Flip This Wholesaler

9/20/2008

I just love the ups and down of this business.....one day you think you're going to close 2 deals in the next week and make ten grand, and then the next, you learn that both deals might crash and burn for reasons that you can not control. Gotta love it.

One of the deals "may" have a title issue that "may" take a few months to resolve. I have not been able to get a straight answer from the title company for a week and a half, so who knows what's going on. Every time I call the lady at the title company, she tells me she will know for sure by the end of the day, and she will call and let me know. Then she never calls, and we start the whole process over the next day. It's supposed to close Monday, but the likelihood of that happening is slim. The buyer, of course, is all ready to go.

The other deal (The Deal From Hell), the buyer is now telling me she is not able to come up with the down payment for the hard money loan that she assured me 500 times she had. So, unless she can come up with it by Monday, things are not looking good. I had a feeling this deal was doomed from the get-go, so I can't say that I am too surprised.

I never heard anything back from the mortgage broker who wants to see me burned at the stake. I was thinking, just for fun, of putting up an ad in the singles section of Craigslist for "men seeking men" with his phone number on it, along with a picture similar to this one:



Hehehehehe.

Gotta go make some offers. I've got about ten out there right now, and plan on making another ten or so this weekend. I've been averaging about 1 deal in every 25-30 offers lately, which is pretty good, I think. I tend to get side tracked, though, especially when I have deals that are going South, and people threatening me.

Au revoir!

4/6/2008

Nothing much exciting going on. I've been doing a lot of marketing for buyers, and making a lot of offers the last few days. Got a few counters back today, but nothing to write home about. I found a new cash buyer from one of my Craigslist ads. That's the thing about Craigslist (or any other type of marketing for that matter), you can go days without any serious hits, and then, along comes a cash buyer. Same thing with the signs- I only got 3 calls from the signs I put out over the weekend, but I will continue to put them out, because I know they work. You just have to be consistent, and persistent, and you will get calls. Last time I put them out, I found the buyer who bought my last deal, and who wants to buy 10 more this year. Not sure how much money that will translate into for me, but I can tell you it will pay for the cost of the signs, gas, and my time- many times over. Speaking of that buyer- he sent me an email last night telling me he is ready for another house already. Nice. Hopefully he won't cheat on me with another wholesaler. Hehe. My other consistent cash buyer should be ready for another pretty soon, too. He's in the middle of a refi as we speak, and will be ready to go once it's closed. Gotta love those landlord buyers....

Since my back is trashed and I haven't been able to run for the last month, and I'm starting to get a double chin, I decided to take up swimming laps. LOVE it! I get down to the pool (which is heated-woohoo!) while the sun is rising, and I have the entire deck to myself. It's very peaceful. I'm hooked.

Over and out...

5/4/2008

I put out a bunch of signs on Friday advertising the deals my wholesaler buddy just got under contract. Strangely, I only recieved 1 call from all of them, which is really odd- my phone usually rings off the hook when I put signs out. I was thinking maybe I put the wrong number on them, but I did get that 1 call, so I guess that's not the case.

I also put some ads on Craigslist, and only got 1 response. I'm pretty sure the girl who responded (via email), just got done reading whatever course it is that tells people to go on Craigslist and send an email to every single ad that says "Investor Special" or "Handyman Special." They always say the same bs. Something like this...... "I am a CASH buyer, and would like to buy your property with CASH" (the word cash is always capitalized, because, you know, capitalized cash is WAY better than regular-old-lower-case-cash). Anyway, along with being a CASH buyer, these people I guess are too lazy to click on the freaking ad and READ it, because, even though I put the address in the ad, the person always asks me for the property address, which is really, really, irritating. And then, they always ask for multiple, high quality digital photos of the property (even though there are already pics in the ad), because, God forbid if you had to get off your lazy ass and go look at the thing yourself. Anyway, I usually play along, and sometimes even accept their half price offer, and then when I ask them to fax me proof of their CASH along with a non-refundable 5k deposit, they seem to drop off the face of the Earth. At least if you're going to bullshit, be a prepared bullshitter, you know?

My dog Jim taught himself a new trick over the weekend. He calls it "Jump out of the car window while Mom is in the grocery store and almost get run over by an SUV." Scared the living shit out of me. Little bastard.

4/3/2008

So, I'm finally situated in my new place. I still have a few odds and ends that I need to take care of, but for the most part, everything is done. I've been running around like a crazy person all week trying to get everything in order. I haven't even had a chance to do any work, make any offers, etc, but tomorrow I'm back at it.

