Did your offer on the warehouse have an expiration date?
I’ve had this idea for awhile, it’s kinda wild and maybe cheating, a method of finding fixers I’ve never heard before.
And its a fun way to find em. Google Maps Baby. The satellite photos and ground view cud be a year or more old but hey, accurate enuf to spot some houses in disrepair.
Here’s how it works, I think I invented it, on google maps, zoom down to a neighborhood your interested in. For me, its 40-60 year old houses.
Zoom down to street view and start clicking down each street, stopping often to look left and right at the houses. soon you see them. old cars, overgrown weeds and shrubs, bad roof and a dead cow.
I found a nice prospect within 20 minutes, sent address in and found out its an absentee owner and in a trust in the owners name. Now I’m thinking if I did this a few hrs a day 2 or 3 times a week, probably have some deals cookin.
Great idea! Bing maps also has a street side option in some of the areas that Google may not show and may be a little newer than Google Maps in some cases…
It’s amazing that my neighborhood houses are going for such high prices, this ordinary looking house down the street sold for bookoo bukz and I’m thinking holy shitsky, it be nice to sell and get the equity and move to a nicer area cuz wer drug infested over here. But hell, there seems to be a shortage of houses, and what’s on the market is going for an arm and leg. I’m thinking, there’s been not much building going on in my city in 10 years and the population is exploding.
Will these prices keep climbing, level out, or crash and burn again?
Will the Universe expand forever into an endless expanse?
We got high demand and sellers are getting outrageous prices, even for fixers.
My wholesaling buddies and I need to figure out a strategy that works in this arena.
It seems the stock market is experiencing some volatile times. Let’s impose some crazy tariffs on Chinese goods and really screw with the worlds economy.
These homeowners with their overpriced fixers are asking for almost full value and it don’t matter that it’s going to take much more to fix them up than the frikin houses are worth.
I believe home values have increased so fast its not sustainable.
The rents in my city are outrageous also.
When the SHTF get ready to grab some pie.
My buddy Steve has a website up and running and occasionally gets calls. A caller named Yolanda leaves a message, she complains in the message that no one answered the phone but she is interested in selling her house for cash. I called the website number and sure enuf, no one is home. I wonder how many deals we have lost? Gotta get ol Steve in gear.
Anyways, Yolanda has a tiny 2/1 672 SF Single family home in a good working class area in the city. She tells me she is not really interested in selling cuz they been collecting rents for so long. I’m thinking she must have equity, then I get the property report back from my Title. Looks like she and her husband purchased this in O7 right b4 the housing market went south. She paid 160 friking thou for this. Built in 1941, but has some nice upgrades, nice wood siding and finished hardwood floors and a fireplace and new windows and worth about 80 grand 3-4 yrs ago.
But now looking at the houses recently sold in and around the neighborhood, were looking at an average of 130-180K
Now usually I only want fixers, and this house is really cute with porch an patio the trees and detached 1 car garage in back.
I’m gonna offer her 140-145 and I bet I can sell it for 160K-180 I believe she is motivated cuz the house is sitting empty now. Factor in repairs and painting when renters vacate , possibly evictions, and paying the mortgage themselves & bla bla. She’s only owned the house for 12 yrs & w her down payment, I’m estimating they still owe 120K I’m thinking the rents w taxes an insurance is probably what she pays in mortgage. and I’m so surprised she wud mislead me. Haha
So here is where my new strategy comes to play. Flip nicer homes for a nice 5-20K profit to a qualified retail buyer.
Real estate agents will hate you for this, but I wud rather have that profit in my pocket and do what realtors dont do, aggressively market the property instead of putting it on the MLS and sit on ur thumbs and wait.
It’s gona be fun working this new angle, but hell, I need more leads.
Yolanda says while adverting the house for rent, a realtor called about selling, I or we shud be doing that, and that’s wat got her thinking to sell for cash, cuz why? realtor fees will eat up any profit, oh Yolanda, your so tricky but I got ur number.
