Ok - so I may be totally behind the times and everyone else has seen this book and read it.
I have had it sitting in my to be read pile for a while, just no time. I guess I should have read it first and I might have a little more time on my hands now.
Then Don picked it up and started reading it - now I have to wait till he is finished so I can read the last half. It is an absolute must read. It was a book that I though our kids should read and a few of our procrastinating friends. So I went to Amazon to pick up a few, but could not find the book. But with a little digging I found the author's web site and he has some great prices - only $14.95 for one with discounts for buying in quantity.
I was thinking that a few of you may be looking for that perfect gift for the college student, executive, budding entrepreneur, or anyone who wants to get ahead in life. If you are in a busy office you may want to get copies for all your staff.
So read a little more below and if you think it is something you would like to have or you know someone who needs to read it, click here to find out how to purchase.
Behavior Never Lies is more than a statement; it is a truth that when understood and accepted, will reshape one’s understanding of the people who are part of their environment. The real definition of who a person is — is defined by their behavior. Words explain, while behavior defines the real message a person is speaking.
The contradiction between what a person says and what they do forms the foundation to most of the human confusion a person experiences. When spoken words and acted out behavior are not in sync, one will feel confusion, frustration and disappointment. Inside the pages of Behavior Never Lies the reader will explore the eight steps to balancing words and behavior.
Step 1: Believing In You
Step 2: Expanding Your Horizon
Step 3: Holding Yourself Accountable
Step 4: Addressing Your Inconsistencies
Step 5: Very Carefully Align Yourself With The Right People
Step 6: Increase Your Awareness
Step 7: Operating Your Life At A Manageable Pace
Step 8: Refusing To Go Backward
With these eight steps as a guide, the reader will be prepared to live a life where they are free to reach a place where confusion and contradiction no longer define who they are. They will completely understand the thought — all behavior has an agenda. They will clearly grasp the idea — all human lives collide at the point of agendas. Agendas are not defined by words, but by behavior.
When one finishes reading Behavior Never Lies, they will lean back, pause and say, “Now I understand!”
Friday, November 30, 2007
Rehab Funding
Do you need funding for your next rehab project?
We have funding for you. We have just teamed up with a national direct lender that offers rehab funding in 37 states. (sorry were not yet in Kansas.)
Please take a look at how thier program works:
We have funding for you. We have just teamed up with a national direct lender that offers rehab funding in 37 states. (sorry were not yet in Kansas.)
Please take a look at how thier program works:
- For Real Estate Investors
- No payments for 6 months
- 85% - 100% of project costs
- Lend up to 75% of After-Repair Value
- Two-week closings
- No prepayment penalty
- Fast rehab funds
- Proof of funds letters
- Direct National Lender
- Exceptional Customer Service
- Lending in 37 States (no currently in KS)
- 1-4 Unit residential properties
- Non-Owner Occupied
Whether you are a novice or an experienced rehabber, we have a loan program to fit your business goals!
Lend only to corporate entity - not in personal name.
So what are the requriements:
- Minimum of 630 credit score
- Minimum $20,000 in liquid assets
- Loan Application
- Two years Tax Returns (Personal and Business)
- Three months Bank Statements (Personal and Business)
- Entity documents (EIN# Certificate, Articles of Organization / Operating Agreement)
No cost to pre-qualify - give us a call at 816-523-4400 for more information.
Once you are pre-qualified the underwriter will want your financial information and a $395 application fee. Once fully approved and set up in the system - you will receive your proof of funds letter and you are ready to start making offers. No additional application in the next year.
Offering two week closes, direct wire rehab draws, rehab, sell for profit or refinance, do it again.
We have several programs based on 630 credit score and above. For more experienced borrowers we may be able to work with lower credit or less cash reserves. Just depends on the borrower and the deal.
Lending 85% to 100% of the total funds needed for purchase and rehab of a project up to 75% of after repaired value.
See our web site at www.TuckerOneProperties.com and click on rehab funding. While you are there fill out a pre-qualification form online. There is absolutely no costs to see if you can should be able to qualify. What do you have to loose? And you could gain a new lender.
All inquries are totally confidential.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Vacant Properties & Vandalism
At a recent vacant property task force meeting for Kansas City Missouri we were joined by Officers Clark and Blake from the Kansas City Police Department and we discussed steps that investors can take to lessen their losses from vandalism on vacant houses.
Boarding Up Houses: if you have a vacant property that is going to be vacant for a while, consider boarding up from the inside. Screw the boards into the window frames and exit through a 2nd floor window down a ladder. Then no one can break into your house and have a party.
Please note that in order not to receive a code violation notice that you can’t have broken windows showing and they would need boarded from the outside as well and if you will be having boards up for an extended period of time—paint them the same color as the exterior of your house.
Prosecution of Thieves: When the police department catches a thief or vandal red handed in one of our properties or comes across squatters, they then have to go through the timely process of locating the owner. So please make sure your ownership records are up to date and if your police department has a registration process where a corporation can give them the name and phone number of a local responsible party to call, like a property management company, be sure to get your properties registered so they can find you.
Then after spending time locating many owners, the owner does not want to prosecute the vandal, thief or squatter, so they are let go. If no one wants to press charges on these people, why should the police go to the trouble of trying to catch them. And if we want vandalism to stop we need to be a part of the solution and support our local law enforcement.
Alarm Systems: Many times we find homes have existing alarm systems, but require us to turn on the phone & pay phone as well as alarm monitoring fees. There are also several motion detector alarms that sound when the window is opened or motion is detected, but not actually monitored by anyone. This could scare off a would be thief in our rehabs.
Copper Thefts: We discussed this at length and first and foremost we need to get consistent laws passed nationwide that all metal scrap dealers that accept scrap metal must get a valid ID, a photo, and a finger print. Then if they are actually able to track down stolen metals at a scrap dealer yard, they will be able to track down the person who sold them the scrap.
Next when you do rehab, be sure to go back with non copper plumbing as much as possible and wait to install AC units until the property is occupied. Some landlords remove AC units during the winter or when not occupied, some use bars through the unit into the pad, some put wire cages around the condenser units, and others, let the tenant get a window unit.
They also suggested taking the time to make your copper recognizable from other copper that may be at the scrap yards. While the best way would be to put some sort of serial number every foot or so, it is not practical. They do suggest however to go pick a bright spray paint that you can identify and spay all the copper in your properties that you can so if you do get vandalized, at least they know to go to the scrap yards looking for copper painted bright green with orange stripes for example.
Vandalism in General: They suggested that when an investor purchases a home that is vacant or that they will be holding for a while, to take the time to meet the neighbors. Give them your business cards and ask them to keep an eye on your property for them. Here at our office we have used this method with some success and when we trash out a property, we give the neighbors first pick at the “stuff”. An old beat up working stove or fridge can go a long way towards good will. And you will find that most people are basically honest and the people breaking in are people they don’t want in their neighborhood. A few other investors also take it one step further and have one of their workers live in the property during renovation just to keep the house looking occupied.
Also if you do have a vacant property, take the time out of your day or have a contractor take time out of there day to go by at least once a week or more often if possible to check on the property. Stop by and make sure all locks are still locked, all doors are still in place. And You might also want to ask the neighbors to park in your driveway to give it a looked in feel.
Home Owner Associations: In suburban Johnson County these are associations with covenants to protect the property values of homes. But when you move into our urban core areas of both Kansas City Missouri and Kansas, these are associations of homeowners that have banded together to improve their neighborhoods. You will also find that area churches can offer many of the same benefits. With every home you purchase, please take the time to find out if there is a Home Owner Association in the area and contact them, they will be able to offer you a lot of assistance:
They live in the area and can help keep an eye on the property and help protect it.
They may know of any home renovation funds available to investors or home buyer programs for our buyers.
They may know of the best places to advertise homes for rent, lease to own, or sale.
And if you do a good job with your first house in their neighborhood, they may let you know of other vacant homes in the area that be another opportunity for you.
Area Churches: You may want to offer to donate the usable items in the home that you would otherwise toss in the dumpster to the church. The church notices will be a great place to market your houses for rent and for sale. And because they live in the area, they will be able to be another group of people keeping an eye on your vacant property.
Every investor in the Kansas City metro has a stake in our vacant property problem. Every vacant property invites problems into the area and lowers property values. So please take some of the following steps:
Boarding Up Houses: if you have a vacant property that is going to be vacant for a while, consider boarding up from the inside. Screw the boards into the window frames and exit through a 2nd floor window down a ladder. Then no one can break into your house and have a party.
Please note that in order not to receive a code violation notice that you can’t have broken windows showing and they would need boarded from the outside as well and if you will be having boards up for an extended period of time—paint them the same color as the exterior of your house.
Prosecution of Thieves: When the police department catches a thief or vandal red handed in one of our properties or comes across squatters, they then have to go through the timely process of locating the owner. So please make sure your ownership records are up to date and if your police department has a registration process where a corporation can give them the name and phone number of a local responsible party to call, like a property management company, be sure to get your properties registered so they can find you.
Then after spending time locating many owners, the owner does not want to prosecute the vandal, thief or squatter, so they are let go. If no one wants to press charges on these people, why should the police go to the trouble of trying to catch them. And if we want vandalism to stop we need to be a part of the solution and support our local law enforcement.
Alarm Systems: Many times we find homes have existing alarm systems, but require us to turn on the phone & pay phone as well as alarm monitoring fees. There are also several motion detector alarms that sound when the window is opened or motion is detected, but not actually monitored by anyone. This could scare off a would be thief in our rehabs.
Copper Thefts: We discussed this at length and first and foremost we need to get consistent laws passed nationwide that all metal scrap dealers that accept scrap metal must get a valid ID, a photo, and a finger print. Then if they are actually able to track down stolen metals at a scrap dealer yard, they will be able to track down the person who sold them the scrap.
Next when you do rehab, be sure to go back with non copper plumbing as much as possible and wait to install AC units until the property is occupied. Some landlords remove AC units during the winter or when not occupied, some use bars through the unit into the pad, some put wire cages around the condenser units, and others, let the tenant get a window unit.
They also suggested taking the time to make your copper recognizable from other copper that may be at the scrap yards. While the best way would be to put some sort of serial number every foot or so, it is not practical. They do suggest however to go pick a bright spray paint that you can identify and spay all the copper in your properties that you can so if you do get vandalized, at least they know to go to the scrap yards looking for copper painted bright green with orange stripes for example.
Vandalism in General: They suggested that when an investor purchases a home that is vacant or that they will be holding for a while, to take the time to meet the neighbors. Give them your business cards and ask them to keep an eye on your property for them. Here at our office we have used this method with some success and when we trash out a property, we give the neighbors first pick at the “stuff”. An old beat up working stove or fridge can go a long way towards good will. And you will find that most people are basically honest and the people breaking in are people they don’t want in their neighborhood. A few other investors also take it one step further and have one of their workers live in the property during renovation just to keep the house looking occupied.
Also if you do have a vacant property, take the time out of your day or have a contractor take time out of there day to go by at least once a week or more often if possible to check on the property. Stop by and make sure all locks are still locked, all doors are still in place. And You might also want to ask the neighbors to park in your driveway to give it a looked in feel.
Home Owner Associations: In suburban Johnson County these are associations with covenants to protect the property values of homes. But when you move into our urban core areas of both Kansas City Missouri and Kansas, these are associations of homeowners that have banded together to improve their neighborhoods. You will also find that area churches can offer many of the same benefits. With every home you purchase, please take the time to find out if there is a Home Owner Association in the area and contact them, they will be able to offer you a lot of assistance:
They live in the area and can help keep an eye on the property and help protect it.
They may know of any home renovation funds available to investors or home buyer programs for our buyers.
They may know of the best places to advertise homes for rent, lease to own, or sale.
And if you do a good job with your first house in their neighborhood, they may let you know of other vacant homes in the area that be another opportunity for you.
Area Churches: You may want to offer to donate the usable items in the home that you would otherwise toss in the dumpster to the church. The church notices will be a great place to market your houses for rent and for sale. And because they live in the area, they will be able to be another group of people keeping an eye on your vacant property.
Every investor in the Kansas City metro has a stake in our vacant property problem. Every vacant property invites problems into the area and lowers property values. So please take some of the following steps:
- Check on every one of your properties, vacant or not at least once if not twice a month or more.
- Clean up trash and keep it mowed or make sure tenants are keeping it cleaned up if occupied.
- Board up neatly all open structures and if they must be boarded up for extended periods, paint the boards.
- Get to know the neighbors, and neighborhood groups.
- Let the police know how to reach you in case of problems.
- Find ways to be a solution and not a problem property owner.
