FAQ: Answers To The Most Asked Questions - Start Here

Stephen,

You are on the right track. For being a newbie you have a good base of info. The funding you are refering to is 'Transactional Funding' where you use their $$$ to close your A to B so you can turn around and close the B to C. Usually costs 2-2.5%. Yes FHA has seasoning requirements that are hard to get around. I would avoid them unless you can hold for 90 days after a recorded deed. As an investor, you are like a CEO. Your job isn't to be an expert in all moving parts but rather to oversee and manage other experts. To do this, you need a pretty good knowledge of the process but you don't need to be the expert on everything. I say this bc you talked about "agents" telling you that double closings no longer work. RE agents are experts at marketing and showing houses. Some think they have all the answers, but I can tell you, when I was a mortgage agent I would have to rewrite Purchase Agreements for RE agents with 20 years in the biz bc they were not acceptable by lenders the way the RE agent wrote it. They do have a place but when they tell you that double closings are no longer available, you need to know 2 things:

1. DOUBLE CLOSINGS are NOT the same as SIMULTANEOUS CLOSINGS which is what most RE agents think you are talking about bc they are not the experts in closings. That job is for YOU, Title Companies or Attorneys, and Underwriters from the banks. Simultaneous closings have gone by the wayside bc to do these you would close on the B to C 1st and use the proceeds to close the A to B. This was the old way of not using any of your own $$$. It's gray as to if this is even legal or not, hence title companies no longer want to do them.

2. Questions on closings should be directed to Title companies and Attorneys. Go visit some and explain what you do and how you want to do it. They will help you and may recommend the best companies to work with.

When looking for retail buyers that will use a conventional mortgage to purchase your properties, make sure you work with their lender and explain what you do. 'Title Seasoning' is not a rule set forth by Fannie or Freddie - they don't have seasoning requirements. Lenders and Banks have implemented 'title seasoning' to try and stop illegaly inflating values by investors and agents to make profits. It doesn't make much sense given that the banks now hire their own appraisers and they have so many properties that investors are only helping the banks. Seasoning just slows down the recovery in my opinion.

Good Luck!

Hi all:

I'm in San Diego area & having a hard time finding sellers willing to go 30-50% off FM

Hi, I am at my first obstacle. In my state (DE), the .gov site to start my business is not working for the part where I check that no one has the name I want. Any other ideas? Should I just call to find out?

Thanks
~lizardchic

I have a client that wants to sell 3 parcels of land. I can't seem to find a website that can give me the FMV for just the land. There are no houses on them. I'm also not sure what forms I will need for just selling land. Please let me know asap.

Well I have just finished reading both of Dean's books and I am a little overwhelmed with all the information but I'm ready to get started! The technique that I want to start with are the re-assignments but I dont know what step I should take first. Should I look for a realtor, properties, seller, or buyers first? PLEASE HELP!!!!!

Just wanted to say welcome aboard this life changing experience! It's a whole lot of info to digest. It's best to read the strategy that best suits the direction your going. You mentioned assignments. Re-read the steps in chapter 8 that covers assignments. Building your circle of influence of course is important. Putting in place your resources is needed. Dean offers a mentor program Success Academy. This is a way to get a quick start on things. Staying on this site offers great insight on things. Don't let fear get in the way. Keep focused. One step at a time. Continued success..........Lubertha

Hello everyone. I am new to this site as well as real estate. I have been reading Profit From Real Estate Right Now - LOVE IT!!!!! My Question is how do you go about making low ball offers without putting out thousands of dollars and be taken as serious at the same time? as in Matt's 25:1

Hello every one,

I've read a lot about real estate investing and have always wanted to own rental property but never got my feet wet. I also just finished reading Dean's book "Be a Real Estate Millionair". I live in a home that I'm almost finished paying for. I still owe about $15,000 on it. I'm also a vietnam vet who has never used his GI bill.
My qusetion is...does anyone think it's a good idea to rent out the house I currently live in and use my GI bill to purchase a second house or investment property while collecting enough rent from the first to cover the note and give myself a little profit every month. Does anyone know if this is something
banks will allow you to do?
Fred

Hello,

I am in the process of buying an REO foreclosure. I have a hard money lender lined up and a general contractor giving an estimate today.
Since the lender is willing to pay cash for the property the closing will be quick and the offer a more attractive one.

I am trying to avoid having to pay the earnest money deposit to keep as muany funds available to pay the mortgage to the HM lender. However, I want to let the bank know that I am serious about this offer and would appreciate their consideration (obviously).

So how could I avoid having to actually pay the earnest money deposit, yet show them that I am seroius about purchasing this property?

Please help ASAP as time is of the essence.

Thank you so much!

Ang.

