Doug Pretorius (ON)

OK seriously, would you bother to follow up with someone who refers to their house as "my jewel"?

I wouldn't call it a weasel clause if the contract never stated that you would guarantee the rents in the first place. I've believed for a long time that property managers are pretty clever the way they have things set up. Monthly cash flow with zero liability. So that's all we're doing here.

That's exactly what I've started doing right there. I mean really, who else is offering to guarantee the rent? Certainly not property managers. And if you're worried your T/B might trash the place you can pay a little extra and get malicious damage insurance. There aren't many pitfalls left in this business, we're as close as you can get to zero-risk investors.

Jonathan, did you follow what you just wrote? 1. Iffy backend = no profit there. 2. Cashflow wiped out by vacancies = no profit there. 3. Option fee spent on operating costs = no profit there. So...SLOs = no profit. Kinda makes you long for CAs doesn't it?

I'm not any good at negotiating on the fly. I have to decide what I'm after and then I go out and look for it. I can't do this stuff where you get to know the seller and learn about their needs and situation and create a custom solution that works for them and me.

...be a motivated buyer! I will not be a motivated buyer! I will not be a motivated buyer! I will not be a motivated buyer! I will not be a motivated buyer! I will not be a motivated buyer! Just got back from meeting with a seller and don't you just hate it when you let yourself become a motivated buyer? I do it for a couple of reasons. 1) I want the deal more than I should. 2) I don't want to appear confrontational. 3) I want to put the deal together rather than disqualifying them and moving on to the next lead. And it's so silly! I have so many more leads than I can even get to never mind do deals with and yet I still find myself making this age old mistake.

Excellent point. I've stopped using all of the catch phrases with sellers now. In my experience the 2 key questions are: 1. Would you consider renting? 2. How much do you NEED to cover your costs? You'll be shocked how many FSBOs say yes to the first question. And you will be even more shocked how low of a number comes out of their mouths on the second question, not all the time of course, but I've lost count how many times I was going to offer hundreds of dollars more per month than they quoted me!

Happy to help You are doing GREAT from what you've posted here, congrats!

In that case just call me 'Mr. Investor' if you please

I can't say much about FRBOs because I've never had success with them. But if you're looking for people to contact for free don't overlook the thousands of FSBOs and MLS homes for sale. In my market roughly 30% are willing to rent their houses out and that number has held steady through up and down markets for the 10 years I've been investing. To be clear, when I say "MLS" I don't mean talking to the realtor, I mean getting the owner's number and working a deal directly with them.

Sounds like you need to become a broker yourself. Too many sentences include the words: "...but if my broker..."

Sounds like a nice deal, hope it works out for you! I was just wondering how you approached the seller on this one? As a realtor working your own deal, as a property manager, as an investor...?

I can't explain it either MC. Unemployment is at 9.9% for Waterloo Region, which is one of the highest in Canada, and yet our real estate market is booming. Housing sales are way up from last year, but prices are about the same.

The market here is right back to crazytown. Average days on market is 20 with any house reasonably priced selling above asking with multiple offers. But of course we had almost no economic down turn compared to western Canada and the US.

What can I say? I wanted a Klondike bar You have no idea how familiar this all sounds, I'm surprised you're not located in Canada If it's any consolation I haven't found a solution either. Telling them you're an investor usually makes them think you're going to put down a huge down payment. So these days I just don't tell them anything unless they ask. I focus on negotiating the terms and leave the explanations to their google searches.

Baron, your experience with emails pretty much matches mine. Although I did eventually get ONE deal from it. Lesson learned: In person is best, by phone is good, by email only if you have no other choice. BTW hello everyone

The funny thing is that motivated sellers usually say something like: "I don't want you to waste your time." and then they proceed to sign an EXCLUSIVE contract. However, I've enjoyed quite a bit of success getting properties under a non-exclusive agreement and using them for marketing purposes. Just make sure you don't spend any money on them, use free advertising avenues, and don't forget to collect all those phone numbers and email addresses for future use. That way it doesn't really matter whether you sell the house or not, you benefit either way.

