So, I’ve got a couple new houses to find buyers for. One is another wholesaler’s property and the other is a Lease-Option that I’m wholesaling.

I’ve got my big-ass A-frame signs out for the other wholesalers’ property and I even made them directional so that they direct drivers from the main street. My signs have been up for over a week now…I must say that I’m surprised that nobody has taken them down yet. I think that because their so large, it’s almost like it reiterates their legitimacy. Who knows. This deal is priced very competitively, as it’s just under what the REO‘s are going for. I know that the other wholesaler got this through probate…I’ll need to pick his brain a bit to see what exactly he’s doing probate-wise. I actually thought I had this property wrapped up on Sunday as I received a call from a buyer that said, “I want the house, I can pay cash, let’s get it done…I just want to look inside first”. Turns out after looking inside, he didn’t want to perform the work required. I hate when people speak with such certainty when they’re really not certain. That really grinds my gears. LOL…I always wanted to say that.

The lease-option property is actually from an owner that called upon one of my signs and it turns out that after a conflict with a neighbor up the street, her subdivision started to give her a hard time.  They said that she’d have to fix a few items to be in compliance with the covenants.  That wasn’t the big deal.  The big deal was that she was 2 people over the subdivision’s occupancy limit after she took in her late sisters kids.  She wanted to sell, but had no equity, and needed to vacate in 60 days as she’s not going to kick the kids out.  I proposed the lease-purchase solution, and she liked it.  The house is in decent condition, should be very presentable after she paints.  She has a 4/1 with a finished basement and is offering a rent that is $100 less/month than 3/1′s in her area.  By her getting a tenant-buyer, her immediate problem would be solved, as her mortgage would be covered.  And she wouldn’t have to cover her mortgage and her future mortgage or lease at the same time.  Then in 3 years, the tenant-buyer would be able to cash her out by qualifying for a mortgage and buying the property for a price that in todays’ market is about 105% of value.  The best part about this for her is that,  she doesn’t pay me anything.  I’d just take my spread out of the option-consideration that the tenant-buyer presents.

This whole concept of wholesaling lease-options is fairly new to me.  It’s almost like as of 1 month ago, everyone I’ve been talking to has been telling me that this is “where it’s at” right now with this market.  There are a ton of sellers that would be open to this concept.  All of those old leads I had where the seller had no equity to entertain my offer for a regular wholesale…are now good leads again.  Good thing I don’t throw any of my leads away.

I’m kind of feeling my way through this process with this first one.  I’m following the skeleton of the process right now.  After I get some of these under my belt, I’m going to get a hold of Joe McCall’s Wholesaling Lease Option course.  This is the only guy with a course of this kind.  I listened in to his webinar that Steph hosted, the course looks legit.

Welp, that’s it for now.  I’m outtie.

P.S.
It’s 2:27am and I’m at the Coffee shop that I normally frequent this late.  I’m starting to think that some of the homeless in the area come here for the night.  Not saying that’s a bad thing, I’d probably do the same if I was homeless.  Either here or a Super Walmart.  And most homeless don’t have bad appearances like they do in the movies, the only reason I’m sure these folks are homeless is because when I’m here late they’re in a chair sleeping. Anywho, this is just a reminder that no matter how bad you think you’ve got it….somewhere somebody has got it much worse.

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Real Estate, Wholesale leaseoption, Mortgage, Property, Rent, Wholesale

So the two HUD houses I had under contract are gone.  Nope, not sold…but rather HUD took them back.  This was because the broker misspelled my middle name on the contracts.  By the time the revised contracts were submitted, HUD took the houses back and relisted them.  Oh well.  No biggie.

I’ve almost been full-time for 4 months now and I’m starting to learn that even without the 8 hour sacrifice of time towards the j-o-b, there isn’t enough hours in the day to do absolutely everything.  I’ve cut out a lot of tasks that used to suck my time…and I still don’t have enough time.  Eat, sleep, work….that’s it.  But I guess this is what I signed up for, right.

