Let's Talk Real Estate Investing with Sharon Vornholt

I believe there are 3 things that will ultimately determine the success (or failure) of your business. My top 3 success tips for real estate investors have to do with mindset, motivation. and mentors no matter what your investing strategy is.

My guest today is Pili Yarusi. I'm excited to have her on the show because she truly represents everything good about the younger generation of female real estate investors. What I especially love about Pili is never-ending positivity and her big smile.

One thing I've learned over the past couple of years is that this new generation of female real estate investors still face many of the same challenges I did when I started more than two decades ago. I'll take that one step further to say that in many respects, nothing much has changed.

3 Success Tips for Real Estate Investors Discussed in this Show

1. Mindset: You are the only person that can change this.
2. Motivation: Lack of motivation is almost always fixed by changing your mindset.
3. Mentors: You can go faster and grow bigger with the help of mentors.

Show Notes

Pili shares so much wisdom in this show. One big takeaway is that you and you alone are responsible for your success in this business. The only roadblocks to your success exist in your mind, and once you are aware of that, you can change your mindset. Follow the 3 success tips and I will guarantee you that they will change your business and your life.

Here is some of what we talked about:

• The decision to choose entrepreneurship and why Pili and her husband chose real estate
• Thinking bigger; the mindset shift she needed to transition from single-family houses to large multifamily properties
• How your mindset always plays a huge role in your success (or failure) when it comes to this business
• Why mentors and strong role models are essential for your success
• The mind-boggling truth in 2020: women still have to try harder to sell themselves in this business
• The benefits of surrounding yourself with "a tribe" of like-minded people
• Asking for help when you need it
• Second-guessing yourself (Stop it!)
• This family's business decision to move across the country

Favorite Quote from this Show

"Women have to almost try harder to sell themselves". -Pili Yarusi

Weigh In!

What roadblocks have you faced while building your real estate investing business? If you are a woman in this business, do you feel like you have to try harder just because you are a woman?

Share your success tips in the comments.

You can reach out to Pili here at [email protected]

Today I want to spend a couple of minutes talking about a reader question that I get frequently about probate marketing for real estate investors and the reasons behind the process I follow. The question was, "Should I send direct mail to the PR and the heirs, or just to the personal representative"?

Another way to put it was, "Why should I only send direct mail pieces to the personal representative rather than the personal representative and all of the heirs"?

Why Would You Only Mail the Personal Representative?

The answer is simple. Because it's cheaper and there's not any real benefit that I found over time that you get from mailing all the heirs. The executor or the administrator is the "decision-maker". This is the person you want to mail. They are the only person that can legally sign the sales and purchase agreement if you decide to purchase the house. That doesn't mean that there's not another family member that might contact you or even show you the house. In fact, that's often the way it works.

Probate Marketing for Real Estate Investors

When it comes to probate marketing, you want to get the best results possible but at the same time you don't want to waste money on marketing that isn't likely to yield results.

Here's an example. Let's assume you have $500 a month to spend on direct mail. If every one of those families has a personal representative and four siblings, that would mean you were sending five letters a month to folks about one particular property. You would have the potential to generate 100 leads. However, if you only sent the letter to the personal representative and you still had the same $500 to spend on marketing, you could mail to the PR about 500 properties. As you can see there is a big difference in the number of potential number of properties that could ultimately become deals.

What Does it Cost to Mail a Letter?

Today it's about a dollar letter to send a personalized white computer generated letter which includes them doing the work! This is what I recommend that you send because it gets the best result. That has remained consistent in my 13 years of experience where I specialized in probates and probate marketing.

Direct mail costs have come down a lot over the years for these letters. It was about $1.50 fifteen years ago for this same letter. Your focus should be on reaching the decision-maker about a particular estate rather than reaching everyone concerned with a singular estate. These folks will be in contact with each other so there's no reason to mail the PR and the heirs.

Will You Always be Dealing with the PR?

Not necessarily.

There will typically be one family member who will be in charge as far as the day-to-day business of the estate goes. You know; there's always that one sister or brother that's in charge when it comes to matters like this. This will likely be the person that you deal with. If you mail the letter to the executor and they aren't the person taking care of the day to day business, they will give the letter to the family member in that role. They would be handling things like property showings and possibly even the negotiation.