Tuesday I met the guy who's buying my latest REO deal. We met at Starbucks (the original plan was to meet at Panera, but after one look at the parking lot, we decided on Starbucks instead). I'd rather saw my arm off with a rusty butter knife than wait in a line that long to eat. Anyway, we met and signed the contract and chatted for awhile. 15 minutes into the conversation, he said something that made me drool on myself a little bit. I think his exact words were "I plan on buying 10 more properties like this one this year- do you think you could help me find them?" SCORE!! Hell yes I can. I don't know what's going on, but I seem to be a cash buyer magnet lately. Bring it on..

As it stands, I've got 2 closings next week, one on Thursday, one Friday. Both are simultaneous closes, which I've been stressing out about since I've never done one before. I went into my title company today to talk to the lady working my deals, just to make myself feel better. She pretty much set my mind at ease, but I'll probably be a nervous wreck anyway until they close.

Oh, I finally got a new computer!! As much as I wanted the pink Dell laptop, I couldn't bring myself to spend the money (2007 turned me into a penny pincher), so I went on Craigslist and found a Dell laptop for $400, which I ended up getting for $350.00! I was thinking of wholesaling it for some quick cash (hehehe), but decided to keep it instead. It works like a champ. I need to hunt that Craig down and take him out for a drink...

2/3/2008

The bank wouldn't go any lower than 65k on the property I was talking about last time. Darn. So close. I'll be resubmitting my offer in 3 weeks, or, if they happen to reduce the price before then I'll be all over it.

Yesterday I faxed out 3 more offers. One of them just came back on the market from another wholesaler who couldn't find a buyer. He was asking WAY too much. I always check my emails and also Craigslist to see which properties have been previously under contract, and what they were being marketed for. Also, I hijack pictures so I don't have to go out and take any myself. Hehe.

Oh, this is really funny.....Friday morning, I made an offer on this DUMP in the hood that had just been reduced by 15k. The realtor called me in the afternoon and told me he felt good about getting my offer accepted, but that I would need to put down 5k as a deposit. He told me some of the banks are starting to ask for more escrow to weed out the guys who are walking away from deals. We got to talking, and I asked him if he had received many offers since the price had just been dropped. He told me only one other person submitted an offer, but he couldn't come up with the 5k deposit. After I got off the phone with the realtor, I called up my hood buyer to see what he thought. He just happened to be in the area (he's always in the hood looking at houses), so he drove over while we were talking. So, while he's inside the house looking around, I get an email from another wholesaler advertising this particular property and saying he had the contract on it. Hmmmm. Interesting. I just talked to the realtor 10 minutes ago, and he said otherwise. My hood buyer is also on this guy's buyers list, so he got the email as well. We both sent him an email asking him if he actually had it under contract (I asked nicely, and HB asked if he was "blowing smoke up his ass"), and he emailed back saying that yes, he did have it under contract. Liar, liar, pants on fire. I called the realtor a little later to ask if it was available still, and he said yes. So, I faxed him the new offer with the new deposit amount. The bank countered back 5k lower, and I countered back 1k higher. I'm still waiting to hear back. We're still a few grand apart, so who knows what will happen. Meanwhile, though, this other wholesaler is marketing a property that he doesn't even have under contract! He's got it on Craigslist and everything. No shit. I can't think of a better way to piss a buyer off than to have them go out and look at a property, put an offer on it, and then find out that some other wholesaler (me) really has it under contract. Funny, huh?

In other news, I just got the worst haircut EVER. I look like an idiot. I've been going to the same girl for like, 10 years, and I LOVE her, but this time, she really effed up. I was going for Audrey Hepburn, circa 1965......



and I ended up with Joan Jett, circa "I Love Rock and Roll". Ewww.

1/7/2008

Man, this year is sure starting out good. I got a letter in the mail today from National Claims Recovery Services telling me that the state of Florida has unclaimed funds in my name in the amount of $1400. I thought it was a scam at first, but after making some phone calls, and then checking with the State of FL Bureau of Unclaimed Property, it turns out that the money is indeed mine. Sweet. It came from an insurance policy from a long time ago, and I don't really understand why it's mine, but it is, and I'm not about to argue. I'll take my free money and go straight to Costa Rica with it. Woohoo. I also found out that I can file the claim myself and save the 15% fee that NCRS charges. I'm sending out the paperwork tomorrow, and should have my cashola within 90 days.

When it rains, it poors, huh?

I'm currently marketing 4 properties for other investors, so my phone has been ringing off the hook. If Craigslist ever starts charging for real estate ads, I'm screwed. To show my appreciation, I bought one of these today:


That Craig, he's a smart guy.

