Author Archive
Real Estate Investment Hats
Posted on July 31, 2013 byWhen in real estate, a person wears many hats and learns to adapt to a ton of situations. This mean, however, you must be knowledgeable enough to do so. You may be a buyer’s representative, seller’s representative, wholesaler, investor, contractor, mediator, property manager; the list goes on and on. The only thing that remains constant is you. One may argue that you can delegate these tasks out to a “specialist;” but, how do you know if the “specialist” is any good if you are not capable enough to evaluate their work? In other words, if you know and understand what the specialist does you can save thousands of dollars per transaction. Read More→
Exit Strategies
Posted on June 27, 2013 byWhen in real estate, a person has to learn to adapt to any situation. In order to do this, you must have the knowledge to do so. In real estate you can try to “fake it til you make it” but sooner rather than later you will be discovered. To prevent embarrassment and improve your odds of success learn, learn and learn some more!!
A great example of this is a new wholesaler with very little to no guidance or training. They post ads, signs and hands out cards claiming they will buy your house cash without any the ability to do so. Now, let’s say that he/she is able to convince someone to sell them their property and was savvy enough to get a due diligence period built in. The wholesaler is excited that he/she finally has a property under contract. But is it a deal? With very little guidance or training, the likelihood of the property being a decent deal, much less a good deal, is very slim. The wholesaler’s only exit strategy was to wholesale the deal. If he cannot accomplish then the deal is dead. You can make money being a “one trick pony” in real estate investing but the more you know the more you make. Read More→
To Sign or Not to Sign
Posted on May 31, 2013 byOver the years, it has become easier and easier to identify a motivated seller. As an active real estate investor you will run across plenty of, what I like to call, price checker. These sellers have no motivation to sell but will sell for the right price. The problem is the right price to these price checkers rarely matches an investor’s price. But, when you do identify a motivated seller, it is up to you to find out what will make the seller commit to you. Commitment may mean a verbal commitment or a contract. I have purchased numerous properties directly from home owners and each person committed based on different motivational factors. Many times the price was agreed on but the seller still did not sign. The reasons for the sellers not signing have been all over the board.
Once, a seller did not sign because he was an older gentleman and was not comfortable signing a contract on an ipad. He wanted a physical contract to sign and a copy for himself. I told the seller I would go down the street to print one out but he assured me that the deal was mine. He said I could return the next day and he would sign. He promised he would not sell to anyone else. The next day, I returned with a physical paper contract and he signed as promised. Read More→
Mentoring
Posted on May 1, 2013 byOne thing everyone knows or should know about me by now is that I always make sure each transaction I participate in is a win-win situation. I do this to insure that the people I do business with continue to come back, become my walking billboards and think about me any time they have another deal. Many of these individuals also continue to work with me because I taught them much of what they use today make money.
I do not sell courses, books, or have any packages to sell. In fact, all the mentoring I have done to date has technically been for free. Obviously, the reason for training someone is in the hopes that they will pick up a fraction of what you teach them and find deals. You end up with deals and they make money for finding them, it does not get easier than that. Keep in mind that although it may not cost you money, it does cost time and time is money. A few months ago, an individual that I had mentored and assisted in earning $20,000+ in a matter of a few months stole a deal I negotiated and paid me ZERO. This taught me a lesson I had not followed before which is, “Be very selective in who you choose to mentor.” Although we would like to believe everyone has good intentions there are individuals out there that do not believe in win-win situations and they must be avoided. Read More→
Auctions Without Bidding
Posted on March 26, 2013 byOne way to invest at auctions is to not bid at all. This sounds crazy, but hear me out… First, you must attend a few of the auctions in the counties you would like to invest. Secondly, identify the winners and/or the regulars. These are the bidders/ buyers you want to speak with, get to know, and begin doing business with. If you have ever prepared for an auction correctly you know it is a time consuming and tedious process.
