Flip This Wholesaler

7/8/2009

So, I ended up finding another buyer for the property that I just got under contract. Actually, I found 3 buyers, but this guy was the first one to cough up a deposit and sign a contract. We met at my title company earlier today to get everything squared away.

This guy called me a few months ago when he saw one of my signs advertising a deal I had at the time. It took him a few days to go out and look at the property, and when he called to tell me he wanted it, it was already gone. I hadn’t heard from him in awhile, and he just happened to call me on Monday to see if I had anything available. I told him about my current deal and he went out to look at it immediately (apparently, he learned his lesson about lolly-gagging) and called back within a half hour with an offer of 19k (I was asking 29k). I told him that was too low, and he said he would think about it and get back to me. Long story short, he ended up calling me back 3 times with higher offers (this is always a good sign), and yesterday we agreed on a price of 25k net (meaning he pays all closing costs).

It’s 1k lower than the previous offer, which sucks, but I’ll take it. I’ve got a lot of other stuff on my plate at the moment, and I just want to get this one squared away so I can focus on the other stuff… Also, this buyer is what I like to call a “Jackpot Buyer,” so I’m willing to take a little less just to start building a relationship with him. He’s got deeeeeep pockets, lots of properties, and best of all, he’s not a douche bag. These are all qualities I look for in a buyer. My guess is that I will make a lot of money with this guy in the long run. Just a hunch.

Now I just have to get the bank and their title company to actually do their job. I’m a leetle bit scared that I haven’t even received the executed docs back from the bank yet. Usually when it takes them several days to sign the contracts, it’s a sign of what’s to come. Also, this is the same freaking asset management company that was in charge of the last deal I was working on, that I ended up losing. This time, though, I have the asset manager’s contact info (the listing agent accidentally sent it to me when she sent the bank’s addendum), so I can personally harass the shit out of him if he doesn’t get things signed in a timely fashion. Also, they are using a local title company, so if they suck (and chances are, they will), I can actually go into their office and harass them in person. Definitely a bonus.

That’s all I’ve got for now.

Later Alligators.

P.S.
A big congratulations to Shae, who just closed on her first rehab, and also to Craig, who just closed on his first short sale! Both are shining examples of where PERSISTENCE and MASSIVE ACTION will get you!

7/1/2009

Well, I got an offer accepted yesterday.

I actually made the offer on the 15th of June, and never heard back, so I just figured they were rejecting it. The property is listed for 30k, and my offer was 17k. I made the offer without seeing the property in person, as I am getting increasingly lazy when it comes to actually going and looking at houses. I’ve done a lot of deals in this particular area (the hood), so I feel fairly comfortable making offers site unseen, especially when there are plenty of pictures of the house on the mls..

Anyway, so the bank came back last Friday (10 days later) with a counter of 25k, and at that point I decided to go look at the house. It’s a 3/1 on a corner lot, and unfortunately, the neighborhood liquor store/prostitute hangout is right across the street. Not good. Also, the house has a funky layout, which is also not good. Two strikes on a piece of crap property in the hood is not good. (That was an accidental rhyme, btw)…

So, I told the listing agent that I wasn’t budging on my price, and I figured that was the last I would hear from her. She ended up calling late yesterday afternoon to tell me they decided to take my initial offer of 17k.

Go figure.

I’m meeting Murphy out at the house as soon as I’m done writing this post to get his opinion on it. I told the listing agent I wasn’t sure I still wanted to move forward with the deal, being that I made the offer 2 weeks ago, and now I have other properties to consider. This is kind of true, but mostly not.

I normally don’t like jerking people around, but when it takes the bank 10 days to respond to an offer, I don’t really feel too bad making them wait around a day or so for me to make a decision. Actually, I kind of enjoy it.

And that’s all she wrote for today. I’m off to the hood….

P.S.
I haven’t forgotten about the Power of Less Challenge for July. I’ll write a post about that mañana.

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3/17/2009

Well, I’m off to Baltimore tomorrow.

I was going to make some more offers today, but got caught up doing some other stuff, and never got around to it.

Of the 10 offers I made yesterday, 3 already had accepted offers, 1 was rejected without a counter (love those), one wasn’t looking at offers below 50k (my offer was 40k), and then I got one seemingly good counter.

This property just came back on the market after being under contract for 40 days. It’s listed at 65.9k. I offered 40k, and they came back with a counter of 45k. This is one that I did not look at before I made the offer because I thought it would be a slam dunk deal at 40k.