Pre-Screening Sellers
By Kim Tucker
“The best negotiating technique I can share with you is to always care the least about getting a deal. Sounds simple, and it is. I really haven’t read any books that impressed me much, and the fact of the matter really is, the less I want a house, the less I can get if for every time. I really do make offers that make me blush.” Direct quote from William Tingle’s Ultimate Sub-2 Guide Book.
When negotiating with a seller you want to find out why they are selling. Robert Shemin in every one of his presentation’s tells us he asks a seller no less than three times “Why are you selling?” His goal is to find out their motivation to see if there is potential for a good deal. If the seller is not motivated, there is no point in looking at the house, talking numbers, or making an offer.
Your first step in negotiating starts with the first phone call with the seller. You want to find out their story.
What is their motivation - why does the seller NEED to sell? If they tell you they have a new job, they are getting a divorce, home is in foreclosure, or they just inherited aunt Millie’s house, you may have a high degree of motivation. Where something like we would like to find a bigger house might have a lower motivation.
What is their urgency - how soon do they NEED to sell? Phrased a different way, but you are still asking why. If they tell you they need to start work in another state on Monday, they are motivated. If they tell you that their next house payment is due in 2 weeks and they have no money to pay it, they are motivated. If they tell you the house goes to foreclosure next Friday and they already moved out, then they are extremely motivated. But if they still need to find another house first, or if I can’t sell it within 30 days I am going to rent it out, their urgency is not quite where it needs to be for you to move.
What is their flexibility - will they consider any terms and how much cash do they need? William Tingle talks a lot about this in his negotiation strategies. Whether you would really buy on terms is really irrelevant at this point. But if the seller would be willing to take a promissory note for all or part of their equity they are very motivated. If they are willing to let you have it for what they owe and walk away, they are very motivated.
So let’s recap. In the initial conversation, find out why they are selling, how soon they need to sell, and their flexibility. Build rapport with them and work these questions into the conversation. Many times you might start with “tell me your situation” and let them talk and you shut up and take notes. A truly motivated seller will more than likely get through all three of these reasons along with their full sob story. The motivated seller will work to convince you to buy their house and with a few choice questions to prompt them will give you everything you need to move on to the next step which is talking about or looking at the house.
An unmotivated seller will not want to give you their name, will tell you they are calling a lot of investors, will not give you the address of the house, insist that you come look at the house first before you talk, want to understand what it is that you do before they tell you anything, get offended when you ask questions. You don’t have time to waste with people who don’t want to work with you. So politely thank them for calling and recommend to them to contact a realtor to help them sell their home.
A lot of new investors are terrified of talking with sellers. What should I say? I don’t like cold calling? Well first – put out marketing pieces to get the seller to call you. Just be sure that you actually answer the phone and if they must go to a voice mail be sure to call them back with in an hour or less, because the motivated seller is going to call the next investor on the next sign, the next newspaper ad, or one of the other many letters they received in the mail. Don’t loose out on the deal because you are afraid to answer the phone or call them back.
So I would suggest sitting down and writing out some questions. First find out who they are and how they found you – you want to know what marketing works. Then ask your why questions above to find out their motivation. If they are motivated then you can start asking questions to see if you might be able to put together a deal. Tell me about the house? What is the address? Is it vacant? Have you been trying to sell it long? Why didn’t it sell? Does it need any repairs? What do you owe on the property? Is your loan current? If not, how far are you behind? What are your monthly payments? What is the least amount you would take for the house?
William cautions to not discuss numbers or specifics on price until you know they are truly motivated. And the main reason for this is that while you are discovering their motivation, you are also building up the sellers motivation in their own mind. You are making them feel motivated. They may drop their price in the initial phone call several times from the beginning of the call to the end as their motivation builds up and yout don’t have to ask them to lower their price. And while you don’t really want to give them a number over the phone, you do want them to give you a number so you can determine if you want to take the time to view their house. If you are thinking $30,000 on the phone and they are thinking $60,000, then it probably is not worth your time viewing the property.
Many times in the initial “Tell me your situation” question your sellers will answer many of these questions for you before you ask. But take the time to write out what it is you need to know to make a decision so you have all your questions ready and then find a study buddy and practice screening each other. Then the next time you get a seller call you will be more comfortable. And if you screw up a call – so what! They don’t know you, and you had a great learning experience, and who knows . . . you might get a deal.
Ok, we know we have a very motivated seller on the phone. They are moving over the week end, they are have huge amount of equity in the house that they are willing to give you for a small note of $5,000 that you can pay to them over the next two years, they think the house needs paint and carpet, and can you come see their house this afternoon. If they are this motivated, you need to find a way to get in to see it as soon as you can. A very motivated seller will keep making calls until they get someone in their house who writes them a contract and solves their problems. And as a side note here – be sure to have your paperwork in the car so you can write a contract – if you do all this work negotiating them down on price and you don’t get the contract, the next investor might come in and sign up your deal while you are running home to get your paperwork.
So at the house, you meet them. Start right away and try to build a rapport with them. Find something you might have in common or something you know about that you can discuss with them. Do they go fishing, do they have a collection of something. Find something in the conversation or the house that you can relate to and bring them to their level. Make them feel like you are their friend.
Before you start taking numbers with them, ask to take a walk through the property. And yes please say “property”. You want to start detaching them from the property and as long as it is their house and home, they will still have attachment to it. As you walk through the property, let the homeowner tell you everything they would like, you might prompt them to show you things they think need repaired. Paul Well’s also recommends using the word “hmm” and “oh” a few times, especially when you might be looking at something more technical, like the inside of the furnace or taking the front cover off of the electric panel. Just be sure to have some good comeback if they ask you what’s the problem. This builds up the cost of repairs in the seller’s mind even if you really don’t have a clue and helps you lower the price.
After touring the home, if you have done your homework before hand, you have everything you need to start talking price: you know what the after repair value of the home is because you know the area home values, you know about what the home needs in repairs from walking through it, so you can figure out what a good number would be for you to make a deal. And you know what the seller wants to make a deal because you have been screening him all this time.
Now it is more of a matter of recapping what you know.
“Mr. Seller I understand that you need to move next week and want $40,000 for the house and you need $5,000 to pay for moving and the down payment on your new house. . . pause “Can we do any better than that?” At this point shut up and mentally count to 10 slowly to give them a chance to respond. The may say something just to fill the air and it might be a lower price or a negotiating point that you can work with.
“Mr. Seller, while you have a great house, we did note a lot of repairs that need to be made as we walked through it. If I can buy your house next week and pay you the $5,000 you need, do you think you might be able to take the other $35,000 in monthly payments?” This would take you from needing all $40,000 next week to just $5,000 and allow you to negotiate further on the rest of the payment in the form of the note: how long, what interest, etc and just saved you from needing to use your credit to get a loan with the bank.
At this point you have a great deal, and according to Lou Brown, when he gets a seller willing to take back a note, he just writes up the documents for as many years as he can in amortization and writes in zero percent interest, and only if the seller brings up interest do they even discuss it and he negotiates even more at this point. Lou further points out that once you have the transaction completed and you are making zero percent interest payments, to include a short note with every payment telling them should they ever need all their cash now, you will be able to pay them off for a 10% discount. In essence, you give them $5,000 up front and pay the remaining $35,000 in monthly installments, and then as you make payments, you ask the seller to discount your $35,000 note by 10% or $3,500 to pay it off early.
It might also be that the seller has some equity, but not much and is willing to sign their deed over to you right now before they get in the moving van and drive away. While they do have some equity, they don’t have enough to pay a realtor to sell the home, the house is going to foreclosure auction in a few days, and it needs repairs. They don’t have anything to loose at this point in signing the deed over to you and walking away with little to no money in their pocket, and if you can give them something for their troubles – say paying for the moving van and you will never hear from them again. It’s all in the motivation.
About the author. Kim Tucker has been investing in real estate with her husband Don in the Kansas City market for the past 8 years. They currently offer wholesale, rental, and rehabbed properties for sale in the area. Visit their web site at www.TuckerOneProperties.com to learn more.
“The best negotiating technique I can share with you is to always care the least about getting a deal. Sounds simple, and it is. I really haven’t read any books that impressed me much, and the fact of the matter really is, the less I want a house, the less I can get if for every time. I really do make offers that make me blush.” Direct quote from William Tingle’s Ultimate Sub-2 Guide Book.
When negotiating with a seller you want to find out why they are selling. Robert Shemin in every one of his presentation’s tells us he asks a seller no less than three times “Why are you selling?” His goal is to find out their motivation to see if there is potential for a good deal. If the seller is not motivated, there is no point in looking at the house, talking numbers, or making an offer.
Your first step in negotiating starts with the first phone call with the seller. You want to find out their story.
What is their motivation - why does the seller NEED to sell? If they tell you they have a new job, they are getting a divorce, home is in foreclosure, or they just inherited aunt Millie’s house, you may have a high degree of motivation. Where something like we would like to find a bigger house might have a lower motivation.
What is their urgency - how soon do they NEED to sell? Phrased a different way, but you are still asking why. If they tell you they need to start work in another state on Monday, they are motivated. If they tell you that their next house payment is due in 2 weeks and they have no money to pay it, they are motivated. If they tell you the house goes to foreclosure next Friday and they already moved out, then they are extremely motivated. But if they still need to find another house first, or if I can’t sell it within 30 days I am going to rent it out, their urgency is not quite where it needs to be for you to move.
What is their flexibility - will they consider any terms and how much cash do they need? William Tingle talks a lot about this in his negotiation strategies. Whether you would really buy on terms is really irrelevant at this point. But if the seller would be willing to take a promissory note for all or part of their equity they are very motivated. If they are willing to let you have it for what they owe and walk away, they are very motivated.
So let’s recap. In the initial conversation, find out why they are selling, how soon they need to sell, and their flexibility. Build rapport with them and work these questions into the conversation. Many times you might start with “tell me your situation” and let them talk and you shut up and take notes. A truly motivated seller will more than likely get through all three of these reasons along with their full sob story. The motivated seller will work to convince you to buy their house and with a few choice questions to prompt them will give you everything you need to move on to the next step which is talking about or looking at the house.
An unmotivated seller will not want to give you their name, will tell you they are calling a lot of investors, will not give you the address of the house, insist that you come look at the house first before you talk, want to understand what it is that you do before they tell you anything, get offended when you ask questions. You don’t have time to waste with people who don’t want to work with you. So politely thank them for calling and recommend to them to contact a realtor to help them sell their home.
A lot of new investors are terrified of talking with sellers. What should I say? I don’t like cold calling? Well first – put out marketing pieces to get the seller to call you. Just be sure that you actually answer the phone and if they must go to a voice mail be sure to call them back with in an hour or less, because the motivated seller is going to call the next investor on the next sign, the next newspaper ad, or one of the other many letters they received in the mail. Don’t loose out on the deal because you are afraid to answer the phone or call them back.
So I would suggest sitting down and writing out some questions. First find out who they are and how they found you – you want to know what marketing works. Then ask your why questions above to find out their motivation. If they are motivated then you can start asking questions to see if you might be able to put together a deal. Tell me about the house? What is the address? Is it vacant? Have you been trying to sell it long? Why didn’t it sell? Does it need any repairs? What do you owe on the property? Is your loan current? If not, how far are you behind? What are your monthly payments? What is the least amount you would take for the house?
William cautions to not discuss numbers or specifics on price until you know they are truly motivated. And the main reason for this is that while you are discovering their motivation, you are also building up the sellers motivation in their own mind. You are making them feel motivated. They may drop their price in the initial phone call several times from the beginning of the call to the end as their motivation builds up and yout don’t have to ask them to lower their price. And while you don’t really want to give them a number over the phone, you do want them to give you a number so you can determine if you want to take the time to view their house. If you are thinking $30,000 on the phone and they are thinking $60,000, then it probably is not worth your time viewing the property.
Many times in the initial “Tell me your situation” question your sellers will answer many of these questions for you before you ask. But take the time to write out what it is you need to know to make a decision so you have all your questions ready and then find a study buddy and practice screening each other. Then the next time you get a seller call you will be more comfortable. And if you screw up a call – so what! They don’t know you, and you had a great learning experience, and who knows . . . you might get a deal.
Ok, we know we have a very motivated seller on the phone. They are moving over the week end, they are have huge amount of equity in the house that they are willing to give you for a small note of $5,000 that you can pay to them over the next two years, they think the house needs paint and carpet, and can you come see their house this afternoon. If they are this motivated, you need to find a way to get in to see it as soon as you can. A very motivated seller will keep making calls until they get someone in their house who writes them a contract and solves their problems. And as a side note here – be sure to have your paperwork in the car so you can write a contract – if you do all this work negotiating them down on price and you don’t get the contract, the next investor might come in and sign up your deal while you are running home to get your paperwork.