Just remember, that the heirs want to sell the house so they can get what they will be inheriting. Otherwise, they don't get paid.

Final Advice

When it comes to probate marketing for investors, you will get better results if you follow the process. You will also save a lot of money on your marketing over time if you only mail the personal representative. Let me know if you have any questions.

Be sure to stop by the Louisville Gal's Real Estate Blog and pick up your freebies!

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Today we are going to talk about a hot topic, and that is investing in tiny homes for short term rentals. My guest is Nashville investor, Cindy Maxson. Cindy has a wealth of experience when it comes to real estate investing. She has completed over a dozen flips and two new construction projects. Cindy also got her real estate license within the past year.

What she discovered along the way was that she wasn't a fan of long term rentals. However, she did discover her passion for short term rentals after converting a vacant, run-down boarding house into her first Airbnb on the second floor of what would become her personal residence. Cindy's most recent project is investing in a tiny home for a short term rental.

Show Notes

Investing in tiny homes for short-term rentals is a fairly new concept for most investors, however, it is definitely a fascinating topic. Here is just some of what we talked about in this show.

• How Cindy got started: buying foreclosure homes and rehabbing them
• The process of figuring out she didn't like long term rentals
• Her decision to buy a vacant, run-down boarding house to turn into her personal home with a second floor Airbnb
• Cindy's thought process behind investing in tiny homes for short term rentals
• The amenities she feels are important in tiny home communities
• The numbers: just how profitable is investing in tiny homes for short term rentals?
• Are more tiny homes in her future?
• The art of the pivot when Covid-19 takes away your primary source of income
• What Cindy has learned from Airbnb's and the tips she has for anyone that has an interest in short term rentals as an investing strategy

Be sure to stop by the Louisville Gal's Real Estate Blog and pick up your freebies!

My guest is the Anti-Financial Advisor, Chris Miles of Money Ripples, and we are going to talk about how to retire early through real estate investing. Chris teaches entrepreneurs and professionals on how to get their money working for them today. He's an author, the host of podcast, "The Chris Miles Money Show", he has been featured in US News, CNN Money, EOFire and he has a proven reputation with his company Money Ripples getting his clients' fast financial results.

Show Notes

This previous financial advisor will show his reasoning for putting your money in real estate rather than Wall Street. Listen in and hear Chris tell you his story including all the mistakes he has made along the way.

• The reason this former financial advisor ended up leaving that field to invest in real estate
• Why he calls himself the "the anti-financial advisor"
• How to retire early through real estate like Chris did at 28 (the first time)
• What happened that caused him to come out of his first retirement
• Why buying property for appreciation is a big mistake
• Retiring the second time (for good)
• Fixing "money leaks"
• Creating cash flow from rentals and other passive streams of income
• His preferred method of helping people create passive income and reach financial freedom
• Book recommendation: Shoe Dog by the creator of Nike, Phil Night

Be sure to stop by the Louisville Gal's Real Estate Blog and pick up your freebies!

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I've heard from a lot of folks that their direct mail results have been dismal for probates, so today I want to be sure you're setting up your probate list criteria to get the best results possible.

Ever since Covid-19 came into our world, the courts quickly shut down in most areas. For some cities, they are either still mainly closed to the public or there is limited access. If you live in a state where everything is online, you are in a much better position than a large portion of the country.

No matter what your exact situation is with regards to the courts, I am hearing from investors everywhere that there is still a huge backlog of cases still waiting to get through the process. That is certainly true in my area. How long will it take to get back to normal? I don't think anyone has the answer to that one. In the meantime, we can focus on what we can control. One of those things is the quality of your list.

Today I want to go over the steps I take when I am creating my list for probates.

Setting Up Your Probate List Criteria

When you get your initial list of probate properties, as you remember you need the name and address of the deceased and the personal representative for your marketing purposes. For this exercise, we are going to focus solely on the property in the estate. Not every property will end up on my mailing list.

How do I choose which properties I put on my list?