Once you have developed a working relationship with these individuals you may begin to ask if they are open to selling you some of their winning bid properties. Keep in mind that they have invested plenty of time and resources into these acquisitions. For this reason they have earned and need to be properly compensated. Each property will be different so do not agree to a flat fee but rather give them your buying criteria and a proof of funds or letter of intent. For example, many investors look to be at 65% LTV all in including repairs while other investors look for 15% ROI. No matter what the criteria, make sure that you are very clear in what you will buy. The last thing you want to occur is that they bid and win a property with the intention to sell to you and you are not interested in purchasing it. This may happen but it should be rare or for a reason out of your control. However, if this does happen, make sure that you assist as best you can in liquidating that property if they do not want it. By doing this, you remain in their good graces and free their capital to be invested again at the following auction. Read More→
Auctions
Posted on February 28, 2013 byIf you are sending out a good amount of offers for yourself or for clients, you know that it feels as if though the selling agent has “Please send your highest and best…” as an auto reply. Once you think about it you will realize that offering on MLS properties has become somewhat of an auction. The worse part about this is that you do not know where your offer stands in comparison as you do when you are actually participating at an auction. Who knows if there are even other offers on the table other than yours.
For this reason, auctions have become more attractive for many investors. Auctions favor investor because in order to bid on properties you must have cash on hand or financing in place. Plenty of the properties at auctions are foreclosed properties in need of major renovations which traditional financing will usually not finance. Therefore, this eliminates the over paying owner occupants that auctions attract. This leaves the cash buying owner occupants but they usually do not buy homes cash passed 80K. If you have ever prepared for an auction, you know that it takes lots of time and man power to properly prepare for one. You must inspect and have a title search done for each property you plan on bidding on. Read More→
New Territories
Posted on January 30, 2013 byWith each New Year comes new ventures. More and more often investors have to expand their investment territories in order to stay active. As technology continues to make the world a smaller place many investors are also looking at investing in different states and some in different countries. By doing this the amount of inventory increases dramatically if you make the right contacts. At the same time if you work with investors that are open in investing out of state or in different countries you have the ability to sell more.
With all this said it is not always as easy as it may sound whether you are the buyer or seller. As the buyer you need to make a trip to the new area you are looking to invest in. The reason to do this is obviously to learn the market but secondly to make a few key contacts in the area. The main contacts you need to make are a few wholesalers, real estate agents, contractors, a title company, and property management if you are looking for rentals. Not only will these contacts help you in their area of specialty but they can also be go-to people for a second opinion on any potential deals. In order for this to be a win-win situation you want to use these contacts’ services. For example, if you ask a contractor to verify repair cost on a home you should use him/her for that project. Read More→
Note Buyers
Posted on January 1, 2013 byBy now everyone has heard that banks have ceased foreclosures for the holidays. This has made finding inventory much more difficult for a few investors that depend on just those foreclosures as leads. In the last few years I have began working with non-performing note buyers or NPN buyers. These buyers buy notes from the same banks that you are expecting foreclosures from. What do many note buyers have in common? They were once real estate investors that now prefer to buy and sale the notes in order to avoid house renovations, tenants, etc. They are also looking to liquidate those properties so they can purchase another bundle of notes.