Where’s Waldo?

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I’m checking in.  It’s day 3, into the 30-day “get a buyer” time window.  And I’m just now completing my property showcase page.  I feel like, I’m behind already because I’m 3 days in and am just now at the point where I am.  Anyway, I felt like blogging for a second because for some reason it de-stresses me.  I have been working on that damn website since 11pm…it’s 7:50am as I type this.  I’ll give a quick run-down of what I did:

1. I installed another WordPress blog onto my Schwaps.com hosting space, this was fairly simple since my hosting provider (readyhosting) now has a one-click WordPress installation feature (it wasn’t always that way).
2. I searched around for free wordpress Real Estate themes.  Good free themes are usually hard to come by, however I found a good collection at ThemesJuncion.com
3. I installed the “Real Estate Agency” theme
4. I added my two properties to the site.  I then had a helluva time getting that site configured the way I wanted it.  I also had spent hours generating the comps and CMA’s that I linked to each property page

So to the right, is the end-product. I still have to add a few things that Lawrence Roberts suggested I do, to make the wholesale deal more turn-key for an end-buyer.  So I’ll still need to get contractor estimates and I’ll need to offer tenant placement service, as well as a contractor management service.  I just need to brainstorm the copy and get the contractors, etc. on stand-by.

But instead of holding things up, I’m going to move forward with the email-blast this morning.  I also have a ton of phone calls to make to wholesalers and landlords.  And to make matters worse, I have like 15 leads on new properties that I need to call back, I have some signs to make for tonight, and I’ve got to see if I can find a cheap lockbox somewhere for one of the properties…hmm as I typed that I think I’ll try to rent one from a Realtor.  That’s a good idea.  I ain’t paying $40 for a new one. Gotta go.

- Peace Out

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Real Estate, Wholesale leaseoption, Mortgage, Property, Rent, Wholesale

Time is flying…unfortunately.  I still have three deals pending.  Two are tied-up in a bankruptcy and will most likely close sometime this autumn (although the Realtors involved think mid-May).  I think September-ish is a realistic outlook (I’m learning that many Realtors are dumb as rocks, by the way. Well at least the one I work with is pretty sharp).

The bank that holds the notes on the two properties has already filed for an “Automatic Stay” and the Bankruptcy Trustee has filed for an extension to review the assets included in the Bankruptcy.  Who knows how long this will take…I ain’t holding my breath.

Also, two days after I quit my J-O-B I found and assigned a duplex.  This closing was scheduled for this Monday 4/19, however it was originally contingent upon the closing of another property of the sellers.  Turns out the property which the contingency was based on isn’t going to close.  Go figure.  But the good news is that I may be able to get that contingency waived.  It’s really more complex than what I’m explaining, but I don’t feel like writing a book on it right now.  Anyway, hopefully this deal will close sometime next week and I’ll give all of the details.

I was thinking the other day of providing some case-studies for absolutely every deal that does and does not close.  What ya’ll think?  I mean I’ve been running into absolutely every obstacle that could be presented (liens, bankruptcy, pre-probate, etc.), I think case-studies may be beneficial to even the experienced.

On the short-sale front, I’m at the stage with one property where I met the appraiser at the property, supplied comps, pointed out the issues with the house, etc.  And the appraisal came in too high.  I plan on ordering another BPO from the bank next week and see if I can get a more realistic value.  With short-sale number two, I’m still playing the fax and re-fax and wait game.  So we’ll see about this short-sale stuff.

Oh, and I almost forgot.  Today, I may have found three more deals.  They’re of marginal spread, but I got to do what I gotta do.  I’m thinking about putting an Option contract on these houses as I’m not certain that I can unload these like I did the others.  So I don’t want to be locked in.  But I’m sure going to try.  I’ll give more details as things unfold.

I’m surely running out of time and money.  Something needs to close soon.  Honestly, I have no idea where I’ll stand in two weeks…and it feels kind of good.

- Peace Out

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Real Estate, Wholesale leaseoption, Mortgage, Property, Rent, Wholesale

I’ve been slipping up on my blogging lately.  A once a week frequency, isn’t really blogging.  But I’m still out here in these streets making things happen.  I’ve got two closings that are of utmost priority at this point.  I’ll have tons of stuff to write about once those happen.  I mean I have some things to write about that you could learn from…even from a rookie like me.  So with that said, doing all of this blogging with no deals to talk about is getting old.  I know this is supposed to document my journey and all, but it feels like I’ve been writing for the last year about a cake that hasn’t finished baking.  I mean…I already told you the recipe I used, I don’t know what else to tell you besides it’s still in the oven.

Accountability Week:
I didn’t accomplish any of my weekly advertising tasks.  I have put a lower priority on those for now.  Priority #1, get to closing.  However, I did organize my home office last weekend.  That may not sound like alot, but trust me…it was.  I had receipts all over my desk, contracts all over the floor, envelopes, etc.  One thing about me though is that I’m very organized, even when I have an “organized mess”.  I just enjoy the organization without the mess much better.  Now I have my papers filed in the correct folders, my receipts in the correct boxes, I even performed a backup of my laptop to my external hard-drive (much overdue and takes forever).  By the way, I need to get with the program and start backing-up online.  What services do you guys use out there?  I just realized that if something happened to my laptop ‘and’ my external hard-drive….I’d be S-O-L.

I haven’t hit yall with a video update in a minute.  I take my flip camera almost everywhere I go and have beaucoup footage.  I’m usually just too lazy to go through the motions with Windows Movie Maker and YouTube.  But, I was feeling extra today.  So here’s a lil snippet of what I’ve been up to.

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Real Estate, Wholesale leaseoption, Mortgage, Property, Rent, Wholesale

So I will maxin and relaxin yesterday and cooking up some heart-attack food (fried chicken and french fries) before the super-bowl and I get a call from the owners of the “wholesale deal from hell” (that’s its’ new name).  I said I wasn’t going to blog about it anymore but…..I lied.  The sellers called to arrange a meeting so that perhaps something could be worked out.  Just as a refresher, this deal is the one where I negotiated a short-sale as their 10K property was upside-down by 60K dollars.  After the short-sale was negotiated, the liens were reduced to the sum of 9K, which took all of the sellers’ proceeds.  I spoke with other local investors about this and one resolution is to write-up a bill-of-sale for the personal property inside the of the house in the amount of what’s negotiated between the seller and buyer.  So for instance, a bill of sale could be written for 9K for the personal property in the house, as that was the original agreed sale price of the house.

Apparently, this is a common practice in this unique situation.  However, it sounds fraudulent as hell to me.  I mean, if not, then why wouldn’t ALL short-sale investors do this to compensate pre-foreclosure sellers.  Maybe they do…do they?  My buyer that the contract was assigned to is willing to shell-out another 7K, if I shell-out 2K.  It’s not a problem for me, but I’m going to run this by my lawyer first.

Welp, off to the 9-5

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Real Estate, Wholesale leaseoption, Mortgage, Property, Rent, Wholesale

So it’s late Saturday night.  And I’m contemplating hitting the streets to “advertise”, because late at night is the best time to do it.  But the bad part is that it just snowed today and I know my white advertisements do so well against a white background when stuck in a frozen ground (I’m being kinda subliminal for a reason that I can’t explain here), I need to order yellow ones.  So anyway, I think I may do something else with my time tonight.

The booty-butt cheeks deal is likely to fall through.  And I don’t even give a sh!t anymore.  I just spoke with the sellers today and they said.  We feel like we should get 9K regardless of the amount of liens on the property.  Uhm….okay lady…that’s not how it works.  Especially since, they’re not going to get sh!t for that house any way that they look at it.  But oh well, I don’t even feel like going into detail anymore about it.  I’m passed being pissed-off about it.  I’m not even going to blog about it anymore (maybe).  But I don’t think I’m going to let this go.  After all of the work, that I put into this thing…aw HELL NAW!  They haven’t seen the end of Justin…AKA “J. Stacks”…AKA “I work harder than hard-working”…AKA “Mr. Who put this Sh!t together? Me! That’s WHO!”

I’ve got other deals in the pipeline so, it’s all to the goodie.  I’m not superstitious…but I think I’m about to stop blogging about deals before they close.  Big-ass waste of time.  I’ll either wait until after they close or don’t close to give details.  I think that’s the route I’ll take from now on.

On another note, “nonchalant Justin” is slowly dieing from the self-inflicted stab wounds of being “too nice”.  And Type-A Justin is slowly emerging.  I remember being a kid and listening to my Dad on business-calls with the last words being “f*** you” before he hung-up on them.  And I also remember as a kid, running to my Mom and whining about how some kid on the playground didn’t like me.  And she said then what she says now, “Boy, everyone CAN’T be your friend”.  So with that said, things ’bout to change ’round these here parts (don’t think I’ll ever take it to the “edge” like my Dad did though).  I can only be Type-A Justin while I have to though…I do realize “Type-A”-ness and the side-effects can kill.

I’ve got BIG plans, that only I can vision and the naysayers are coming out of the woodwork, like I care what they have to say.  I know what I’m capable of, so I don’t need you to tell me what I “can’t do”.  This must be how Kanye West felt before anyone would sign him.  He didn’t fit the mold of a typical “rapper” and many wouldn’t give him the time of day.  As Kanye stated, he played the song “Jesus Walks” for a label and they didn’t sign him!  This “Jesus Walks” music video is one of the best videos of all time.  I’ve gotta remind myself sometimes that Jesus has got my back.

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Real Estate, Wholesale leaseoption, Mortgage, Property, Rent, Wholesale

I’ve got good news and that is the latest wholesale deal is coming together like butt cheeks.  I received the completed appraisal today from my appraiser via email, I then forwarded it on to the head guy at the DHFS. I waited about 3 hours and I gave him a call.  I didn’t expect it, but he was ready to wheel and deal right-then.  He saw the CMA that I had submitted to him in my short-sale package came in at about 9K and the appraisal came in at 11K, he offered to split the difference at 10K.  I countered and asked if he could knock 1K off and take 9K, he agreed to only if I ate the cost of the appraisal (which initially he offered to cover).  We had a deal.

So long story-short.  I now have the 65K DHFS lien, with other Champaign city liens, reduced to the sum of 9K!  The pros are that it looks like this deal will close after all and all of this learning will come with an added bonus in the form of a check.  The cons are that I’ll have to eat the tax lien, appraisal fee, title work fee, and seller lawyer fees.  So instead of the planned 6K, it looks like I’ll net around 5K.  That’s better than zero.

All I need now is to get the seller to an attorney so that an “Affidavit of heirship” and a “Personal Undertaking” can be composed.  These documents are needed in addition to copies of the owners on title death certificates, to close.  Since the owners of the property passed away without wills, probate can be avoided since their are only 3 members of the family left and they are all in agreeance with selling the property.

So, I’m not going to consider it a done-deal until I have my check…but this one’s pretty much in the bag.  So, I’ll part with this video for your viewing enjoyment.  I think I’ll feel like Bill Cosby in this video when I get my check, but I won’t make it rain on ‘em yet…5K ain’t enough, that’s just a drizzle.

P.S.
If you are not laughing at the video above, you have absolutely no sense of humor!  I can’t stop laughing at it, just focus on Cosby, not the booty.  Let the booty stay in your peripheral view and enjoy.

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Real Estate, Wholesale leaseoption, Mortgage, Property, Rent, Wholesale