Flip This Wholesaler

Luckily, today I was able to focus all of my efforts back into finding deals. I got a phone call this morning from one of the realtors I spoke with last week. Her client wanted to know why I wasn't interested in buying his homes. I explained to her again that there wasn't enough equity, and that also I am staying away from the area the houses are in (all brand new construction, tons of homes for sale mostly investor owned). I again told her to keep me in mind if she comes across anything that fits my criteria.

I received an email today from a guy who has an investor friend who is in big trouble. He has 5 properties for sale (most of them were bought recently) ranging from 300k-700k. The two most expensive ones are both sitting empty. They all have negative cashflow. He is starting to get behind on some of his payments and is desperate to sell. He is willing to sell any of them sub2. There isn't enough equity in any of them to do anything with. Funny thing is (or maybe not funny), if I would have come across these properties a few years ago, I probably would have signed some of them up and then ended up in the same position as this guy. I got very lucky on the sub2 I did, and would never attempt to buy and hold again until I have a whole lot of cash reserves (everyone told me this before, but it never really made sense until I had tenants that took off for Alaska in the middle of the night leaving the place trashed). Luckily for me I bought the house right before the market started going crazy, and in 2 years it appreciated about 100k. Even after screwing the rehab up, I ended up walking away with a nice chunk of change.

Anyway, I sent out some more postcards today. I've only received a few calls from the ones I sent out last week, which is kind of disappointing, but that's the way it goes I guess. I also followed up with some old leads via email. This is one area that I am really trying to improve on. Especially with houses staying on the market so much longer now, I think it is really important to follow up every few weeks or so.

I am meeting with an investor later on this week to talk about bird-dogging for him. He and a group of friends are looking to buy properties now that the market has slowed. I want to get a little more info. from him about what exactly he is looking for. I've known him for some time and we both have a mutual respect for one another, so I think it could work out well. I have more time than I do money, and he has more money than he does time. We'll see.

I'm going to look through some listings tonight and go make some offers tomorrow. Hopefully something will stick. I'll be living in a cardboard box soon if not. Just kidding.