Actual RE Classified Ads - Which ones do you call? - Posted by Bill

import · December 12, 2004, 10:12am

Posted by Bill on December 13, 2004 at 22:39:17:

Mike-
I called on some of those you picked. Please see my other post for the details of those I called on. You asked me what I thought. The two duplexes on South Osage are in a run down neighborhood. The same goes for Pine, Union, and South 13th. The listing for North Lake appears that the owner would not be flexible on terms and the price listed is right at market value. I should probably call to see if the price is flexible. What would you do in those areas you know are run down? Call or pass on them?

Thanks Mike for your reply.

import · December 12, 2004, 10:12am

Actual RE Classified Ads - Which ones do you call? - Posted by Bill

Posted by Bill on December 12, 2004 at 11:12:55:

Ok, I copied and pasted an actual real estate classified ad section (I deleted phone numbers) from my local online newspaper. We’re a small community of approx. 26000 people. The “bread and butter” type houses range from $40K to $70K.

Here are my questions and I believe I know the answers; just want some reassurance: 1.) When looking through these ads below, which ones would you call on and why? 2.) If this is the biggest the list ever gets, where do you go from here (after you’ve called and found no motivated sellers)?

Houses for Sale - (Top)
1301 SOUTH Sixth. Three bedroom, one bath, must sell quick. $25,000 make offer.
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1508 RIGGS. Four bedroom, fenced, central heat/ air. Light cosmetic work needed. $33,000.
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1917 NORTH Osage. By owner, four bedrooms, 2 1/2 bath, two car garage, sunroom, 2,000 sq.ft. 87,500.
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3,500 SQUARE foot, eight year old executive home in upscale neighborhood on 1.75 acres. Four bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths, inground pool. This home has everything. Call for details and private showing.
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313 NORTH Peachtree. Redecorated, central heat/ air, two- three bedrooms, 1,200 sq.ft. plus garage. $47,000. Call
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317 VIRGINIA. Charming Cottage. Large living room with outstanding fireplace and dining area. Two bedrooms, one bath, kitchen with breakfast nook. One car garage, patio. Excellent investment. Time to buy. Why pay rent? $49,900. Call for appointment to see.
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800 SOUTH 13th. Two-Three bedroom, one bath, detached garage with laundry room, two extra lots, $32,000. Phone
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827 NORTH Peachtree. By owner, two bedroom, one bath, attached garage, central heat and air, move-in condition. Appliances stays. $29,000
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A NICE country setting for this three bedroom home on one acre, large living room, kitchen with appliances, nicely decorated, total electric, attached large garage, fenced yard, water well.
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Brick Home
in Tonkawa
1216 N. 5th
3 bedroom, 2 bath, central heat/air, 2 car attached garage, 1 1/2 lots on corner + unattached large 2 car garage/workshop perfect space for motor home & boat.
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CENTURY 21
GROUP ONE
1215 E. Highland
OPEN
SATURDAY
10:00-2:00
Except Holiday Weekend
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COUNTRY LIVING with city convenience on four acres. City utilities on all weather road. School bus route. Three bedroom, two bath, living room, dining room, deck with view of Osage Hills, storage building, storm cellar. Reduced to $67,500.
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DUPLEX- 433/ 435 South Palm. $7,200 per year gross income.
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FOR SALE. One bedroom, partially furnished. Owner finance. 517 North Pine. Call after 5:30.
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FOR SALE: Duplex that could be converted to a four bedroom, two bath house. $29,500. Call.
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LUXURY TIMESHARE at Marriott Desert Spring Villas I in Palm Springs, California. White week priced well below market with possibility of two weeks with lock out unit.
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PERRY THREE bedroom, Two bath, 1860 sq.ft. new berber carpet, very open floor plan, huge lot, near golf course. A must see. Owner/Agent
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THREE BEDROOM brick home, living room, kitchen, bath, new interior paint, new kitchen floor, new garage door, two car attached heated garage, four car detached finished and heated garage with office and bathroom, two metal storage buildings, large fenced yard, fruit trees.
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THREE BEDROOM, two bath, two car garage. 1,944 square foot, Close to High School. Across from park. $75,000. 832 North 5th.
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THREE HOUSES on the 500 block of North Union. $37,500 for the whole group, as is.
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THREE OR four bedroom. 201 North Lake. Very nice condition, new carpet, linoleum double wall furnace, paint, etc. No owner financing, $29,000.
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TWO BEDROOM, two bath house for sale or rent. Would consider contract for deed. 215 West Ninth, Newkirk.
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UNIQUE HOME. Four bedroom with study, three bathrooms, two car garage. Chef?s kitchen. Located on beautiful 1.75 acre lot. Park setting. Tennis court. Great neighborhood. $269,000.
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VERY SPACIOUS two or three bedroom home with three living areas, 2 1/2 baths, two fireplaces, lots of storage, 2,320 square feet, utility, two car garage, work shop, large fenced yard, $99,000.
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Income Property for Sale - (Top)
TWO DUPLEXES for sale: 100-110 South Osage. One upstairs apartment and one downstairs apartment in each unit. Asking $66,500. Phone Coldwell Banker Heritage Realtors,.
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import · December 12, 2004, 2:13pm