So at the house, you meet them. Start right away and try to build a rapport with them. Find something you might have in common or something you know about that you can discuss with them. Do they go fishing, do they have a collection of something. Find something in the conversation or the house that you can relate to and bring them to their level. Make them feel like you are their friend.
Before you start taking numbers with them, ask to take a walk through the property. And yes please say “property”. You want to start detaching them from the property and as long as it is their house and home, they will still have attachment to it. As you walk through the property, let the homeowner tell you everything they would like, you might prompt them to show you things they think need repaired. Paul Well’s also recommends using the word “hmm” and “oh” a few times, especially when you might be looking at something more technical, like the inside of the furnace or taking the front cover off of the electric panel. Just be sure to have some good comeback if they ask you what’s the problem. This builds up the cost of repairs in the seller’s mind even if you really don’t have a clue and helps you lower the price.
After touring the home, if you have done your homework before hand, you have everything you need to start talking price: you know what the after repair value of the home is because you know the area home values, you know about what the home needs in repairs from walking through it, so you can figure out what a good number would be for you to make a deal. And you know what the seller wants to make a deal because you have been screening him all this time.
Now it is more of a matter of recapping what you know.
“Mr. Seller I understand that you need to move next week and want $40,000 for the house and you need $5,000 to pay for moving and the down payment on your new house. . . pause “Can we do any better than that?” At this point shut up and mentally count to 10 slowly to give them a chance to respond. The may say something just to fill the air and it might be a lower price or a negotiating point that you can work with.
“Mr. Seller, while you have a great house, we did note a lot of repairs that need to be made as we walked through it. If I can buy your house next week and pay you the $5,000 you need, do you think you might be able to take the other $35,000 in monthly payments?” This would take you from needing all $40,000 next week to just $5,000 and allow you to negotiate further on the rest of the payment in the form of the note: how long, what interest, etc and just saved you from needing to use your credit to get a loan with the bank.
At this point you have a great deal, and according to Lou Brown, when he gets a seller willing to take back a note, he just writes up the documents for as many years as he can in amortization and writes in zero percent interest, and only if the seller brings up interest do they even discuss it and he negotiates even more at this point. Lou further points out that once you have the transaction completed and you are making zero percent interest payments, to include a short note with every payment telling them should they ever need all their cash now, you will be able to pay them off for a 10% discount. In essence, you give them $5,000 up front and pay the remaining $35,000 in monthly installments, and then as you make payments, you ask the seller to discount your $35,000 note by 10% or $3,500 to pay it off early.
It might also be that the seller has some equity, but not much and is willing to sign their deed over to you right now before they get in the moving van and drive away. While they do have some equity, they don’t have enough to pay a realtor to sell the home, the house is going to foreclosure auction in a few days, and it needs repairs. They don’t have anything to loose at this point in signing the deed over to you and walking away with little to no money in their pocket, and if you can give them something for their troubles – say paying for the moving van and you will never hear from them again. It’s all in the motivation.
About the author. Kim Tucker has been investing in real estate with her husband Don in the Kansas City market for the past 8 years. They currently offer wholesale, rental, and rehabbed properties for sale in the area. Visit their web site at www.TuckerOneProperties.com to learn more.
Buying Bank Owned Properties
So you’d like to buy a bank owned property?
As a person who has worked on the listing agent side, the buying agents side, and the investors side of Bank Owned Properties, I have had a lot of questions asked about REOs and Foreclosures.
People who had just watched the late-night infomercials and are ready to do the bank “a favor” and take a problem off their hands. Plus, they expect to make "a killing" in the process. Sounds great and it can happen, but first take a look at some facts and get prepared.
REO vs. Foreclosure
An REO (Real Estate Owned) is a property that goes back to the bank after an unsuccessful foreclosure sale or auction. Many foreclosure sales do not generate any bids because there was not enough equity to pay off the loan and leave a profit for a buyer (if there had been the foreclosed owner would have sold it). That is why the property ends up at a foreclosure or trustee sale.
The sales usually begin with a minimum bid that includes the loan balance, any accrued interest, plus attorney's fees and any costs association with the foreclosure process. In order to bid at a foreclosure auction, you must have a cashier's check in your hand for the full amount of your bid. If you are the successful bidder, you receive the property in "as is" condition, which may include someone still living in the property. There may also be other liens against the property.
Since what is owed to the bank is almost always more than what the property is worth, very few foreclosure auctions result in a successful sale. Then the highest bidder is usually the bank, and the bank buys the property at the sale and it becomes an REO, or "real estate owned" property.
REO Properties For Sale
The bank now owns the property and the mortgage loan no longer exists. The bank will handle the eviction, if necessary, and may do some repairs. As a purchaser of an REO property, the buyer will receive a title insurance policy and the opportunity to investigate the property. Sometimes you do need to ask for the title insurance policy as it is not always automatically provided such as in the case of a HUD owned REO.
A bank owned property may or may not be a great bargain. Do your homework before making an offer. Make sure that the price you pay (if you’re successful) is comparable to other homes in the neighborhood. Consider the costs of renovation, including time to complete them. Don’t get caught up in a ‘bidding war’ and pay over market value. It’s an old myth that “foreclosures” are a bargain.
How Banks Sell REO's
Each bank/lender works a little differently, but they all have similar goals. They want to get the best price possible for the property in the current condition. They may decide to sell as is and they may decide to do repairs. Generally, banks have an entire department set up to manage their REO inventory and these departments list the properties with area realtors. Some of the smaller banks will turn their inventory over to a 3rd party servicer to market and sell.
Once you make an offer to purchase to the listing agent, the banks generally present a "counter-offer." It may be at a higher price than you expect, but they have to demonstrate to investors, shareholders and auditors that they attempted to get the highest price possible. You should expect this counter offer and determine your initial offer accordingly. You may also receive a counter offer in an auction form where they have multiple offers and the banks request from all bidders a highest and best offer by a certain time. They make then select one of the highest and best offers or they may come back again with another blanket counter offer.
Your offer or counter-offer will probably have to be reviewed and approved by several individuals (like at the car dealership) or even several different companies. So be prepared for some time for negotiations. Even once an offer is accepted, the bank may insert wording like “..subject to corporate approval with 5 days."
Property Condition
Banks always want to sell a property in "as is" condition. They are going to state that they will not make any repairs. They will allow you to get all the inspections you want (at your expense), but they may not agree to do any repairs.
Your offer should include an inspection contingency period that allows you to terminate the sale if the inspections reveal unanticipated damages that the bank will not correct. Be sure to do all inspections and make the required notices because in most cases after the inspection period the earnest money deposit becomes non-refundable.
Even though you agreed to “as is," if you find any needed repairs, always give the bank another opportunity to make repairs or give you a credit after you’ve completed your inspections. Many times they will decide that they will re-negotiate to save the transaction instead of putting the property back on the market and disclosing your inspection to the next buyer.
Banks also don’t want to get sued, so expect large amounts of addendums in addition to the local disclosure forms that the area realtors use. The local forms more often than not will be crossed out, and signed only because the agent requires it and all parts of the local realtors contract can be over ridden by what is written in the banks “seller’s addendums”.
Most banks will not provide financing on their REOs but it doesn’t hurt to ask. Especially if the property has extensive damage and you are purchasing it "as is." And some such as Country Wide may require you to be pre-approved with their company before they will even look at your offer.
Making an Offer
Before making an offer, be sure to contact the listing agent and ask the following:
· Are there inspection reports?
· What work has the bank agreed to?
· Is there a special "as is" form?
· How long does it take the bank to accept an offer?
· How does your agent deliver the offer?
Offers are usually FAXED to the bank. The listing agent often will need the originals. There is no formal presentation. In most cases the listing agent will summarize your offer through email or an online submission form. Keep in mind: nothing happens evenings and weekends (banks are closed).
Since there is no face-to-face presentation to the bank, provide the listing agent with a pre-qualification or better yet, a pre-approval letter and buyer biography. Make your offer easy to accept.
Hopefully these tips will manage your expectations. Remember that REO's sell at pretty close to full market value and are not the deals presented on late night television.
The are not usually a property that you would want to buy and turn right around and resell. Most bank addendums state that these contracts can not be assigned and many sellers are including deed restrictions on the new deeds provided with the buyers. For example on a Fannie Mae owned home they usually include a deed restriction to keep the buyer from selling or financing for 120% of the investor’s purchase price on the home.
But if you are looking for something to buy and fix up, then the better and cheaper you can do your rehab, the easier (lower costs) your financing, and the more exit strategies you employ, then an REO property can be a great deal. For the first few years of our Real Estate Investing here at Tucker One, 9 out of 10 properties we purchased were REO.
And as we saw in the front page article in this newsletter, the banks are inventorying a lot more properties these days in the past and they are not in the house business, they are experts at lending money and we are experts in houses.
So get those lists of REO properties from the listing agents and from web sites, go look at properties and make offers. Who knows you might catch the asset manager on a day that he or she just needs one more sale for the month to make bonus and they might take yours.
~~ Kim Tucker: Kim and her husband Don have bought and sold or rented over 100 houses in the 6 years. Their first 3 years were spent purchasing primarily bank owned properties to rehab and retail, and currently are managing an inventory of single family rental homes while wholesaling one or two houses a month. See their current inventory for sale at www.TuckerOneProperties.com and request to be put on their email list of houses by emailing kcmoHomes@Yahoo.com.
As a person who has worked on the listing agent side, the buying agents side, and the investors side of Bank Owned Properties, I have had a lot of questions asked about REOs and Foreclosures.
People who had just watched the late-night infomercials and are ready to do the bank “a favor” and take a problem off their hands. Plus, they expect to make "a killing" in the process. Sounds great and it can happen, but first take a look at some facts and get prepared.
REO vs. Foreclosure
An REO (Real Estate Owned) is a property that goes back to the bank after an unsuccessful foreclosure sale or auction. Many foreclosure sales do not generate any bids because there was not enough equity to pay off the loan and leave a profit for a buyer (if there had been the foreclosed owner would have sold it). That is why the property ends up at a foreclosure or trustee sale.
The sales usually begin with a minimum bid that includes the loan balance, any accrued interest, plus attorney's fees and any costs association with the foreclosure process. In order to bid at a foreclosure auction, you must have a cashier's check in your hand for the full amount of your bid. If you are the successful bidder, you receive the property in "as is" condition, which may include someone still living in the property. There may also be other liens against the property.
Since what is owed to the bank is almost always more than what the property is worth, very few foreclosure auctions result in a successful sale. Then the highest bidder is usually the bank, and the bank buys the property at the sale and it becomes an REO, or "real estate owned" property.
REO Properties For Sale
The bank now owns the property and the mortgage loan no longer exists. The bank will handle the eviction, if necessary, and may do some repairs. As a purchaser of an REO property, the buyer will receive a title insurance policy and the opportunity to investigate the property. Sometimes you do need to ask for the title insurance policy as it is not always automatically provided such as in the case of a HUD owned REO.
A bank owned property may or may not be a great bargain. Do your homework before making an offer. Make sure that the price you pay (if you’re successful) is comparable to other homes in the neighborhood. Consider the costs of renovation, including time to complete them. Don’t get caught up in a ‘bidding war’ and pay over market value. It’s an old myth that “foreclosures” are a bargain.
How Banks Sell REO's
Each bank/lender works a little differently, but they all have similar goals. They want to get the best price possible for the property in the current condition. They may decide to sell as is and they may decide to do repairs. Generally, banks have an entire department set up to manage their REO inventory and these departments list the properties with area realtors. Some of the smaller banks will turn their inventory over to a 3rd party servicer to market and sell.
Once you make an offer to purchase to the listing agent, the banks generally present a "counter-offer." It may be at a higher price than you expect, but they have to demonstrate to investors, shareholders and auditors that they attempted to get the highest price possible. You should expect this counter offer and determine your initial offer accordingly. You may also receive a counter offer in an auction form where they have multiple offers and the banks request from all bidders a highest and best offer by a certain time. They make then select one of the highest and best offers or they may come back again with another blanket counter offer.
Your offer or counter-offer will probably have to be reviewed and approved by several individuals (like at the car dealership) or even several different companies. So be prepared for some time for negotiations. Even once an offer is accepted, the bank may insert wording like “..subject to corporate approval with 5 days."
Property Condition
Banks always want to sell a property in "as is" condition. They are going to state that they will not make any repairs. They will allow you to get all the inspections you want (at your expense), but they may not agree to do any repairs.
Your offer should include an inspection contingency period that allows you to terminate the sale if the inspections reveal unanticipated damages that the bank will not correct. Be sure to do all inspections and make the required notices because in most cases after the inspection period the earnest money deposit becomes non-refundable.
