Flip This Wholesaler

6/4/2008

I got one of my REO offers accepted yesterday afternoon, which is great, except the buyer I had lined up is now not sure if he wants it or not (grrrrrr). So, now it’s a race to find another buyer. I didn’t leave myself much time to close, because I was sure my guy would take it, so I kinda need to find a buyer fast. It’s a good house that doesn’t need any work, and I’ve got it at a good price, so I don’t think I will have too much trouble selling it. We’ll see. I’ve already got some signs up in the neighborhood, and put the word out that it’s available.

Today I sold one of my wholesaler friend’s houses to one of my cash buyers who was ready for another deal (I put the property under contract with my buddy, and then assigned it to my buyer).   The spread was really thin, so I’m only going to be making a grand off of it, but it’s better than getting punched in the face or kicked in the teeth or what have you. This is the third house that I’ve sold to this buyer on the same street. He wants to buy up the whole block, I think. Fine with me.

The other cash buyer that is ready for another deal sent me an email today that really ticked me off. A lot. In a nutshell, I spoiled him with the last deal I sold him, and could probably have gotten at least another 5k out of the deal, if not more, but I’m retarded sometimes, and I told him how much I had it under contract for, which was a big mistake. Anyway, the place was a 3/2 block, needed ZERO repairs, he bought it for 72k, did a 70% refi (appraisal came in at 145k), pulled some cash out, and had it rented within a few weeks. This was his first deal, and apparently I gave him the impression that deals like that are just hanging out by the pool in my backyard. Anywho, I sent him a deal today (the one I have under contract) asking 79k. It is the same square footage, roughly, but is a 3/1 instead of a 3/2, but it is in a better part of town, and, would rent for a higher amount. It is rent ready. So, he sends me a (rather rude) email back saying (in a nutshell), that “frankly” a higher priced house that has one less bathroom is not very “appealing” to him, and maybe if I was asking 68k or less it “might be worth a look.” Really? Well, go fuck yourself. How bout that? Go find your own deals and see how easy it is, pal.

Oh, You’ll never guess who I had the pleasure of telling off yesterday………Slim Shady’s accomplice who wrote the bad check a few weeks back!

I was having lunch with another wholesaler yesterday when this retarded piece of trash called the guy I was having lunch with. Slim and Co. have been pretending that they are going to buy one of this guy’s properties, too, and have been pulling the same shenanigans with him.

So, I made my friend give me the phone, and I WENT OFF on him. I told him he was a dirtball and nobody in the entire city of Tampa wants to do business with him because he is a shady bastard.

So, then, true to form, he tells me that he is still planning on closing that deal he bailed on like 2 weeks ago. HAHAHAHAHA.

Then he tells me (this is freaking HILARIOUS), that he has a hard money lender in CHINA who is going to lend him FIVE MILLION DOLLARS to buy houses, and can he have his hard money lender call me?

So, I play along, and a few minutes later I get a call from some other bozo with the same story. I let him have it, too, and let him know the only way I would ever sell him a house was if he showed up with a suitcase full of cash for the entire amount of the purchase.

These shady assholes need to be put in their place. They give the rest of us a bad name.

I’ll leave you with a picture of Slim that my buddy Bruce out there in Blogland sent me…..

Hehehe. You crack me up, Bruce.

5/18/2008

Well, Friday night I went out with some friends to celebrate the crashing and burning of the Slim Shady deal. We started off at the Hub, then walked down to The Fly, and then back to the Hub where the crowd is a lot less plastic-y, if you know what I mean. Good thing both places are within walking distance of Skypoint, because believe you me, we were in no condition to drive. We did, however, manage to crash the pool at 4am (it closes at midnight, supposedly). Hehe.

Remember that guy I was talking about who supposedly has an investor looking to spend ten zillion dollars on Tampa real estate? Well, I kept harassing him with calls and emails because I had a gut feeling that he might possibly be a worthwhile contact to have. He ended up calling me Friday after seeing one of the properties I’m marketing on Craigslist. He’s still sticking to his story that he has investors (cash investors) from NY that are looking to dump a lot of cashola into this market. Nice. We talked for awhile, and then set up a lunch for this week. I guess I’ll find out soon enough if he’s full of it or not. I sure hope not. $$$$$$$.

One of my buyers who is ready for another property called me last week to ask about an REO that just came back on the market. He told me what he would pay for it (not sure why he didn’t just make the offer himself, but who am I to argue?), and asked me to try and get it at that price. I put the offer in (leaving enough room for a tidy little profit for myself), and got a counter back from the bank Friday afternoon. They came down 15k off of list price, which still isn’t good enough, but we’re getting close. We’ll see what happens.

I also picked up another cash buyer from the signs I put out a few weeks ago. This guy’s been investing for a long time, but hasn’t bought anything in several years . He says he’s in buying mode again, and asked me to send him whatever I get. Nice. I tell you, as much as I hate putting those stupid signs out, I always seem to pick up a buyer or two. So, I will keep putting them out.

And that’s all she wrote.

10-4, over and out…

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.

So, today I decided to put out 10 handwritten signs advertising one of the properties I’m trying to wholesale that is in the hood. I only have one “hood buyer” that will buy in this area, so I figured I would put some signs up, and while I was at it, take down some telephone numbers of any properties that had “For Rent” signs in the front yard. I have found 2 solid cash buyers by doing this- one of them is buying the REO that I currently have under contract.

I usually try to get at least 10 landlord phone numbers while I’m scoping out a particular area. I think I was up to 8 when I happened to look in my rearview mirror and see some random dude chasing after my car on foot and screaming at me. I’m not kidding.

Scared the living shit out of me.

I don’t know if he thought I was a drug dealer or a prostitute or what, but I didn’t stick around to find out. I was so flustered trying to get the hell outta there that I almost ran over a lady who was crossing the street in a wheelchair. No lie.

I’m staying the hell out of this area from now on unless I’m packin heat. Last time I came to look at a house in this neighborhood, I ended up vomiting on the living room floor because the smell was so repulsive and there were dead cockroaches and syringes all over the place. Then, when I was leaving, there was a lady running down the street in her pajamas carrying a baseball bat.  I wrote about it here.  Anyway, I’m done visiting this neighborhood.

It’s all good in the hood.