Why You Should Care

Number one: There is no better way to determine what the history of a property is than by utilizing a combination of online tools available.  One would be your online recorder of deeds information (if it is available), and two, access to your local multiple listing service.  If you don’t have that, then find a way to get it.  Have a spouse, sibling, etc get their license and get access…or you yourself.  In my opinion, the pluses of having your license (or somebody you know) outweight not having it.

You can see what people bought the property for, what it sold for before, how much they owe, how many mortgages there are, whether there are property line encroachments, whether there are liens and jugements which would prevent the sell of the property, etc, etc.

Convinced yet?  Get your free Researching Titles Guidebook here.

Number Two: Do you know how to spot fraud?  I do.  Matter of fact,  a large local investor committed fraud in his rehabbing/wholesaling business.  How did I know before he fled the country?…it was ALL public knowledge and I researched him out like crazy and knew he was running a ponzi scheme.

Number Three: Checking in on your Title Companies.  You may think to yourself…awww…shucks, I don’t need to follow up on my attorney, or my closing companies.  YES, you do, for YOUR benefit.  Believe me, there are bad attorneys and title companies out there scheming this second as to how they can walk away with some of your money.  NO, that is not the majority.  Matter of fact, it is probably a very small percentage, but they are out there.  OR, maybe they are 1 lease payment away from going out of business, and you don’t know that beforehand.  Better to protect, than neglect.

I’ll say this, there have been several instances of title companies doing closings over the last several years that have done things to hurt or cripple investors.  Maybe they told you that you were getting title insurance, but you never really did.  Maybe they never recorded your deed, and now you are out of luck and have to jump through 10 hoops to get one.  Maybe they never filed the satisfaction of mortgage for the private money loan you had on a house you bought, and again, now you or they have to do the leg work.  Maybe you even need to provide proof of your payment and complete a Quiet Title Action in court.  You just never know.  However, I do know I would rather know that my deeds are being recorded, and satisfactions are being filed than to find out after something may cost me $50,000 or $500,000.

So, the choice is yours…but I can tell you there are about 3 or 4 UNDERGROUND skill sets that I have as a professional investor that are invaluable, and THIS is one of them.

Convinced yet?  Get your FREE Researching Titles Guidebook NOW, before I say, I told you so.

I even had a client pay me $200 for a private 3 hour session to show him how to do this and he was just telling me a week ago that it was the best money he has EVER spent.  He learned so much from it that he couldn’t put into words.

FURTHERMORE, you have the INSIDE track to working preforeclosure deals that most people don’t even know exist.  It opens up an ENTIRE new area of marketing for you.  Just wait and see and then come back right here to this post and thank me.

Your Protector of Money,

Brandon Yeager

Flashback

When I first started out landlording, I’d get a call from a prospective tenant, and inevitably, they would ask:
“can you tell me about the apartment (or house, etc)”

I used to go into a long, drawn out, detailed, explanation of everything about the apartment, trying to sell the apartment.

Nowadays, I tell them how much it costs, and then ask them…”is that in the price range you were looking for, or were you looking for something a little less ?” If they are calling from the yard sign, and just dialed me up, and that is not in their budget…I just saved myself 5 or 10 minutes.

Don’t accept Pets, Nip it in the Bud Quickly…

I also cut to the pet topic right away. No dogs ? Tell them right up front, and then ask them, is that a problem ? It is better than waiting until they have told you their entire personal crisis story and how they need a place to live right now, and 20 minutes later, you find out they own 3 dobermans and 5 cats. “Is that a problem?”, they ask ????

Flip Side

On the flip side, suppose somebody is calling you to sell their home. Probably 1/2 the time the phone call comes in, the seller begins telling you about every lovely detail from roof to basement about the property. Do not let them sell you on the property for 15 minutes, before you ask the questions that YOU need answered. You do not really care about the hand-cut crown moulding grandpa put in 8 years ago, before his poodle died, and he had to move to Florida.

Do not get me wrong, listen and empathize with them…for about 60 seconds, and then cut to the chase. It is YOUR TIME they are probably hijacking.

Another Favorite of Mine

I oftentimes get calls from home sellers that start with “Can you tell me about how you guys work ?”, or “Can you tell me about how your program works”.

I DO NOT even consider it for 1 second, HOWEVER, I used to. I used to tell them for 5 minutes about how I generally work, etc, etc.

Now, I say: “Well, why don’t you start by giving me your name and the best phone number to reach you at, in case we get disconnected”. They will not even hesitate, provide you their info, and then you move right into asking THEM questions…not the other way around.

These are all things that come with time and experience. Believe me, it only takes wasting a Gazillion hours on people, and them squandering your time away, before you too will realize the Time Vampires that are sucking you life right out of you.

Great, Brandon…Now What?

Well, here is exactly what I would recommend. You know in your heart and soul, probably 90% of all the calls you get from home sellers will start out with 1 of 10 different questions. Write them, down, and then write you own flanking responses to their questions and positions, etc.
Now, do the same for when a tenant calls. What are the 10 most common ways that your conversations start. Write down you 10 best flanking responses to get through those.
If you do JUST those items, every time it happens, depending upon how many calls you get per month, you can literally add DAYS to year.

Today, I want to help alleviate your tax nightmares.

Yes, I used to be a ShoeBox Stuffer

 
Yep. I used to do everything with MS Excel. It literally took me nearly 1 week to get all my tax stuff, receipts, etc all tabulated and in order.

Then, I checked out John Hyre’s stuff for Quickbooks for real estate investors. It was good. Very detailed. My accountants changed a couple setup items on the books.

Quickbooks to the Rescue

Then I started to use Quickbooks. It stinks in that you have to be more disciplined while you go throughout the year. You need to enter your checks into the software (or order checks that work with the software), and you need to be rather religious with staying on top of your accounting stuff.

Bottom Line

I wouldn’t trade it for anything. With the push of a few buttons, you can have detailed reports, analyze your cashflow, generate 1099’s automatically, and a ton of other time saving, and business critical items.
I highly recommend, start using Quickbooks for your flips and rentals sooner rather than later. I delayed and regret it to this day that I did not switch over sooner. Yes, you may need to find someone to setup your original accounts, etc and help you at the beginning. You should be able to find somebody to do this for you from $35-$70 per hour very easily.

Happy Investing, your friend and mentor,

Brandon Yeager