I've never had a single complaint, as Thomas said, they want to sell...and we want to buy!

I'll make those 5 minute cold calls for you for $3 a pop, Jon

I suppose. But when the market refuses to call you, you have to call the market

I've got to get this off my chest (what? Doug holds things back? who knew?) I don't think I can face the deer in the headlights look I get from people anymore when I identify what I do with any of the following phrases: 1. I'm a real estate investor - Why? Because sellers immediately start demanding more. Agents say get out of my face. And friends say "Huh?" 2. I buy houses - Why? Sellers say "No you don't, you rent houses." Agents say get out of my face. Friends say "Can you pay cash for mine?" 3. I lease purchase/lease option/rent to own houses - Why? Sellers say "I don't understand." Agents say "Why don't you get a mortgage?" Friends say "Huh?" Just like my marketing thread about all the advertising methods and media that I've had no success with (but one...cold calling). I've had no success with any of these 'labels' either. And if you can get by with out some sort of quick and easy label to throw out there, then you are a far more evolved human being than I and I bow to your superiority I'll admit, using the term "rent to own" works the best out of the above. It works like a charm with buyers, no doubt about that. But it sucks with sellers, landlords, realtors, and doesn't fly at parties. These people understand only 2 concepts when it comes to real estate: You can rent it, or you can buy/sell it. Combining the two just makes their heads explode, and I'm sick and tired of trying to duct tape the pieces back together while they tell me they hope whatever prison I'm going to is dank, musty and infested with rats. So...henceforth...I am no longer an investor, nor do I buy homes. I'm just a guy lookin' for a decent place to rent, and I want it cheap. If, and only if, I'm speaking one-on-one with the decision maker, will I even consider venturing into those murky waters: "Could I maybe, gee whiz I dunno...maybe kinda, buy it from you in a couple years?" There...I've said my piece

khakis? polos? You guys are like high society I known a guy who's a real estate investor and antiques dealer and I've wondered for a long time why he's always out in an army jacket looking like he lost his razor, when he carries $8-$10k on him in cash to nab antiques when he sees them. Now I know! People give him the benefit of the doubt and cut him a deal because of the way he presents himself.

I've noticed on realtor forums there seems to be a never-ending debate about 2 things: What to wear. And What to drive. I think we need at least one of those threads ourselves, so here goes! Does the way you dress effect the deals you do? In my experience. YES. I've worn everything from a suit, to flip flops and a secondhand store $1 t-shirt to meet with both buyers and sellers. And what have I found? I do waaaaay better by dressing down. My personal favorite for the winter is a work jacket that I got for free. It's got paint splatters and torn pockets and generally looks like total crap LOL! But I swear that jacket has sold more houses than my website. Since winter has arrived once again I thought I'd give this theory another test. Went to meet with a few sellers with a really nice business look, freshly shaved before the appointment etc. And what happened? The seller's were reserved in their negotiations, and repeatedly questioned my experience. Next, I showed up to a few more appointments looking like I shop for my wardrobe at the army surplus store. 2 day old beard. I didn't wear a baseball cap but I probably should have And the result? Not a single question about how many deals I've done. Dare I say they look at me and think: "This guy must be legit, look at him! He's certainly not trying to impress me!" LOL well that's my little real estate insight for the day What have you guys noticed in your travels?

I'm currently in negotiations on 3 homes that look like they will all be the hybrid assignment I mentioned here. All of these are cases where the seller wants more or less what the house is worth, so there isn't any equity to make the risk of a true SLO worth it, there's no huge payday at the end of the rainbow either. So I may as well assign it and be out of the deal. There is some upfront cash (all of these sellers want a piece of that too) so the real profit center in these particular deals is the cash flow, which I'll capture through the assignment/promissory note route.

Yeah, I was going to say that if all else fails an investor could get an option on the property and look for a cash buyer for a few thousand more like an agent does. But finding retail buyers isn't easy especially when you're known for rent to own or wholesale deals LOL