First of all, you start with the end in mind. What's your exit strategy? Hopefully, you have more than one. If you are a rehabber or a buy and hold landlord, you will know what your buying criteria is for these properties. But what about properties that are good properties, but they're not something you're personally interested in? Those are wholesale deals. As you can see, you should have at least 2 exit strategies for every property.

Here is the Process I Follow

Once we have the list for last month's probate cases filed, each one is looked upon the tax assessor's site. Sorry, but there is no shortcut for this. However, this is the way you get your probate criteria right before you ever spend one dime on direct mail.

Here is an outline of the steps I go through. I have all the details in the video and the podcast below so be sure to check those out.

The first two steps are a simple yes or no, and if either one comes up a "no" it doesn't go on my list. There is no further research needed.

1. Location (yes-no)
2. Price (too expensive, too cheap)
3. Size: What is the square footage?
4. Is the property listed? (May or may not be an issue)
5. Would the property be considered "functionally obsolete"? (Could be harder to sell)
6. Wholesalers: where do they buy? Is this a property they would be interested in?
7. Will the property cash flow if your rehab doesn't sell?

Fatal Flaws

One last thing I would like to mention is what I call fatal flaws. These are things that will make the property extremely difficult to sell, therefore I won't buy these. They might include:

• Steep driveways or properties located at the top of a steep hill
• Properties on a corner lot on a busy street
• Busy streets in general that are considered main access roads
• Unacceptable layouts that can't be fixed without a major gut and reconfiguration of the space
• Properties in flood plains etc.

Anything that would cause most buyers to say no to a property, is a no for me.

Scrubbing Your List

This is one thing investors consistently fail to do. You can't put a probate list together and never clean it up. So, what do I mean by that? If you don't remove properties that have sold, it will cost you a lot of money over time. Ideally, this should be done at least quarterly.

Think back to the process. Every month you are adding new probates to your list. If you never remove properties that have sold, your list will eventually contain properties that are no longer available.

Return Mail

You should always go through your return mail every month.

Stop and think about it for a minute. If you got these letters back, so did everyone else. It's likely that some properties ended up on your list that were "marginal" the first time around. They met most of your criteria, but they weren't your favorites. When you are deciding whether to skip trace these properties, you will want to take another look at these before spending the money skip tracing them. Skip tracing good leads will be some of the best money you spend to get deals from your probate list.

Final Thoughts

Taking the time from the very beginning to create a good list of probate leads will pay big dividends down the road. Are these steps you take when putting your list together? What criteria are you using for these lists?

Be sure to get your sample probate letter on the Louisville Gal's Real Estate Blog. You can also get one on Probate Investing Simplified.

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I've been getting a lot of questions and concerns from investors about working probates during a pandemic. They are worried about how to build rapport with sellers of probate property during this difficult time. How do they not come off as cold-hearted opportunists?

First of all, I would like to address the fact that this is a valid concern for investors. It affects the way you interact with sellers. If you don't understand the probate process it won't take long for the seller to figure that out, and you may say the wrong thing.

However, once you have an understanding of 2 things, you realize that this isn't a problem but rather a golden opportunity to help these overburdened, overwhelmed sellers move forward with settling the estate. What are those 2 things?

Understanding the Process and the Knowing How to Start the Conversation

Understanding the Process

Understanding the probate process is the first step when it comes to knowing how to build rapport with sellers of probate property. You simply cannot have an intelligent, compassionate conversation with the seller unless you understand the probate process.

Once these folks open the estate, the next steps are laid out for them. After the estate is opened and the letters of testamentary are ready, the next step is to liquidate the assets in the estate which includes selling any property in the estate. This is when you can buy the house. The letters of testamentary from the court spell out who is in charge. Another way to put it is the letters clearly state who the person is that has the legal right to sell the property. I like to call this person the decision-maker. The decision-maker is the only person that can sign the documents related to the purchase of the property.

Now, it's quite likely that another member of the family will be the person showing you the property or communicating with you and that's pretty normal. However, when it comes to signing the sales and purchase contract, only the court-appointed personal representative can do that. Armed with a basic understanding of this part of the process, we can move forward with how to have easy conversations with the sellers.

