:banghead I am seriously getting worried at the amount of questions I am seeing about how to do this or that when making offers through the MLS. Did you ever think to consider that the reason you are having such grief with posting emoney and such is because you are dealing with very non-motivated banks? Here’s another one. If it is such a deal, what’s it doing sitting on the MLS? I don’t deny that you can find some good deals in bank owned stuff on the MLS, but the majority of it is not wholesale deals. Think of the realtor and the MLS as the wholesaler and you are the buyer. If you are stuck on MLS then my bet is that you won’t do too many wholesale deals. You need to focus on finding deals BEFORE they are on the MLS. Think pre-foreclosure, probate, distressed property etc etc etc. The only way you are going to get that stuff is to get off your assets and find it. That means driving the streets and sending out marketing. Sorry for the tirade, I just needed to release. Thanks for bearing with my maniacal rantings.
:argue
I’d generally agree, but some investors do like to focus on REOs and short sales because they may be good rental deals. Sometimes I’d rather deal with a bank that a seller. I bought a great deal through REO. $155k in 2004 and spent $30k on a rehab. Probably gonna sell for 300k or so this year. Not shabby since I rented it until now.
I would agree with Dee, I like dealing with banks ten times better than working with sellers directly. I have bought 70-85% of my current holdings off of the MLS, I have done 8 flips so far this year for profits in excess of $140,000 and most of those homes were purchased off the the MLS. Mind you these are $25,000-$40,000 homes so my cash on cash return has been somewhere between 60-110% on these.
Actually, that is the reason I like looking for deals on the MLS. I realize that a lot of investors think there are not any, if many, good deals on the MLS.
Some banks deal with agents that list their foreclosure properties. Before the shake-up, the REO were closer to retail, but the prices for the bank owned properties have been dropping. I suspect that it is because most investors refuse to pay the retail price and normal buyers probably will not deal with the risks associated with it. Why would a retail buyer deal with the problems associated with a bank foreclosure when it is a buyer’s market. It may also be partially due to the mortgage industry shake-up.
Please continue not to utilize it as another source for finding deals. It means less competition for me.
I think looking on the MLS or off the MLS is foolish, you have to do both and maximize the number of deals you find.
Buying
I definitely use the MLS to buy. I don’t like to just wait for deals to come my way by some motivated seller who I happen to run across. I’m proactive by looking at a lot of properties and putting a lot of bids down.
Selling
The MLS is the best tool when selling a property. For around a $1,000 a Realtor office will list it for you on the MLS, give you the paperwork and post a sign in your yard. The only difference is your name and number is listed as the contact. So instead of the buyer calling your Realtor then the Realtor calling you, the buyer or buyer’s Realtor just calls you directly. Saves you a ton of money.
The MLS is a good tool.