Why Should People Invest In You ? by Mik Cohen

You've thought about it lots of times -
IF I had the $$, I could buy that house, remodel the interior and make a great ROI. 

I like the word "IF" because it sparks the imagination and, for those of you who pursue your dreams, that little 2 letter word leads to your solution.

So, in terms of obtaining the needed capital, from private investors, to start your house flipping business - here's what you need to do:

* THE MATH: What's the ROI you can fetch your investors ? What's the average pricepoint of the market(s) you're going to invest in ?
How many homes have SOLD, in that market, over the last 45 days (You always have that answer, because YOU ARE the expert in that market, RIGHT ?) ? 
What's the minimum investment you'll need - as in HOW MUCH ? HOW MUCH needs to include the closing costs, rehab/remodel costs, taxes, insurance, utilities, disposal (of debri) and any other related costs to that, proposed, project.You should, also, account for the costs associated to selling the property, once it's complete, like taxes, closing costs and agent commissions.Have the math done BEFORE you move on to the next step - because if you do identify and find an investor AND that investor asks you questions, right there and then, and you don't have the answers - wave bye bye.Know your shit, man !

* PROSPECTIVE INVESTORS: Capital investors do, usually, understand that real estate is a gamble - just like stocks and other, significant, investments.

The ones who understand that risk are the ones you want to attract AND do business with.

Ok, so HOW do you attract these investors ?
My favorite method is public records that relate to recent home sales in the areas that I'm an "expert" in.
You can utilize the county recorder's website, which is - usually, free.
There, you'll find documents, or reference to documents, that tell you whether, or not, a mortgage/lien is recorded against that property.
Some documents you can view online, some you can't - for privacy reasons.

Also, the tax assessor will be on that same county website, to see if the taxes are current, assessed values and other data that you might be interested in. 

Most important, you're primarily interested in homes that are being purchased by cash buyers - where there's no mortgages or liens - it was purchased, and is owned, outright.

Once you indentify 1 or 2 of these owners/investors, you can do a separate records search based on their name - to see how many properties come up/they own.
You'll also find, with the "serious" investors, that they're buying these under corporations, or LLCs.

Roll on out the your state's secretary of state website and you can, usually, identify the corporation or LLCs members - if that info helps you.
At any rate, it will provide you the contact information for the company/member(s), which is really what you need, right ?

Another way to find this data is to become a real estate agent's best friend !
They have "private" access to sales and mortgage history, as well as LOTS of additional data that will help you - like recent sales and other critical aspects of your business that will make you that "expert".

And another way ?? - I like Realquest/Corelogic (www.realquest.com/). It's a membership that can be costly, depending on your needs.
What makes this a great option is the organization and accessibility of that data.
It's all, right there, on one easy to view/access webpage. 

It's pretty obvious, from here, how to proceed once you're an "expert" in your chosen market(s), you know the math and you've identified your, prospective, capital investors.

Real estate investing is NOT an easy path and it's wrecked more lives than its made - BUT - if you have the stomach for it: work well under pressure, are persistent, easily relate to people, easily adapt to changing situations - meaning you DON'T freak out, and like the prospect of being your own person while making a living, real estate just might be for you ; )

Interested in investing with us ?
Contact Mik: [email protected]