When note buyers acquire in bulk they end up with plenty of properties at pennies on the dollar. For example, they might purchase a $100,000 note from a bank for $40,000. They know that the current property owner of the property is not making payments. Because they now carry the mortgage/note they can now foreclose on the property and take procession of the property. Again, these note buyers usually do not want to bother with holding or repairing these properties. At this stage is where you, the real estate investor, would like to step in and relieve this note buyer of this burden. Of course, you will not be purchasing this deal at $40,000 but maybe for $45,000-$50,000 if the property needed $20,000-$25,000 in repairs. Given that the property is still worth $100K this purchase would be at 70% LTV including repairs. This would be a deal any serious investor would consider. Read More→
Daisy Chains
Posted on November 28, 2012 byMore and more often there are real estate investors that advertise, “Please no daisy chains!” To clarify, daisy chains exist when seller A contracts a property to seller B who then contracts it to seller C and so on until it finally reaches you the buyer. I will admit that I too was not a fan of them myself. Typically, these daisy chains ended up not closing because the property was never really under contract or someone in the daisy chain sold it and did not inform the rest of the daisy chain. If you have ever attempted one of these you know what I am referring to. If you have always avoided daisy chains I would encourage you to attempt one. After changing my mentality about them they have became profitable. Read More→
The REO Agent
Posted on November 1, 2012 byToday, the person that has the inventory calls the shots and the infamous REO agent has the inventory everyone wants. There are currently more investors with the willingness and ability to buy but not enough deals. More and more of the “investment deals” that are circulating are beginning to show smaller and smaller margins. If you have the ability to establish a strong long lasting relationship with a REO agent your success as an investor can become more stable.
The number one thing you have to remember about an REO agent is that they are not the final decision makers. They answer to asset management companies who answer to someone else and so on. The REO agent that you establish a relationship with can be your cheerleader. That agent can work for you in convincing the asset company that accepting your offer is in the seller’s best interest. This is accomplished by performing on all of your contracts, or at least on the majority of them. Creating a track record with REO agents is very important. Once a track record is created you will be the first person that comes to that agent’s mind when the next HOT deal becomes available. How awesome would it be if that agent called you and gave you a heads up that they had a slam dunk deal in the pipeline and you contracted it before it hit the market? This happens! Read More→
The Wholesaler
Posted on September 25, 2012 byNow it’s time to discuss a subject that I have intimate knowledge about, the wholesaler. It seems that no matter which direction you look you will always find a “wholesaler.” From my experience many people are too quick in being self proclaimed wholesalers. Anyone that is truly a wholesaler and a successful wholesaler can tell you that although it is very profitable it is not something one can be learn over night. Good wholesalers are usually a jack of all trades in the investment world. They are knowledgeable about construction, creative financing, determining values and rents, some are investors themselves, and the list goes on and on. When you are dealing with a wholesaler the only thing they are concerned about is the bottom line.
Now that you know what and who you are dealing with you can be better prepared. Many wholesalers will claim to be the owner and in some way they are because, if they have the property under contract as they should, they do have equitable interest in the property. Once you have discovered that the seller is a wholesaler there are two things you want to know as a buyer. First, you would want to know how long they have been trying to sell the property. This will let you know how motivated the wholesaler really is. Obviously, the longer the wholesaler has had it the more motivated he/she is to sell it. Secondly, you would like to know what their spread is between their asking price and what they contracted the property for. You want to know this for one reason and one reason only and it is not to beat down their fee just to beat it down. You want to know this in case your calculated purchase price is a bit lower than what the wholesaler is offering the property for. For example, let’s say you did your due diligence and calculated that you need the property for $50K and the asking price is $60K there is a $10K difference. However, the wholesaler only has a $5K spread so he/she truly can not accommodate your offer. On the other hand, if the wholesaler’s spread was $20K he/she may accommodate if you present a reasonable argument why your offer is $10K less and you are the only serious buyer. Read More→
The Fellow Investor
Posted on September 5, 2012 byUp to this point the sellers that have been mentioned had no interests in being investors. They usually saw the extra property as a burden of some sort. Now negotiating with a fellow investor is different because they know the value of their property and/or its’ potential. When negotiating with an investor you need to be at the same experience level. If you are new to real estate investing and are trying to “fake it til you make it” in negotiating with seasoned investors, they will see right through you and move on to another buyer. Admit that you are new to investing and the selling investor may even cut you a deal to assist you in getting started. There are two distinct seller investors one of which are investors selling to retire or just wanting out of investing and then there are investors that are just checking to see what they can get for their property but are impartial to whether is sells or not. Read More→