Hi Ang,

You can try submitting an offer saying you will give an earnest money deposit subject to within 24hr of acceptance. Contined success.........Lubertha

Hi Ang,

You can try submitting an offer saying you will give an earnest money deposit subject to within 24hr of acceptance. Continued success.........Lubertha

Hello all,

I got the book on Monday and I just finished it today (Wednesday). I read it straight thru without doing the action steps which I plan on going back to review them and start taking action. My situation is this. My business which used to make me quite a bit of money has died and I need to get going NOW. I am unemployed so I have the time. I also have a brother that is a real estate agent that is interested in finding me the properties (25:1 method basically). He used to do it for a remodeling company he worked for so he is used to low balling. I am going to go print out and review all the forms and put my focus on the IEE / Assignment methods using my brother to help me find the houses. I need to know also if any of you use the AFF or foreclosure alert and if you feel they are beneficial. I am broke and my wife is working her butt off and we still can't meet our monthly bills and I don't want to become a desperate seller myself. I just don't want to spend any money I don't have to right now. Guidance from you all would help me out a lot.

Thanks,
Russell

So I saw this awsome killer deal, a FSBO, it was appraised at 600,000 a couple of months ago and I was getting it for 300,000. Awsome right. It was an elderly couple wanting to move back to Geogia from flordia to be with their family. I was thinking omg, this is it. Then i told him what I was, what I did and how I could help. this is basically what I told him. Not word for word exactly but this the basically it :

"I have unique strategies for attracting buyers that nobody else has. I'll basically write up contract
that will expire in 14 to 30 days. this will basically give the option to buy the house in 14 to 30 days
or sell your house to another buyer with in that time frame if i don't everyone walks away with no
harm done and no money spent. I'll have an extra 2 documents to be signed that basically says
that if I hand off this greal deal to another buyer and back out of the contract I will will get paid
the pre set amount upon closing, which is the money that comes out of the new buyers pockets and
doesn't cost you a thing. But I'm not selling this property for you, I 'm just get this home under
contact and then at that point I could either purchase the property myself but I am basically letting
you know that I may be selling the equity in the agreement and therefor the house may be sold
to another individual."

I basically studied this almost word for out of the PFRE book. Now what he said next is what got me." Son your "blank" of it" in better terms and he hung up requesting me not to call back ever again. If anyone has any addvice, I think I might need it or some encourgement to get myself going again.

im in chapter 5 of Be a Ral Estate Millionaire, just wondering how do i go about finding all these factors, is there specific sites or what? let me know , thanks

“It’s exciting to be able to link up with a global community of like-minded individuals who embraces the some belief, “People Helping People.”
This business is perfectly positioned, timing could not be better.”

Hi my name is Floyd Franks and i am glade i found this group i am thinking about moving to Texas, I live in Utah now just getting my feet wet in real estate buying and selling propertys and also Notes,If i can be of service
please let me know

Floyd Franks
ffranks@****
www.cash4cashflows/ffranks

I am currently reading Dean's book, I'm excited, scared and lost. I don't know whhere to start, all I know is I'm ready and will welcome any and all advice I can get. I bought Dean's book because it spoke of not having money stop you that youcan get started without money. I'm looking to retire in 4 years and truly need another source of income.

Thanks,
Bettye

Kevin (work4no1),

Thank you for your response. I will approach some Title Companies right away, to see which ones will allow investors such as myself. I will also be selective in what I take from the many RE agents out there, and be sure to fully explain that I will bring cash to the table with transactional "wet" funding. That seems like the fastest, easiest, least amount of red tape approach that I have come across. Thanks again and good luck to you!

Hi Bettye,
Welcome aboard this once in a life time opportunity! My advice is to keep focus on the book. I found that it takes a few times reading things over and to make notes of things as you go along to use as a reference once you determine which technique of Dean's yor going to master. One way to get a quick start is to register for the Success Academy program that is offered. Any question you may have, you can almost find on this web site and the forum going on daily. Continued success.................Lubertha

Robasciotti,

You have to remember that the techniques you are learning are not 'common knowledge' for the general population, especially elderly people. There are a lot of scams out there and people are naturally skeptic, especially in Florida where inflated appraisals, corruption, and the economy has created a mess. You came on too strong, too fast! (sounds like a line from a chick flick - I know)These people don't know you from adam, why should they trust you?

My approach would've been a little more subtle. First, I would have made an appointment to SEE the property in person and meet the sellers. I would've just acted like any other joe-blo buyer and asked a lot of questions. I would be particularly interested in why they are selling at such a deep discount. Are you sure the FMV of the property really is $600K? Why are they selling at 50% FMV and why hasn't it sold? Do you have any buyers for a $300K property lined up? That's a small percentage of the buyer's market right now. 'Homeruns' are very hard to come by and even harder to close, hence, 'homerun.' They take time. Get to know the sellers and understand them. If everything is accurate, find buyers. Once you have some solid buyers, then you can proceed with the property. However, when dealing with elderly people you need to keep it as simple as possible and assigning a contract may just be too confusing for them. I would line up a solid buyer, get an earnest money deposit (usually 1% of purchase price)and purchase the house yourself...or get a lot better at explaining the assignment.

My best advice...start small, get experienced, repetition and practice, and work your way up! But if you really think this one is worth it, you might be better served networking with other investors in your area, letting them know that you have a homerun and work out the details of a split by helping you close it. There's plenty of profit for everyone to be happy in a 'homerun' scenario. TIP: don't give up the property address or names of the sellers to the other investors until you have it under contract.

