Flip This Wholesaler

I ended up losing one of the deals I was working on to another investor. This is the one where I offered 159k. The other investor got it for 165k. Oh well, win some lose some. I got a call from the title company today saying the nightmare deal is closing tomorrow @ 10:30. I’m very happy about that.

Last night I went to a networking cocktail party with a friend of mine. I got to meet a bunch of wholesalers. It was nice to be around so many other people who are out there doing the same thing.

I ended up staying out rather late, so I was pretty useless today. I did get about 5 calls from my signs, though. I’m really pleased with the results, so I ordered 100 more that I’m going to put out this weekend.

I have a good friend who sells different types of advertising, so I’m going to meet with him this week to get an idea of pricing. I figure if I can get a couple park benches, put out 100 signs/week, contact sellers directly, send postcards, and make offers on the mls, I should be in good shape if I stick with it. I want to have a deal signed by the 16th of this month (next Tuesday), and then get another one before the month is over.

Just got back from putting out signs again.

It’s 2:18am. I put out 35 tonight, so I have about 65 out total (minus some that have been taken down).

I got one call today from a security guy telling me I can’t put them up in that subdivision. I told him no problem and apologized. He actually called me back a couple minutes later and told me that he would hold the signs for me if I wanted to pick them up. I thought that was pretty nice.

Over the weekend I talked to a guy who is selling one of his properties and moving out of state.

He has 3 empty rentals right now and needs to sell asap. The ARV of the property is around 220-230. He was asking 169k originally. I offered him 155k. He told me he had another buyer @ 165k, so I told him to keep me in mind if the buyer didn’t work out.

He ended up calling me today telling me the buyer is jerking him around. He asked if I could go higher than 155k, and I said 159k was the best I could do. He was supposed to talk to his wife and call me back, but he never did. He sent me an email later on saying he was with a client and would call me later, but he didn’t. I hope he calls tomorrow because I would like to get this house for my Dad.

I am also talking with another investor who is liquidating his properties and moving out of state. He called me again today to tell me he wants to sell fast and that he will lower his price. The property is really hard to value, because the area that it’s in is being revitalized, and comps are all over the place. I know his mortgage balance is pretty low, so I think I’m going to call him first thing in the morning and try to get his bottom line.

The buyer for the Nightmare Deal sent me an email today saying it is closing this week. I’ll believe it when I see it.

It’s 2:30 am and I just got back from putting out signs.

I managed to get 30 of them up. It took me almost 2 hours. I almost didn’t go because I am totally exhausted, but I made myself because I haven’t been getting any good leads lately.

I have 30 more that I’m going to put out Monday night.

I haven’t used signs in a few years, so I’m going to see what sort of results I get from these (I had these left over from a long time ago) then decide if it’s worth the hassle.

I made a bunch of phone calls during the day. Didn’t get any good leads, although I added another cash buyer to my buyers list.

I made a verbal offer to a guy I spoke with yesterday (the offer was a little less than 70% ARV) and he told me he would rather set his house on fire than sell to me. I think that was the highlight of my day.

I also had another guy start screaming at me because I was asking him too many questions, and how the heck was he supposed to sell a house over the phone. He kept going on and on so I just set the phone down until he was done. Good times.

Tomorrow I am going to go to some open houses and also call ads from the Sunday paper.

Both leads I got yesterday didn’t pan out. One needed a complete rehab (the guy said it only needed minor repairs), and the other was worth less than what the seller claimed. Oh well. I was feeling a little discouraged today, so I sat in my office and didn’t get up until I called 20 “motivated” sellers. Out of the people I spoke to, I got one good lead that I’m going to check out tomorrow. There are still a few people who haven’t called back yet, so maybe something else will turn up. Who knows. One of the ads I called said “extremely negotiable seller. must sell. make offer.” When I finally got in touch with her (she called me back), she told me she wouldn’t take anything less than what the appraisal came in at. ??? What the heck? People are strange.

I’m really excited to not have to go to work tomorrow. I’m going to get up early, get the paper, and go check out some open houses. I may put some signs out tomorrow night as well.

Oh yeah, I found another buyer while calling ads today. I think I’m up to 27. Not all of them are buyers, some are wholesalers, but they all have their list of buyers as well. A lot of wholesalers will try to sell your property to their buyers and add on a few thousand for themselves.

Looking forward to the weekend and making lots of offers and talking to lots of sellers. Have to keep telling myself that it’s a numbers game.

I really pushed myself today to accomplish the daily goals I set in my last post. The one I was dreading the most was making 20 phone calls to sellers. I put this off until about noon, then decided that I was going to do it no matter what. It took me most of the day, but I did it. From the 20 calls, I ended up getting 4 good leads (going to follow up and make offers tomorrow), adding 2 buyers to my buyers list, and finding another hard money lender. I’m more happy with the fact that I actually followed through with the calls than anything else. It is really, really good practice to just call and talk to sellers, realtors, investors, etc. The more you do it, the more confident you become. I used to be scared to death to even call people back that responded to my advertising.

I also made an offer on a listed property today. The sellers have been transfered, and have moved out of state. The list price is about 20k below the FMV. I faxed over a letter of intent after I asked the listing agent if this would be acceptable. The house doesn’t need any work, and is in a cookie cutter neighborhood, so I made the offer sight unseen.

I only managed to send out 5 postcards today. My contact management software is still screwed up, and the process of printing out labels in Word took a very long time (I won’t get into details). I also am starting to feel like my time is better spent either making direct contact with sellers (calling), or just making an offer on the mls. Also, both of these methods are free. I much prefer to have sellers calling me, but I don’t really have the money for any more advertising right now. Perhaps another blessing in disguise.

Still shooting for another deal by the end of the year.