Steve
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Posts posted by Steve
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I'm trying something a little different. I have an investor with about 15 townhomes he's looking to sell as RTO. He wants me to do the marketing, and is paying me a referral fee for each buyer I get. He's not doing any of his own advertising, so I don't have any competition. He's paying me 2k for each TB I can bring him, and the best part is since this isn't a CA, I don't even have to show these people the homes, just pre-qualify them!
Anyway, I know the town they're in is extremely strict on signs, I drove around, and there are none! Somebody suggested that I advertise using the mobile signs, so starting Monday I have a mobile sign going up in a great high traffic area. The problem is that since I don't have any property to put the sign, I had to find a business owner to let me use their property. The whole thing is costing 200/week (includes sign, permit, and land rental) which is the same cost to advertise in the newspapers. I'll keep everyone posted on the results of this campaign. At least now I don't have to worry about the sign police, and driving 45 minutes to put out signs in the middle of the night.
Steve
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Doug,
It's quite disheartening to see the one person who got me involved in creative real estate is calling it quits. You convinced me that this does work up hear, and I did hammer out a deal. Yes our market is tougher to make things happen, but that doesn't mean it's impossible. Keep your eyes open for possibilities, and not just CA's. I found a distressed owner whose dumping a 13 unit building and we're getting a 100k in equity. The person I'm assigning to is going through the appraisal process right now. If everything checks out, then there;s a fat $8500 cheque waiting for me at closing. This owner has another property as well he's given to me, and I've think I've got another buyer as well, not as much equity, but a 5k assignment fee. I've got these deals and buyers through networking at the club I go to, and I'd probably be in your mind frame as well if I didn't have these people to support me. There are lots of people there doing assignments, L/O, rehabs, and other no money down strategies. There's another meeting on Wednesday Doug, I want to see you there, e-mail me and I'll give you the details.
Steve
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Allow me to chime in here. As a Canadian, I can attest to Dougs frustration. Sending out postcards and coldcalling may or may not be methods of finding sellers but we're forgetting an important factor. There is a societal aspect to these sort of creative deals that just hasn't caught on in Canada. That coupled with well appreciating markets and more stringent lending requirements make for a significantly less proportion of viable 'motivated sellersPoker is right, us Canadians are a conservative bunch, and are scared away by something we don't understand. It's our job to help these sellers understand the benefits we're offering, but as soon as they talk to their neighbour or plumber, or whoever, that person will say that it seems kind of fishy, and you should stay away from it. It's definitely a fear factor, I called a FRBO the other day and he told me he was "very motivated" but didn't want to do a RTO, even though he told me he would sell in two years?? I can sympathize with Doug, in that it's very frustrating dealing with sellers up here. Maybe our water not as pure as I thought
Steve
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what if the piece of wood is in the middle not at the bottom, and we put a hinge on it so it can fold up, and keep the wooden stakes in the 4 corners? It's just a matter of figuring what you're going to attach the middle piece of wood to?
/--\
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Us Canadians must think alike! I was dreaming up idea for this as well.
I was thinking of using step stakes through the bottom, but that's probably not enough of a base if you're putting them on pavement. It might work if you have ground or snow to put them in though. We might be better off using wooden stakes at the bottom, and tying the signs together at the top using cable ties. I'm going to give this a go next time I have an open house.
Steve
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Rob,
I've put an ad in the paper for my CA and I think I've had about 4 calls as well. However, I did have 80 people call and leave messages from my bandit signs. My city is starting to crack down on the signs though, I don't see too many signs up anymore, and they come down pretty quick after they're up. I'm putting out my signs on weekends now, and am taking them down sunday night. I only had one of my signs removed over the weekend, but the signs I forgot to take down Sunday were gone by Monday afternoon. Most of my calls have been tire kickers, and the people who have money to put down are already homeowners, so they're much more picky. I've got another showing tonight, so hopefully I can get a signed application.
Steve
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Just signed up my second CA the other night! Been working on my marketing efforts the last few days, and doing an open house this weekend. Unfortunately it's not an exclusive agreement, but the way I look at the issue, it gives me an opportunity to build my database if this agreement does get cancelled. I get sellers very interested when I bring out my phone books of everyone whose called me looking for an RTO, quite a powerful prop. Anyway, here are the numbers
Detached bungalow, 4 bed 2 bath, finished basement, large lot, 1811 sq ft.