12/19/2007

Two of my wholesaler friends called me today with deals that they need to get rid of. I put an ad for one of them on Craigslist, got an email about an hour later from a prospective buyer who went to look at the house earlier this evening, and is now (supposedly) going to put it under contract. This is a conventional buyer, so I give it about a 1 in 100 chance of actually working out, but if it does, it will translate into 4k in my pocket. I have a hard money buyer interested in the other property (supposedly), and am waiting to hear back from her. I'm not putting too much stock into either one of these buyers, because #1) I have never worked with either one of them before and have no idea if they are serious buyers or are just yanking my chain, and #2) they are both female buyers, and thus far, every single female buyer I have dealt with (bar none) has been either crazy, a total flake, or wanting to do a cash out deal. I'm not exaggerating, either. So, we'll see what happens, but I'm not getting my hopes up. At all.

In other news, I finally forced myself to go to the dreaded mall to do some Christmas/cold weather clothes shopping. It actually wasn't as crowded and miserable as I had anticipated, and I managed to buy a winter coat on the cheap for my trip to Illinois. You'll never guess how much I paid for it.............(drum roll, please)................. Fourteen dollars and ninety nine cents!! Woohoo. God bless Ross! It looks a little bit like I might have found it while dumpster-diving, but hey, it's black, I'm only going to be wearing it for seven days, and for $14.99, who cares?

11/18/2007

Sorry for the lack of posting. Things got kind of hectic towards the end of the week, and I decided to take the weekend off to unwind.

I had a 7 day inspection period in the contract of the deal I've been working on. It was up on Friday. I went back Thursday to try and renegotiate the contract to a lower price based on what my hard money lender told me I needed to be in at (this should have been done before I signed the contract, btw, not after). The initial response, was, no, they aren't willing to negotiate. I got a call late Friday afternoon from the listing agent telling me they were willing to negotiate, and were willing to come down to 115k (from 125k), but only if I could close sooner than the 29th, which was the original closing date on the contract. I called my wholesaler friend who I should have consulted with before I ever signed this contract and asked him what he thought. He told me to offer 100k, with a 10k non-refundable deposit, and a 7 day close. If they accept the offer, he will pay cash and we will go in on it as partners and split whatever we can sell it for. So, my choices were to take the 115k, and try to find a buyer within about 10 days, and if not, have to close on it myself with my hard money lender, or, make the offer for 100k, and hope they take it. I chose the latter. They are taking the weekend to think about it, and I should find out tomorrow morning if the deal is still on.

The bottom line with this deal is that I offered TOO MUCH. I should have asked someone's advice before I put this under contract, but I was so sure of the numbers I thought it was a no-brainer. Not so much.

I saw an ad for a property on Craigslist on Friday that was one of the REOs I offered on and got beat out by another wholesaler. I called him up and told him I might have a buyer for it (I got an email from one of my buyers earlier that day asking if I had anything in the area). So I sent the info to my buyer, and I think he might be putting a contract on it. Hopefully. I will make 2k on it if so.

So, that's the scoop.

Oh, here's a funny story for you.......

I think I might have mentioned that my ipod has it out for me, and will just randomly stop playing/shut itself off/shuffle songs for no apparent reason. So, I was at the fitness center this morning running my ass off, and the p.o.s. starts acting up, as per usual. It's particularly annoying when I'm about 30 minutes into it, and in "the zone" as I like to call it. I usually run early in the morning, and there is rarely anyone else there besides me. So, thinking I'm the only one there, I take the ipod, chuck it at the wall as hard as I can and yell, "Fucking piece of SHIT!!!!" Then I proceed to get off the treadmill, walk over to the p.o.s. ipod, and stomp on it. Hehehehehe. I'm pretty sure I ruined my chances with the hot guy who was doing squats in the corner. He just kind of looked at me with this stunned expression on his face.

And that was the end of my workout.

11/09/07

I started getting really stressed round about 2pm when I still hadn't received the signed contract from the listing agent. I decided I would wait until 3pm and then call. I ended up getting the fax in around 2:30. I worry too much, I think. So, now I'm in sell mode. Here's my marketing strategy to find a buyer:

(1) Ads on Craigslist and Backpage

(2) 20 handwritten signs in the neighborhood. Those go out tomorrow eve. I'm trying to talk my friend John into coming with me to make it a little less miserable.

(3) Pass out flyers at the rei meetings next week. There are meetings Mon-Thurs.

(4) Email blast to buyers list.

(5) Phone calls to buyers I have a personal relationship with

(6) Send deal to local hard money lender to send out to his buyers

(7) Call landlords in the neighborhood and ask if they are looking for more properties in the area.

(8) Mail letter to list of cash buyers I have developed over the last 4 months or so by going through the cash sales on the mls. (First time doing this, so, not sure what the results will be- can't hurt, though).

(9) Ad on Rehablist

I will do this until the end of the weekend, and if I haven't found a buyer, I will

(10) Send an email to every wholesaler on my buyers list (there are a lot), and offer them a cut of the assignment if they bring me a buyer.