Even though you agreed to “as is," if you find any needed repairs, always give the bank another opportunity to make repairs or give you a credit after you’ve completed your inspections. Many times they will decide that they will re-negotiate to save the transaction instead of putting the property back on the market and disclosing your inspection to the next buyer.
Banks also don’t want to get sued, so expect large amounts of addendums in addition to the local disclosure forms that the area realtors use. The local forms more often than not will be crossed out, and signed only because the agent requires it and all parts of the local realtors contract can be over ridden by what is written in the banks “seller’s addendums”.
Most banks will not provide financing on their REOs but it doesn’t hurt to ask. Especially if the property has extensive damage and you are purchasing it "as is." And some such as Country Wide may require you to be pre-approved with their company before they will even look at your offer.
Making an Offer
Before making an offer, be sure to contact the listing agent and ask the following:
· Are there inspection reports?
· What work has the bank agreed to?
· Is there a special "as is" form?
· How long does it take the bank to accept an offer?
· How does your agent deliver the offer?
Offers are usually FAXED to the bank. The listing agent often will need the originals. There is no formal presentation. In most cases the listing agent will summarize your offer through email or an online submission form. Keep in mind: nothing happens evenings and weekends (banks are closed).
Since there is no face-to-face presentation to the bank, provide the listing agent with a pre-qualification or better yet, a pre-approval letter and buyer biography. Make your offer easy to accept.
Hopefully these tips will manage your expectations. Remember that REO's sell at pretty close to full market value and are not the deals presented on late night television.
The are not usually a property that you would want to buy and turn right around and resell. Most bank addendums state that these contracts can not be assigned and many sellers are including deed restrictions on the new deeds provided with the buyers. For example on a Fannie Mae owned home they usually include a deed restriction to keep the buyer from selling or financing for 120% of the investor’s purchase price on the home.
But if you are looking for something to buy and fix up, then the better and cheaper you can do your rehab, the easier (lower costs) your financing, and the more exit strategies you employ, then an REO property can be a great deal. For the first few years of our Real Estate Investing here at Tucker One, 9 out of 10 properties we purchased were REO.
And as we saw in the front page article in this newsletter, the banks are inventorying a lot more properties these days in the past and they are not in the house business, they are experts at lending money and we are experts in houses.
So get those lists of REO properties from the listing agents and from web sites, go look at properties and make offers. Who knows you might catch the asset manager on a day that he or she just needs one more sale for the month to make bonus and they might take yours.
~~ Kim Tucker: Kim and her husband Don have bought and sold or rented over 100 houses in the 6 years. Their first 3 years were spent purchasing primarily bank owned properties to rehab and retail, and currently are managing an inventory of single family rental homes while wholesaling one or two houses a month. See their current inventory for sale at www.TuckerOneProperties.com and request to be put on their email list of houses by emailing kcmoHomes@Yahoo.com.
Today's Investment Real Estate Market
Underscoring the financial stress facing sub-prime mortgage borrowers behind on payments, foreclosure filings across the United States in the first quarter 2007 rose 27 percent from the prior quarter and 35 percent from a year earlier. (Realty Trac).
The delinquent sub-prime borrowers started the increases in foreclosure filings. However, it is not just low-end homes that are going into foreclosure. A rising percentage of borrowers with homes estimated in value of $750,000 or more are also going into foreclosure.
With the increased number of foreclosures, we will see an increased number of bank or real estate owned or REO properties. A search in the local Heartland MLS here in Kansas City in just Johnson County Kansas alone shows a steady rate of about 50 “as is” houses sold in each year of 2004, 2005, and 2006 for the first quarter of the year. During the same quarter of 2007 the search shows a total of 100 sold.
So what does this mean for the real estate investor? For those that bought homes with very high loan to values or LTV’s, with high interest rates, and in tougher areas to sell it may mean that they are holding on to properties that they planned on flipping. It may also mean they are in the statistics from the paragraphs above.
For those that bought right, with a low purchase and repair to after repaired value ratio, with a very low loan to value ratio and with low fixed interest rates, it may mean falling back on a second or third choice exit strategy of selling lease to own rather than to a cash buyer or holding as a rental until the market turns.
But for all those homes out there that are currently for sale, in foreclosure or are classified as REO in a bank’s inventory it means that there are deals to be made – lots of deals.
First in dealing directly with the home owners. Many are finding that if they have to sell right now, that they may need to sell for less than what the market values were a few years ago. For those investors in the pretty house business, buying these homes Subject to the existing finance or with a Lease to Own Contract or even with a new loan, the “pretty house” investor can build up inventory. Then set theses homes up on Lease to Own Contracts that will be paying out in 2 years, and selling with contract prices that are higher than current values.
Investors may also find homeowners who are in distress with houses that need repair and they can’t sell or owners that are in foreclosure a lot more often than they have in the past. Combine that with banks who are looking at foreclosing on more homes (35% across the country and 100% more in one of our local areas), who will be that much more willing to work with the investors who are buying through Short Sales, and the investors will be finding a lot more deals.
And for those of us who don’t have time to search out the motivated sellers directly and want to have easy access to homes that have no one living in them, that have been cleaned out in most cases, and have clean titles so we don’t have to worry about finding lien holders or waiting 3 to 6 months to work a short sale deal, then talking with your local Wholesale Seller and REO listing agents will net you a lot of great deals.
First, let’s look at the wholesalers. These are the investors who spend the time and money marketing to find sellers, who sniff out the great deals directly from the homeowner in distress, buy the property, and then sell wholesale prices to other investors in the area. The wholesaler makes a little profit, and leaves the bigger profit on the table for the end investor who may be buying to fix up and sell or to rent out. So be sure to find all the people who sell homes wholesale in your area and ask them to add you to their email list of homes.
Then the real estate agents who list REO’s would be our last source of homes discussed here. These agents specialize in managing and listing homes that have been foreclosed and are now Real Estate Owned. These agents will be one of your best sources for homes if you want a list of homes that are just waiting for you to take a look at them and make an offer.
The key to working with the wholesalers and REO agents is to have the necessary funding to acquire these properties, renovate them as needed, and have the ability to hold them long term if needed. As there are so many more houses on the market today than there were just a year ago, the investor may not be able to sell quite as easily as a few years ago, but they are still selling. And those with multiple exit strategies will be able to make a lot of money, because the sub-prime borrowers are going to still want to own a home and selling to them lease to own will be a win / win for both the investor and the buyer.
So find your funding, take a look at home equity lines of credit, unsecured lines of credit from banks and credit card companies, private lenders, partners, renovation lenders, and other loan sources. Get on as many list of available houses from wholesale sellers and REO agents.
Go look at one house a day, work your numbers, and make an offer.
Remember every house has a number, so look at the after repaired value, the cost of repairs, the cost of your money for the length of time it will take you to renovate, lease up, and refinance, and the profit you want to make, and find the number that works for each house and make an offer. Also keep in mind that you can’t buy any houses and earn any profit or cash flow unless you make and offer.
It’s a Buyer’s Market – so let’s go out and be buyers!
The delinquent sub-prime borrowers started the increases in foreclosure filings. However, it is not just low-end homes that are going into foreclosure. A rising percentage of borrowers with homes estimated in value of $750,000 or more are also going into foreclosure.
With the increased number of foreclosures, we will see an increased number of bank or real estate owned or REO properties. A search in the local Heartland MLS here in Kansas City in just Johnson County Kansas alone shows a steady rate of about 50 “as is” houses sold in each year of 2004, 2005, and 2006 for the first quarter of the year. During the same quarter of 2007 the search shows a total of 100 sold.
So what does this mean for the real estate investor? For those that bought homes with very high loan to values or LTV’s, with high interest rates, and in tougher areas to sell it may mean that they are holding on to properties that they planned on flipping. It may also mean they are in the statistics from the paragraphs above.
For those that bought right, with a low purchase and repair to after repaired value ratio, with a very low loan to value ratio and with low fixed interest rates, it may mean falling back on a second or third choice exit strategy of selling lease to own rather than to a cash buyer or holding as a rental until the market turns.
But for all those homes out there that are currently for sale, in foreclosure or are classified as REO in a bank’s inventory it means that there are deals to be made – lots of deals.
First in dealing directly with the home owners. Many are finding that if they have to sell right now, that they may need to sell for less than what the market values were a few years ago. For those investors in the pretty house business, buying these homes Subject to the existing finance or with a Lease to Own Contract or even with a new loan, the “pretty house” investor can build up inventory. Then set theses homes up on Lease to Own Contracts that will be paying out in 2 years, and selling with contract prices that are higher than current values.
Investors may also find homeowners who are in distress with houses that need repair and they can’t sell or owners that are in foreclosure a lot more often than they have in the past. Combine that with banks who are looking at foreclosing on more homes (35% across the country and 100% more in one of our local areas), who will be that much more willing to work with the investors who are buying through Short Sales, and the investors will be finding a lot more deals.
And for those of us who don’t have time to search out the motivated sellers directly and want to have easy access to homes that have no one living in them, that have been cleaned out in most cases, and have clean titles so we don’t have to worry about finding lien holders or waiting 3 to 6 months to work a short sale deal, then talking with your local Wholesale Seller and REO listing agents will net you a lot of great deals.
First, let’s look at the wholesalers. These are the investors who spend the time and money marketing to find sellers, who sniff out the great deals directly from the homeowner in distress, buy the property, and then sell wholesale prices to other investors in the area. The wholesaler makes a little profit, and leaves the bigger profit on the table for the end investor who may be buying to fix up and sell or to rent out. So be sure to find all the people who sell homes wholesale in your area and ask them to add you to their email list of homes.
Then the real estate agents who list REO’s would be our last source of homes discussed here. These agents specialize in managing and listing homes that have been foreclosed and are now Real Estate Owned. These agents will be one of your best sources for homes if you want a list of homes that are just waiting for you to take a look at them and make an offer.
The key to working with the wholesalers and REO agents is to have the necessary funding to acquire these properties, renovate them as needed, and have the ability to hold them long term if needed. As there are so many more houses on the market today than there were just a year ago, the investor may not be able to sell quite as easily as a few years ago, but they are still selling. And those with multiple exit strategies will be able to make a lot of money, because the sub-prime borrowers are going to still want to own a home and selling to them lease to own will be a win / win for both the investor and the buyer.
So find your funding, take a look at home equity lines of credit, unsecured lines of credit from banks and credit card companies, private lenders, partners, renovation lenders, and other loan sources. Get on as many list of available houses from wholesale sellers and REO agents.
Go look at one house a day, work your numbers, and make an offer.
Remember every house has a number, so look at the after repaired value, the cost of repairs, the cost of your money for the length of time it will take you to renovate, lease up, and refinance, and the profit you want to make, and find the number that works for each house and make an offer. Also keep in mind that you can’t buy any houses and earn any profit or cash flow unless you make and offer.
It’s a Buyer’s Market – so let’s go out and be buyers!
Email Marketing
Kim Tucker
Many of our readers out there are working on putting together an email newsletter to their clients. Mortgage Lenders, Realtors, Contractors, Investors, Title Companies, and just about every other type of person who joins MAREI will at one time or another decide to have an Email Newsletter.
Sending out an email is fairly easy when you are sending to one or two people, but as the list of recipients grows the ability to send out an email lessens. So lets talk about how to send an email.
Let’s take a look at the steps:
(1) open up your email system, what ever it is
(2) click compose and a new email window opens up
(3) click in the “to” box and your address book opens up and you select the people you want to send to
(4) you fill in the subject line with what your mail is about
(5) you write your message
(6) you click send
Sounds simple, right? But many times we can still screw it up, many times with out even knowing it.
Go to your computer right now and go through the steps. After you have clicked compose come back to this article. Look at the top of your email box – do you have 3 different boxes to put email addresses in? Sometimes you need to click the “to” button, but how ever you get your email addresses in the “to” box, you should have three boxes or choices of where to put your email addresses when you insert them in the “to” box: “to”, “cc” and “bcc”.
The “to” box – if you put a bunch of email addresses in this box, you will send an email with every single email address at the top. Not ideal, especially if you don’t want to share your email list with everyone who receives your email. If someone wanted to Spam or send junk email to your list, you have just provided them with the addresses to do it. And in the same tone, if someone wanted to reply to you, but were not proficient on email and clicked “reply all” – they would send their response to you and everyone else who received the email. So don’t use the “to” box.
The next box where you can place email addresses is in the “cc” or carbon copy box. This is used when you send an email to one person, but want to copy a few other people who may also have an interest in the email. But again all emails in the “cc” box will work exactly the same as the “to” box, so avoid this one as well for email newsletters.