Now this is the part that gets my toes to curl, the negotiations. I txted Yolanda about where to send her written offer. She comes back with… tell me your offer first. Going thru all my data on this property, I believe I can sell it for 160 or more. And I know Yolanda is between an elephant and a scratching post, I went for the throat.
I txted her that we can do $145,000 and we pay escrow and all closing costs and buy it as is.
The fun begins, Yolanda our stressed out seller is considering the offer, calculating how much they cud walk away with and how difficult it is to keep renters and dealing with their dogs and kids and vacancies and repairs and late payments and yada yada.
For me, I got my mind going, and the anticipation of winning or losing, is insane. It’s stressful, but fun too.
It’s been hours I’m still waiting for Yolanda to reply my offer via txt. Sometimes that can be a good thing, instead of coming back with a quick and angry “no”.
But then it gets wilder, A lady named Theresa fills out some basic info on Steve’s site and we get a quick email stating the basics. She has a single fam home and wants to sell in the next month to 3 months, She left an email and phone number so I email that my partner Steve and I want to buy her house. Soon the husband it replying that he does have a house for sale & is asking what wud I like to know. Since Its Sunday I got no property report and I’m flying blind.
He says we are welcome to come and look at it after I asked if it had ever been upgraded. And he says he got a 190K offer yesterday.
I luv Zillow and it’s a good starting point to go from. Zillow says its market value is $262,764
Built in 77, old ranch style house that looks well kept, looks outdated on exterior, but oh man, this 1600 SF house sits on an acre in a gorgeous cul de sak in a nearby town 25 miles away. It has huge trees and it looks seriously desirable to me. Depending on interior and I suspect its nice but also needs upgraded, My first thoughts are, offer 215, get it on contract, aggressively market it for 240-260, move fast like the bottom is ready to fall out and run like hell b4 this bubble bursts…
In my humble estimate, this house cud be worth 340K and probably more after repairs and upgrading. I’m going to hav to move fast and get it wrapped up b4 seller gets more offers.
It’s the next morning and still havnt got a reply from Yolanda about my offer of 145K.
But Holy Real Estate Gods, this ranch style house on 1 acre is on my mind and a deal may be going down. Last night I sent Patrick and Theresa (the sellers) my offer of $205,000 by email. This morning there is a response saying, ok, are you sure cuz were suppose to sign papers tomorrow Tuesday.
I replied back, I will write up the purchase agreement and email it to you today. Then got another reply back within minutes, “OK then”
What’s interesting is I got the first response to my offer at 3:45 AM, Who the hell is up that early?
So this morning I’m busy writing up the purchase contract and running around with my brain on overload.
Some exciting sh-t.
Can Randy and Steve get this house sold for a healthy profit? Will the humans discover a new power source?
The lady with the ranch house tells me after I sent contract by email that she don’t do legal papers on the internet. I tell her OK cuz I wud like a tour of property and take photos. It was about a 40 minute drive and I found it easy to find with google maps.
Theresa is a sweet old lady in her 70’s her husband Patrick is bed ridden and on oxygen. He was sitting up in bed and alert and greeted me. I asked if he was ready to sell and he says yes.
The house was gorgeous, so many upgrades with tile floors and kitchen countertops and huge windows and French doors and huge back patio and the yard, holy crap, it looked like a park with huge trees and so many sheds and monster carport along with the huge 2 car garage. Gorgeous wood stove and in the other living room a amazing fireplace w adobe brick work. This house needs very little, maybe paint and chop some of those trees, you cant see the house from the road or driveway, mostly pine trees which I prefer to be in the mountains.
After the tour and talking to Theresa for a good half hour I asked if she was ready to sign cuz I wanted it. We sit down at the kitchen table and she tells me, here’s the thing, we want to find a smaller place to buy b4 we sell cuz we need a place to go. I tell her the escrow might take 30 days and I can give you 60 after that, that be plenty of time to find a new residence. They shud probably be in an apartment, Theresa had swollen ankles and was having a tough time showing me around. She took the contract back to Patrick and came back and said to give her a few days to find something.