$1900.00/month ($500.00 rent credit)
$405,500.00 (two years)
$10,000.00-$15,000.00 deposit (hopefully)
It's been recently renovated, so it shows quite well too.
I'll keep everyone updated,
Steve
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Bev,
I love it how you make the landlord think it was there idea to do a rent to own!
Beauty and Brains, there's never been a more lethal combination!
Steve
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I think he means that sellers want to keep their options open, so if they get an offer from another buyer before we can put a TB in the house, then they can take that offer. I would always prefer to have an exclusive options as well, but if it 's the difference between signing up a CA or not, then I'll give the sellers an out. Obviously for one reason or another their marketing isn't working or their numbers are wrong, so they can keep advertising, chances are, with our aggressive marketing, and creative financing, we'll be able to find someone faster. Plus it gives you even more incentive to fill the house sooner. I'm about to sign another CA with a seller, and the only sticking point is he wants an out if he finds someone first. If the seller does want a cancellation agreement, try to get a cancellation fee for your contract, something that would reflect your time and marketing costs.
Steve
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Jeff, the numbers don't work for a SLO, another situation where a seller doesn't want to give up his equity or future appreciation. He said he would call me today, but nothing so far, if he doesn't get back to me, I'll try again in a couple of days.
Steve
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Hi,
I contacted a homeowner who had a house for rent, and this is an out of town owner, who has a cousin acting on his interests and has power of attorney. I spoke with the cousin, whose interested in CA, and I was supposed to meet with him last week. I called to confirm the appointment, but he was in the hospital with his mother, apparently she had a brain hemmorage and is in critical condition. I told him I would call back in a week. I just got off the phone with him, and asked about his mom, and he tells me she's grave condition. I don't want to keep calling this guy because he's got more pressing issues than me, but I also don't want lose contact with him cause this might be a good deal for a CA.
Any suggestions on how I go about this in a tasteful manner? From the sounds of things, I don't think his mom is going to make it, and they've been talking to realtors as well, so time is important, and I don't want him to list it just because that's an easier thing to do. I also don't want to turn into a pit bull salesman, and put the pressure on, given his situation.
Steve
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Craig,
Great job signing up the inn! What's your exit strategy, are you looking to assign, double close or even buy it yourself?
Steve
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Doug,
This is the guy I told you whose about 20km north of Orangeville, whose got a vacant place in Scarborugh. That's close to a 2 hour drive for him, so I don't think he wants this info to go it alone. I'll just fax him a summary of what we discussed already and take it from there, maybe he's more a visual learner and needs to see numbers in front of him.
Steve
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Hi,
Does anybody have some information I can fax to a owner? I've been deaing with the owner's son, the owner is an elderly man (90) whose moved out with his son. I sent them the lease purchase advantage, but he wants something more detailed that gets into the nuts and bolts. Normally, I'd set up a meeting, but he lives about an hour and a half from me. I explained everything on the phone, but he wants something on paper that he can show his dad. If anyone has something they use I would appreciate if you can share it with the forum, if not, I'll just be sending him some made up numbers. I'm still not exactly sure what this guys wants anyway.
Thanks
Steve
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Welcome Brian,
Is this the same Brian from Scarborough that I know, or a different Brian?
Steve
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Thanks again Doug and everyone else for your kind words. I guess persistence really does pay off. My advice for those of you still trying to work your first deal is to keep focused and don't get sidetracked, it's just so easy to get distracted play online poker for hours, but you need to fight through that and keep your eye on the real prize. You need to ask yourself of every action you take if it's going to help you reach your goal. If it won't be helping you, then it's probably something you don't need to be doing.
Now the only decision I still have to make is Candy, Bubbles, or Skyla?
Steve
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Remember a while back I signed my first CA, well, I finally closed that one tonight!
