUD), that the prop is vacant and is being sold "as is". Which if the REA did filter the properties per your criteria, a majority of the properties that made it through the filter are bank and goverment-owned props

Does anyone else know if there is a way to check "price reduction" on an MLS sheet?

Michelle, great job! I bumped into the same hurdle - calling office or property management company. And I had the same idea of mailing them the cash buyer letters since they worked so well! The only thing to keep in mind is to tweak the letters to ask them whether they want to sell their properties, or if they are interested in acquiring more properties like what they already have. And if they happen to be retail buyers (buying with conventional bank loans), keep them on the list anyway! You'll be able to mix and match later when you find a great deal

Also, one quick tip I wanna share with everyone (I'm sure most of you are doing it already). I learned this from my direct response marketing experience: HANDWRITE THE ADDRESS on your envelope and put the physical stamps yourself (or ask someone else to do it). Most people throw away generic letters from companies, but they will open an envelope with handwritten address. Also, consider signing your name in each letter, it helps to build trust with the recipient and let them know that you're a real person.

Here are some things that you can search in the MLS. I just searched these parameters in the MLS in my area and founds a good sampling of home that I am teaming up with a fellow DG'er and submitting offers on.

My favorite thing is to search for "low taxes" or "Senior Tax Freezes or Exemptions." This usually leads you DIRECTLY to estate sales which is awesome. Those are the perfect properties to target. 9 times out of 10, you run into a home of a person that just recently passed and the family is looking to sell the home quickly. It also does two more qualifications of the property.

1) Usually if a senior citizen has lived in the property for 20-30 years they have a lot of equity in the property or even had the property paid off in full. That way the family can just fire sale the property and accept your low price.

2) Most of the time, estate sale properties are in awesome structural condition and have a lot going for them. Their only down side is the fact that the property is in need of major cosmetic updating - which is awesome for us.

3) The families are looking to dump the property, so an AS IS cash offer looks awesome in their eyes.

I have myself set up on a search just for senior tax exemptions. You'd be surprised HOW MANY properties there are.

Some other things you can search are:

-Market time (search for high days on market)
-You can usually search agent remarks so you can search individual words (AS IS, needs TLC, needs work, updating) things like that!!

These simple searches will lead you RIGHT to the properties you want. You can have your agent set you up on a search for this stuff today and have it sent to you automatically every day. That will allow you to reduce their work load and you can filter the properties yourself!

I love this method, great deals are to be had!

Another you can search as well is price changes. That is an incredibly simple thing you can look up!

I actually did that (hand-wrote the addresses--theirs and mine) simply b/c I know what I do everytime I get a piece of mail w/my address pre-printed on it: I throw it in the trash (unless I recognize the return address). Since I knew they wouldn't recognize my name and the return address, I handwrote everything on the outside of the envelope to give it a more personalized feeling. I also handwrote their name and signed my name on the actual letter itself. So far I've had 3 ppl respond, two of which I was albe to qualify as cash-investors!

Another update--I was able to qualify yet another cash-buyer today! That's 3 qualified cash-investors in one day! The third investor contacted me about my Ghost Ad that I placed 2 days ago! I'm loving those things...

I just replaced my Ghost Ads today and added them in new areas. I am getting lots of calls!

They Rule!!

The price of the property on the MLS sheet has 3 colors - green / black / red.
Green - Price reduced
Black - Price is the same
Red - Price increased

By the way, throwing a question out there. After you lock up a contract (seller has accepted your 50% off offer), would you hire a home inspector to inspect the property to make sure there are no major defects? Obviously that would mean money out of the pocket. Alternatively, would you just run through the deal with your potential buyer before the contingency period ends, and have him hire a home inspector instead?

Appreciate any help.

P.S. Just submitted 2 offers today, so I'm waiting for good news! Going through more properties so I can submit more offers but that's where I stand now. I'm left with 1 more week till the end of 30-day period, it'll be tough to get cash by then but I will do my best!