The last box is the “bcc” or blind carbon copy box and this is the one we want to use. We can insert a bunch of email addresses, but the only address that will appear a the top of the recipients email is their own and any emails we may have placed in the “to” and “cc” boxes.
Ok so now we have addressed the email. Now you need to put something in the subject line. Because of all the junk email out there, email companies have created Spam filters, so you have to put something in your subject line that will not trigger a Spam filter and get your email dumped in the trash. There are hundreds of articles you can look up online on how to get around Spam filters. (google spam filter avoidance)
Your next step is to compose your message and there are two trains of though – give them tons of info so they have to keep scrolling down in a lengthy email. Or keep it short and sweet so if they do have to scroll down it is only one screen. You will have to make your own decisions on this, but the longer it is, the more likely you will be to loose them before they get to the end. I like to offer a little information and then a link to a web site for more info. So as I am writing my email I will look up the exact web page I am trying to send them to and then copy the address in the little window at the top of the internet web page and paste it into my email exactly as it sits (or if you use an email provider program you may be able to clean this up a bit).
Now what if you do have a list of houses to send out or some other information or form? Should you include it in the email, attach it as a file, or post it on a web site somewhere and provide them a link.
This will be something you will have to decide for yourself as each has it’s merits, but here is what I have found.
When attaching as a file to an email, the email gets stuck in the Spam file much more quickly or even automatically deleted by many systems as emails with attachments are more likely to carry a virus into the system. Also if you are trying to email someone with an email at a big corporation such as hallmark.com or sprint.com you will find that your email may not go through with an attachment. So I would recommend posting your list or your attachment online somewhere and emailing out a link so that your readers can download the list.
You could also include your list within the body of your email which is great if you have a short list. If you have a lengthy list you may want to email out a few key houses or one house at a time as you add it to your inventory and then refer them back to your web site for more information.
Then it comes time to click send, and then you can have even more problems.
Did you know that many email providers will only allow you to send a limited number of emails in an hour? So in some cases if you want to send over 50 emails at once, you have to break them up into smaller groups and send a few every hour. Check your provider to see how many you can send.
You may also find that some of the email providers for your recipients will block your email because it has a bunch of names in any of the to boxes including the “bcc”. When I was using a regular email provider, my emails sent to AOL and Road Runner would be blocked. So I had to go to an email service.
I started by using a contact management system, TopProducer.com. With this I can put a whole bunch of emails into any of the to boxes and the system will send the one at a time automatically over a few minutes. It gets around the filters, but the problem
with this is that if I have over 200 or 300 email address I am sending to at once, the system tends to send so many and then lock up and not go out.
That is when I switched to an email service provider. These are services that allow you to load lists of recipients into their system either one at a time or by importing a list from an Excel Spread sheet. They allow you to manage your subscribers and send 1000’s of emails at once. There are many features of these services such as: formatted emails, categorizing your subscribers, automated sign up boxes, and more.
But what else can these services do for you? One of the great features I like is that I can prescheduled an email to go out on a specific day or time in many cases. I can create the email in advance, pick who should receive the newsletter, and schedule it to go out when I want it to. So if you ever receive an email from me when I am on vacation – no I am not really that dedicated. I just created it in advance the week before my vacation and the system sent it out at my scheduled time.
Another thing that services provide is many great articles and training tools to help you improve your email marketing to get the most benefit out of it. A few of the articles you may want to look at are what to put in a subject line to get your email past the Spam filters. Just using a service will help with this. Remember when I said that AOL and Road Runner tend to filter out mass emails? Since these actually are programmed to send them out one at a time, you get around many Spam filters.
And the last great benefit of these service that also help you get around the Spam filter is their inclusion at the bottom of the email with instructions for the subscriber to update their subscription – both what emails they are receiving and to change the email address that they are sent to. They also include an unsubscribe button so that your recipients can choose not to receive emails from you. Most services will track your unsubscribed people so you can’t accidentally put them back in.
The service I currently use is www.ConstantContact.com . Their pricing is very affordable: for 500 people or less in your list costs $15 a month, 2500 or more is $30 a month and it goes up from there. If you prepay you get discounts and if you are an School or a Non-Profit you can get even more discounts. They also offer a FREE trial of up to 100 subscribers for 60 daysl. And if you would like to subscribe to their service, we can refer you as a customer and get you a $30 credit toward your first billing.
If you would like to try out www.ConstantContact.com please email me at info@MAREInet.com and ask me to refer you to Constant Contact. I will send you an email referral with a link back to constant contact to get you access to the trial and the $30 credit.
While at Constant Contact’s web site, click on their Learning Center for more articles, visit their User Community, and check out their live Demo. Even if you don’t decide to use their services you will get a lot great tips to help you improve your email marketing you are currently using.
And if you have a better service that you would like to recommend, please email it to me to try out. I can always export my entire contact list from Constant Contact and move it somewhere else.
Many of our readers out there are working on putting together an email newsletter to their clients. Mortgage Lenders, Realtors, Contractors, Investors, Title Companies, and just about every other type of person who joins MAREI will at one time or another decide to have an Email Newsletter.
Sending out an email is fairly easy when you are sending to one or two people, but as the list of recipients grows the ability to send out an email lessens. So lets talk about how to send an email.
Let’s take a look at the steps:
(1) open up your email system, what ever it is
(2) click compose and a new email window opens up
(3) click in the “to” box and your address book opens up and you select the people you want to send to
(4) you fill in the subject line with what your mail is about
(5) you write your message
(6) you click send
Sounds simple, right? But many times we can still screw it up, many times with out even knowing it.
Go to your computer right now and go through the steps. After you have clicked compose come back to this article. Look at the top of your email box – do you have 3 different boxes to put email addresses in? Sometimes you need to click the “to” button, but how ever you get your email addresses in the “to” box, you should have three boxes or choices of where to put your email addresses when you insert them in the “to” box: “to”, “cc” and “bcc”.
The “to” box – if you put a bunch of email addresses in this box, you will send an email with every single email address at the top. Not ideal, especially if you don’t want to share your email list with everyone who receives your email. If someone wanted to Spam or send junk email to your list, you have just provided them with the addresses to do it. And in the same tone, if someone wanted to reply to you, but were not proficient on email and clicked “reply all” – they would send their response to you and everyone else who received the email. So don’t use the “to” box.
The next box where you can place email addresses is in the “cc” or carbon copy box. This is used when you send an email to one person, but want to copy a few other people who may also have an interest in the email. But again all emails in the “cc” box will work exactly the same as the “to” box, so avoid this one as well for email newsletters.
The last box is the “bcc” or blind carbon copy box and this is the one we want to use. We can insert a bunch of email addresses, but the only address that will appear a the top of the recipients email is their own and any emails we may have placed in the “to” and “cc” boxes.
Ok so now we have addressed the email. Now you need to put something in the subject line. Because of all the junk email out there, email companies have created Spam filters, so you have to put something in your subject line that will not trigger a Spam filter and get your email dumped in the trash. There are hundreds of articles you can look up online on how to get around Spam filters. (google spam filter avoidance)
Your next step is to compose your message and there are two trains of though – give them tons of info so they have to keep scrolling down in a lengthy email. Or keep it short and sweet so if they do have to scroll down it is only one screen. You will have to make your own decisions on this, but the longer it is, the more likely you will be to loose them before they get to the end. I like to offer a little information and then a link to a web site for more info. So as I am writing my email I will look up the exact web page I am trying to send them to and then copy the address in the little window at the top of the internet web page and paste it into my email exactly as it sits (or if you use an email provider program you may be able to clean this up a bit).
Now what if you do have a list of houses to send out or some other information or form? Should you include it in the email, attach it as a file, or post it on a web site somewhere and provide them a link.
This will be something you will have to decide for yourself as each has it’s merits, but here is what I have found.
When attaching as a file to an email, the email gets stuck in the Spam file much more quickly or even automatically deleted by many systems as emails with attachments are more likely to carry a virus into the system. Also if you are trying to email someone with an email at a big corporation such as hallmark.com or sprint.com you will find that your email may not go through with an attachment. So I would recommend posting your list or your attachment online somewhere and emailing out a link so that your readers can download the list.
You could also include your list within the body of your email which is great if you have a short list. If you have a lengthy list you may want to email out a few key houses or one house at a time as you add it to your inventory and then refer them back to your web site for more information.
Then it comes time to click send, and then you can have even more problems.
Did you know that many email providers will only allow you to send a limited number of emails in an hour? So in some cases if you want to send over 50 emails at once, you have to break them up into smaller groups and send a few every hour. Check your provider to see how many you can send.
You may also find that some of the email providers for your recipients will block your email because it has a bunch of names in any of the to boxes including the “bcc”. When I was using a regular email provider, my emails sent to AOL and Road Runner would be blocked. So I had to go to an email service.
I started by using a contact management system, TopProducer.com. With this I can put a whole bunch of emails into any of the to boxes and the system will send the one at a time automatically over a few minutes. It gets around the filters, but the problem
with this is that if I have over 200 or 300 email address I am sending to at once, the system tends to send so many and then lock up and not go out.
That is when I switched to an email service provider. These are services that allow you to load lists of recipients into their system either one at a time or by importing a list from an Excel Spread sheet. They allow you to manage your subscribers and send 1000’s of emails at once. There are many features of these services such as: formatted emails, categorizing your subscribers, automated sign up boxes, and more.
But what else can these services do for you? One of the great features I like is that I can prescheduled an email to go out on a specific day or time in many cases. I can create the email in advance, pick who should receive the newsletter, and schedule it to go out when I want it to. So if you ever receive an email from me when I am on vacation – no I am not really that dedicated. I just created it in advance the week before my vacation and the system sent it out at my scheduled time.
Another thing that services provide is many great articles and training tools to help you improve your email marketing to get the most benefit out of it. A few of the articles you may want to look at are what to put in a subject line to get your email past the Spam filters. Just using a service will help with this. Remember when I said that AOL and Road Runner tend to filter out mass emails? Since these actually are programmed to send them out one at a time, you get around many Spam filters.
And the last great benefit of these service that also help you get around the Spam filter is their inclusion at the bottom of the email with instructions for the subscriber to update their subscription – both what emails they are receiving and to change the email address that they are sent to. They also include an unsubscribe button so that your recipients can choose not to receive emails from you. Most services will track your unsubscribed people so you can’t accidentally put them back in.
The service I currently use is www.ConstantContact.com . Their pricing is very affordable: for 500 people or less in your list costs $15 a month, 2500 or more is $30 a month and it goes up from there. If you prepay you get discounts and if you are an School or a Non-Profit you can get even more discounts. They also offer a FREE trial of up to 100 subscribers for 60 daysl. And if you would like to subscribe to their service, we can refer you as a customer and get you a $30 credit toward your first billing.
If you would like to try out www.ConstantContact.com please email me at info@MAREInet.com and ask me to refer you to Constant Contact. I will send you an email referral with a link back to constant contact to get you access to the trial and the $30 credit.
While at Constant Contact’s web site, click on their Learning Center for more articles, visit their User Community, and check out their live Demo. Even if you don’t decide to use their services you will get a lot great tips to help you improve your email marketing you are currently using.
And if you have a better service that you would like to recommend, please email it to me to try out. I can always export my entire contact list from Constant Contact and move it somewhere else.
Networking at your REIA
Last month we discussed sending an email newsletter. As real estate investors or people who work with real estate investors, we are all in a situation where we need to learn how to market effectively.
This month I wanted to take a look at steps you can take to build your list of recipients for the email newsletter, and the best way I know of is to network at your local REIA (real estate investment association).
I suggest that we all take a little time and brush up on our networking skills. Throughout this article we are going to look at ways to make contact with potential customers, but we need to know what to do with them once we make contact, and that all rests in our ability to network. There are quite a few resources out there, a few you might consider include:
This month I wanted to take a look at steps you can take to build your list of recipients for the email newsletter, and the best way I know of is to network at your local REIA (real estate investment association).
I suggest that we all take a little time and brush up on our networking skills. Throughout this article we are going to look at ways to make contact with potential customers, but we need to know what to do with them once we make contact, and that all rests in our ability to network. There are quite a few resources out there, a few you might consider include:
- The Millionaire Real Estate Agent by Gary Keller
- Positioning by Al Ries and Jack Trout
- The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino
- Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got by Jay Abraham
Go to Google.com and search for business networking for 100’s of Free Resources
After brushing up on our networking skills, we need to take a look at our Marketing Message we want to send to our potential customers. In every avenue of our marketing we need to present a clear and concise message that is consist.
