I just posted a new video. This one is about the basics of a wholesale deal.
Check it out...
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Monday, February 15, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Where was I? Oh, the wheels falling off.
Ok, now it looks like everything is lined up and ready to go. Except it was all a mirage.
To get the ball rolling I called the city of Duquesne to ask about the occupancy inspection...is it needed prior to closing or is it something the new owner would need to have done? After many attempts to get in touch with the inspectors office (apparently one guy who is hardly ever reachable) I contacted the city manager's office. I was told that the inspection would be required prior to closing and that it is the seller's responsibility to get it done.
Ok, not a big deal. I had just done a deal where that was the case and it did not cause too much of a problem. I contacted the seller to let her know so she could get that arranged, it is now Sep 22. The ball is rolling a little bit faster now.
Wait, it's now slowing down. The seller was not having any luck getting a hold of the inspector to set this up. I called Aaron for an update on the progress and mentioned the inspector issue. He said that guy is notoriously hard to reach. There is like a 15 second window each morning around 10am and that's it for the day.
I contacted the seller to let her know this. Since she is in California, she needed to get up a little bit early to call him in his sweet spot. It took a few days, but on Sep 25 she had reached him and sent him a check.
Uh, yeah, but that call did not actually schedule the inspection. Apparently he would not schedule anything until after receiving the check. Awesome. He got the check Sep 26, but it took until Oct 14 to get a hold of him again and get on his schedule.
Ok, Oct 14 it gets scheduled...and now he had to actually get there and then write up his report. How long could this take? The inspection is set for Oct 20 at 3:30pm.
Well, the last red tape hurdle and we are only at what, 5 weeks since the end of the auction? Well, at least there is a light at the end of the tunnel...or is that a train?
Uh oh.
.
To get the ball rolling I called the city of Duquesne to ask about the occupancy inspection...is it needed prior to closing or is it something the new owner would need to have done? After many attempts to get in touch with the inspectors office (apparently one guy who is hardly ever reachable) I contacted the city manager's office. I was told that the inspection would be required prior to closing and that it is the seller's responsibility to get it done.
Ok, not a big deal. I had just done a deal where that was the case and it did not cause too much of a problem. I contacted the seller to let her know so she could get that arranged, it is now Sep 22. The ball is rolling a little bit faster now.
Wait, it's now slowing down. The seller was not having any luck getting a hold of the inspector to set this up. I called Aaron for an update on the progress and mentioned the inspector issue. He said that guy is notoriously hard to reach. There is like a 15 second window each morning around 10am and that's it for the day.
I contacted the seller to let her know this. Since she is in California, she needed to get up a little bit early to call him in his sweet spot. It took a few days, but on Sep 25 she had reached him and sent him a check.
Uh, yeah, but that call did not actually schedule the inspection. Apparently he would not schedule anything until after receiving the check. Awesome. He got the check Sep 26, but it took until Oct 14 to get a hold of him again and get on his schedule.
Ok, Oct 14 it gets scheduled...and now he had to actually get there and then write up his report. How long could this take? The inspection is set for Oct 20 at 3:30pm.
Well, the last red tape hurdle and we are only at what, 5 weeks since the end of the auction? Well, at least there is a light at the end of the tunnel...or is that a train?
Uh oh.
.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Ah, the eBay property saga
Quick refresher from yesterday...
Over the summer I got a cash flowing duplex under contract, then proceeded to have much difficulty getting access to the property, so I rescinded my offer.
I forgot about this yesterday...after rescinding I was contacted by Aaron and he mentioned he could probably move it quickly, but if I had a lower price. Told him I had just dropped it.
Seller contacted me to see if we could get it back on track. I offered about $5k less this time ($13k) and then let Aaron know. We decided to go in as partners on the deal and he worked to get into the property to check it out. Got in, took a ton of pics, contacted his list...his nearly sure thing buyer did not pan out.
Contacted another wholesaler friend, Rosanne, asked her to send it to her list...nothing. Between the two of us we put it out to our lists at $19,900 and we both got replies asking what is wrong with the property because it was priced so low. Really? "You know, that deal is too good, please charge me more."
We re-grouped and decided to put it up on eBay.
Now, the next part of the story...
So we put the property up on eBay for 14 days (which was too long, will do something shorter next time) and a decent following developed. Got some inquiries about it, a couple of investors had multiple inquiries, so that was a good sign.
(Oh, and at this point I had made a decently-sized mistake. I agreed to partner 50-50 w/ Aaron so we would split regardless of who found buyer. This was fine since he actually did a decent amount of legwork on this. When his buyers did not pan out, I reached out to Rosanne to see if her list would be better. Now, if Rosanne gets the buyer we are splitting the take in half. Then, I am splitting my half w/ Aaron. Not my best decision, but 25% of something is better than 100% of nothing.)
