Flip This Wholesaler

2/8/2009

* Looked at 6 houses (3 Saturday, 3 Sunday). Made offers on all of them.

* Ran 7 miles (3.5 Friday, 3.5 Saturday)

* Listened to Bob Norton's audios over at REItips.com. Good stuff... Bob is a rock star.

* Decided that the offers I'm making are not low enough.

* Watched drunken Gasparilla pirates from my balcony through my $15 telescope that my Mom got for me at a garage sale.

Behold- Gasparilla.......


(click on the picture to get a better view)

* Wasted an hour of my life on the phone with a lady who called after seeing one of my signs. She told me her whole life story. Was supposed to meet her today to sign a contract but she disappeared into thin air. This happens to me all the time with women "buyers". Don't get mad at me, it's true.

* Found two new cash buyers from the signs I put out Friday.

*Organized the stack of crap that has been gathering on the floor around my desk since the beginning of the year. Took me two hours to sort through all of it.

Behold- stack o' crap.......


(This picture is only half of it, btw)

* Washed my car after 2 months of procrastinating. Got lost for a full hour on the way home from the car wash. Good times.

* That's about it in a nutshell.

Over and out...

Oh crap- almost forgot! A wholesaler friend of mine was closing an REO deal on Friday via a simultaneous close (using the buyer's funds to fund both transactions).. The title company we use has a disclosure that the buyer has to sign that states that they are aware of the fact that their money is funding both deals. Usually it's no big deal, but this particular buyer wasn't having it, and refused to close the deal unless my friend funded it with his own cash. YIKES. Luckily, he has access to the cash and had to run to his bank and wire the money (I think it was 57k).

Hope that doesn't happen to me any time in the near future.

12/16/2008

So, the second deal that was supposed to close yesterday, did not close. Not really sure why. The bank's title company sent over the HUD with tomorrow's date on it for the closing, so, I guess we're closing tomorrow. Then I've got two that are supposed to close Friday, but I'm trying to get one of them done on Thursday because my buyer (same guy who is buying the one from me tomorrow), is going out of town early Friday until the 3rd of January.

I made a bunch of offers yesterday and a few today. Jim and I had intentions of going to the hood to look at houses today, but once we got there, I decided that it was too beautiful of a day (not trying to rub it in, Northerners) to spend looking at shacks, so we decided to go to the dog park instead, where Jim came ever so close to dining on a squirrel sandwich for lunch.

And that's all I've got for today.

Well, except for this picture I took from my balcony tonight of the Suntrust building in all it's Christmas glory. I don't know how long it's been dressed up like Santa, but I just noticed it tonight....



HO HO HO!

12/9/2008

So, I decided to try a new approach to getting the bank's title companies to get my deals closed on time. I like to call it........ "Operation Throw Your Lazy Ass Under The Bus." Basically, what I do is, dig up the asset manager's contact info (this is not the easiest thing to do, but I am nothing if not resourceful), and then start throwing people under the bus, one by one. It's actually more fun than I've had in a really long time. The best part is, I do it in such a way so that it doesn't appear that I am actually tattling on people, because, as we all learned in kindergarten- no one likes a tattle tale. So, I just send an "innocent" email explaining the absolute nightmare that it has been to get a straight answer out of anyone as to why in the hell my deal is not going to close on time, and why are files getting lost, and why are addenda (addendums? addendi?) never getting sent to the bank, and why is Paige ignoring my phone calls and emails when she said she would get back to me by noon yesterday??? I just want a straight answer from someone.

This approach is still in Beta testing, but I have high hopes.. I had to give up on the bribery strategy, because there are just too many people involved in the closing process/fiasco, and it's hard to pinpoint the one person who actually might be able to push the deal through. Plus, it really irks me to have to pay people extra to do their job correctly.

I got another offer accepted today, which makes 5 that I have under contract right now, and which also pushes my stress level into the red zone. Especially since I offered to close on Monday on this one, and they ended up taking me up on my offer. This would not be problematic since I already have a cash buyer lined up, however, there are some issues to be dealt with. Here's how the phone call went today between me and my buyer.....

.....................................................................................

Me: Hey Jim, I can get that property on Sitka to you for 27k. You interested?

Jim: Heck yeah.

Me: Well, it needs to close by Monday, and I know you like to use your title company, but I'd feel much better using mine because I know they can get it done in less than a week, so how about we split the closing costs (I normally make my buyers pay all closing costs on the second transaction), and we close at my title company?

Jim: Well, that's fine, except I don't have an ID.

Me: Huh?

Jim: Yeah, I don't have an ID. I've been doing deals at my title company for so many years and they will notarize my documents without my ID. Is that going to be a problem.

Me: You don't even have a state ID or anything?

Jim: Nope.

Me: Uhhhhhhh, let me call my title company and see what the say......

..................................................................................................................................................................

So, I call my title company and explain, and they, of course can not do the closing without an ID from him, because the docs have to be notarized, but they say they can do all of the title work, and then just send it to his title company and have them do a courtesy closing, and sign the docs there and wire the money to my title company, who would then wire it to the bank's title company. Lost yet?

This sounded good for awhile, but I can't even imagine having to add a 3rd title company into the mix, so I called and talked to the attorney who owns my buyer's title company, and he said they would do a simultaneous closing (using my buyer's funds to fund both deals) as long as there was full disclosure to my buyer (there is ). S0000000000, long story long, it looks like we are closing at his title company, and I just KNOW it is going to be a really good time. Should make for some great blog fodder, anyway.

Well, now I have 4 deals that are supposed to close by the end of next week, and I think we should all take bets on how many actually close. I've got my money on one. One out of four- that sounds about right.

10-4. Over and out.

P.S.
In case you're wondering why my buyer doesn't just go out and get an ID, well, I'm just guessing that he can't, and I don't really want to know why.

9/4/2008

So, first thing this morning, I went over to the property I just got under contract to see if I could fix the door that had supposedly been kicked in. Turns out you just have to lift up on the door a little bit when you shut it. Problem solved.

Still haven't heard back on that counter I was talking about a few days ago. I called the listing agent to see if the bank had responded, but he hasn't heard anything yet. I really want this one, as I'm pretty sure McHotterson will take this in a heartbeat. He just got back from Russia and is looking for more houses, so it would be nice to get this one for him.

I am currently in a bidding war with 3 other wholesalers over a property that just came on the market. I happen to know what the other two guys offered (I'm not at liberty to say how I know that, but rest assured it is not shady or illegal or anything).. anyway, unless more offers come in before morning, I think I should have this one in the bag. I've closed several deals with this listing agent, so that is always a bonus.

I'm still in a state of shock about this, but I'll be damned if one of my deals isn't closing EARLY!! Holy shit- can you believe it? An REO closing a full business day early- SHOCKING! It was supposed to close next Monday, but by some miracle, the lady handling the file actually got it done early.

HEHEHE....Damn, I'm good.



Tomorrow I'm going with another wholesaler friend of mine to see my short sale friend Nathan speak at this event. He's turning into a little guru right before my very eyes. Hehe.

A più tardi

P.S.
Just wanted to give you all a friendly reminder that you should NEVER, EVER, accept a personal check as a deposit from a buyer you haven't worked with before. I don't want to talk about it right now, but just trust me on this one.

7/2/2008

I can't sleep. So, I figured I'd write.

Let's see, the computer guy came out bright and early and I was back online by 9am. Apparently the person who lives in the condo next to me was supposed to have their service disconnected, but the guy accidentally disconnected mine instead. So, that's good news. I was expecting something much worse..

I went and looked at 5 houses today, and discovered new and exciting parts of the hood that I never knew existed. If my camera wasn't broken, I could have taken some great pics today to post on here- like the Texas Chain Saw Massacre House (it was more of a shack than a house, though, from what I could tell), that had so much garbage around it that you honestly could not even see the actual structure. There was garbage everywhere, along with huge posters of Barack Obama EVERYWHERE. There was also a HUGE banner tied from one tree to another that read: "Revolution or Obama- 3rd Option: Adopt More Slavery." I'm still a little unsure of what exactly that means. I can not even imagine the code violations that this property has against it. One of the properties on my list was right next to this place, and I'm thinking they are gonna have a really, really hard time selling it with a junkyard next door. I didn't even offer it- that's how bad it was....

I'm still impatiently awaiting the new asset manager to sign off on the paperwork for the deal that was supposed to close last month. What a joke. The listing agent said that this particular asset manager usually takes at least 3 days to respond to anything or anyone.... I wonder how long it would take her to respond if I set her house on fire? Hehe.

The deal that I closed on with my friend a few weeks ago is set to close this coming Monday. The buyer's hard money is good to go, so I don't anticipate any problems (famous last words). I have a backup offer if for some reason it does go south, so I'm not too worried about it (again, famous last words).

The third deal I just signed up is supposed to close on the 25th of this month, and the buyer is my favorite buyer who is rock solid, so, unless, the bank screws it up, I don't see any problems with that one either...... Oh, speaking of the bank screwing things up- I was talking to a friend of mine today who has a deal that was supposed to close tomorrow where he was going to make 10k. Instead of getting the closing docs from the title company today, he got a phone call saying they effed up the foreclosure somehow, and now have to start the process all over again. Good times!

Well, it's 2am. I guess I should try to sleep....