Without Specifics Where Do You Find The Majority Of Your Rehabs.
Where do you find the majority of your rehab properties that you end up buying? Realtors, MLS, friends, driving around, your own marketing?
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Where do you find the majority of your rehab properties that you end up buying? Realtors, MLS, friends, driving around, your own marketing?
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The key words in the question were "majority" and the one you "end up buying".
It's obvious that just about any house on the market is technically a candiate for rehab. If it needs a new door knob and is for sale it could be a rehab project, but the numbers probably won't work out.
I'm talking about the ones you actually end up buying, fixing and selling.
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Hi
I find most of ours in the MLS.
Mike
It seems that's like asking someone how they met their spouse! There are alot of different ways it happens but sooner or later it usually happens when you least expect it. Probably the most common factor would be persistence, unless you happen to have a friend who is in a place to let you know about excellent opportunities before they become available to the pubic. If you work with multiple realtors, talk to people, look in the newspaper, and anything else you can think of, you will find good opportunities. But like I said, usually they pop up when, and were you aren't expecting them about the time you are ready to give up.
I have found mine through Selling agents who handle REOs.
Mainly looking at junky properties, often disrepair signals poor finances and a willingness to sell.
I don't like MF homes all that much but don't disregard them! They are often good cheap candidtates for a quick rehab and money doubling.
I have watched some people grow rich in these.
R.
Dear Mike,
You go to the corner of 10th and Humboldt just by Cheesman Park. Tell Bonfils to get out of the house. Besides the Denver Post is a crummy paper.
Seriously. Rehab's We have a throw away here which lists most of the contract jobs and also all of the liens filed on such jobs when contractors do not get paid, thrown off the job. etc. I used to roll on those and buy in as the owner threw up his hand. It was a interesting lead source. I arrived at one 20 unit which had just been framed and the sub contractor framer had just set it alight. What a mess. Too six months of insurance activity, fire investigators etc. We ended up with the lot and a lot of garbage. The foundation was cool. Finaly. and we took it up from there.
Sometimes you can follow RED TAGS. thats when a building inspector freaks out cause the work is soo bad. The owner / contractor whatever at that point in time may give up the project cause it is just too much. the fun part is working out the title so the construction loan stays in place and can fund you from that point on.
I remember the job site I went on and it looked like he had a large rough looking swiming pool in the middle of the lot. Turns out that was the foundation. Due to circumstances beyond the owners control, like water runs downhill. It got filled up. So we became partners with the owner in exchange for completing the job. Part of the deal is he stayed off the site, cause he suffered from advanced Klutzyness. Funny he would park down the street and sit in his car with those puppy dog eyes and spy on the job. At completion we let him back on the job. Let him swing the champaign bottle at cristening. He missed and broke a window. Oh god he had a rare talent. Good luck and enjoy.
MIssing it all. Lucius
Thanks Sash!
davmille - have you ever bought, fixed and sold a property? The question again is where do you find the majority of the ones you do end up buying. I'm aware of all the sources, the question is which ones do you find the most successful?
Thanks ronjung!
Thanks Stockpro99! Maybe it is just too early in the morning here, but for the life of me I can't figure out what a MF is? Manufactured? Multi-family?
Lufos - I stay away from Cheesman park, not my crowd if you know what I mean, Wash park is more to my liking
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If I really had to pick one I would say realtors. On the other hand though, most of my properties were not found by realtors. To give you a couple of examples: I found one property when I was simply driving along and I noticed a building that looked in disrepair, but it had a for rent sign by a property management firm. I just called. On another day, I was looking at a property that was for sale and as I was leaving I looked across the road and saw a house with grown up shrubs and yard. There was a small sign in the window that I couldn't read so I walked up to the house. It was a realtors for sale sign. Their sign outside had been stolen or something and on top of this, they had the property listed in the MLS for a different city. They were glad to unload this property because they had been trying to sell it for over a year. They never realized that no one in town even knew it was for sale. I could go on but I think you get the picture. I would develop a good relationship with a couple of realtors and look a lot. Hopefully they will call you when they first see something. Make sure to have your financing lined up so you can make an immediate offer because the best deals go in hours or days.