As expected the action did not really take off until the auction period was just about over (during the last day). There were two investors who were bidding against each other, the same guys who had been emailing us.
At the end of the auction the winning bid was $22,500. Contract price was $13,100, so a nice $9,400 payday. Woo-hoo! Got in touch with the winning bidder, he is in Australia. Got the assignment letter to him and sent a $2,000 deposit via PayPal. Nice. Seller is in CA, property is near Pittsburgh and the buyer is in Australia. This should be a piece of cake, right?
Got the deposit no problem. Got my attorney to quarterback the closing. Buyer hired a local attorney to be his representation. Ok, all of the players are in place. The train is on track and heading out of the station.
Then the wheels fall off...
Over the summer I got a cash flowing duplex under contract, then proceeded to have much difficulty getting access to the property, so I rescinded my offer.
I forgot about this yesterday...after rescinding I was contacted by Aaron and he mentioned he could probably move it quickly, but if I had a lower price. Told him I had just dropped it.
Seller contacted me to see if we could get it back on track. I offered about $5k less this time ($13k) and then let Aaron know. We decided to go in as partners on the deal and he worked to get into the property to check it out. Got in, took a ton of pics, contacted his list...his nearly sure thing buyer did not pan out.
Contacted another wholesaler friend, Rosanne, asked her to send it to her list...nothing. Between the two of us we put it out to our lists at $19,900 and we both got replies asking what is wrong with the property because it was priced so low. Really? "You know, that deal is too good, please charge me more."
We re-grouped and decided to put it up on eBay.
Now, the next part of the story...
So we put the property up on eBay for 14 days (which was too long, will do something shorter next time) and a decent following developed. Got some inquiries about it, a couple of investors had multiple inquiries, so that was a good sign.
(Oh, and at this point I had made a decently-sized mistake. I agreed to partner 50-50 w/ Aaron so we would split regardless of who found buyer. This was fine since he actually did a decent amount of legwork on this. When his buyers did not pan out, I reached out to Rosanne to see if her list would be better. Now, if Rosanne gets the buyer we are splitting the take in half. Then, I am splitting my half w/ Aaron. Not my best decision, but 25% of something is better than 100% of nothing.)
As expected the action did not really take off until the auction period was just about over (during the last day). There were two investors who were bidding against each other, the same guys who had been emailing us.
At the end of the auction the winning bid was $22,500. Contract price was $13,100, so a nice $9,400 payday. Woo-hoo! Got in touch with the winning bidder, he is in Australia. Got the assignment letter to him and sent a $2,000 deposit via PayPal. Nice. Seller is in CA, property is near Pittsburgh and the buyer is in Australia. This should be a piece of cake, right?
Got the deposit no problem. Got my attorney to quarterback the closing. Buyer hired a local attorney to be his representation. Ok, all of the players are in place. The train is on track and heading out of the station.
Then the wheels fall off...
Monday, January 25, 2010
As promised for more details (aka what a nightmare)
So I had gotten this cash flowing duplex under contract waaay back in the summer (July or August). My first sign that this was probably not going to go smoothly was that I had a very difficult time getting into the property. Actually, the PM was going to get in and take pictures. This was not happening, so after 10 days of trying to get it done I rescinded my offer. If I (or someone I send) can't get in, how can I know what exactly is going on with the property?
Shortly after I rescinded the offer, the seller contacted me and asked if it would be possible to re-visit the deal. I decided I would give it another shot, but I lowered my offer to $13,100, which was accepted. This is a property that was originally be offered for $27k. My first contract was for $18k, then I got it or $5k less...
Crap! How low could I have gone?
Ok, so now I have it again. I hooked up with another wholesaler (Aaron) who knows that area much better than I do AND he said that he has a couple of investors who like that area so long as they can get in @ $10k per unit or less. Sweet. We are going to sell if for $19,900, which would be a decent payday for us.
So, he started trying to get into the property and it was basically the same thing again, so I told the seller I would rescind again unless we got in immediately. She got in touch with the PM and my partner got in...but by this time it was nearly Labor Day.
Unfortunately, the couple of buyers who he had in mind took a pass on the property. Awesome. I was also working with another investor friend of mine in CA (Rosanne) who has a fairly active list of buyers who will buy wherever, and she got some interest, but they turned out to just like to ask a lot of questions. Great.
Here it is just after Labor Day and what looked to be an easy sell has turned out to be anything but.
So, while Aaron continued to push the property to his list, Rosanne and I looked to do something neither of us had done before, put the property on eBay. This went well, much better than we expected, but then it got interesting.
I'll have the interesting eBay part for you tomorrow...