Our message should contain:
1. Who we are and how to get in touch with us.
2. What we do for our customer or what we sell to our customer.
3. Our value proposition to our customer – what can we do for them.
4. Call to action, what we want them to do now – call us, email us, visit a web site.
Keep the target market in mind.
Here at MAREI or any REIA there are many different kind of businesses, but the mechanics will be the same pretty much across the board, just the product and target market will vary. Let’s use a wholesale investor as our example in this article, but remember with a little imagination, this example will work for a realtor, a lender, an accountant, etc.
Lets meet our wholesale investor: Joe Wholesaler. Joe has read up on networking and is ready to put together his Marketing Message. He has a bunch of houses to sell and more seller leads coming in every day, but he needs to find people to buy his houses. As he primarily has fixer upper houses and tenant occupied properties to sell, he determines that his Target Market is going to be other real estate investor. Real Estate Investors seem to need to buy fixer upper houses or properties with tenants in them.
With his Target Market decided, he puts together his Marketing Message:
1. I am Joe Wholesalers with Houses R Us and I can be reached at www.HousesRus.com or 1-800-for-HRus.
2. I sell fixer upper and rental properties wholesale
3. I have a large inventory and if you are an investor looking for a rehab or a cash flow property, then I will have a property that you need, and our inventory is always changing.
4. We offer a free newsletter monthly with our current inventory of houses and also a hot list the with the our newest properties available. Please visit our web site or call us to let us know your contact info so we can sell you your next rehab project or cash flow property.
Joe Wholesaler can now use these four items to create just about any type of marketing that he wants. (Not a wholesaler? Think for a few minutes how you can create the same 4 sentences to fit your business and target customer)
Joe decides to first start with a business card. He wants to create a simple uncluttered business card that he can hand out to potential investor buyers as he meets them. The more you clutter up a card the harder it is to read and understand. Joe decides to put who he is and his contact information on the front and then utilize the back of the card for his value proposition and call to action.
With his business cards created, Joe is ready to start networking. So he starts looking for places that he can go where he will meet a lot of investor buyers. He decides that groups that meet to talk about buying houses for fix up or rental might be where he needs to be, so he makes plans to attend and join the local real estate investment association and the landlord groups in his area. If he can find the time to attend at least one meeting of each a month, he should be able to network with a lot of potential buyers to add to his list.
Joe figures that if he joins two groups and spends at least an hour networking a month with each group either at their normal meetings or any special networking events they might have, he should be able to meet at least 24 new people a month who might either be a buyer for one of his properties or might know a person who would be interested in buying his properties. He figures that by going to the networking and spending about 5 minutes per person, he can use his newly found networking skills to collect their contact information and then follow up with them the next few days after the meeting.
Over the next few months, Joe attends meetings and works the room and ads about 25 new people to his database as potential buyers monthly, but he still wants more. He has noticed that some people are able to have a table at the meetings and they have a sign up form where people stop by and voluntarily provide their name and contact information either for some FREE report the person at the table is giving away or for a FREE prize to be awarded at the end of the night.
So the next month he spends some time creating a FREE report that he can email out to everyone who signs up at his table. He wants to provide something that would benefit everyone who registers with him and he realizes that he has been building quite a list of people who would be good contacts for the new investor building a power team. So he decides to give away a FREE email report that lists his favorite service providers: Mortgage Lenders, Rehab Lenders, Contractors, Dumpster Providers, etc.
Joe contacts the local association and reserves a table for about $30. Prints his marketing message on a small banner to put on the front of his table for about $50. Makes a sign asking people to drop a business card in the basket to sign up for Joe Wholesaler’s Personal Service Provider List. He also makes another sign asking people to sign up to receive his list of houses periodically. The people at the meeting are real estate investors after all and they want to buy houses, so they will probably sign up. And he prints up a bunch of copies of his list of houses for sale.
He goes to the meeting – one at each group and his is amazed. For a little under $100 he has acquired a table at each meeting for the month, and next month, it will be under $60 as he can reuse his signage. Everyone coming into the room stops by to see what he has to offer and he gets more than his normal 12 or 13 new contacts. And is able to set up times to show several of his properties in the next few days.
Let’s step back from Joe’s story a moment – what if I am not wholesaling houses, what else could I have people sign up for so I can get their contact information:
1. Attorneys –a free FSBO contract kit with basic forms.
2. Accountant – a quarterly newsletter with timely tax saving tips
3. Mortgage Broker – a monthly newsletter with latest on rates and loan programs
4. Realtor – a free quarterly list of all the Bank Owned Homes for sale in the area
5. Contractor – a referral list of other subcontractors
So after reserving a table for several months at the meetings, following up with everyone who signs up and making sure they get their free list and then adding them into the system to get email notices of his houses for sale, Joe notices something. People all are getting to know him by name, he is making appointments to show more houses, and the regulars a the meeting are introducing the new people to him. “Hey, you have got to meet Joe. He’s the guy with all the houses for sale and if you need to buy a house, you need to sign up for his newsletter.” Joe realizes that he has become the groups expert at providing wholesale houses and people are referring him out.
About a week later one of the association leaders, Suzie calls to see how things are going with him. She is doing her part in network for the REIA, following up with her customer Joe. Joe tells Susie how great it is having a table at the meetings and how many new buyers he is working with. Suzie then tells him that the REIA office gets several calls each month from people who had been at the last meeting and picked up Joes Card. But because Joe had been really busy at the time, they were going to call him the next day rather than try to talk to him at the meeting. On the way home they lost Joes card and can’t find him in the newsletter or on the web site, so could the she tell them how to get in touch with wholesale guy. Suzie further tells him that while there are a bunch of people at the meetings, there are still about ½ the membership that does not make it to the meetings all the time, but do read the newsletters or visit the web site. She suggest to Joe he might look at putting an ad into the monthly newsletter and on the web site so when people loose his business card, they can still find his contact information.
So Joe goes back to his office the next day and works up a business card ad for the newsletter and puts together the information he wants to put on the web site. He calls up places his ads and pays for 6 months. He figures he might as well try it as 6 months of ads in the newsletter and on the web site are still way less than advertising in the local paper and his message is reaching only people in the association or people reading the associations newsletter so they more than likely will be investor buyers – his target market. And asks the editors to call him about month 5 to see if he wants to renew his ad or change it.
So the next week when his ad comes out on the web site, he decides to check it out see what it looks like. While he is there he browses around and looks at other vendors ads and notices something; a lot of the vendors have a little notices that say “10% Discount for Members of the Group” or “FREE application for members of the group”. He thinks to himself, I have my FREE Joe Wholesaler’s Personal Service Provider List and I send out a FREE list of houses for sale, I could offer that free on the web site for members and when people who do not go to the meetings see my ad online, they will go to my web site to get my FREE report. So he calls up the web site editor and has his listing adjusted.
Then the next week the newsletter comes out and while he has glanced at the newsletter before, he had never sat down and read it from front to back. He knew everything he needed to know about the wholesale business and landlording and was not really wanting to learn more about how to do his business. He had just joined to get buyers, so he didn’t think he needed to actually read the newsletter.
As he went through he saw a great article on 1031 Exchange from the accountant he had met at the group and decided he should learn more about 1031 and call the accountant. There was an article from the property manager he had met at a meeting explaining how a Section 8 inspection works and he wanted to call the property manager to see if he might be interested in managing a few properties for some of the out of state investors that purchased his already rented properties. Joe thought to himself “Wow, I met these guys at the meetings and collected their business cards, but I didn’t think too much about them. But after reading their articles, I can see they really know what they are doing and I am intrigued and want to call them for more information. Maybe I should do something like this. Maybe I could come up with a great article about rehabbing or being a landlord and give myself more credibility.”
So he set to work and created a few articles to send over to the newsletter editors and web masters of the associations to see if they might publish them. One group would publish for free and the other group wanted a small fee. But in the scheme of things, if the article netted him just one more buyer that purchased just one more house, he would make a few thousand dollars and if he worked his business correctly, he should be able to sell that same person at least 2 or 3 houses every year, so what was a small fee to place the article in the newsletter with a small ad in the corner. Plus he could save the newsletters to go into his brag book that he used to build credibility with his buyers, sellers, and his private lenders he worked with.
Then the next month when his first article was to be in the newsletter, Joe opens it up and sees the monthly calendar and notices that there are outside networking groups and classes that some of the other vendors at the meetings are hosting. The realtor who sells bank owned properties at the meeting is holds a monthly class explaining the process of buying a bank owned property. The Rehab Lender and one of the Mortgage Brokers in the group have teamed up to offer a monthly class explaining financing to the new investors and offering a free loan application for attendees at the class. And the guy that he met that buys houses through Short Sales was holding a monthly networking lunch at an area diner for other people wanting to learn more about Short Sales. There were several other groups, and events, but when he saw the Short Sale group, he had to call to find out more, why would someone want to have a networking group and offer to answer questions for new people about short sales when they would eventually become competition.
So being the networking guy he is, Joe calls up Sammy Shortseller to find out why in the world Sammy would be hosting an Intro to Short Sales Networking Event every month. Sammy explains that a lot of new investors want to try out short sales, but don’t have the expertise to do them, so they are happy to team up with him and split the profits. He also finds that after one or two deals, many new investors move on to another form of investing and don’t really want to mess with the short sales any more, so they are happy to pass the lead on to Sammy. So he holds his networking group and answers basic questions to get these contacts and to partner on a few deals. And as an added bonus just a small few of them who are very dedicated and really want to know how to do a short sale, well they pay him to train them in the process.
“But Sammy,” Joe says “You are sill training your competition!” Sammy explains that there are a lot of potential short sales and there is no way he can get all of them, and many of his newly trained competitors just don’t have the ability to do all the deals they get, so they again refer them over to Sammy or partner with him if the numbers are too big and Sammy makes more money.
Joe starts thinking and then goes back over his leads he has had in the past week for sellers and the light bulb goes off. There are 4 leads for people who are in foreclosure, who owe more that he is willing to pay for the house, and might be a candidate for a short sale. He was just going to toss them in the old “round file”, but as Sammy’s networking event is the next day, he decides to take the leads and go visit Sammy’s event. He brings up the basic details of each of the 4 leads and Sammy explains basically what he would do with them and what kind of profit he thinks he might be able to make. Sammy offers to partner with Joe on the deal: 50/50 on the money needed to do the deal, Sammy would negotiate the short sale with the seller and the lenders, and Joe would market to his huge network of buyers that he has build over the past few months.
They agree and put the partnerships together, and in the next month are able to buy and sell 2 of the 4 deals. Both Sammy and Joe have made a few thousand more than they would have if they had not been able to get together. And this from leads that Joe was just going to throw away. After his second profit check, Joe has another light bulb moment. “What if I could have a networking event and get a few newbies who don’t know what to do with their deals or don’t have the money to do a deal who want to partner with me. I could do a one or two more deals a month and not really have to do too much more work.”
He keeps thinking. . . “What if I could offer a group to the new landlords in the group and answer basic questions about tenants, landlord rules, section 8 and the like. Maybe I could develop one or two new solid buyers every few months who would buy their first few houses from me and build a relationship where they continue to purchase houses from me for the next 10 years.” Joe is basically seeing dollar signs rolling through his head at this moment.
So he contacts the diner in the area where most of his fixer upper houses and rentals are located. Could he bring in a group of 5 to 10 people once or twice a month for breakfast and take over the back one or two tables? They are happy for the extra business as it is a rather slow time for them. He then sends out an email blast to all of his contacts to announce he new landlord breakfast networking event. He invites everyone to attend and to forward the email to anyone new to landlording who might have questions. He also has the REIA post on their calendar and sends in an announcement to the local real estate paper as their calendar is free as space permits.
Then he does the same thing with another diner in an area only this time for lunch. He plans on inviting in new investors to learn about finding motivated sellers and to answer their basic questions on marketing, negotiating, contracts and more. The plan being that they will partner with him on their first few deals.
After a few months of holding his networking breakfast and lunch, Susie the leader of the REIA stops Joe at a meeting and asks, “You know Joe, we are looking for someone to help teach a class or two each quarter. Would you be interested in helping us with a class on effective landlording and one on finding motivated sellers? It does not pay much, but you will get a lot of FREE press when you teach the class. We announce the class in the newsletter, on the web site, and in the local papers and we also mention who is teaching, what their expertise is, and how to get in touch with them.” Joe thinks to himself, I can spend 4 hours each teaching a class once every 4 months and get my Marketing Message included in all the announcements for the class, get new students in my class who might buy houses from me or partner with me on their first deals. I can do more deals with less effort as my Target Market will be coming to me and my potential student partners will be brining me deals. What a great idea.
