Flip This Wholesaler

Well I got another deal sold yesterday! Woohoo!

It’s a JV deal with another one of my wholesaling buddies, and it’s actually closing TODAY which I’m thrilled about!

The lady who is buying it is a new buyer of mine that I found on Monday.  I went out to look at a property in one of the neighborhoods that I’ve done quite a few deals in, and while I was there I decided to spend some time driving around and writing down all of the numbers on the “For Rent” signs that I saw.  This area is probably 80% rentals if not more, so there were quite a few of them. Initially I was going to write down 10 numbers and then go home, but I decided I might as well get as many as I could while I was there, so I ended up with 24.

Usually when I do this, I will take the list of numbers along with the corresponding property addresses, and research the owner in the tax records and on the county clerk’s website to see what the scoop is. If, for example, the owner only bought one property in 2006 for an astronomical price and they have a lis pendens filed against them….. I cross them off my list. This usually narrows the list by at least half, which is good because cold calling sucks and I hate doing it, so the fewer people I have to call- the better.

Monday, however, was the day of my first Toastmasters meeting, and I decided it would be good practice to cold call all 24 of the people on my list.

Good times, let me tell you.

One of my first calls went like this:

ME: Hi, my name is Steph Davis, and I saw your For Rent sign in front of a property on Main St. I was just wondering if you were looking for any more rentals in the area……

Angry Guy: (Silence)

ME: Um….Yeah, I’m a wholesaler and I was just calling some of the landlords in the area to see if they were looking for more rentals.  I’ve got a property for sale over on X Street for 37k and thought you might be interested……

AG: Oh you’ve got a property for sale do ya?  Gee, what a surprise!  SO DO I!  SO DOES EVERYBODY!  NO, I’M NOT INTERESTED!!!!!!!!

Click.

Awesome.

15 calls later, I was considering scrapping the whole mission, but forced myself to finish the list.

Long story short, the 24th call (seriously) ended up being the lady who is buying the deal that is closing today! How do ya like them apples?  And she’s also buying the crap out of properties in this neighborhood right now, so I’m sure this will be the first of many deals I sell to her.

Glad I finished making those calls.

That’s all I’ve got for now.  Have a great day everybody!

Over and out…

P.S.
Just a friendly reminder to those of you who are participating in the Flip This Wholesaler Book of the Month Club …… you’ve got two weeks left to finish up!  January 1st is right around the corner.

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 finally got an email from the buyer for the Nightmare Deal telling me that everything was fine with the financing so far, it is in underwriting right now. I guess I need to stop always assuming the worst of every situation.

I made a bunch of phone calls (not the 20 I had planned on), and in the process, added two more buyers to my buyers list.

A little bit ago, I received an email from a seller who received my postcard. This is what it said, verbatim (except for the address):

“How fast can you give me cash for my home? I live at
XXX Drive, Tarpon Springs 34689. What will you
give me for it? There are no liens and it is paid for
with no mortgages. I paid $112,000 for it. You can
check the other info on the pinellas public records.”

I sent her an email back immediately asking if it was too late to call (this was around 9:30 pm).

I ended up calling her a few minutes later.

The house is 3/2 1300 sf, built in 1957, and needs updating. I asked her what the the least amount she’d take if I could offer all cash and close quickly.

She said 105k (She paid 112k for it 3 years ago).

I’m not familiar with the area, so I said I would check comps and call her right back.

There are two solid comps (within the last 2 months), for 150k and 178k.

I told her I could get her close to what she’s asking, and set up an appointment to look at it tomorrow @ 1pm. I am going to try and get it for cheaper than 105k, but even at that price, I’m pretty sure I can find a buyer no problem.

Actually, one of the guys I added to my buyers list today buys properties in this area. Also, it seems like houses in this price range (close to or below 100k), are much easier to get rid of. It would be great to get this under contract tomorrow.

I can at least get a good night’s sleep tonight now that I know the buyers of the Nightmare Deal are still planning on buying. I was up until about 2am last night worrying about it.

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.

I finally managed to screw my head back on straight after a couple days of stress and anxiety. I’m trying to get better at adjusting to the ups and downs of this business, but it is tough. It really feels like a roller coaster ride sometimes.

My contact management software (ACT) decided to stop working yesterday. I have no idea what the problem is, and don’t really have the time to try and figure it out. So, I’ll have to stop sending postcards for the time being. I’m looking at it as a blessing in disguise, since I am trying to make myself be more pro-active, instead of just sitting around waiting for the phone to ring.

I got the newspaper today and made myself cold call a bunch of ads. I ended up with 3 decent leads that I’m going to look at tomorrow.

I also came up with a new set of daily goals that I’m going to make myself accomplish: (#1) Make at least 20 phone calls to ads in the paper, ads online, signs on the side of the road, etc. (#2) Send out at least 20 postcards per day- this may have to wait until I figure out what the heck is wrong w my ACT program, but I think there is a template in Word that I can use for printing address labels (#3) add at least one buyer to my buyers list per day (#4) Make at least one offer a day on a listed property. I think these are realistic goals as long as I manage my time wisely.

While calling ads in the paper today, I added another cash/hard money buyer to my buyers list. I”m now up to 19.

I really need to focus on marketing in the next couple of weeks. I have spent a lot of time looking for buyers for my current deals, which has taken away from time I could be marketing- another incentive for me to build my buyers list as quickly as possible.

I’m down to 3 weekends at my bartending job- New Year’s Eve is my last day. I still question myself every once in awhile, but I am not turning back.

I keep feeling like I just need to get one more deal to prove to myself that this is for real. I wonder how many I’ll have to do before I stop feeling that way.