I was devastated, This lady promised me the house and wont sell to anyone else, but I know how these women can turn on you like a rabid dog. I believe I can sell this house for 240-260 maybe more. :banghead
So now I will contact some realtors to find me a nice smaller home in her town and try to salvage this deal.
Will Rando and Steve somehow find a way to get his deal on track? Will they crawl into a hole and be depressed? or will they travel to Rando’s cave in Northern Idaho and hibernate for the winter?
My old buddy Jim talked me into going kayaking yesterday, my fourth time and I’m still an inexperienced newbie. I thought the San Joaquin river was a nice easy slow moving stream, but oh man, was I wrong, it had rapids from hell, I flipped once first set of knarly rapids, but luckily it was only 3’ of water and almost flipped 3 more times. I lost my insulated coffee mug, it’s probably made its way to Sacramento by now. There wer plenty of wide areas that wer deep and slow, and so picturesque, but it wud narrow and you cud hear the rapids ahead, and fast and scary as all get out. The water was insanely turbulent with crazy eddies and swirls and whirlpools. The river took many sharp turns and the current wud force me to the side and fighting tree branches and rocks. The last set of rapids was hellacious, a big tree had fallen across the river and there was a narrow gap and it was a 3’ waterfall, I came so close to wiping out. I’m sore all over. I was surprised how gorgeous it was, Huge oak trees & no houses, it looked like wilderness an just 8 miles out of the city. Started at Lost Lake and got out at copper road bout a 10 mile trek, took 6 hrs w plenty of stops at these beautiful sand bars and went swimming and had lunch and smoked som weed. Jim’s buddy Carl came, he’s a doctor, a surgeon. Hes 13 yrs younger and had a hard time he was a bit overweight. It was nice to get out and experience this instead of being home depressed over real estate deals going south.
I had a go pro on my hat and one on the back of the boat pointed to the rear. Maybe do a little editing and post to You Tube. I experienced sheer terror at times and there wer places where it was incredibly serene, the river got 1/4 mile wide in places and deep, water was clear and I seen big fish. My friend Jim txted this morning that he’s on his way over to do it again today, I hope he’s joking cuz I’m not answering the door.
My seller Theresa emailed me that she is rejecting the house I sent her cuz its too big, it was only 1,150 SF and 189K
She asks if we are still interested in buying her property. She was waiting to hear from her lender, I assume she wants to be prequalified and put that 200K in the bank.
I emailed her back and told her I cud write up the Purchase Agreement to give her all the time they need. She emails back asking how will that work?
I got a new contract in the mail to her this morning, it states she can have all the time she needs to finding a suitable place b4 we finalize this sale. The price wud be locked in at 205K and we as buyers have exclusive rights to purchase this property.
This contract is for an indefinite period. Which means, it never frikin expires, not in 6 months or 6 years.
The plan is to record doc with County Records and we be wedged in like Hulk Hogan’s speedo’s.
Is this ethical or legal or what, I wud like to take credit for the idea but my buddy Dave suggested it.
Basically, you’ve negotiated an evergreen option at a certain price. Good work. You definitely want to record a memorandum of agreement to protect your position. This isn’t at all unethical. It keeps ornery, lying sellers from shopping your deal.
My seller Theresa emailed to say they got my new purchase agreement and asked if I cud schedule another visit.
I replied back that she wanted to sell and I wanted to buy and we agreed on a price and she can have all the time she needs. Just sign and mail the signed agreement back to me.
I had already spent several hours driving to and fro, spent a good 45 minutes talking to her, I wud make another trip if I really thought it wud help consummate this deal.
I’ll ask my partner Steve if he wants to do the 80 mile round trip and play tootsies with them.
Maybe I’m too burnt out by sellers and their bs. And this situation cud go either way.
I sure need a deal, I shud probably be there groveling and begging and mowing her yard.