And Susie thinks she is getting a great deal as well, she leaned at her national networking event for association leaders that another group in another state was offering similar classes so their members could get a special certification. This other groups training program was so effective that the local housing court required violators to join the association and attend their certification classes. Susie thought this would be very good public relations for her association as the local paper was printing so many negative stories about real estate investors, landlords, and mortgage fraud. If she could get a successful certification program off the ground at her association, then she could get good public relation stories into the area newspapers, get more members attending the meetings, and find more new investor buyers for Joe’s houses, more seller’s who would find Sammie Shortseller to buy their houses in foreclosure, more investors that needed realtors, lenders, attorneys, accountants, contractors, etc. and everyone would be networking their way to their own profit.
Ok, so this story is a little corny, but I think you get the point. If you are a member of an association like MAREI, you can market and grow your business in several ways:
1. “Working the room” at events with business cards
2. Vendor Tables at the meetings
3. Ads in the newsletter or on the web site
4. Writing how to or inspirational stories for the web site and newsletter
5. Offering discounts to members
6. Hosting networking events
7. Teaching classes
8. And using each of these strategies, grow your database of potential customers that you can direct market via email, regular mail, fax, or phone.
And if you are really new and not in a position to be looking for customers yet, using all of these same steps from the other side of the table will help you get educated enough so you can take you first steps as a real estate investor.
Collect the business cards and find out what people do, these are the people that you will need to create your own power team that all the guru’s teach you to form. Talk to all the vendors at the meeting and get to know them, you may not be ready for a lender, attorney or accountant today, but you may need their services in the future, and being able to call them up as a person they know could save you money. Read the articles in the newsletter and on the web site, you might learn something and look for discounts for members in all the advertising. Attend as many of the networking events as you can as they are usually free . Participate and ask questions – this will be some of the best free training you will get. And when the association does offer classes for a fee or if they do have a certification program, be sure to make use of the service. You never know when the certification from and the ethics associated with the REIA might help you get a deal.
So if you have a marketing message you want to get out to the investor members of MAREI, please go to www.MAREInet.com and click on advertising and click on the brochure links at the bottom.
And new members, be sure to utilize all your membership has to offer to give your real estate investing career a jump start. Please go to www.MAREInet.com and click on Membership to view a brochure listing many of your benefits.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
H.R. 3915 "Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act of 2007"
NARHRI MEMBER ALERT
H.R. 3915 "Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act of 2007"
The stated purpose of H.R. 3915 is to prevent the events surrounding the subprime lending crisis from ever occurring again. A summary of the provisions of this bill as introduced can be found at the end of this alert. The measure passed committee and is currently being debated on the House floor. A final vote is expected late tonight, members can watch the debate tonight on C-Span.
The measure primarily targets the activities of mortgage brokers, not residential real estate investors. However, because of the potential impact to the overall housing marketing of this measure, NARHRI has met with Congressional staff and spoken with lobbyists representing the financial services industry about this measure. This is major piece of legislation impacting the entire industry and NARHRI wants to provide our members with both a voice and the latest intelligence reports on the measure.
Again, while this measure governs mortgage brokers, NARHRI does have some concerns about certain provisions and has voiced those to Congress. Mortgage broker associations have been very active on this bill as well. One of our primary concerns about this bill is the de facto suitability standards contained in it. Those provisions include language such as loans must be in the best interest of the consumer and refis must have a net tangible benefit for the consumer. While on the surface these provisions may seem innocuous, they concern us greatly because of the potential for lawsuits that could dry up credit and damage already troubled lenders.
Some of the concerns about lawsuit abuse were addressed in amendments to the measure added during the committee debate, and continue to be addressed on the House floor. Class actions lawsuits for violating these suitability standards are prohibited under the measure. Secondly, actions against lenders for violating these suitability standards would not be retroactive, and thus only apply to future homeowners who face foreclosure, AND only apply after regulators promulgate rules defining the best interest of the homeowners and net tangible benefits.
The House has added some other provisions to this measure that NARHRI does support, such as stricter regulation of appraisers. We believe that this provision will likely address many of the instances of fraud that occur in our industry. On the floor of the House today, a request was also made for a GAO study of the impact of this measure on credit markets that will begin immediately. An additional issue currently under debate concerns pre-emption of state law. Debate will continue on which of the provisions in the measure will be pre-emptive, and which will not. Another issue of contention concerns homeowners facing foreclosure who have a renter. This measure would allow renters to remain in the home for a period of 90 days (that number may change very quickly, that is the number we have as of right now). Lenders oppose this provision because it essentially makes them landlords.
Despite some of the improvements made to this measure, NARHRI does join many other associations representing the financial services industry in opposition of the measure in its current form. NARHRI fully expects this measure to pass the House, however, there is much work to be done on this bill in the Senate, and thus still many opportunities to improve it.
NARHRI will include HR 3915 in our members only section November Legislative Tracking Report next week. We want to make sure that we have the most current language for our members. Our efforts on this measure will continue and we will update membership as circumstances warrant. Any member interested in commenting on this bill may forward them to NARHRI Executive Director John Grant at info@narhri.org or call (202) 232-6708 or cell (202) 607-7580.
SUMMARY AS OF: 10/22/2007--Introduced.
Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act of 2007 -- Amends the Truth in Lending Act to set forth a duty of care standard for residential mortgage loan originations.
Prohibits steering incentives to mortgage originators, including incentive compensation and any yield spread premium based on, or varying with, the terms of a residential mortgage loan.
Directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and other specified federal banking regulatory agencies to prescribe jointly regulations to prohibit mortgage originators from steering any consumer to a residential mortgage loan that is not in the consumer's interest (loans with predatory characteristics).
Sets forth licensing and registration requirements for mortgage originators.
Sets forth minimum repayment standards for residential mortgage loans. Requires creditors to determine, based on verified and documented information, that a consumer has a reasonable ability to repay the loan, according to its terms, and all applicable taxes, insurance, and assessments.
Prohibits creditors from extending credit for residential mortgage loans that involve refinancing of a prior residential mortgage loan unless the creditor determines that refinancing provides a net tangible benefit to the consumer.
Subjects assignees and securitizers to liability for certain violations in connection with residential mortgage loans.
Sets forth defenses to foreclosure.
Proscribes certain practices, including: (1) certain prepayment penalties; (2) single premium credit insurance; (3) mandatory use of arbitration; and (4) negative amortization mortgages.
Redefines high-cost mortgages. Prohibits balloon payments for such mortgages.
Revises requirements governing prepayment penalties. Prohibits lending without due regard to repayment ability.
Prohibits certain creditor practices with respect to high-cost mortgages, including: (1) recommending default on an existing loan or other debt before and in connection with closing of a high-cost mortgage that refinances all or any portion of such existing loan or debt; (2) imposing late fees except according to specified requirements; (3) exercising sole discretion to accelerate indebtedness; (4) financing points and fees; (4) structuring certain transactions and reciprocal arrangements to evade the requirements and prohibitions of this Act; and (5) charging certain modification or deferral fees, and fees for notification of payoff information.
Requires pre-loan counseling.
John P. GrantExecutive DirectorNational Association of Responsible Home Rebuilders and Investors1444 N St. NW Suite A2Washington, DC 20005Office: (202) 232-6708Cell: (202) 607-7580narhri2007@yahoo.com
If you are a real estate investor an interested in local and national legislation and the real estate investors voice in these arenas, then you need to join NARHRI to help support the lobby. Go to www.narhri.org, individual memberships are just $25 and if you are a large organization, please urge your members to join individually while you join with a larger membership that fits your organization.
Kim Tucker
kimt@everestkc.net
816-523-4400 x 222
www.TuckerOneProperties.com (Our properties for sale by owner)
www.MAREInet.com (Networking & Education for Real Estate Investors)
www.MAREIphoneU.com (FREE monthly Real Estate Training Teleconfenference)
Real Estate Beginners Fast Track to Success Workshop - December 1st, JCCC
Network and Learn with other area investors at MAREI's Holiday Networking Party - all networking all evening on December 11th.
FREE Teleconference: Tuesday November 27th - Mobile Home Investing with Doug Ottersburg.
licensed realtor with Keller Williams
H.R. 3915 "Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act of 2007"
The stated purpose of H.R. 3915 is to prevent the events surrounding the subprime lending crisis from ever occurring again. A summary of the provisions of this bill as introduced can be found at the end of this alert. The measure passed committee and is currently being debated on the House floor. A final vote is expected late tonight, members can watch the debate tonight on C-Span.
The measure primarily targets the activities of mortgage brokers, not residential real estate investors. However, because of the potential impact to the overall housing marketing of this measure, NARHRI has met with Congressional staff and spoken with lobbyists representing the financial services industry about this measure. This is major piece of legislation impacting the entire industry and NARHRI wants to provide our members with both a voice and the latest intelligence reports on the measure.
Again, while this measure governs mortgage brokers, NARHRI does have some concerns about certain provisions and has voiced those to Congress. Mortgage broker associations have been very active on this bill as well. One of our primary concerns about this bill is the de facto suitability standards contained in it. Those provisions include language such as loans must be in the best interest of the consumer and refis must have a net tangible benefit for the consumer. While on the surface these provisions may seem innocuous, they concern us greatly because of the potential for lawsuits that could dry up credit and damage already troubled lenders.
Some of the concerns about lawsuit abuse were addressed in amendments to the measure added during the committee debate, and continue to be addressed on the House floor. Class actions lawsuits for violating these suitability standards are prohibited under the measure. Secondly, actions against lenders for violating these suitability standards would not be retroactive, and thus only apply to future homeowners who face foreclosure, AND only apply after regulators promulgate rules defining the best interest of the homeowners and net tangible benefits.
The House has added some other provisions to this measure that NARHRI does support, such as stricter regulation of appraisers. We believe that this provision will likely address many of the instances of fraud that occur in our industry. On the floor of the House today, a request was also made for a GAO study of the impact of this measure on credit markets that will begin immediately. An additional issue currently under debate concerns pre-emption of state law. Debate will continue on which of the provisions in the measure will be pre-emptive, and which will not. Another issue of contention concerns homeowners facing foreclosure who have a renter. This measure would allow renters to remain in the home for a period of 90 days (that number may change very quickly, that is the number we have as of right now). Lenders oppose this provision because it essentially makes them landlords.
Despite some of the improvements made to this measure, NARHRI does join many other associations representing the financial services industry in opposition of the measure in its current form. NARHRI fully expects this measure to pass the House, however, there is much work to be done on this bill in the Senate, and thus still many opportunities to improve it.
NARHRI will include HR 3915 in our members only section November Legislative Tracking Report next week. We want to make sure that we have the most current language for our members. Our efforts on this measure will continue and we will update membership as circumstances warrant. Any member interested in commenting on this bill may forward them to NARHRI Executive Director John Grant at info@narhri.org or call (202) 232-6708 or cell (202) 607-7580.
SUMMARY AS OF: 10/22/2007--Introduced.
Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act of 2007 -- Amends the Truth in Lending Act to set forth a duty of care standard for residential mortgage loan originations.
Prohibits steering incentives to mortgage originators, including incentive compensation and any yield spread premium based on, or varying with, the terms of a residential mortgage loan.
Directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and other specified federal banking regulatory agencies to prescribe jointly regulations to prohibit mortgage originators from steering any consumer to a residential mortgage loan that is not in the consumer's interest (loans with predatory characteristics).
Sets forth licensing and registration requirements for mortgage originators.
Sets forth minimum repayment standards for residential mortgage loans. Requires creditors to determine, based on verified and documented information, that a consumer has a reasonable ability to repay the loan, according to its terms, and all applicable taxes, insurance, and assessments.
Prohibits creditors from extending credit for residential mortgage loans that involve refinancing of a prior residential mortgage loan unless the creditor determines that refinancing provides a net tangible benefit to the consumer.
Subjects assignees and securitizers to liability for certain violations in connection with residential mortgage loans.
Sets forth defenses to foreclosure.
Proscribes certain practices, including: (1) certain prepayment penalties; (2) single premium credit insurance; (3) mandatory use of arbitration; and (4) negative amortization mortgages.
Redefines high-cost mortgages. Prohibits balloon payments for such mortgages.
Revises requirements governing prepayment penalties. Prohibits lending without due regard to repayment ability.
Prohibits certain creditor practices with respect to high-cost mortgages, including: (1) recommending default on an existing loan or other debt before and in connection with closing of a high-cost mortgage that refinances all or any portion of such existing loan or debt; (2) imposing late fees except according to specified requirements; (3) exercising sole discretion to accelerate indebtedness; (4) financing points and fees; (4) structuring certain transactions and reciprocal arrangements to evade the requirements and prohibitions of this Act; and (5) charging certain modification or deferral fees, and fees for notification of payoff information.
Requires pre-loan counseling.
John P. GrantExecutive DirectorNational Association of Responsible Home Rebuilders and Investors1444 N St. NW Suite A2Washington, DC 20005Office: (202) 232-6708Cell: (202) 607-7580narhri2007@yahoo.com
If you are a real estate investor an interested in local and national legislation and the real estate investors voice in these arenas, then you need to join NARHRI to help support the lobby. Go to www.narhri.org, individual memberships are just $25 and if you are a large organization, please urge your members to join individually while you join with a larger membership that fits your organization.
Kim Tucker
kimt@everestkc.net
816-523-4400 x 222
www.TuckerOneProperties.com (Our properties for sale by owner)
www.MAREInet.com (Networking & Education for Real Estate Investors)
www.MAREIphoneU.com (FREE monthly Real Estate Training Teleconfenference)
Real Estate Beginners Fast Track to Success Workshop - December 1st, JCCC
Network and Learn with other area investors at MAREI's Holiday Networking Party - all networking all evening on December 11th.
FREE Teleconference: Tuesday November 27th - Mobile Home Investing with Doug Ottersburg.
licensed realtor with Keller Williams
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
The Real Impact of Monthly Cash Flow !
I make a big deal out of increasing your monthly cash flow, and so should you. It's important to understand the real implications of this because they are huge. Many landlords think the extra $100 per month they create is pretty cool, but do they know what ELSE is pretty cool about that? Do you?
Many rental properties are valued based on their "cap rate." If you don't know what a cap rate is, for now, let's just say there’s a formula that is used to determine your rate of return. It often creates the price a property is bought and sold for. Let's say the "going rate" for properties in your city is a 10% cap rate. And let's say you just found a way to increase your monthly cash flow from $2,000 per month to $2,100 per month - an increase of $100.
What have you just done to the value of your property?
The value of any given property can be derived by taking the annual net operating income and dividing it by the cap rate. Your net operating income is your total monthly income minus your monthly expenses, and in this instance you do not count your mortgage payment as an expense. Look at this example:
Your annual net operating income USED to be $24,000 because your monthly cash flow used to be $2,000. So your value USED to be:
$24,000 divided by 10% = $240,000
Now that you increased your monthly cash flow by a mere $100, your value is NOW:
$25,200 divided by 10% = $252,000
You've just increased the value of your property by $12,000! That's $12,000 of equity that you could pull out with a re-finance and use to buy another property! Or, that's an additional $12,000 of profit you will get when you sell!
Re-read this a couple of times and make sure you understand it. This is critical to your success as an investor. If you currently own rental property, rework the example using your own actual numbers. Can you think of ways to increase your monthly cash flow, even by a little bit?
You can see why increasing your monthly cash flow is a bigger deal than the extra bucks it puts into your pocket each month. This extra cash flow can be leveraged for bigger and better things. This is exactly the way that real estate investors continue to buy more properties quicker than their cash flow can save up the down payments for them. When you combine increased cash flow with increased value you create through inexpensive property improvements, and then add appreciation to that – you are creating equity and buying power out of thin air.
This is one of the quickest ways to expand your real estate portfolio!
This article has been written by Anesia Springborn, real estate investor and creator of The Landlord System. Anesia teaches her students how to leverage time and money to grown their passive income stream. She may be reached by visiting http://goaldig.infusionsoft.com/go/EVLAW/mareinet/
Many rental properties are valued based on their "cap rate." If you don't know what a cap rate is, for now, let's just say there’s a formula that is used to determine your rate of return. It often creates the price a property is bought and sold for. Let's say the "going rate" for properties in your city is a 10% cap rate. And let's say you just found a way to increase your monthly cash flow from $2,000 per month to $2,100 per month - an increase of $100.
What have you just done to the value of your property?
The value of any given property can be derived by taking the annual net operating income and dividing it by the cap rate. Your net operating income is your total monthly income minus your monthly expenses, and in this instance you do not count your mortgage payment as an expense. Look at this example:
Your annual net operating income USED to be $24,000 because your monthly cash flow used to be $2,000. So your value USED to be:
$24,000 divided by 10% = $240,000
Now that you increased your monthly cash flow by a mere $100, your value is NOW:
$25,200 divided by 10% = $252,000
You've just increased the value of your property by $12,000! That's $12,000 of equity that you could pull out with a re-finance and use to buy another property! Or, that's an additional $12,000 of profit you will get when you sell!
Re-read this a couple of times and make sure you understand it. This is critical to your success as an investor. If you currently own rental property, rework the example using your own actual numbers. Can you think of ways to increase your monthly cash flow, even by a little bit?
You can see why increasing your monthly cash flow is a bigger deal than the extra bucks it puts into your pocket each month. This extra cash flow can be leveraged for bigger and better things. This is exactly the way that real estate investors continue to buy more properties quicker than their cash flow can save up the down payments for them. When you combine increased cash flow with increased value you create through inexpensive property improvements, and then add appreciation to that – you are creating equity and buying power out of thin air.
This is one of the quickest ways to expand your real estate portfolio!
This article has been written by Anesia Springborn, real estate investor and creator of The Landlord System. Anesia teaches her students how to leverage time and money to grown their passive income stream. She may be reached by visiting http://goaldig.infusionsoft.com/go/EVLAW/mareinet/
Friday, November 9, 2007
Judgement Collection
I spoke this week with David Kraft (Ron Kraft from Accurate Title - his son) on Judgement Collection. He is an attorney and his main focues is on collection of debts.
He gave me the basics on collecting judgements from evictions - I will have to talk in general terms because I have lost my notes:
1. When you get a judgement at least in Jackson County Missouri through the housing court for an evicition - usually for back rent and possession, that judgement is really only valid at that court leve and you need to file that judgement with a higher court for it to be enforcable.
For example when we go to buy or sell a house the title company searches judgements and unless the judgement is paid, the seller can't sell the house as any judgements against their person must be satisisfied before the property can change hands. But unless we recertify (probably not the right term) our rent and possession judgement, it may not come up on the title companies search.
The cost to do this is under $50, I think he said $35. If you own the property in your own name, you can file this yourself, but if you own your property in a corporate entity, like an LLC, then you need to have an attorney file this for you. Because this is such a cheap cost, he highly recommends that a person recertify.
2. You also need to watch the dates on theses Judgements because they expire and fall off unless you recertify them. Some have a 5 year live and others a 10 year.
3. Your next step is to find out if the tenant has a current job. If you can locate where they work, you can file a garnishment with the courts, again yourself if you own in your name or an attorney if in a corporation/llc. The cost to file the garnishment is minimal as well.
Because there are laws on how much money can be pulled out for garnishments, you need to be aware that it is first come first served. So if for example they alreay have a sizable garnishment for childsupport, you may not get anything until the child support garnishment has ended.
So it pays to one ask for a new rental application with your tenants every year when they renew their lease so you can keep up with where they work.
Note Steps 3 & 4 are fairly interchangable.
4. Then if you can track down a bank account you can also file something with the courts to attach to their bank accounts. Then if they deposit money in the account, you get the money. But they may catch on and stop putting money in the account. Again you can do this if it is in your name, and you need an attorney if in a corporation / llc.
5. Then as a last resort you can pay an attorney to take them back to court, but in the case of tenants, it is doubtful that you would get anything but another judgement against them that they need to pay and you get another attorney bill.
If you do not have current information on a past tenant and need to track them down to serve them, he can look up things in public records and run a credit report. But past that, he cannot use underhanded means to track them down as it is illegal for a 3rd party intermediary to do so, but we can as owners and then give him the information to use.
For example, let say Joe Deadbeat was evicted 2 years ago. You can't find Joe Deadbeat, but his mother who was on his application is still in the same location and his sister who was on his application is has not moved either. We could for example call the mother and the sister with some story as to why we need to reach Joe. Maybe he won a contest and you are trying to track him down, they give up an address and a phone number. You then call him and he has to fill out a survey to get the prize sent to him. Some of the questions you would want to ask: where he works and where he banks.
So make sure you have on your rental applications:
complete name with middle initials and Jrs & Srs. & maiden names
sosial security number
date of birth
helps in running online search
current places of employment as well as past as they might go back.
current banks and copies of any checks they give you so that you have bank account #
references - solid people that don't move, like mother, father, sister
With much of the above information you will be able to file to get money out of them. And also track them down.
I have two people you can contact to learn more:
David Kraft: charges incidental filing fees up front and 1/3 of all money recovered
David A. Kraft
David A. Kraft, Esq.
David A. Kraft & Associates, LLC
www.kraftcollects.com
Representing Creditors in Colorado, Kansas & Missouri
4110 Baltimore Avenue
Kansas City, Missouri 64111
Telephone (816) 931-8000
Facsimile (816) 931-8015
Bryan Sloan: no up front fees, and then charged 50% of all money recovered as well as incidentals to come out of money recovered. Also requires that the judgement be assigned over to him.
Bryan Sloan
Judgment Recovery Solutions
816-506-5656
816-453-9494 fax
He said that one of the ways that they can track down new information is to run a credit report. But as a 3rd party intermediary it is against the law to use underhanded means to track
He gave me the basics on collecting judgements from evictions - I will have to talk in general terms because I have lost my notes:
1. When you get a judgement at least in Jackson County Missouri through the housing court for an evicition - usually for back rent and possession, that judgement is really only valid at that court leve and you need to file that judgement with a higher court for it to be enforcable.
For example when we go to buy or sell a house the title company searches judgements and unless the judgement is paid, the seller can't sell the house as any judgements against their person must be satisisfied before the property can change hands. But unless we recertify (probably not the right term) our rent and possession judgement, it may not come up on the title companies search.
The cost to do this is under $50, I think he said $35. If you own the property in your own name, you can file this yourself, but if you own your property in a corporate entity, like an LLC, then you need to have an attorney file this for you. Because this is such a cheap cost, he highly recommends that a person recertify.
2. You also need to watch the dates on theses Judgements because they expire and fall off unless you recertify them. Some have a 5 year live and others a 10 year.
3. Your next step is to find out if the tenant has a current job. If you can locate where they work, you can file a garnishment with the courts, again yourself if you own in your name or an attorney if in a corporation/llc. The cost to file the garnishment is minimal as well.
Because there are laws on how much money can be pulled out for garnishments, you need to be aware that it is first come first served. So if for example they alreay have a sizable garnishment for childsupport, you may not get anything until the child support garnishment has ended.
So it pays to one ask for a new rental application with your tenants every year when they renew their lease so you can keep up with where they work.
Note Steps 3 & 4 are fairly interchangable.
4. Then if you can track down a bank account you can also file something with the courts to attach to their bank accounts. Then if they deposit money in the account, you get the money. But they may catch on and stop putting money in the account. Again you can do this if it is in your name, and you need an attorney if in a corporation / llc.
5. Then as a last resort you can pay an attorney to take them back to court, but in the case of tenants, it is doubtful that you would get anything but another judgement against them that they need to pay and you get another attorney bill.
If you do not have current information on a past tenant and need to track them down to serve them, he can look up things in public records and run a credit report. But past that, he cannot use underhanded means to track them down as it is illegal for a 3rd party intermediary to do so, but we can as owners and then give him the information to use.
For example, let say Joe Deadbeat was evicted 2 years ago. You can't find Joe Deadbeat, but his mother who was on his application is still in the same location and his sister who was on his application is has not moved either. We could for example call the mother and the sister with some story as to why we need to reach Joe. Maybe he won a contest and you are trying to track him down, they give up an address and a phone number. You then call him and he has to fill out a survey to get the prize sent to him. Some of the questions you would want to ask: where he works and where he banks.
So make sure you have on your rental applications:
complete name with middle initials and Jrs & Srs. & maiden names
sosial security number
date of birth
helps in running online search
current places of employment as well as past as they might go back.
current banks and copies of any checks they give you so that you have bank account #
references - solid people that don't move, like mother, father, sister
With much of the above information you will be able to file to get money out of them. And also track them down.
I have two people you can contact to learn more:
David Kraft: charges incidental filing fees up front and 1/3 of all money recovered
David A. Kraft
David A. Kraft, Esq.
David A. Kraft & Associates, LLC
www.kraftcollects.com
Representing Creditors in Colorado, Kansas & Missouri
4110 Baltimore Avenue
Kansas City, Missouri 64111
Telephone (816) 931-8000
Facsimile (816) 931-8015
Bryan Sloan: no up front fees, and then charged 50% of all money recovered as well as incidentals to come out of money recovered. Also requires that the judgement be assigned over to him.
Bryan Sloan
Judgment Recovery Solutions
816-506-5656
816-453-9494 fax
He said that one of the ways that they can track down new information is to run a credit report. But as a 3rd party intermediary it is against the law to use underhanded means to track
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