MichaelC

That's another reason I like to call this the Lease Purchase Advantage. All the various inspections are the responsibility of the end purchaser, the tenant/buyer. If we have set up our sandwich lease as we should, and have used strong Agreements to protect ourselves, we are in the position of not needing to be involved in the actual purchase and sale of the property. If and when the option to purchase is exercised, at the close we simply need to sign some paperwork and collect a check for whatever back end profits exist. Smart real estate, I say .

Hi, Joseph. The numbers I gave you in the sample ad were examples of how an ad typically reads. 3/2/2 means 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 car garage. 1500sf means 1500 square feet of living area. As I noted, plug in the correct numbers for your particular property so readers know some preliminary facts. As for your wife, well, now we are treading on dangerous and uncharted waters, I'm afraid . I mean, I have trouble enough with my own significant other, but let me give it a shot anyway. What, specifically, is she apprehensive about? It sounds as if her concerns are fear of the risk involved. What does she know about lease purchasing specifically, or real estate in general? Have you given her any of your materials to read? Possibly much of her concern is fear of the unknown. My suggestion is to help her become more familiar with what we do and how we do it. For example, if risk is her concern, then you would need to show her how we minimize that risk when we set up our deals. I think you'll make progress if you listen to her specific concerns and address them individually. Just a thought.............women confuse me........ .

Welcome home, Tony! Reintroduce yourself to your family first. Then, get Naked...... All of the forms are being forwarded to you as we speak. You will be receiving 23 files electronically, via email. Is your email still the same? If not, PM me with that info so I send the files to the right address. Speak with you soon.

Hello, Joseph, and welcome to The Naked Investor. Hope to see a lot of you here. Hey, I can relate. I have a story in my manual where I bought a property dirt cheap, too. I soon found out why it was so. Bad neighborhood, bad folks, bad bottom line for me. Live and learn..... As for you, I would say the best advice I can give is for you to offer great terms. Advertise something along these lines: Rent to Own! 100% rent credit!! No qual, no questions, easy terms! 3/2/2, 1500sf. Only $39,000! (123) 456-7890 Obviously, you'll need to plug in the correct info. My point is when I have been in a similar situation I have offered terms as above. I am not opposed to giving 100% rent credit when the alternative is a vacant, problem property. Your goal is to cut your losses and get the monkey off your back. An ad touting 100%, (or 75%, or whatever you can give), will make your phone ring like you are the greatest thing since canned beer. Make it easy for someone to get into the property and you'll speed up the process.

Jim, good question because this is something we must be clear on to our tenant/buyers. Note that in the Agreement it is specified that option consideration and rent credits are a credit toward the purchase price. They are not accumulating towards the down payment. The reason for this is that how can we say with any certainty what a particular lender's policy may be regarding this? My real world experience has been that most lenders will accept option consideration as down payment money because it is a cash transfer from tenant/buyer to you. On the other hand, my experience has also been that rent credits almost always will not be considered part of any down payment. In both cases, however, I have seen exceptions. But, to play it safe, Jim, the contracts read the way they do so we are not making false promises that end up putting us in court. As for this being a problem with tenant/buyers, I have never found this to be the case. I am honest with them and explain it just as I have here. I tell them they have a year to get their financing in place and within that time frame finding a lender they can work with shouldn't be a problem. I further explain that regardless of what any lender might say, they are guaranteed to receive a credit toward the purchase price for any option money paid and all rent credits earned.

Actually, that is correct, Samantha! You truly do. You know what needs to be done. You have a good level of understanding of how to do it. You have my support and that of others here, also. Your very next step is to begin speaking with homeowners. You can't get a deal if you don't talk with sellers and make offers to them. Call and market, call and market, call and market..................

Thanks, Bill, for the info.

It's really simple and arbitrary. I can simply set a name and the number of posts required to be moved to the next level. No biggie........

Hello, Samantha. You do not need carbons. You keep one set of originals, as does the homeowner. When dealing with your tenant/buyer, same thing. A computer generated copy is perfectly legal and legitimate anywhere.

Already a phone call? Congratulations on losing your virginity ! The site looks good. Better than I would have expected coming from one of those out of the box, build your own website programs. Good luck with it.

Samantha, email answered . And, yes, having a P.O. Box, company name, etc., is all good to have set up before you order your business cards. Take care of the big stuff, getting the deal, and the little stuff can all follow quickly.

Hello, Joe. It's been a while............where've you been hiding? Hopefully busy pursuing deals! Yes, you can always check title for existing liens. As I have said previously, checking the title for each and every lease purchase deal you are considering becomes a very expensive proposition. Doing a title check after the deal is signed up with the homeowner is one way to cut down on that expense. This topic points out one of the reasons I love lease purchasing, though. It is the homeowners responsibility to provide clean and marketable title to the purchaser. If I am in the middle of a sandwich lease, that purchaser is, hopefully, going to be the tenant/buyer. If there is a problem with the title, that problme is going to be worked out between tenant/buyer and homeowner. If I quickly assign or flip the contract entirely, again, title concerns are not mine. One last thing.........depending upon the local County policies, you may not be able to record that document without a homeowners signature on it.

$25 for 250 cards is on the high end. If you are really doing what you need to be doing, 250 cards won't last very long. At this point, you need to market within your budget. Very important not to go broke before you get started. Creative is nice, but a creative card won't get you any more calls or deals than a simple, direct and to the point card will. Did you have a look at my business card I included with your manual? Nothing artistic, but the recipient knows who I am, what I do, and how to contact me. I recall they were about $30 for 500 at Kinkos. If I had the time to shop around I'm sure I could've done better.

Hi, Samantha. I don't know of any places online for business cards because I have always purchased them locally. I think for, what, $25 or $30 you can have 500 to 1000 printed and ready in 24 hours at just about any local print shop in your area. I would start with a search in your Yellow Pages and call around. If you do want to compare online prices, do a search on Google for business cards and you'll find dozens of companies, I'm sure. When you refer to "common phrase on flyers", do you mean marketing slogans and ideas? If so, you can review the How to Successfully Market Yourself document I forwarded you the other day. There are some tried and true ideas there, Samantha. Of course, you can get creative and try others, as well. Perhaps someone here will share some of there successful flyers with us.

Good idea, Gary. Personally, years ago when I began I was, like most newbies, short on cash and long on needs and desire. My first task was to get a deal done, period. I picked up the phone and called, and called, and called some more. Every FSBO and FRBO I could find. This low tech, old fashioned way was how I got my first few deals and started on my way in a new career. After a few deals were successfully completed, I could afford to expand my marketing beyond cold calling. I opted for newspaper advertising under the Homes Wanted section. That started to bring me in calls and led to more deals. From there, I found word of mouth and referrals to be the best advertising and marketing of all. Once you earn a reputation in your community as an honest businessperson and helpful problem solver, the majority of your deals will come from homeowners who have initiated the phone call. However, let me say this to all the newcomers in our business: that takes time and effort. Before you can build your business you need to lay the foundation. Do not make twenty phone calls, or place one newspaper ad, or stick a dozen bandit signs in the ground and think you are on the way to riches. Do not say to yourself or anyone else that this stuff doesn't work and quit because your first efforts do not put an immediate $5,000 check in your pocket. Be fair to yourself, don't quit on yourself, follow your heart. Avail yourself to the information that is on this site. We'll all help you get that first deal..........rant over........

As a matter of routine, I do not run a title check each and every time I do a lease purchase deal. That will become a very expensive habit to maintain. There are other ways to verify ownership of a property which won't break the bank. For example, have a look at the property tax bill. The homeowners names will appear on that. You can get this either direct from the homeowners, or from the county tax office. Same with the mortgage statement. Who's name is on it? Or, ask the homeowner for a look at the deed.

Hi, Danny. Your question is somewhat vague. I think the answer depends upon the extent of the lie. For example, if a homeowner lied about, say, the age of the garbage disposal I don't think you'd have a strong case for terminating an Agreement. On the other extreme, if the lie was about something that clearly affected the value of the property I think you would be in a much stronger position. Keep in mind........I am not an attorney, and so I am just offering up my opinion. Last thing, Danny. A good contract will have a few clauses intact to protect you in the event such a thing happens. For example, a cancellation clause, and a guarantee that you will be receiving good title, etc.

In a word, yes, what we do is perfectly legal. By using a contract that gives us the right to sublet and/or assign to another party we are acting as a principal in the deal. Thus, we have the legal right to do just as you describe, Samantha. Not only is it legal, but I want to emphasize that it is perfectly legitimate and moral, too. You seem to have some concern that you will taking advantage of folks. Not true, if you run your business honestly. Making a fair offer to a homeowner at the lower range of the fair market value of their property, and then turning around and offering it at the higher range is not a bad thing. That, in a nutshell, is how any business succeeds and profits. That spread in the deal is your payment for your specialized knowledge and for your effort in putting a deal together, for solving a problem for a homeowner and giving a tenant an opportunity to become a homeowner.

