![\"Crush](\"http://www.flipthiswholesaler.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/FTREO-Banner1.png\")
Hi guys!
I’ve got a brand new Flip This Success Story for you to listen to on this fine Tuesday morning!
In this month’s call I am speaking with Esi Benedict, who is a brand new wholesaler up in the Detroit market. She’s only been at it since December of last year and has already closed FOUR wholesale deals and has another TWO under contract!
This girl ain’t playin’ around, people.
Please give a warm welcome to Mrs. Esi Benedict….
The call is about 40 minutes long, and in it you’ll hear how Esi has managed to close 4 deals already (she even tells us about her top secret lead source!)
If you have any questions for Esi, feel free to leave a comment and I will see if I can drag her away from her deal making to come over here and answer them for us. 
Enjoy the call and have a great week, everybody!
P.S.
If you’d like to connect with Esi on Facebook, click here
P.P.S.
She also started a new blog, click here to check it out!
On June 01, 2010 at 7:10am, Greg Harris said...
I really enjoy the success story posts. This is a really good one.
On June 01, 2010 at 10:19am, Esi said...
Greg, I’m glad you liked it.
.-= Esi´s last blog ..Getting a deal: Priceless (Part 2) =-.
On June 01, 2010 at 7:50am, Jerry said...
Awesome. Keep rockin it Esi. Your doin great.
On June 01, 2010 at 10:20am, Esi said...
Thanks Jerry.
.-= Esi´s last blog ..Getting a deal: Priceless (Part 2) =-.
On June 01, 2010 at 8:20am, Owen McGab Enaohwo said...
what is the URL to the website she bought the rights to the counties? Please advice
.-= Owen McGab Enaohwo´s last blog ..Maryland short sale approval success story: $91K Forgiven (discounted) by American Home Mortgage Servicing =-.
On June 01, 2010 at 12:41pm, Stephani said...
Hi Owen,
She got the leads from webuyhouses.com
On June 01, 2010 at 8:43am, Xavier said...
Listening to this call with Esi gives me a renewed sense of strength! The little train that could…Can! Good stuff!
On June 01, 2010 at 10:23am, Esi said...
Xavier. You made my day! Go ahead and drive that train….you can do it.
.-= Esi´s last blog ..Getting a deal: Priceless (Part 2) =-.
On June 01, 2010 at 10:18am, Esi said...
Thanks Steph, I’m honored. I had a lot of fun with the interview.
On June 01, 2010 at 12:40pm, Stephani said...
Me too, Esi!
Keep up the great work.
On June 01, 2010 at 3:48pm, Tiara said...
Great interview Steph! Esi is in my neck of the woods. I am definitely going to try to do a few JV deals with her! Title Connect is the best title company in Southeast Michigan.
On June 01, 2010 at 4:30pm, Esi said...
Hi Tiara. I would love to work with you, I’ve done some JV and they are my favorite. I work with Mary at Title Connect and she does a great job. PM me, let’s connect.
.-= Esi´s last blog ..Getting a deal: Priceless (Part 2) =-.
On June 01, 2010 at 7:47pm, Shae said...
This was an awesome interview ladies! Esi, you said one of my favorite quotes from Mike Litman…you don’t have to get it right, you just have to get it going. I will truly enjoy watching your progress!
.-= Shae´s last blog ..Freedom! =-.
On June 01, 2010 at 7:48pm, Shae said...
…Oh and I love the way Esi didn’t even know about the assignment contracts….and she made it happen. Over and over again. Love it!
.-= Shae´s last blog ..Freedom! =-.
On June 01, 2010 at 8:24pm, Esi said...
Thanks Shae. I love that quote too. I heard it somewhere, and it’s stuck with me since then. I wish I knew about assignment contracts earlier. I’ve only used it twice and both times, I didn’t even show up to closing and the money was in my bank account 2 hours after closing. Gotta love this biz.
.-= Esi´s last blog ..Getting a deal: Priceless (Part 2) =-.
On June 02, 2010 at 6:30am, Karen said...
Hi Steph,
I have a question about showing proof of cash funds available when making an offer. I know you have mentioned before what you do, but that option is not available to me. So what I am planning to do is to take cash advances on all my credit cards, deposit that money into my account just long enough to print out a statement that shows the funds. Then I would use that statement for my offers. And promptly pay back all the cash advances. One problem with this is that there are fees to take the cash advances (about 4%). But I have not been able to come up with any other ideas. My questions to you are: what do you think of this idea? And, since we’re in the same market, how much do I need to show? $50K? $60K? Less? More? Of course, I want the minimum amount necessary, since I’m paying a percentage fee on the amount I take, but I want to make sure it’s enough to make offers with.
I would really appreciate your advice on this since this is the last stumbling block for me. (I got my RE license on Friday!!!)
On June 02, 2010 at 3:15pm, Stephani said...
Hi Karen,
You could do that, but just keep in mind that the banks will usually want your letter to be up to date. I usually get a new one at the beginning of every month.
Have you tried using a letter from a transactional lender yet? I would probably try that first before I shelled out a few hundred bucks for the fees.
As far as how much you need to show the bank- it depends on what your offer is. They want to see that you have the funds to cover your purchase, so whatever amount you are offering on a property, you will need to show them that you have at least that much in cash.
Hope that helps!
Steph
On June 02, 2010 at 5:08pm, Karen said...
I have approval letters for financing from several banks so that would work just as well as a transactional funds letter, correct? But I wanted to be able to make cash offer so I guess it’s back to the drawing board. I didn’t realize I would need an updated statement every month.
On June 03, 2010 at 1:14pm, Stephani said...
Sometimes they will accept letters from transactional and hard money lenders if you are making cash offers. I would try that first and see what sort of response you get.
On June 02, 2010 at 8:53am, Carey_PA said...
Reading all of these comments is definitely going to make me listen to this call when I get a hot minute. I’m looking forward to hearing about Esi’s success.
Btw, Esi, just checked out your blog….love it! Keep up the great work!
.-= Carey_PA´s last blog ..Networking on Memorial Day =-.
On June 02, 2010 at 9:35am, Esi said...
Hey Carey, it’s too late….deleting audio in 3,2,1…..lol, just kidding. I’m glad you love my blog. Hope to see you around.
.-= Esi´s last blog ..Getting a deal: Priceless (Part 2) =-.
On June 03, 2010 at 7:33pm, Koby said...
Hey ladies – Nice, nice interview. These are fun. And the accent never hurts… I’m kind of a sucker for ‘em….
Anywho…
Keep on killing it Esi & keep on pumping out the content, Steph. It’s all much appreciated!
.-= Koby´s last blog ..Dynamically Crushing it Day in Day Out. =-.
On June 04, 2010 at 10:58pm, Kevin T. said...
Hi Steph,
Great story. I have been trying to buy you “Flip This REO” Ebook but with no luck. The first time it loaded fine but after i put my info in an error msg came up saying “An error occurred and we were unable to complete your request.”. Now everytime i click the link that same error msg comes up. I dont think its anything on my end but who knows. Is there any other way i can make the purchase?
On June 05, 2010 at 5:34am, Stephani said...
Hi Kevin,
I just tried purchasing one from my computer and it worked fine. Try using another browser, and if that doesn’t work, you can send me an email with your payment info and I can run it through manually.
Sorry for the hassle!
Steph
On June 05, 2010 at 6:59am, AnotherSteph said...
Hey Steph,
Another great success story call. Congrats to Esi!
Like many others, I really enjoy hearing success stories to keep me motivated. I am also looking into purchasing some leads, due to my limited time to market because of my job, so this call was very timely.
Take care,
Steph
.-= AnotherSteph´s last blog ..It’s All About the Benjamins, Baby! =-.
On June 07, 2010 at 8:22am, Bill said...
Hello Steph. You have a great site here and is very informative. I was just wondering if you have/will post info on getting realtors on my team, and getting them to send “hot sheets” with the type of homes I am looking for? Heck, I am not even sure if I should be contacting the banks first or the realtors that are trying to get rid of these properties. Thanks Steph.
On June 07, 2010 at 9:08am, Stephani said...
Hi Bill,
The banks list all of their REOs with Realtors, so you will want to get access to the MLS, or find a Realtor who can send you listings.
You can have a Realtor do a search for the criteria you are looking for, and then set you up for automatic email notifications, so every time a property hits the MLS that matches what you are looking for, it will email you the listing.
You can also use online sites to get listings. Here’s an article I recently wrote over on the BiggerPockets blog that talks about 2 sites that I used to use before I got MLS access:
http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2010/06/03/how-to-access-mls-listed-properties-without-having-a-real-estate-license/#comments
Hope that helps!
Steph
On August 16, 2010 at 7:38am, Erika said...
Hi,
I love your blog and enjoyed your conversation with Esi.
Could you explain why a cash buyer would smltnsly close with you instead of negotiating a price with the listing agent? I think you guys forgot to discuss it during the phone call.
My reasoning was that you are paid because of 1.)finding the property and 2.) negotiating a reasonable price w/ the bank (i.e. visiting and taking pics of property, counter-offering, including contractor bids to lower price, etc). I figured that some cash buyers don’t choose to delegate their time towards counter-offering of Bank REOs which is how, wholesalers come in, do the work and pass the deal on to them.
Thanks so much for answering my question.
On August 16, 2010 at 2:22pm, Stephani said...
Hi Erika,
A lot of my buyers don’t have time to monkey around with making offers on MLS properties- they’d rather have deals brought to them on a silver platter. And the ones who do pursue properties on the MLS aren’t going to get every deal every time. There are thousands of properties on the MLS, so there’s no way to stay on top of all of them. That’s where I come in…
Make sense?
On August 16, 2010 at 6:01pm, Erika said...
Hi Steph,
thanks so much. That is exactly what I thought and I’m so glad I heard it from you!
Thanks a bunch.
On August 16, 2010 at 6:04pm, Stephani said...
My pleasure.