It’s a 3/2, concrete block house, that, from the pictures and the description, appears to be in move-in condition. So, I got all excited when I got the counter, and flew over to the house to check it out, thinking that I had a great deal on my hands…… And, this place would be a FANTASTIC deal, if only I could pick it up and move it one block to the East or the West, or North or South.

Unfortunately, it is the only single family house on this particular street, and is swimming in a sea of duplexes and multi families on a horrible block. Long story short….. not a good deal at 40k. This is why I don’t like to make blind offers anymore…

I have a few other deals that I’m working on with wholesaler friends, but nothing in writing yet. I’ve got investors hounding me for properties, so I’m going to keep making offers like a lunatic..

The other deal that I’m working with Lee is actually going to close early. SHOCKING! It was scheduled to close on the 31st of this month, but is now going to close a week from today. So that’s good news.

That’s about all I’ve got for today. Heading out to Baltimore early tomorrow, and will be back in action Friday afternoon.

Later alligators.

P.S.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!

P.P.S.
Congrats to Nate for paying off 110k in debt- you rock, Nate!

2/6/2009

It feels good to be back in the swing of things. Took me a day to get back on track, but now I’m ready to do some damage..

The deal I was working with Lee closed on Tuesday.

Still waiting on the bank’s title company to get everything ready for the duplex deal. This, of course, is the one I’m working with Murphy, and I’d like to just go on the record as saying that I think this deal is going to be added to the list of deals that we’ve worked together that have crashed and burned.

I get the feeling that something is awry, and every time the phone rings and it’s him calling, I just know he’s calling with bad news. Supposedly, the bank is trying to negotiate with the city to get a lien reduced (or something), but it seems to be taking an awfully long time, and I just think there is something else going on. Or maybe I am just paranoid because every deal that we have ever worked on together has ended up in the dumpster.

Yesterday, I got a call from an agent on a property that I offered on on (on on?) January 20th.

In case you don’t have a calendar handy- that’s over 2 weeks ago. Anyway, the property is listed at $29,900, I offered 11k (hehe), and the bank countered at $18,900.

Nice.

This house is a glorified shack, but if I get it cheap enough, I can sell it. Usually when they come down that far off of list price right off the bat, they will come down more. I’m pretty sure I can get 19k for this (famous last words), so I countered back at 13k yesterday afternoon, and hopefully will get a response back today.

I love getting good counters on Fridays, because then I have the entire weekend to get my buyers out there to look and give me feedback.

I’m back on the offer train, so today I’ll be looking at more houses, putting some signs out (in the cold), and blasting out some more offers…

Have a great weekend y’all…

P.S.
Countdown to Costa Rica, T-minus 16 days! Woohoo!

1/23/2009

So, I didn’t get any offers accepted this week.

That’s just the way it goes sometimes, though.

It always happens this way- I’ll get a few offers accepted all at once, and then NOTHING for a few weeks. Then I’ll start panicking and thinking that all of the deals I’ve done thus far were a fluke and that this stuff doesn’t really work…. and then I’ll get another one accepted, and my faith is restored.

I still haven’t sold the house I got for 16k, although I now have 3 offers on the table- two for 18k, and one for 22k. The one for 22k is using hard money, and hasn’t been able to cough up a 2k deposit, so I’m pretty sure that is not going to work out.

The 2 who offered 18k are both cash buyers, but I’m still holding out for more.

I’m going to put some more signs out this weekend and see what happens. I’m pretty sure I can get 21k or 22k if I am patient. I still have a few weeks left, so I am willing to wait. Not too long, but I will wait until the end of next week, and then I will go with a lower offer if I have to.

There is an auction coming to Tampa in February, and my sans-ID buyer offered to “give me his checkbook” to bid on properties at this auction. We haven’t ironed out the details yet, but he is essentially offering up his cash (500k), to purchase properties for himself (he can’t bid on them personally because he does not have an ID), and also to bid on properties for us to wholesale.

I was planning on going to this auction anyway, as I have a few friends who have done very well with this company in the last few months, but I only have the resources to bid on one, or maybe 2 properties…. If I have 500k to play with, well, that changes things completely. Like I said, we are still ironing out the details, but it is looking pretty good at this point (I will explain more of the details later). Even if the auction doesn’t work out, it’s always nice to know that you have someone with 500k liquid cash (although I think he has much more than that), who trusts you with their checkbook- ya know?

And, finally- look what I found in the mailbox yesterday..

Wooohooo!

Countdown to Costa Rica.…. T-minus 30 days!