Shortly after I rescinded the offer, the seller contacted me and asked if it would be possible to re-visit the deal. I decided I would give it another shot, but I lowered my offer to $13,100, which was accepted. This is a property that was originally be offered for $27k. My first contract was for $18k, then I got it or $5k less...
Crap! How low could I have gone?
Ok, so now I have it again. I hooked up with another wholesaler (Aaron) who knows that area much better than I do AND he said that he has a couple of investors who like that area so long as they can get in @ $10k per unit or less. Sweet. We are going to sell if for $19,900, which would be a decent payday for us.
So, he started trying to get into the property and it was basically the same thing again, so I told the seller I would rescind again unless we got in immediately. She got in touch with the PM and my partner got in...but by this time it was nearly Labor Day.
Unfortunately, the couple of buyers who he had in mind took a pass on the property. Awesome. I was also working with another investor friend of mine in CA (Rosanne) who has a fairly active list of buyers who will buy wherever, and she got some interest, but they turned out to just like to ask a lot of questions. Great.
Here it is just after Labor Day and what looked to be an easy sell has turned out to be anything but.
So, while Aaron continued to push the property to his list, Rosanne and I looked to do something neither of us had done before, put the property on eBay. This went well, much better than we expected, but then it got interesting.
I'll have the interesting eBay part for you tomorrow...
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
OMG! I last posted when?!?
Umm, ok, so I said I was going to be better at posting. I guess that translated to "I may never post again." It has been MONTHS since I have posted...not good.
So, I have had a bunch of stuff going on, but at the same time it doesn't really feel like it. It's strange.
Here are some highlights (chronological order, will add details soon)
1. Sold a property on eBay to a guy in Australia (Sep 09)
2. Got a fire-damaged triplex under contract for $1 and found a buyer
3. Got some new websites, updated existing sites
4. Finally replaced my PC with a brand spankin' new iMac (this thing is SA-WEEEEEET!)
5. Wife and I had a baby. Awesome!
6. Burned out triplex deal fell apart (thanks, mayor)
7. Had to re-do all of the sites I built myself (see #4)
8. Started getting some traction with affiliate marketing and CPA offers
9. Got shut down by Craigslist
10. 2010 came along
11. May have lost the deal with the Australia buyer...no, it was not a quick close (for MANY reasons)
That is a run down of the big things that have happened since my last post. I'm pretty sure I am missing some things, but they must not have been that big of a deal if I cannot think of them right now.
Here is Ethan
So, I have had a bunch of stuff going on, but at the same time it doesn't really feel like it. It's strange.
Here are some highlights (chronological order, will add details soon)
1. Sold a property on eBay to a guy in Australia (Sep 09)
2. Got a fire-damaged triplex under contract for $1 and found a buyer
3. Got some new websites, updated existing sites
4. Finally replaced my PC with a brand spankin' new iMac (this thing is SA-WEEEEEET!)
5. Wife and I had a baby. Awesome!
6. Burned out triplex deal fell apart (thanks, mayor)
7. Had to re-do all of the sites I built myself (see #4)
8. Started getting some traction with affiliate marketing and CPA offers
9. Got shut down by Craigslist
10. 2010 came along
11. May have lost the deal with the Australia buyer...no, it was not a quick close (for MANY reasons)
That is a run down of the big things that have happened since my last post. I'm pretty sure I am missing some things, but they must not have been that big of a deal if I cannot think of them right now.
Here is Ethan
Monday, August 31, 2009
Ok...things are rolling a bit now
First off all, I have to admit blogging is not very high on mt priority list , so I have to work on this.
I spent a lot of time this summer working on websites, some internet marketing education and pushing properties. My priority has been getting upfront work completed AND getting a deal or two done because cash is kind of a priority in my life these days.
So, I have gotten most of the upfront stuff taken care of, so that is really good.
And FINALLY, I have sold 429 Hallett Pl. Cash buyer who is someone I kind of know and is getting into the investing game. Closing is today. Thank God!
The numbers on this deal are great for the flip they want to do, so my fee could have been higher, but I needed to sell this thing. After 3 extensions (one from me, 2 from the seller) payday is finally here. Barring any last minute deal implosions, I will be depositing a much needed check this afternoon.
Now I just need to find a buyer for an occupied duplex I have. It is one I got back in July but let go because we could not get access to check it out. Went back to the seller (who is super motivated) with an offer of $13,100...for an OCCUPIED duplex...and it was accepted immediately. So, I am trying to move it for $19,997, but I am finding that it might be too low. Umm, what?
Anyway, we are currently going through the same access issue, this time from the PM, so who knows, I may end up dropping it again. I do not want to because these sellers have a number of properties available and I would like to take a crack at those as well.
We shall see.
I spent a lot of time this summer working on websites, some internet marketing education and pushing properties. My priority has been getting upfront work completed AND getting a deal or two done because cash is kind of a priority in my life these days.