Benjyjim, I don't think you need to be so specific with any Realtor. If you find one or two good ones who you can foster a business relationship with, you'll be that much better off. If you let them know what you are trying to do, they will understand when a viable prospect is worth passing along to you. In exchange, you can offer them some cash for any deal you secure from one of these leads. Maybe you can offer them homeowner leads, instead. Say you meet with a homeowner and after doing so you realize this is not someone you can do business with. What they really want is to just sell their home in the traditional way. You put them in touch with the Realtor. The Realtor picks up a listing. One hand washes the other......

Jim, I couldn't agree more. Multi units are heavy on management, and the typical tenant in these units is a whole different species than our usual single family property tenant buyer. Multi units can be fine investments, but for the experienced, not as a first deal.

Option8, I agree that a well designed website used in conjunction with other marketing techniques is a smart approach. I've said it before that a successful marketing plan requires diversity. As for website design, my experience with the pre-fab sites and site design softeware is that they always look pre-fab. I tried that route first with this site and it looked like it was put together by some dope who knew nothing about building a website. How true . Learning from that experience I ended up having it built from scratch by a professional designer. No, I do not use a site for my personal investing deals and activities. I may go that route in the future. But, for now, it has been an unnecessary use of my time to get wrapped up with another site when my experience has been the typical homeowner couldn't care less if I have a dynamic site with a creative logo. Their concern is always how can I help them. I'm a big believer in relational sales. In other words, I sell me to the homeowner, and the homeowner does the deal.

As for what company you are from, or what company name you select, that is entirely a personal preference. I think what is more important is how you present yourself, and that you are providing a service to the homeowner. It's very important for you to remember that when you are speaking to a genuinely motivated and interested seller, the name of your company is irrelevant, as will be your gender, Samantha. That homeowner's concern will be how can you provide a solution to his/her problem. You say the local folks will ask questions. I say that's good. This gives you the opportunity to talk about what you do and how you do it. This enables you to become comfortable talking about your business, too, which is an important early step. You are correct when you write that you are not knowledgeable enough yet. "Yet" being the keyword. You will get to the point where you certainly don't feel that way. But, that takes some time, working over some rough spots, and gaining hands on experience. Don't pressure yourself thinking you need to get a deal today. Lay the foundation now for future and long term success.

Option8, I will agree that a good website is an effective marketing tool. However, as for securing that first deal or two, I must tell you that a website is not going to contribute to that goal at all. Keep the website idea going, but do so in the background. You need to concentrate on speaking with as many homeowners as possible right now. A great website will not influence them in the least as to whether or not they want to turn over control of their property to you. You will sell the homeowner on doing business with you, not your high tech site.

All good suggestions, folks. Thank you. Samantha, keep in mind there is no one best letter or contact method. What works best for you in your area, may not be what is best for me in mine. With marketing, and I cannot stress this enough, you need to remember a few things: 1) Start today 2) Work within your budget. It makes no sense to go broke with an expensive newspaper advertisment if you can only afford to run it once. What happens next week? Are you out of business before you even had a chance to begin? 3) Diversify your marketing methods. 4) Be persistent. To accurately gauge the effectiveness of your marketing campaign requires you give it time. Perhaps three to four months time. For example, do not think that you can put up, say, twenty bandit signs and determine from that how effective they may be. Generating phone calls and replies to your various marketing techniques requires you to be persistent and requires some time for your marketing to sink into the consciousness of the public. 5) Reread 1 thorugh 4 again. Thank you for the positive feedback on my manual. Remember, it comes with this board and lots of helps and support. Let's get a deal done and brag about it! One last thing, for now........for contacting homeowners, whether they are experienced landlords or not, you can certainly use the Phone Script as a guideline. Truth is, the first ten calls or so will be nerve wracking. But, guess what? The next ten are a heck of a lot easier. And it continues to get easier from there. I will agree that it will NOT be easy, as you suggested. That's OK. If it were, there wouldn't be any deals left for you. You already know more than a lot of people out there doing deals. Don't put any obstacles in your way by thinking this is too hard. You can do this by putting forth the effort and using the resources you have available at hand.

Hi, Samantha. In the package of electronic forms I sent you is included my Sample Intro Letter. This is one I have found to be effective over the years. You can start with that and certainly customize it as you see fit.