I love your go getter attitude, but be very careful with 'homerun' deals. I would seek as much advice from this forum as possible. Remember, you're dealing with people's lives and a lot of money at the same time.

Good luck! Learn and earn!

Hello all....

I'm not a student yet due to the fact that I was just a part of another group that specializes in 'short sales' and I just found out after alot of work what it would cost me to stay with them. Quite alot of money for me right now due to the fact that I have a disabled wife and need to take care of her first.(and only work part-time to care for her but want to do something to help pay my bills etc. out of my home) BUT I have not given up and will NOT do so. So let me get into this. After getting a good broker friend of mine and looking for 'short sale' properties I found an agent here in my area (I'm in the Tampa Bay area). Anyway he, just today as a matter of fact, has given me his listings, of some 15 homes worth over a million dollars and they are all distressed or are coming into foreclosure and they are all just about to come onto the market if not just listed. As you know here in Florida it's a crisis and people need help! But I've said all that to say this, all I learned at the other school was how to talk to the sellers and and real-state agents but never have I talked to a lender because in that system they took care of all that. They have the money and do all of the negotiating and whatever needed to be done. (they split the profits with you) So to say the least I need help and I have not a clue as to what to do next except to go look at the properties and talk to some sellers, or owners, and get things moving. (oh, btw, I have NO money to do this and I mean NO money except to pay my bills right now) So am I barking up the wrong tree right now? Or should I move forward because I don't want to loose out but if I don't do anything I'll lose anyway. I've got alot of experince in sales and such so I don't have a problem talking to people it's just am I biting off to much right now? Hopefully not but I'm not even a member here and hope someone will throw me a lifeline... Anyway thank you for your time and hopefully I can get the books and start-up in this. It looks real good here but mentoring would be a big plus..... Thanks, Mike

That does make alot sence. I'm an ex salesman so I should have caught myself. I just got excited and jumped the gun. thank you so much for the advice.

For any one who hasn't found a real estate agent yet by word of mouth or internet, I have found a website that allows you to locates hundreds in your area and email them. If someone else has already posted this web site then this is just a refreshment. Its www.homegain.com. Just fill out the info required and its free for you to search and email real estate agents in your area and they will respond rather quickly. I have had 6 email me very eagerly in a days time and I meet with the one that I think going to pick here in a couple of days.
Hope this works for you as well as it has for me.

"Will you be using cash or financing for these purchases? Either way...I will need either Pre Approval letter or Proof of Funds statements, when submitting offers...especially if we will be going low.."
ok so this is what the real estate that i'm considering asked me. Since I'm going for the no money down technique how would i tell that in words that would make since? and you can use the no money down on th 25:1 technique right? like using the purchase agreement so that if you don't find annother buyer for the house it becomes void with in the time frame that you decide upon?

hi everyone, i am a new comer to this real estate game, and i just wanted to know what exactly a title company is, and how you use them when closing on a deal.

thank you!

I was wondering if anyone could tell me how to post up a free classified ad for finding an investor on craigs list. I'm trying to build my buyers list. According to the book PFRERN, it said placing an ad on craigs list was free. But I was just trying to post one to find buyers and the site wanted to charge me $25.00. Did I go into the wrong link or something? If anyone could help out I would really appreciate it. God Bless!

I got deans book a few weeks ago finished reading and have been studying it ever since. I have devoted about an 1hr a day to investmets. I have found a forclosure property a multi family dublex enough for 4 renters in good condition and in a nice neighborhood. I have done all my research on the property and I even have potential renters already. I just wanted to know if I could lock this property up with No Money Down? I don't want to pass it to someone else I just want to rent it out for cash flow.

Hi Johnny,

Welcome aboard this life changing event. The fuction of a title company is to research properties and land. So that you are aware of any judgements, leins agaisnt the property. When ever you purchase real estate you should always have a clear title. Because any outstanding judgement can mean your responsible. If you choose to resale something and if there are any open judgements not settled prior to you purchasing it. You will have to pay before the new buyer will purchase. Lenders will not finance without a clear title. Much success..........Lubertha

I see lots of properties for sale and pre foreclosures in my area, but with todays market lots of people are upside down and owe more money than the house is worth. How could I structure a deal and make it a win win situation for me to still make a profit? Also, I live in California, and a broker friend of mine who is also an investor, told me that double closings were illegal in California. She also told me that the best way to get insider information on properties is to get my real estate license which I rather not do. If there is anyone out there who could give me some helpful information(Lubertha, Sully, anyone!) I could really use some right about now. God Bless!

anyone near by, i live in santa rosa, ca. about an hour away from san francisco. it would be nice to make some friends in the real estate investing world. i no the basic on investing and still trying to learn. if anyone is near by hear is my email pulidosoccer@****, take care

god bless

"Will you be using cash or financing for these purchases? Either way...I will need either Pre Approval letter or Proof of Funds statements, when submitting offers...especially if we will be going low.."
ok so this is what the real estate that i'm considering asked me. Since I'm going for the no money down technique how would i tell that in words that would make since? and you can use the no money down on th 25:1 technique right? like using the purchase agreement so that if you don't find annother buyer for the house it becomes void with in the time frame that you decide upon?