My old buddy Ken that I’ve known since the 4th grade started txting. I hadnt heard from him since I gave him that hundred buks, he said he wud pay it back but I wasn’t expecting it, and I had a few buks to spare.
shortly later Ken sold His child hood house, him an 2 siblings split the proceeds. Ken was coming into a sizable inheritance, I think about 60 Grand, but now less than 2 years later he’s ready to make some… desperation cash.
I luv how a little bit of desperation gets us in gear.
Anyways, so now, it seems Ken is low on green, he is suggesting we get off our sorry asses and start handing out door knob hangers. Oh man, real estate, making money, remember?
I need a kick in the rear, OK need ink, 40 buks for frikin ink? need heavy perforated door hanger stock, oh man, found some, each sheet makes 3 door hangers. Got enuf for a few thou.
But, will he get in gear, or lie in a pitiful heap of laziness and despair? Wil our planet tilt another few degrees on its 41,000
year cycle causing massive ice ages, as the geological records suggest?
So far I’ve printed up a few hundred door hangers, they are expensive, on Amazon 50 buks for one frikin ream that makes 750 door hangers, and the ink costs 45 buks. I like to color them up. I’m wondering if Office Max cud cut blank card stock up into door hanger size and if they have the tech to make the door knob hole and slit at top, cuz blank card stock is way cheaper. Or just cut them into thirds and lay them on the porch. The hole and slit on top is great cuz u can always find somewhere to hang it, never put them in mail box or be threatened with federal crimes that is punishable by water boarding and beheading or worse.
Luckily I had a full ream in the garage, and I will order more, but to print up 750 costs about 7 1/2 cents each, if my calcs are correct. My buddy Ken is pressuring me to get them done and for us to get out ther and distribute them.
A few years ago I paid 2 girls 10 cents each to hand them out, cost me 150 buks, I thought they threw them in the trash cuz I got no calls till a few months later the money call came in from a distressed house and seller and I made 14 Grand.
Now is the time. Gotta do something, getting tired of beans and cornbread. Can two 68 yr old guys walk the neighborhoods for hours without keeling over? Will crop circles prove to be extraterrestrial?
One of the things I’ve noticed with the stuff I find left on my door is that the ad copy is easily consumable …direct …immediately readable …easily digested …simple to understand.
Such as “Carpet Cleaning Special” “Windows In One Day” “1-Hour Lawns”
The most immediate responses I’ve ever had was by putting post it notes on doors of houses that looked shabby. This means driving neighborhoods.
Frankly, I’ve never hung fliers on doors, and doing this myself is absolutely never going to happen.
That said, half-sheets of yellow paper with your headline printed on top, and folded outward so the headline shows, has got to be the least expensive and most-effective use of fliers.
**** It’s the same principle I apply to postcards. They’re usually yellow, always have headlines with bullet points listed to support the promise in the headline, and they’re direct, easily digestible and resonate with a specific seller. Some artwork is good. FWIW
Bandit signs are efficient at spreading the word in one area, and if done correctly, the signs will stay up a long time. However, after a month, or two, they become “invisible.” So, the text/color/something needs to change to recapture people’s attention. The only things that don’t change are the reason to call, the sign being posted, and the phone number.
This was a real sign a guy was using a couple of years ago, that I reproduced:
http://jaypalmquist.com/images/bandit-sign-300.png
We pay people to leave signs posted on their lawns.
Javipa, do you pay people to put signs on their front lawns? How does that work? How much do you pay them?
The code enforcement made me remove my sign. I think it was because of an angry homeowner that I was sending my “I buy houses” post cards and they had called me up to remove them from the list, they were angry.
I told them to just throw junk mail in the trash and chill out and hung up on them.
Later, I seen this older couple several times driving by my house slowly and looking towards the house. I shud of ran out there and waved and smiled.
Then I got a letter from the city saying I needed a license to operate a business from my home. I mailed them back and suggested they cud eat scrotum chunks.