Re: Actual RE Ads - Which ones do you call? - Posted by Tom-FL

Posted by Tom-FL on December 12, 2004 at 15:13:05:

I am not local to you you so I don’t know any of these areas. However, if I just moved in next door to you and had these same ads available, this is what I would do. I’d call all of them, there really aren’t that many. Many sellers in bad situations would put up a strong front in an ad. It’s best to call them and interview them looking for signs of motivation.

That said, back to the ads. Most of them don’t show any signs of motivation at all. If I were pressed for time, I’d call these first:

1301 SOUTH Sixth. Three bedroom, one bath, must sell quick. $25,000 make offer.
(must sell quick … make offer)
Is this motivation? Who knows? Does he want to sell quickly to upgrade? Maybe he doesn’t like the carpet color. Or is he being shipped out somewhere next Tuesday? Is it a divorce? Behind on payments?

1508 RIGGS. Four bedroom, fenced, central heat/ air. Light cosmetic work needed. $33,000.
(Light cosmetic work needed)
What would it sell for when the work is done? $35,000? Or $65,000? Big difference. If $65,000 then it’s certainly worth a drive by.

THREE HOUSES on the 500 block of North Union. $37,500 for the whole group, as is.
(for the whole group, as is)
Wholesale deal. $12,500 each, pretty cheap. As is means he’d rather dump them than fix them. Just be sure they won’t be full of fresh bullet holes before your new paint job dries.

FOR SALE. One bedroom, partially furnished. Owner finance. 517 North Pine. Call after 5:30.
(Owner finance)
Anyone offering terms is trying to get out of Dodge, or is an investor. If the former, they may be inclined to accept a deal that works for you.

TWO BEDROOM, two bath house for sale or rent. Would consider contract for deed. 215 West Ninth, Newkirk.
(Would consider contract for deed)
Ditto.

Now just as an aside, these things look pretty far apart, to the tune of thirty or more miles. I only saw three city names, Newkirk, Perry, and Tonkawa. Newkirk and Perry are almost a full county apart. That’s a lot of driving.

Also, what exactly is an “all weather road”? Does that mean the other roads in the area are “Some weather roads”? That sounds kind of scary.

You asked where to go from there. You could put your own ad in the paper saying you buy houses. You could put up those little plastic road signs. You could go to the courthouse and look up new foreclosure, divorce, probate, eviction, and condemnation cases. You could find out where the recent fires have been and go look, especially if the house is rendered uninhabitable. Keep an eye on your local news for clues. I like to try to find houses from “pot farm bust”, “house of filth”, “old lady with 78 cats”, stuff like that. Sometimes the reporter is standing there saying “Blah blah on the 2600 block of Johnson St” and he’s standing right in front of the number “2614” on the wall or mailbox. Or he says “Blah blah on the 2600 block of Johnson St” and then proceeds to interview “Jane Doe who lives directly across the street”. Then it’s a matter of looking up “Jane Doe at 26xx Johnson St” in the land records and then hopping across the street. You could also just go to the 2600 block of Johnson St and look for the yellow crime scene tape or fire damage.

It really looks like there is sparse information online in your area so you might be relegated to stone-age style searching, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If you are the only one with the gumption to head to the courthouse and records office, you have a leg up on the rest. From what I saw, Noble County has no web site at all, and Kay County does not have property records online but they do have tax records. At least you can find out if the taxes are behind.

You may want to move your operations to Oklahoma County if it’s not too far. They have an amazing array of information free and online. They have the upcoming Sheriff sales posted online (I have to pay $14 here), and each entry is linked to the assessor record and the tax record. The assessor site has all the info on the house, the site and mailing address of the owner, a sketch of the building dimensions and a photograph of the property. Additionally, you can pull comps right from there. You still have to do the math, but the raw data is available.