Never give up guys, unleash the power within you! (as what Tony Robbins would say)

Well, finally got the ball rolling on having my RE Atty draft a customized contract specific to the kind of "investing" I'll be doing. What initiated my call to him was me thoroughly reviewing the contract used by the local Realtor's Association; I noticed that there were quite a bit of provisions geared toward the best interests of the seller and not me as the buyer.

My atty reviewed them and agreed and suggested that we discuss my investing strategy that way he can draft a contract that will better serve me-the buyer. It's sounding pretty iron-clad (if there is such a thing). The contract will allow me a 14-day "free look" of the property for purposes of intially inspecting the property (which we all know also allows me 14 days to find an end-buyer).

I do wonder if I'm not being too thorough, but the way I see, nothing compares to having peace-of-mind about what I'm doing

Michelle,

Let me tell you, peace of mind will be awesome for your first deal. You'll experience everything in the book, just like I am going through now. It will be way worth it to have this for you. Good work!!

Plus, this is a contract that you can use forever!!

Thank you, Alex! It's nice to know that I'm not simply overthinking everything but acting as a smart real estate business owner. My REA actually agrees with it and is willing to work w/it so that made me feel better about it

And YES, I'm using that badboy until the ink wears off

Have called many, most tell you what they can't do, double closing? not in ll years! Properties have to be seasoned(not if you have cash buyers) Why do I know more than they do? I always ask for agents dealing with investors and have experience, but even when they say they do, they don't really. No Keller/Williams in this area. All remax people are retail sellers. Getting frustrated, want to get started, have Carl H who will sell my properties until I get better at this, and don't mine bird dogging. Want to asssign to start but need good realtor. Help, sounds like you know your way around. any suggestions I haven't used?

That's a beautiful thing! I have my agent to filter out all the props in my area that match my criteria(as is, vacant, needs work...) He is gonna set up MLS system to generate those leads for me. That's great. Automation is everywhere.
Don't let nobody to tell you what you can't do. Be a leader!
Good luck everybody and I'll see you at the top!

Dennis

After a week of talking to my RE agent he tells me now that the POF letter that I got was not acceptable because anyone could get a letter from Coastal Funding and if I could get a valid POF letter I would need to sign a Buyer/Representative with him. Can anyone PM me on how to procede. Thanks

I would look for another agent. He doesn't sound investor friendly. I don't think it's a good idea to sign anything like that, it sounds like it may be an exclusivity agreement. You don't want to limit yourself to only one agent, especially if he's not investor friendly!

Hi my DG family, do I need a RE Broker &/or RE Attorney besides to my RE Agent? What do they do and how can I approach them?

Thank you in advance!

GHG

Looking to partner with someone in Ft. Lauderdale,Fl

Anybody have any tips?

I have submitted about 40 offers in Michigan. All of them have been rejected, either too low and no counter, or out bid in a Multiple Offer Situation. With 40 offers submitted I have not had any luck, which means I am probably submitting too low of offers. I think I can raise my offer price from a 50% off listed price, to 40% off listed price. The prices are so depressed already that 40% off might be better.

Also, I need to find sellers outside of the MLS. I don't live in the area so I can't place signs or post fliers. Have any techniques for an out of town investor?

Thoughts?

Matt says to do 100 offers before tweaking your strategy. At 40 offers, maybe do 10 more then bump it up to 40%, your thoughts make sense regarding market conditions.
As far as out of town sellers & buyers, use CL for the areas you're interested in.
Like was mentioned before, google "free classifieds"+"town, state". Do the same thing you do at home except in out of town classified sites.
Try different county websites and see what info they have to offer.
I've noticed on mine when searching by last name that if you check other people (other than the ones you were searching for) some of them are marked as delinquent on their taxes...get the gears going in your head?

Basically, phrase your question as "What would I do if I lived THERE instead of here?" to find buyers/sellers?

To everyone's success!