I have thought of offering homeowners 20 buks to put a sign on their fence facing a busy intersection.
This turned into a novel.
I don’t put up signs myself.
I hire the neighbor kid to put up the signs. He needs the money and his parents want him out of the house. So, it’s win/win.
On a one-off deal like pre-paid leases, I have already found the property owners willing to let me post a sign in their yard/fence/wall/field, etc. for three months. I’ve offered to pay three-months in advance, and told the owner that I’m sending a kid to install the sign, so he doesn’t call the cops for trespassing.
I get a signed receipt for the pre-paid rent, because the costs are deductible.
We give the owner sixty, one-dollar, bills, which is enough to seal most deals.
On the one-off installations, it’s gonna cost $50 to have six, leased, signs installed strategically by the installer. It’s gonna cost $60 for every 3-month lease. This comes to a little over $400 for three months’ worth of fixed advertising in multiple, select locations.
This beats the $800 you’re likely to spend, posting mass signage on the weekends, that will disappear in two days, unless you’re picking them back up on Mondays (which costs even more money).
In the event you’re gonna do mass installations, you’re gonna pay the installer about $15/hr., plus gas, and probably offer a $.50 bonus for each installed sign. This provides incentive to get all the signs installed.
• You want to change out the color/text of the sign with each new lease, so that they don’t become invisible (too familiar).
• Posting signs in older neighborhoods is usually safe. Posting in the hood is always safe. Posting in neighborhoods with HOA’s is usually a problem, even for the owners of the properties themselves. Otherwise, property owners can usually do what they want, and that’s why negotiating sign leases with them is efficient, legal and profitable.
• Property owners may get complaints and take your leased signage down early, despite having been paid to leave them installed. That’s where a signed receipt comes in handy. Depending on how stale the lease is, it’s just better to find a new location, rather than have a scrap-iron-fit with the property owner for reneging on the deal.
• Depending on how many signs you’re having posted, and the demonstrated honesty and/or retard level of your installer, you either give the installer a flat fee to deliver ‘x’ numbers of signs, and say “Go!” or you can give him a map, and pay him $15/hr. plus gas money to install the entire load of signage. Either way, you’ll need to confirm the installations the first time around with any installer.
• OR, you can drive the suspects and retards personally, and let them jump out and install the signs where you tell them. This way, you’re never surprised.
• Otherwise, you might have to go through a couple of installers, because some can’t drive and pound at the same time. “I get lost. Here’s your sign back.” SIGN? What happened to all the rest of them?
• You don’t pay the lease with a check, unless you’re okay with the property owner giving up your name, address and telephone number to the codes administration when they show up.
• Only use a google number on your signs, to protect your privacy, and keep the cranks at bay.
o I used to suggest sending everyone to an outgoing message with a voicemail, but this just gave my competition a better chance to steal my opportunities. So, personally answering the phone is always best. You might be surprised at the numbers of people that call me, because the competition wouldn’t answer its phone in person, or at all…
*** Speaking of codes administration… Administrators are as sneaky and dishonest, if not crooked as they came. They have zero problem tripping up naive bandit sign owners.
This is a well-known story, but in one case, a codes enforcer called an investor from a bandit sign, claiming to be a motivated seller. The investor met with the alleged seller, cum codes enforcement officer, and was served a codes violation notice and a summons.
Well, as it turned out the investor was suspicious, and smart enough not to use his real name, and the codes administrator was unable to fill in the violator’s real name. And he didn’t have the authority to arrest the investor for failing to comply with his name request. The investor grabbed the sign, and drove off.
This can’t be a normal routine, but it’s just something to be aware of in real life.
That’s all I got for now…
After all I posted earlier, there’s probably one more important thing to be noted about using bandit signs with pre-paid leases, and that’s that few property owners want hand-scrawled bandit signs stabbed in their yard.
Instead they want to see clean, neat and professionally printed ones (which I show them in advance).
Perhaps like the one shown below: