Friday, November 13, 2009

How Much Should I Offer On A Wholesale Real Estate Deal?

First off, we are going to talk about wholesale deals. Wholesale deals are where people first cut their teeth in this business. They are the simplest deals. Basically, you find a deal and get some comps on the property. You will find out what other houses have sold for in the same neighborhood. It is public record, and you can find this out at your local courthouse. So, find the deal, get your comps, and make the offer. But, sometimes it’s reversed. Sometimes when you are talking to someone, you can make the verbal offer right then and there to get the deal going. Then after you make the offer and it is verbally accepted, you can come back and get your comps and check out what the real value is. It’s called due diligence. It’s like doing your homework and making sure you don’t get yourself in a hole. You need to do research at this point. Any deal without due diligence, comps, research, or checking things out can get you in big trouble. I suggest you make the offer first though, and get your numbers going so you don’t waste time on deals that never get anywhere.

In most cases, the seller is going to tell you what he is asking for. You don’t have to make an offer or counter-offer on that first call, especially if you are new to the business. If he says he wants $120,000, you don’t have to know right off the bat what it is worth, especially if you are not familiar with that area. There are some areas where I know right away, what the homes are worth. When you are new, that is not going to happen. So, don’t be afraid to accept the offer on the phone and let him know that you are going to do some homework, you are interested in the house, and will get back to him soon. So, find the deal, get the comps, make the offer, get the house under contract, find a buyer, and close. Note that we are not talking specifically about wholesaling here, but that is the gist of it.

We are going to discuss how to know what the right price is. What kind of offer should you make? That is where the ARV comes in. You have probably heard someone ask what the ARV is. The ARV is the Average Retail Value. It is how much those comps tell you how much the house is worth. Once you study the area and find out how much houses are selling for, you are going to get the comps. That is the ARV.

There are two ways to do this, assuming this home needs some repairs. Here is the first option: Let’s take the selling price of the house, $150,000 (which might be the ARV), and you are trying to come up with how much to offer for this house. You are not planning on buying it, but are planning on getting it under contract and selling it to someone else. You have to leave enough profit in there so that someone else can do the repairs, list the house or sell it without listing it, and make their profit back. They have to cover all of their expenses.

One way to do it is to take how much you figure that next person is going to sell it for, let’s say $150,000. Then, you subtract 4-6 months ,worth of mortgage payments that they will have to make while they are paying for that house, subtract funding fees (points), subtract repairs, subtract both sets of their closing costs, subtract taxes, subtract insurance, subtract utilities, etc. Am I confusing you yet? That is why I have a better system for you.

Here is your second option: What we do is we take the ARV in that area, of houses in good condition and subtract 30%. It is ARV minus 30%. Then you subtract how much the repairs are going to be. The rule of thumb is ARV (after the repairs or aka after repair value), minus 30%, minus repairs. Then you subtract how much profit you want to make on the deal. If it is a $150,000 house, don’t expect to make $30,000 or $40,000 on it. You have to leave the $30,000 for the guy who is going in and doing all of the work, making all of the repairs, plus making the mortgage payments. You are just wholesaling this. In my eyes, if you make $4,000, it’s a good deal. I have made $20,000 on homes like these in the past, but usually you are looking to make only $4,000 to $5,000. You are just flipping these.

To recap, you will take the ARV of $150,000 minus 30%. That leaves you with $105,000. Then you subtract the $20,000 in repairs. You are down to $85,000. If you want to make $5,000 in the deal, you are down to $80,000. I would then offer $79,000 to whomever I am buying it from. I would sell it for about $85,000 though.

The bottom line formula is this: After repair value, minus 30%, minus repairs, that‘s how much most rehabbers are looking for. A lot of them are looking for a specific profit, say $30,000. ARV is very universal. Good Luck!

Monday, October 12, 2009

Tenant Management In Real Estate Investing

There are a couple of different types of investing niches that would have you with tenants. One would be long-term buys and holds, in which you buy property and put tenants in them. The other would be when you are buying houses for subject-to.

I’m going to let you learn from my mistakes. I’ve made them all with tenants, unfortunately. When I first got in the business, I bought a lot of houses subject-to, still have most of them, and am slowly selling off some of them.

First off, you want to do your homework when you are screening. When we sell subject-to, we buy the house subject to the mortgage. Somebody signs you over the house. They literally give you the house. You can live in it, or rent it out. But, make sure that you know your exit strategy before you enter the deal. The exit strategy is usually to lease with an option to buy, or Rent to Own. When you put this kind of tenant in there, they will give you a lump sum up front to move in. Don’t just charge them a security deposit. You want to get at least $4,000 or $5,000 from these folks as an option deposit, up front. This gives them the right to buy the property at any time. Basically, they are paying that up front to lock themselves in at that time, at that price

Sometimes, it’s tempting to take the person with the highest option deposit. Let’s say you have two people interested. One of them has $7,000 to put down, with terrible credit, have been evicted several times, and swear that they will pay their rent. But, the other one only has $4,000 and a spotless record. You might want to consider taking the person with the $4,000 with the spotless record, because that other $3,000 could be eaten up pretty fast with attorney fees, court fees, and a lack of mortgage payments if you have a deadbeat living in your home.

There are several different websites to choose from where you can get a lot of backround information on tenants before you have them in your home. The site that I use asks me to enter their name, last 2 or 3 places that they have lived, and social security number. Within a minute, I can find out if they have ever been evicted or have gone to court for lack of making payments. I have had people that I have run through on a website, and it would show that they have been evicted three times within a year. Screen your tenants.

You can also have a criminal background or retail credit check done as well. Please note that most tenants have bad credit. That’s why they are renting from you. They either don’t have a lot of money or have bad credit.

Get More Information about Your Tenants

You should also call and talk to their old landlord. A trick I use is this: If their old rent was $825 a month, I would call the old landlord and purposely give them a wrong dollar amount. I will tell them that I had a tenant of yours apply to rent a property of mine. I will tell them that they said they paid $875 month in rent. Then I will ask if that is correct. I want that landlord to come back to me and say, “No, they are paying $825 a month for rent”. I am doing that because I don’t know if they are really renting a house from these people. How do I know it’s not their Cousin, that they gave me their phone number for and have asked the Cousin to pretend to be a landlord? I might even screw up the address a little. I want to see that they know some things that they might have forgotten to tell their Cousin when they set the Cousin up to do this.

You also want to verify their employment. If they say they are working somewhere, call there! Most places, all they can do is verify information. You will say their name and how much they are making, and they can say “yes” or “no”. Usually they can tell you if they think the prospective tenant will be there for the next 24 months or so.

Another trick I use is to leave a piece of paper out of your screening, or forget something. Come up with some reason to drop by where they are living now, to ask a question or talk to them. You want to make sure they really live there. More importantly, you want to see the condition of that house. I can guarantee you that within 2 weeks, whatever condition their current home is, your place will look the same.

I have had people take a perfect house with new carpeting, painting, and everything clean and have had them turn it into a wreck in 6 weeks time. I have thrown tenants out after 6 or 7 weeks. One tenant left 2 to 3 feet of stuff on the floors in every room. There was mold on the walls because there was so much urine in the carpets. A neighbor told me they had 7 or 8 cats, 2 or 3 dogs, and a whole bunch of bunnies. The carpets were ruined and it took me several tries to find a company to come clean it. We also filled up a huge dumpster to clean it out. Be careful. Please go see what they live like. Also, don’t disappear after they move in. Drop by to say hello every now and then. Your contract should say that you should be able to inspect the house whenever you want to, with 24 hours notice. You might get a really good tenant that pays on time and you think they are sweethearts, but your home may be trashed. Please, go check it out.

You have to be careful and not discriminate, or ask how old they are. You can ask if they are over 21, though. You can’t discriminate due to age, sex, race, or religion, but you CAN discriminate due to their lying to you.

Also, be tough on these people, especially at first. Some are professionals at not paying their rent. They know the loopholes and the legal system. If it gets to be the 5th of the month and you don’t have your rent, if you don’t have your rent, they should get a certified eviction notice on the 6th. I know this because I was dumb and kind with my first tenant. I had a $2,200 a month mortgage payment, and her rent was $2,500. The first few months were good, but she was a mortgage broker, and when the mortgage industry fell apart, so did she. She would call and tell me about her problems and apologize and I would tell her how thankful I was that she was trying, etc. Before I knew it the 1st came, the 15th came, and she said she’s getting paid soon, and eventually, she was 6 months behind and I was Mr. Nice Guy, falling for her stories and lies. I finally had to go to court and evict her, and making all of the mortgage payments. As soon as they are late, you let them know that you are not fooling around.

Now, I tell people up front that as long as they make their payment on time, you will love me. I will be the best landlord they will ever have. I tell them if they don’t pay their rent, they will hate me and they will hate me fast. And I tell them that. I want to intimidate them a little bit. I will be a good landlord. If they need help with something, I will be there. If they want to buy the house, I will help them find a lender to get them into the home. I will bend over backwards for someone. That’s my property and they better take care of it! That’s the attitude you have to take up front. Let them know that you are not going to take “it” from them. If you send them their notice that they are going to be evicted, make sure you follow through in a few days, evict them when you say you will, even get a letter from a lawyer to them if they don’t leave. It’s a game with these folks, so you have to let them know you mean business. It will save you a lot of problems in the end. I have spent many sleepless nights wondering how the heck I’m going to get some bad tenants out of my property.

On another note, reward your good tenants. At Christmastime, why not give them a $50 gift certificate for Jewel or something, or even take a visit and look around and see what type of improvements you can make for them? If you have a 3 bedroom house with no ceiling fans in those bedrooms, why don’t you go ahead and tell them you are going to install some fans for them? They will love you for it. And if they love you, their chances of renewing that lease will increase for you! You want to keep them as your tenants as long as possible! Good Luck!

To Learn more about real estate, watch videos, get free reports and more, go to: www.RealEstateInvestorPlus.com

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Staging Houses In Real Estate Investing

Three years ago, houses were selling fast. Anyone could get a mortgage, and interest rates were low. Now interest rates are still low, but it’s hard to get a mortgage. So, you do have to take a little more time to sell your houses.

Now, there are some types of deals that you might want to stage, and some you might not have to. For example, wholesale deals where you sell to other investors, those you probably don’t have to stage as well. Of course, you do want to make them look good so it looks like it won’t need so much work. An experienced rehabber will know what he’s going to have to do, anyway, after walking through the house.

The houses I am talking about are the ones that you are selling to the public, a retail buyer who is going to move in and buy the house. If you have a house that you are putting up for auction, or you have a house that you have an option, doing a retail flip, or if you are a rehabber and you just renovated a house, and you want to make it look good to sell, you might as well make it look the best it can.

When you are staging a property, you always want to appeal to the senses. You want to make it smell, sound, look, and feel good. A home is a home. It has to be warm, comforting, and inviting.

First, let’s talk about what you see. The kitchen and bath are especially important to the ladies. Everybody knows that the kitchen and bath are usually what sells a property. Put some towels up, hang them on the racks, fold a towel and leave it out by the sink. Put some bowls or wooden spoons out on the stove. In my smaller properties, I leave a box of dishwasher cleaner on top of the dishwasher, put some detergent by the sink, make it look like you have taken the extra care to make sure the place is clean. Appeal to their senses in the kitchen. Decorate it a little bit so it’s not a big long empty countertop area. Maybe put a little rug in front of the sink, so it feels a little bit warmer. In the bathroom, do the same thing, put a little rug in front of the sink, as well in front of the bathtub. Hang a shower curtain as well, as well as putting towels in there. Also, make sure there is toilet paper on the roll. You can also put some handsoap and perhaps a cup on the sink. You want to make it look inviting.

On the front porch, it’s a good idea to put a welcome mat out, as well as a little throw rug in the foyer, perhaps. If there are sliding doors in the kitchen, it might be a good idea to put a throw rug in front of the doors.

As for the living areas, if you have a fireplace, it might be a good idea to put a picture frame on the mantle with the picture that comes with it. Fireplace tools are a good idea as well. It makes them imagine what it would be like with a nice warm fire going, while sipping a cup of tea. A fake plant or two by the fireplace or other living area space would be great as well. Buy some neutral rug runners and you can put them in a long hallway in the house. You don’t want them hearing an echo in a long hall. It sounds and looks better. If you have some extra pictures, hang some big pictures up as well.

In the bedrooms, I don’t do a lot, but here are some tips. For the kids’ rooms, you can find those rugs with kids’ designs on them, perhaps a basketball-type one for the boys’ room and leave a basketball there, or even go with a baseball theme. For a girls’ room, you can put a Disney princess-type rug down and place maybe a rocking chair with a little crown on it, it would really make it look inviting. And when the kids check out those rooms, they come out asking if this room can be theirs. You want them to assume what it would be like if they were living in their house.

As far as furniture goes, there are many options. You can go ahead and fill the whole house, if you like. You can go to Court Furniture or Aarons, as well. If you want to put a bed in the master bedroom, that would be great with throw pillows and end tables and a lamp. For the living room, you can put in a couch with a table and a lamp on either side with a matching chair is excellent. For the dining room, a table with 4 chairs and maybe some flowers in the middle, that would be great. I know it’s some extra work, but these companies will come out and set it all up for you. When you think about it, $499 or $500 a month is less than making additional mortgage payments. You want people to imagine what it would be like living there.

To make it sound better, you can also put a radio upstairs and downstairs with the same station on with some inviting music as they are walking through. During an Open House or when you know people are coming over, brew some coffee and perhaps make some cookies so it smells like home.

Open all of the blinds and turn on all of the lights so that it’s bright, airy, and open. If it’s a nice day, open the windows a bit so that they can hear the birds and nice outside noises. It helps to make a nice overall feel to the house.

To Learn more about real estate, watch videos, get free reports and more, go to: www.RealEstateInvestorPlus.com

Monday, August 24, 2009

How To Talk To Sellers In Real Estate Investing With Seller Financing

Basic Sales Tactics that Work in Real Estate Investing

First off, there are some subliminal things you have to learn how to do. When I say subliminal, there are some basic sales tactics that work in any type of sales environment, especially in real estate.

One of them is association. You have to let your sellers know that people do this. This is a regular thing. It’s not this big unheard of thing for someone to sell with seller financing. If you have done this in the past, talk about this. Mention about doing this in the past. People also want to do what other people do. If they know other people are doing it, they will feel good about doing it. Let the seller know that people do this all of the time, lots of people do it, then they will be more likely to do it. Unfortunately, we have a herd mentality. A lot of times we have to see that someone else did something first, then we have permission to do it.

Also, you want to have some fear of loss, indirectly, in the tone of your voice. You want to make it sound like this is the only way you can do this deal. In a lot of cases, this is the truth, so you’re not lying to anybody. Let them know that. Be indifferent about it. You have to have an attitude about you that there are other houses you can buy, especially in this market. Make them feel that they are going to lose something if they don’t go ahead with the sale with you.

Offer the Seller with a Good Interest Rate

Now, let’s get into the topic itself. There are some things you can do to sway the seller into going your way. One of them is to offer them a good interest rate. In most of these cases, we are buying these houses, not for a long-term deal, maybe to have it for a couple of years with a lease-option tenant in it to pay it off, or just looking to buy it for a short period of time to fix it up and maybe sell it. Or perhaps, we are just looking to get it under contract to sell it to someone else. So, offer a nice interest rate. Offer an interest rate that makes it attractive to the seller to give you seller financing, to trust you. You are not going to have it that long. That extra 2, 3, or 4, percent is nothing. I’ll pay 15 or 20 percent interest if I have to if the deal is right, just to get the deal under my belt and make some money on it. If you are only going to make 3 or 4 payments on it, what’s the difference if you are paying 20 or 25 percent on it? It’s only going to be an extra couple of hundred dollars. If the deal is good enough to take, it’s good enough to take with a higher interest rate. Don’t make the mistake of financing at the same rates the banks give.

Offer the Seller with a Good Balloon on a Mortgage

Another tip for you if someone is uncomfortable is to offer them a balloon. A balloon on a mortgage means that the mortgage is going to be paid in full by a certain amount of time. So, a mortgage with a 3 year balloon guarantees the seller that in 3 years or sooner, we are going to pay that mortgage off and they will have all of their money. It also allows them to defer their taxes. If they sell their house today for cash, and they get their HUD, and they go to closing and they get that full amount, they are liable to pay taxes on the full amount of their profit. (Make sure your accountant double checks this for you on an individual basis). When they sell you the house with owner financing, they don’t have to pay taxes on the whole amount, because they don’t get the full amount. It allows them to defer their taxes for a year or two, or until you pay the loan off in full.

Also, they are acting as a bank. I have told sellers that the people that are making money in selling houses are usually the banks. I tell them that they will be in a position like a bank, and they will earn a lot of interest on their property. I add it up and tell them how much profit they will be making on the deal. For example, it’s a $200,000 house and I’m giving them 8% interest. That’s a $1,467 dollar a month payment. Let’s say I make that payment for 2 years. At the end of 2 years, on that $200,000 house, I’m going to owe about $197,000 or so. So, I will show him in a year, it equals $17,000 that I have paid him. If it takes me 2 years to pay you off, I will have given you $35,000 on your house, and I’m still going to owe you $197,000. Let him know that he will end up selling that house for $237,000 because of my monthly payments and the amount due at payoff. Not the original $200,000 on the contract. Explain that that is how the banks make their money. Point out to him the real dollars that he will be getting over a period of time.

On an interest-only loan, you will be giving them interest every month after month. At the end of the loan, you will still owe them the full amount. If it’s a $250,000 house and they are giving me an interest-only loan on the house, I still owe them $250,000 whenever I pay it off. So, everything I give them up- front is money in their pocket. Make sure you tell them that the whole payment every month goes right into their pocket no matter when I pay this off, I will STILL owe you the full amount of the loan.

It’s a good deal for a seller. And it’s the truth. That’s how the mortgage companies and banks make A LOT OF MONEY! That’s why some investors quit investing after a period of time when they put a million dollars in their accounts and become hard money lenders. They become private lenders and make a lot of money for NOTHING!

Go with Owner Financing

In a lot of cases, you will have a seller that will go with owner financing, but needs some money NOW. Point out to them that if you give them $20,000 now, and pay off the difference, they are going to have to pay taxes on that $20,000 (again, double-check with your accountant about this). Suggest this to them if the home is paid in full: So they can save money, they can instead go get a loan/mortgage on the house for $20,000. You can put that $20,000 in your pocket right now. I will then make the payments on that loan until we sell the house and I pay you off in full. And right now, you don’t have to pay taxes on that $20,000. This is a great way if they want some money now.

Here’s a tactic that works and will continue to work. Once you get a deal on seller financing for a house that is selling for $300,000 and it has a 5 year balloon, tell the seller that within 5 years or sooner I will pay you off. If in the near future, I have someone ready to buy that house, I’ll call the seller and tell them that you have some extra cash, offer to pay about $250,000 for that home RIGHT NOW. Guess what. That $250,000 today is better than $300,000 in 4 or 5 years, and you have just make $50,000! If they make a counter-offer for a little more, tell them you will think about it, wait a day or two, call back and accept their offer. There are lots of ways to make money in this business.

Just Make an Offer

The bottom line is: MAKE AN OFFER. You have to believe that people are going to accept your offers. Don’t think for a minute that just because maybe you don’t own your house outright, that a lot of other people don’t. I own a house outright. I can borrow money against it, I can rent it. In any case, make an offer. There are many people out there that own houses that are paid for, and they are just sitting there. Make the offer, look them in the eye, pitch them high, and watch them buy. Believe in yourself!

Free Ways To Build A Buyers List In Real Estate Investing

There’s nothing in the real estate business that is better than getting a house under contract by sending out one e-mail or making a few phone calls and having that house sold in a few hours or a day or two.

There are different types of buyers’ lists that you might want to build. There are retail buyers’ lists when you are selling those pretty houses that you have an option on. There are also lease option buyers’ lists. But that isn’t what we are going to cover here. We are talking about how to build a wholesale buyers’ list so that when you get a contract on that junker down the road, that ugly house that you got a deal on, you have somebody to flip that house to quick.

There’s a lot of different ways to build a buyers list. Some that cost a lot of money. I will teach you how to do it for free.

Make your Own Website
First off, I do suggest that you have a website. It can be a one-page website that introduces you as a professional house buyer and seller. Many times I find houses that I can’t rehab myself. Therefore, I like to give others opportunities to buy these houses at a great price. I let them know on my website. They just fill in their information and it comes right back to you on your list. So, when you come up with a new property that you are selling, all you have to do is send out one e-mail that automatically goes to your whole list. I know that it costs some money, but doing it yourself is very inexpensive.
Online sources are a great way to get your list started using free classified websites. Every day, I would post an ad there saying you are selling houses. You will put “Wholesale Properties Available”, or something more creative on there. Maybe something like “The Other Guys Talk, We Walk the Walk”, or something flashy like that. How about “Are you a rehabber? Do you renovate houses for a living? We’ve got the deals”. Direct them to your site or a phone number. You want to do this at least a few times a week so people know that you have houses.

Take Advantage of Online Classified Ads
When you post on these classified sites, you want to use good keywords . You want to put lines in there like, “We Buy Houses”, “Handyman Special”, “Sell Houses Fast”, or “Fixer-Upper”, and you want to put the area you are working in so that when people put the location in and a keyword, your ad could pop right up! So many times I put a search in with the area and up comes a classified ad in the 2nd or 3rd item that pops up. So, go to the sites and let the world know that you sell houses and have the junkers and you have the ugly houses at the right price.

Remember, you are looking for investors who you can assign your contracts to, who will buy those houses from your Seller and you make the spread in between. Make sure your web address, e-mail address, and phone number in there.

Also, put in that ad that you buy houses too. You might have a homeowner or investor who is browsing online who hits that site, and they might have a house for sale. You should always put “We Buys Houses Too” in your ads. It could double the effectiveness of your ads.

Look for House for Sale in Newspapers

Here is the cheapest offline way to build your buyers list. Get the newspaper and go to the House For Sale section. If you see a house that says, “Just Rehabbed”, you know that’s it’s probably an investor who just rehabbed that house and is selling it.

When you are driving down the street and see a sign that says, “We Buy Houses”, go ahead and call them , introduce yourself as an investor in the area, ask them if they do buy houses. Explain that you are a wholesaler and that you get houses at a good price, and you are looking for other investors to take deals that you can’t handle yourself. Find out their price range or area they are working in. Ask them if you can send them properties via e-mail. Find out what type of properties they work with. Or go ahead and add them to your list anyway, because you never know if their needs will change.

Having a buyers’ list could make the difference between you taking a couple days to flip a house or a couple of weeks. Let them know that you also buy houses. Be honest with them and let them know exactly what you are doing. Don’t be dishonest because it could bite you back in the end. I have been let down in the past and will now no longer accept phone calls from some investors in my area. Don’t lie, be honest. Word gets around. Good luck!

How to Do A Short Sale in Real Estate Investing

A short sale starts out like any other type of deal. It starts out by you just finding a property. In this case, we want to find a property that is in foreclosure. It should be a couple of months behind, maybe even 4 or 5 months behind.

One of the beauties of a short sale is that it lets us deal with numbers from our seller that are unrealistic. Any time that you can get an unrealistic edge in business, it’s a good thing. And when I say unrealistic, it’s because we are getting the bank to discount that property. So, if somebody has a property that is 4 or 5 or 6 months behind on their payments, the bank is ready to take that property back. They are ready to foreclose on it, they are ready to put it up in auction. In todays’ market, that house probably isn’t going to sell at auction and that bank is going to be stuck with another house. These banks own so many houses, they could make a small city if they picked them all up and put them in one place. In any case, these banks do not want these houses, they are overloaded with them, and it affects their ability to loan. The more houses they own, the less money they can lend.

So, find a property that is in foreclosure. Note that this isn’t a technique to use for someone to save a house. This is for someone that wants to move out of their house, are ready to move, and they don’t want that foreclosure on their record. They just want to get it sold and get out. They are willing to do whatever it takes to get out of that house. In most cases, they are willing to just sign the house over to the bank and give that house back.

We are going to then pursue a short sale. What happens is when the Seller agrees to sell the house to you (and you have to have a Contract to buy house), for whatever the best deal you can get from that bank is. So, for a $200,000 house, the Seller is not going sell it for $200,000. I would shoot for about $115,000 or $120,000. Nowadays, you want to go as close to 50% as you can, but it may be unrealistic in some instances. You really want to shoot low, though.

The houses that work the best for short sales are houses where there are 2 mortgages. And the bigger the 2nd mortgage, the better. What happens, is if a house has 2 mortgages on it (let’s say a $200,000 house has a first mortgage for $150,000 and the second mortgage is for $50,000), when that first mortgage forecloses and takes that house back, that second mortgage for $50,000 goes away and the bank loses it altogether. So, the best prospects you can get for a short sale are when there is a high second mortgage on that house. That bank knows whey will get nothing if that house goes in foreclosure.

A house that needs some work is usually a little better too. The bank is going to take back a house, but they would rather take back a house that needs no more work. If it needs some work, you might have a better advantage.

If you are going to get a Contract to buy that house, the Seller has to be willing to sell it to you for what he owes, or what you can get from the bank. In a lot of cases, you don’t even put a price on that Contract. You get that Contract or the option to buy that house from the Seller, and you leave that blank. There is a clause in there that says that the Seller will sell the house for whatever the Buyer will negotiate with the bank. So, whatever the price the Buyer and bank accepts, that is what the Seller is willing to take for the house.

The seller then walks away with nothing. They don’t get anything. If the bank is going to take a loss on the house, they don’t want the Seller walking away with any cash. The Seller has to be ready to just walk away.

You have to have a Seller that is really ready to work with you. They have to provide a letter explaining why they can’t make payments. They also have to provide a short sale package of paperwork for the bank. The bank will want the last 2 years tax returns, last 2 months bank statements, and if they have a job, the last 2 paycheck stubs. The first time you go through this paperwork it might seem like a lot of work, but after you get that first $50,000 check the paperwork will seem like nothing.

Now you are going to negotiate with the bank. There is a department at the bank called the Loss Mitigation Department. They basically mitigate loss. They help to not have foreclosures. You will contact them and discuss this with them. Try to get the price down as low as you possibly can. These negotiations usually take a few months. They will try to get as much as they can and you try to get as little as you can. They might even tell you they don’t do short sales. Yes, they do. That’s why they have a department. Stick to your guns and act professional. Find a program to help you out.

While negotiating, you are going to start selling this house. Our preferred method is to do an auction or just put it up for sale with a Realtor, or do it yourself. We are going to offer a discount. We are not going to try to get the highest dollar we can. We got a sweet deal, we want to offer a sweet deal to a buyer that wants to move their family in. Our goal is to find that buyer before we settle with the bank.

Then we will do a double close. You will find your Buyer, the bank is going to take $120,000 for a $200,000 house, you will have the Buyer maybe pay you $160,000 or $165,000. Again, you have to learn the numbers and feel out your market. Then you do the double closing back to back, on the same day. The first closing is when you buy the property from the bank. Now, you own the property. The second closing is when you sell it to your buyer. You buy the property from the bank for $120,000, then 10 minutes later, you sell it to the other guy for $160,000 then you have a $40,000 check. There is more to it than that though, but it does get easier with time.

You might be wondering where you can get $120,000 to buy it from the bank? There are services that will do that. There are places that will lend you the money for one day, for as little as 3 or 4 percent. You borrow it for one day, (they don’t even check your credit), you buy it from the bank. The same day you sell it to the other guy, you keep the difference, and it’s a sweet deal for you. Good luck!

The basic steps to a short sale:

  • Find a property a few months behind, with foreclosure looming
  • Make an offer to buy the property for whatever the bank will accept
  • Complete the short sale package that the bank or the short sale negotiator you outsource to sends you
  • Negotiate with the banks “Loss Mitigation Department” and get the price lowered well below retail
  • Find a company to loan you the $ for ONE day, so you can buy the property
  • Set up a double closing at the title company
  • Close and buy the property from the bank
  • Immediately afterwards, close again and sell the property to your buyer
  • Cash the check for the difference between what you paid, and what you sold for

Real Estate Investing Phone Skills

Learn the Basic Phone Skills in Real Estate Business

You have to learn great phone skills in this business if you want to get anywhere. I’m going to give you some good information, and I’m going to talk about telephone magic. There are certain things you want to do, certain things you don’t want to do, when you are talking to Sellers on the phone.

Put Them On Hold: The first time you are talking to a Seller, and sometimes they are very aggressive, asking too many questions, not letting you get a word in edgewise, and he’s trying to take control of the call, that kind of thing, there’s a little hold button on your phone, and if you don’t have a phone with a hold button, maybe you can switch over to the other line or just pretend they are on hold. Go ahead and put them on hold. If you get somebody that is asking too many questions, or questions that you aren’t ready to answer, just put them on hold. Every time you put them on hold, they will lose their train of thought. So, if they start asking you questions that you aren’t ready to talk about yet, and if you are still getting your info about the property or details of the sale, just say “excuse me” and put them on hold.

And then you come back and take off where you left off. It’s a way to take control of the call politely. For all they know, you have another call coming in and you can let them know that. But it is a good technique to use if you have someone that won’t let you get your point across. Or, they want to keep talking and talking and talking. If they keep talking, just put them on hold. It sounds silly, but try it. Once you get your timing down, it will help you take control of your calls.

Ask “Yes” Questions: Here’s another one: Ask “Yes” question before you ask a couple of tough questions. When you are on the phone, you want to get your potential seller in the habit of saying “yes”. One of the things they say about live sales is that when you are talking to someone, keep shaking your head “yes”. It gets them to subliminally keep thinking about “yes”. I have a Brett Favre bobblehead that reminds me of this. Ask “yes’ before tough question. At the beginning of the call, here’s a scenario to use: “Hi this is Nick ,can you hear me okay?” Then, the seller will answer, “Yes”. “Are you calling about the house you have for sale?” And then the seller will answer, “Yes”. Every time you know you’ve got a property and you have to ask a tough questions, like asking them to drop the price a little bit lower, get them to say “yes”, first. You just really want to get them in the habit of saying “yes”. It’s going to more likely make the call go in your direction.

Say “If” A Lot : Here are some examples of how to use the word “if”. “IF your property is one we decide to work with.” “IF your property is at the right price and my partner is interested in it .” “IF there are not too many repairs and it’s something we want put in our program.”

Especially with todays’ buyers market, there are so many deals out there, so many cheap houses out here, use the word “If’ a lot. You want your seller to be afraid you are going to say “No, I’m not interested”, and hang up the phone. You want them to really believe that they need you a lot more than you need them. And it’s true, we’re helping them out in a jam. By saying “If” a lot, it puts doubt in their mind that we are going to actually buy their property and help them out. It’s much less likelier for them to turn on their sales talk. You are not trying to convince them to sell, they need to be convincing you to buy. Once you get that atmosphere on that phone call, you will have a lot more successful calls.

Mirroring: You also want to use mirroring when you are talking to people on the phone. Mirroring. You want to reflect back to them the same personality that you sense they have. So, if you are talking to someone who is talking really fast and asking a lot of questions, you want to talk really fast and ask a lot of questions. If you talking to someone who is kind of old and they are talking very quiet and they are talking very softly and slowly, then you should talk very quietly and softly and slowly as well. If you are talking to someone who is talking kind of “street” and they are cussing a little bit, be careful, but you might want to cuss a little bit right along with them. People want to do business with people they feel are like them. People they have something in common with. Subliminally, if you mirror their personality and reflect it back to them, they are more likely going to want to work with you. They are going to like you and trust you more and you are going to get the deal over someone else.

Last Question Dropped: Why do I say “Last Question Dropped”? Whenever you are negotiating price, you talk about the price and get the rest of the details. This works best over the phone, although it can work at the home too. The main goal of your phone call is to get an appointment to go see the house. After you have asked about the price, you have asked if they can do any better, you have already talked price. One of the last things to do before you hang up that call is to try to get a couple more thousand dollars off. You have already talked price, you know what their bottom line is. “Okay, thank you very much, I’m going to discuss with my partners or I am going to do my homework and check the market in your area and I’ll get back to you soon. By the way, when I talked to my partner-can you cut off a couple thousand dollars if that the difference to us taking the deal or not? “ It’s a last-ditch pitch, I call it. Sometimes that last 10 second sentence will make you 2, 5, or 10 extra thousand bucks, just for flapping your lips-so don’t be afraid to say it.

Pet the Goldfish: Here’s what I mean by Pet The Goldfish. In conversation, different things come up. Maybe they will talk about their kids, or they’ll say they need to make the call quick because they have to pick up their daughter from ballet. Anything you can catch about their life, their personality, or family situations. Something personal about them, by talking on the phone, you want to bring it up. “Oh, your Son plays hockey, gosh my Son plays hockey too, or I used to play hockey”. Don’t go overboard and lie. It goes back to mirroring, creating rapport over the telephone.

Answer A Question With A Question: Another thing that’s really good in a lot of cases is to answer a question with a question. Sometimes, they are not giving you as much info as you want. You want to use techniques to make them talk more. So, they ask you a question and you repeat the question back to them. They say, “Would you be interested in a house that needs quite a bit of repairs?” And you say, ”Your house needs quite a bit of repairs?” And they keep talking. And they say, “What type of timeline are we on? Is this something that could be done fast?” And you say “Well, would you need us to get this done fast?” Or they say, “I’ve never heard of anybody doing a deal this way, don’t take it personally, but it sounds illegal. Is this alright”? And you say, ”Does this sound right to you? Why does it sound illegal ?” Ask the question back to them that they gave to you and you’ll get a lot more info on what they are thinking and their train of thought.

Return Calls: Another thing that is going to help you when you need to call someone back is to set a time to make that call. Make an appointment. Don’t just say “I’m going to talk to my partner and call you back”. Say, “Okay, I’ll talk to my partners, look at the area and see what the values are, and I’ll do my homework and research your property”, whatever that might be. Instead of saying “I’ll call you back tomorrow”, say, “I’ll call you back tomorrow at 3:15 in the afternoon, is that good”? Set that appointment. By setting an appointment, it makes you seem important, it makes your time seem valuable. Plus, if they have that appointment, if you ask them to write it down, you are more likely to get through to them. How hard do we work to get people back on the phone? We leave message after message, they call us and we’re not here, and we call them back. Don’t be afraid to set an appointment for a phone call at a specified time and date. It’s really important.

Other Deals: When you are talking to people, also talk about other deals you are doing. Talk about other properties you’ve bought and sold in the area. And don’t seem desperate. Seem like you don’t care if you get the deal. Again, it goes back to them trying to convince you to buy the property, more than you convincing them to give us the deal. Be indifferent, pretend like you don’t care at all. I know some of you are so desperate, you want that deal so bad. Air is not as important to you today as getting that deal. You can’t let THEM know that. If they sense any desperation over the phone, the deal’s dead. So you have to act like you don’t care, you have plenty of deals, there are all kinds of people calling you, you’re just picking and choosing the best. This way you’ll get the best deal, and you’ll more likely get them to do something less traditional, or differently than what they had planned.

I hope these are some great tips that you can use, I use them all of the time, I TEACH these to my people all of the time. Here are some tips to succeed and get the deal:

Take control by asking questions. The person asking the questions is the person in control.
”Mirror” the seller/prospect. If they are talking slow and quietly, or fast and loud, do the same.
Put the Seller on hold often if you feel they are trying to take control, or won’t let you talk.
Listen more than you talk!
Don’t be afraid of dead, “silent” spots. The seller may get more uncomfortable and give you more info.
Repeat a Seller’s statement back to him in the form of a question. He’ll elaborate.
Set a specific appointment time for a return call. Don’t just say “I’ll call tomorrow”.
So here are some goodies to make you a better investor. Now go make an offer!