So, I have gotten most of the upfront stuff taken care of, so that is really good.
And FINALLY, I have sold 429 Hallett Pl. Cash buyer who is someone I kind of know and is getting into the investing game. Closing is today. Thank God!
The numbers on this deal are great for the flip they want to do, so my fee could have been higher, but I needed to sell this thing. After 3 extensions (one from me, 2 from the seller) payday is finally here. Barring any last minute deal implosions, I will be depositing a much needed check this afternoon.
Now I just need to find a buyer for an occupied duplex I have. It is one I got back in July but let go because we could not get access to check it out. Went back to the seller (who is super motivated) with an offer of $13,100...for an OCCUPIED duplex...and it was accepted immediately. So, I am trying to move it for $19,997, but I am finding that it might be too low. Umm, what?
Anyway, we are currently going through the same access issue, this time from the PM, so who knows, I may end up dropping it again. I do not want to because these sellers have a number of properties available and I would like to take a crack at those as well.
We shall see.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Boldness is rewarded
Well, I wish I could say I have found a buyer for the Hallett property, but I have not. I had a serious buyer lined up, but she was going to use hard money and the lender has cut back on his LTV (to 60%), so the deal became too expensive for her. Oh well. The website and ads I have posted have helped me pick up about a dozen more potential buyers, so it has not been a total waste of time. I have gotten with some other investors I know and have them spreading the word to their lists, so hopefully something shakes out. I still get leads from my ads, so there is some potential there as well.
Now, for the boldness stuff. In the grand scheme of things, this is probably not all that bold, but it has been a step for me. I am sometimes too laid back and go with an attitude of if they say no, I move on and too often I seem to present things in a way that make it easy to say "no". I have recently begun taking a slightly different approach. Now I have been going at this business with the attitude "what's the worst they can do, say no?" and this has paid dividends quickly. Too frequently I have offered prices that I think the buyer will accept, not necessarily the price that works best for me. Now, I have still gotten good prices, but not nearly as good as I may have been able to. Recent actions have gotten me different results.
On Friday I got 3 properties under contract, 2 are cash flowing already and one is ready to go.
Duplex (rented) - Duquesne, PA 15110
Single-family (rented) - Braddock, PA 15104
Single-family (vacant) - McKees Rocks, PA 15136
All of them are under 50% of ARV and I did not go higher than $18,200 for any of them. I had another offer accepted at $16k for a duplex in need of work, but the seller is looking for far more hand money than I am willing to give. However, we only got to this point because I kept at it on trying to work something out. I am not creating anything revolutionary for investors, I am just seeing how I can get better results by making small changes in my mindset.
I currently have 4 properties that I am trying to sell and they have all gotten some amount of interest. I just need to get these sold and my stress level will go waaaaaay down. I have not had the results I would like so far, but I am on the right track, I can feel it.
I have the opportunity to partner up with a mentor of mine that should do wonders for my lead generation. It will be a bit pricey compared to what I have been spending on marketing, but if it pans out the way we think it will (300-500 leads in 30 days), then it will e money well-spent.
I will keep you updated (while I keep my fingers crossed).
Now, for the boldness stuff. In the grand scheme of things, this is probably not all that bold, but it has been a step for me. I am sometimes too laid back and go with an attitude of if they say no, I move on and too often I seem to present things in a way that make it easy to say "no". I have recently begun taking a slightly different approach. Now I have been going at this business with the attitude "what's the worst they can do, say no?" and this has paid dividends quickly. Too frequently I have offered prices that I think the buyer will accept, not necessarily the price that works best for me. Now, I have still gotten good prices, but not nearly as good as I may have been able to. Recent actions have gotten me different results.
On Friday I got 3 properties under contract, 2 are cash flowing already and one is ready to go.
Duplex (rented) - Duquesne, PA 15110
Single-family (rented) - Braddock, PA 15104
Single-family (vacant) - McKees Rocks, PA 15136
All of them are under 50% of ARV and I did not go higher than $18,200 for any of them. I had another offer accepted at $16k for a duplex in need of work, but the seller is looking for far more hand money than I am willing to give. However, we only got to this point because I kept at it on trying to work something out. I am not creating anything revolutionary for investors, I am just seeing how I can get better results by making small changes in my mindset.
I currently have 4 properties that I am trying to sell and they have all gotten some amount of interest. I just need to get these sold and my stress level will go waaaaaay down. I have not had the results I would like so far, but I am on the right track, I can feel it.
I have the opportunity to partner up with a mentor of mine that should do wonders for my lead generation. It will be a bit pricey compared to what I have been spending on marketing, but if it pans out the way we think it will (300-500 leads in 30 days), then it will e money well-spent.
I will keep you updated (while I keep my fingers crossed).
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