I never thought it would take me that long, but the house I had was in pretty bad shape. I would guess it needs 15-20k worth of work to bring it up to par. I had so many calls after putting up my bandit signs, but nobody wanted to tackle the work. I had a few low ball offers from rehabbers, but nothing realistic. The owner was in a bit of a pickle because she overpaid for this house, and didn't do her diligence (no appraisal or home inspection done, and paid full asking price where people routinely get 5-10% below asking in this area
). If she were to sell to a realtor she would probably lose 20k, and I couldn't get the price low enough for an SLO (nor was I going to do work either) so a CA was a perfect fit. Anyway, I originally told her I would cancel the agreement if I hadn't found somebody in a month, but she told me to keep looking after the month was up. I put out more bandit signs, but still nobody. I then told her I was canceling the agreement after all my signs get taken down. She decided to advertise in the For Rent section, and found somebody who was interested in renting, and then told her about the RTO, and she was interested. I called her up and explained the nuts and bolts to her. She didn't care what the place looked like because she was currently in a 1 bedroom basement apt. with 4 kids. Unfortunately all she could come up with was $2000, but if that's all I would get, it's better than nothing.
I'll be putting her in touch with a mortgage broker so she can get everything in order. I guess it's one of those win-win-win deals. The owner stops her negative cash flow, the buyer gets out of the basement, and I get a small fee for my effort.
I do want to publicly thank Doug for all the personal help he's given me and to Michael as well for hosting a kick ass REI board.
Now I'm off to the next deal!
Steve
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I just got off the phone with a seller who phoned my I buy houses ad, he's not interested in a RTO, but he told me his situation. He's going through a divorce, and needs to sell, he told me his house is around 285k, and will sell it to me for 270k. In addition, the top floor and bottom floor are rented for a total of about $2200. I think this would be great to assign to an investor whose in the cashflow game, they wouldn't even have to worry about vacancies.
Interesting thing is the seller thinks I'm a hustler, now I'm not to sure if this is a good or bad thing, I mean after all it wasn't too long ago people were questioning my competency after speaking with them, and now I'm called a huslter, and still working on closing my first CA. I'll take it as a backhanded complement, I guess, and at the same time work on my approach.
Any comments are appreciated.
Steve
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Personally, I don't need pills to get me motivated, my motivation comes from picturing myself cashing a big fat cheque. If it works, it probably just psychological anyway, for all you know those could be sugar pills, lots of studies have been done on the "placebo affec.t" Basically people are given pills and told them that it would make them feel better but there was no medical ingredients in the pills, but the subjects responded saying they felt much better after taking them, so if pills get you movin keep popping like a major leaguer.
Steve
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Bev,
I don't know how serious they'd be taken offering a home as a lease option either, when they don't have a home themselves. This is definitely something I'd consider in my marketing plan, I just need to find the a homeless person who wants a better life,
I see you've already found yours.I have my eye on this homeless that always stands on the intersection corner of my juice bar mondaySteve
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I've been debating the ethics about this one, but here goes. Being close to a major city (Toronto) we have a big homeless issue. What if we pay homeless people to hold our "We Buy Homes" signs for the day, pay them $15 or $20 to get them so food, and they hand out our cards to interested people, and then we'll pay them a $500 referral fee for every deal we closed that they lead us to. Perhaps we can change a few people's lives by doing this as well by getting them off the street?
I feel so conflicted, Capitalism vs. Socialism, the two finally working together!!??
Steve
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Wouldn't it take more time to add all these non motivated people to a database than to just call them a second time and apologize for phoning again?. Plus if you phone them back, who knows, maybe they've warmed to the idea of a LO? I usually just cross off the ads in the paper I've called, and when the next paper comes out I just check to see which are the new ads by cross referencing with my old paper.
Steve
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So I've got a couple of people who've seen the house coming by tomorrow night and are interested. In the meantime, everyone who expresses interest from now till tomorrow I'm telling them to come by. Sure they may be tire kickers, but I'm going to be there anyway showing the interested people the house, and the more people that are there the quciker my real buyers will be forced to act.
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Doug,
She broke her promise to you first, I see no problem with you threatening legal action. She'll get what's coming to her anyway, chances are since the buyer was looking for an RTO, they won't be able to qualify for a mortage, so now instead of getting a higher market value for all 3 homes she'll be stuck making payments on 3 vacant ones.
Some people need to learn not to mess with the beaver!
keep your eyes open for the sign police
in Marketing
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This sign I'm using is huge, 8 feet by 10 feet in a high traffic area. The guy who does the signs in the area also tells me that I should be able to get away with putting up bandit signs on Friday and taking them down Sunday, but I shouldn't expect to have them up very long come Monday. He's going to ask his grandkid if he's interested to do that work.