Hi design101,
One of the things with buying a property out of state is that you are not seeing the property and you don’t know what conditions it is in. Not that it can’t be done but what I would recommend is develop a relationship with a realtor or if you have family member in the area you plan to purchase and have them take a lot of pictures and even then it is still risky. With a realtor he or she can due some due dilligence for you.
For example: The value of the property, the area and neighborhood it is located in ( you don’t want drug infested or crime areas ), will it need any rehab and what would be the estimated costs. The realtor can be your best friend.
As far as Seasoning. This means that if you buy a property today in a lot of cases the Title Company will not do the transaction of you selling the property in X amount of time. In some cases it could be 6 months to 1 year. The best way to get around this is to interview the title companies and see if their underwriting has a seasoning requirement and if they do find you another one that will do no Seasoning. They are out there but you have to search for them. Do a Google search for a title company in the area of your property.
Bird-dogging is a term used for refferal fee.
Wholesaling in most cases is a property that needs some kind of repairs but can be very profitable as long as you buy well below After Repair Value which is the value of the home after you have repaired it. The ATV you are reffering to is actually ARV which means After Repair Value. When they talk about 70% of ARV it means that the bank or hardmoney lender will loan you upto 70% of the ARV ( After Repair Value ). Lets say you find a home that needs repair for $100,000 dollars, the Hardmoney lender will loan you 70% of that which is $70,000 dollars. The best way to find the potential value of the home is through a real estate agent because they will have the best up to date comparable prices in the area you are purchasing.
REO’s are plentiful in this day and age because there about 1.3 million people that are going into foreclosure as we speak. REO’s are bank owned properties that they need to get rid of and this is a perfect opportunity for many of us to make a decent return on your money.
Some of the best places to find these properties are:
www.faniemae.com, www.ocwen.com, and rehablist.com, www.craigslist.com
Look in the news papers for Property fo Sale by Owner they can be pretty motivated sometimes.
Remember to do your due dilligence and remember wholesaling in most cases they need repairs but can be Very Profitable.
About the panic, it was a good thing that you syepped back to find out more because you don’t want to step into a blackhole. I read this book by somebody I have great respect for Robert Allen his book is titled “Nothing Down”. It will enlighten you in many areas of real estate.
I hope I answered some of your questions. Have a Happy and Propsperous New Year.
Take Care,
:beer
Enlightened Business Solutions
P.S. Please do your own due dilligence !!!