Well, time to get back to work.

T

import · December 12, 2004, 1:38pm

My Picks - Posted by Mike-OH

Posted by Mike-OH on December 12, 2004 at 14:38:01:

Bill,

Below are the listings that I would call. Basically, I’d call on each house that would be at 70% or less estimated market value and would generate a positive cash flow of at LEAST $100/month. My area sounds a lot like yours as far as prices are concerned. In my area, basically any single family house that is ready to rent for less than $40,000 can be a good deal (with rents in the $500 to $650 range). I normally won’t call any ad without a price. To me, no price means the people want so much that putting the price in the paper will shock you.

Here are my picks:

1301 SOUTH Sixth. Three bedroom, one bath, must sell quick. $25,000 make offer.

1508 RIGGS. Four bedroom, fenced, central heat/ air. Light cosmetic work needed. $33,000.

800 SOUTH 13th. Two-Three bedroom, one bath, detached garage with laundry room, two extra lots, $32,000.

827 NORTH Peachtree. By owner, two bedroom, one bath, attached garage, central heat and air, move-in condition. Appliances stays. $29,000

FOR SALE. One bedroom, partially furnished. Owner finance. 517 North Pine. Call after 5:30.

FOR SALE: Duplex that could be converted to a four bedroom, two bath house. $29,500. Call

THREE HOUSES on the 500 block of North Union. $37,500 for the whole group, as is.

THREE OR four bedroom. 201 North Lake. Very nice condition, new carpet, linoleum double wall furnace, paint, etc. No owner financing, $29,000.

TWO BEDROOM, two bath house for sale or rent. Would consider contract for deed. 215 West Ninth, Newkirk

Income Property for Sale - (Top)
TWO DUPLEXES for sale: 100-110 South Osage. One upstairs apartment and one downstairs apartment in each unit. Asking $66,500. Phone Coldwell Banker Heritage Realtors,.

There they are. What do you think?

Mike

import · December 13, 2004, 9:19pm

Re: Actual RE Ads - Which ones do you call? - Posted by Bill

Posted by Bill on December 13, 2004 at 22:19:42:

Thanks for your reply Tom.

As for the ads, I did call the first two and the last one you listed. The other two would definately receive bullet holes before any rehab was complete. The particular neihborhoods for those are trashy and high crime areas.

However the first call on the house located on South 6th is to early to tell. The phone number listed was to the owner’s mother who didn’t even know her son was selling. To my amazement, I was the first caller. She told me her son moved to TN and she knew very little about the property or his flexibility. She gave me his phone number and I immediately called and left a message.

The next one on Riggs comp’s at $35/sf which puts the ARV at $43,508. The owner rented it out for 6 years at $450 and never raised the rent during that time. It will easily rent for $550. It’s vacant now and the owner is tired of renting it. She also needs cash to pay-off some debts. She doesn’t seem to be flexible in terms or price. She indicated the only repairs needed are paint inside and out and new kitchen linoleum. I don’t think this one would work considering I’m looking for quick flips to wholesale buyers for cash. Am I missing anything? What would you do?

The two bedroom in Newkirk has been rented. I didn’t pursue this one after learning this. Maybe I should have? I probably should have probed a little deeper. What are your thoughts?

Now for the other stuff. I have no idea what an “all weather road” is. That’s a first for me as well.

Yes, Kay county is in the stone age. I do have a trial usage of the tax assessors records. After 30 days it’s $30/mo. It’s frustrating though because the search options are limited to parcel number, house number, street, and owner name. That’s it and no more than 50 results. I’m not sure if it’s worth the money at this point. What do you think?

As for Oklahoma county, you’re right. They have an enormous amount of information. It’s really awesome. I’ve been checking it out for a little over a month now. You mentioned moving my operations to Oklahoma county if it’s not to far. It’s 110 miles south of my location and I am looking. My brother lives in Oklahoma City and is willing to check the properties out with a split of 50/50 on the assignment fees or any profit. Do you have any suggestions on his role and my role to make the operation run smoothly? I did make 2 offers within the past 30 days in that area and it went okay. One was flat out rejected and we were told not to waste his time and the other offer was rejected by the owner’s attorney who didn’t want an assignment clause. Anyway, I got some practice at least.

Thanks again Tom and I’m looking forward to any other suggestions you or anyone else may have.

Bill