If that doesn't work, it's time for a price drop.

I always start second guessing myself and my numbers after about 4 hours of marketing a property and not finding a buyer. I need to get over that. I just like to wrap things up asap. I'll take the quick nickel over the slow dime (or even the slow dollar), any day of the week.

11/08/07

I'll be marketing my ass off for the rest of the day. And every day until I find a buyer. I decided to market it at 135k to start with. Gives me some room to negotiate, and allows me to lower it a bit if I don't get good feedback. It's always nice to have a little cushion.

Here's a link with some pictures.

Off to Starbucks (It's 10:28 and I haven't had coffee yet).

While I was purusing Craigslist this morning, I came across this ad. That just happens to be the property that I thought I was going to get under contract yesterday. Dang it. If I would have put in my offer a few days earlier, I would have had it. I've looked at that listing a million times, too, and thought about putting in an offer, but figured they would never come down to my price since the home is in such good condition. Lesson learned. Again. And for those who think you can't get deals off of the mls, let this be a lesson for you, too. This property is easily worth 150k, and needs very, very little work (flooring if you want to retail it, and that's it). The sellers came down almost 30k off of their already discounted list price.

I made 3 offers on mls properties today, and plan to make 3 more tomorrow. Not sure if I have mentioned it yet, but my goal is to wholesale 2 deals off of the mls by the end of the year. I can do it if I set my stubborn mind to it.

In case anyone is wondering why I am not on that cruise I was talking about......well, I got Blown off!!! (with a capital B).

It's good to be me.

Went to view the property I saw on Craigslist today @ 10am. Waited 20 minutes in the driveway for the realtor to show up (being late is a huge pet peeve of mine). Everything looked ok, except updating in the bathrooms is needed. House has been on the market for 5 months, vacant for 3. I put in an offer this afternoon for $160,250.

I have had my eye on a townhome for sale near where I live that has been vacant and listed since June. The owner bought another, bigger townhome in the same neighborhood and is now paying two mortgages. The listing says the seller is extremely motivated, make an offer. So, I did. List price is 160k, ARV 175k. My offer was $121k. My realtor called the listing agent and told her he had an investor interested and told her the price I was offering. My realtor said the listing agent laughed at him. She said the owner would maybe take 10k less than the list price, but only if we could close in one week. What a bargain.

I can sense that my realtor is already getting annoyed with me, and think that down the road I will just go directly to the listing agents and make my offers to them. I used to be intimidated by making low offers to agents, but now I don't really care.

This evening I got the first call from the postcards I have been sending out. The sellers moved out of town in March and have had the home for sale since then. I had a rental/lease option/rehab disaster in the same neighborhood, so I know it well. I had a long talk w/ the seller about different options (subject to, cash offer, lease option). I asked her what was the lowest amount she would take in cash if I could close tomorrow . She said 215k, but I think she will go lower. Mortgage balance is 180k. ARV 260. She is going to call me back tomorrow.

I'm going to sift through some listings tonight and pick 3 to go look at and make offers on tomorrow. I also sent out about 45 more postcards today (the postcards I'm sending out are targeted to motivated sellers that I find on Craigslist, the newspaper, FSBO websites, and listings that my realtor sends to me).

I am amazed at how many people (realtors and sellers) still do not realize that the market has changed drastically in the last 6 months. Some realtors are still using appraisals and comps from the beginning of the year to assess value. Maybe they know better but just think I'm stupid.

The offer that I put in last week on my realtor's listing countered @ 200k. The house was listed for 229k, worth around 260k. My offer was 177k. I think my realtor wasn't too happy that I didn't take it @ 200k. I again explained to him that my MAX purchase price is 70% of value minus repairs. I will keep my eye on it and put in another offer in a month or so if it hasn't sold.

Yesterday I went to look @ a townhome that I saw listed on Craigslist. The owners have relocated to Atlanta (actually they've been there since June), and the house has been vacant all the while. It needs updating throughout, paint, and carpet. Listed @ 124k, ARV 130k. My offer was $80,225. I haven't yet heard back.

I also sent out a bunch more postcards yesterday and today. I have about 100 out there that I've recently sent (within the last week), so I expect my phone to start ringing in the next day or so. Hopefully.

Today I checked out another home I saw listed on Craigslist. It's been vacant for about 3 months. ARV 240-245. Asking price 230k obo. Owners have moved into another property and are motivated. I have an appointment to see it tomorrow @ 10am. Going to offer 163k.

Still no luck selling the townhouse I'm living in. Haven't had any showings in 2 weeks or so. Hopefully it will sell by the end of the year. With the market the way it is though, who knows.