Best of luck,
In My area...the Realtors believe that any home with a "Part" of a roof is worth full retail value. Sadly this has come about because some uneducated investor was willing to buy the one down the street.
I use the pre foreclosure listings from the title companies (most need rehab) and driving, looking, calling, and very simple adds in the small free news papers.
I do Short Sales on most of of the homes, however who cares what it takes, as long as you end up with the home at a price that works.
No matter what method you use you will find properties sooner or later. Do what ever it takes and be willing to do what others are not willing to do. You will find your next property very soon.
Best of luck!
About realtors and rehabs...
I make it known that if a realtor finds me the right property and I get it for the right price, I will use them to list it once the rehabbing is done. This has given me some very good leads and some motivated realtors on my side.
Ron
Maybe some useful tips:
--DOM, days on the MLS market-if it's been on over 120+ they might be weary
--Posting flyers up at markets, shops
--FSBO ads; tell them to call B4 listing.
--I've considered posting flyers on homes I want, but haven't actually done this, and it's likely a longer-term gestation period.
--HUD foreclosures, esp if you can buy the first one as an owner-occupant; the first 7-10 days give priority to those, however you do need to stay for 12 mo. I just bought one this way since I'd sold my primary home, and can easily stay there as my primary, OR it could be a 2nd home, where you simply keep a room, get some housemates to share it with you, and do keep all the utilities in your name.
--With the HUDs, what counts is the net bid, so negotiate with your realtor/buyers agent to take less than the 5% comm, sicne that cuts into the net bid the most, and if you're like me, you take very little of the agent's time; find the list at ****Must Reach Senior Investor status before posting URL's***, driveby, call to see the best ones. They're not always cherry if the foreclosed owners get "expressive".
--Always wear your "I'LL BUY YOUR HOME FOR CASH" t-shirt - let me know how this one works ok? Cash talks.
--Gawd help me, just thought of this; watch the obituaries.... Be kind, tactful...
Let's talk; I'm in Boulder, Tom
The last time someone called me a MF, I punched him in the mouth. Oh, wait, we're talking about real estate. MF = Multi Family. Z
This isn't a specific method of finding a property, but it turned out to be the equivalent of at least two or more rehabs. My best rehab came from a lead from a realtor. Many people wouldn't have even thought of this property as a rehab. It was very livable when we first saw it, and the owner was actually still in it. This particular house didn't draw a lot of attention though because it had some issues that seemed extremely difficult to overcome. It was a older house that had a kitchen that was only 6x8 feet, the living room was small, and it had no cental hvac. The pluses were that it was beside and across from a couple of large fully renovated houses. My wife gets most of the credit for seeing past the outdated floorplan. We tore a hole in the back kitchen wall and hauled of the back porch. Then we added a sunroom onto the kitchen which made the kitchen larger and brighter while adding a great breakfast room. We also tore out the living room wall, added hvac, and did some other small things that really made the house diffrent. For example, we had the old grey paint sanded off the front porch and then we stained it cherry and coated it with marine varnish. It was beautiful. When all was said and done, we had spent $30k and we turned around and sold it 3 weeks after it went on the market for $80k more than we paid. We did not even get this house at a discount to fmv or list www.price.This was a tremendous rehab that was basically just sitting under the nose of a lot of people. I think you could do well just with leads from realtors if you could spot some improvements that others are overlooking.
I wouldn't even consider that a rehab, I would call that updating.
You took something that wasn't functional or desireable, and through your hard work and more importantly, vision you gave the house a rebirth and created a desireable property.
Great story.
If I had to guess I would say that type of project has got to be less than 5% of most of the work done here by investors.
It definitly takes someone with courage and vision to know enough that they can be doing what you did with the knowledge that there will be a pay off down the road. Much more risky than the typical recarpeting and repainting rehab.
Bravo!
The rehabs that we've bought have come through a realtor which tends to fax us the info first.
The other way has been by word of mouth.
I've also been looking at this site weekly: www.BankForeclosureList.com which has been very up to date.
Thanks,
OnTheWater