How to Start the Conversation with the Seller

I wrote a whole blog post previously about the "Art of Conversation" and I will put a link to that below. When it comes to having conversations with these sellers, probably the most important thing to remember is that they are just regular people, and this is just a conversation. This will be a conversation guided by how you can help them with the sale of the property and any other challenges they have related to the property like:

• Back taxes owed
• Fines from code enforcement due to deferred maintenance, tall grass, or similar things
• Cleaning out the house and/or the garage
• Junk on the property

In your conversation, you will want to find out what they need help with. Another way to put it is what's holding them back from moving forward with the sale of the property?

Conversation Starters

Here are 7 tips that will help make this process easy for you.

1. Once you arrive at the property, introduce yourself then simply say, "Tell me about the property". Your job is to listen; to really give them your full attention. Listen for clues about their motivation. Show them you are empathetic by giving them your full attention.
2. They may begin to walk through a room or two as they tell their story. Remember that sharing their stories and their memories is important to them. This is an important piece when it comes to building rapport with these sellers. Patience is your friend. Don't be tempted to look at your watch or check your phone.
3. Resist the urge to dive right into asking specifics about the property. That comes later. Rushing the process is a mistake. Your ability to do this will be an important reason why they will choose you over your competitor. Your competitor is most likely coming to the property and starting with this step.
4. Look for visual clues to guide the conversation. For instance, if you see golf clubs in the corner and you know their dad has passed away. Simply say, "Oh, was your dad a golfer"? Maybe you see a collection of cookbooks in the kitchen. In that case, you would say, "Oh, did your mom love to cook"? Unless the house has been completely cleaned out (which is unlikely) there will always be visual clues to guide the conversation.
5. After you do this a few times, you will instinctively know when it's time to move on with questions about the property. This is when you will want to ask questions about the age and condition of the roof and the major systems. I also like to ask then if there are any problems with the property I should know about. You will be amazed at what people will tell you just by asking an open-ended question like this. As you walk through the property you can ask them about specific things you notice. The key thing to remember is that you have followed the steps I have laid out, you have already put them at ease and begun to build rapport with the seller. At this point, they will be ready to get down to specifics. One final question I like to ask is, "If you were going to live here what would you do to the house"? This question will likely lead to another whole conversation which lays the groundwork for changing the seller's expectations. That's another thing I talked about previously on the blog in a post called, "Negotiation and the Art of Conversation". I will also link to that post below.
6. Once you have asked them about the repairs and updates they would do if they were going to live there, that opens another door for you. It allows you to remind them that after you buy the house and do all the repairs and updates that are needed, your buyer will want and expect those same things in a newly renovated house when you are ready to sell it. When they tell you that they can do the work cheaper themselves, just agree with them. You can let them know that they can certainly do that if they are willing to invest their money and put some sweat equity in the property. They will definitely get more money for the house by doing all the repairs and updates needed than you can pay for an "as-is" property. At this point, it's a good idea to remind them that your expertise is in helping folks just like them who have a property in an estate to sell find a quick, hassle-free solution to their problem. Let them know that you hire qualified contractors to do all the work. Since the new buyer will almost certainly have a home inspection done on the property it's important that all the work is done professionally and to code.
7. Finally, before you ever make them an offer, there are a couple more questions you want to ask them. First of all, ask them if they need help cleaning out the house. Let them know that you can do that for them. This is where so many people get stuck.

Next, ask them, "Is there anything else holding you back from moving forward"? You are looking once again for motivation. Another way you can put it is, "Is there anything else I can help you that will make this process easier for you"?

Final Thoughts

I hope these tips will make you see that these conversations don't have to be difficult. When it comes down to how to build rapport with sellers of probate property, taking a commonsense approach is really all that is necessary.

If you want to learn more about probate investing there are a couple of ways you can do that. There is a lot of information on here my blog and podcast so you can start here at the Louisville Gals Real Estate Blog (Insert Link). I also have a sample probate letter that you can download for free.

If you want to take your knowledge of this subject to a whole new level, then I encourage you to check out my course Probate Investing Simplified while it's open for the final time this year. (Insert link) You can do that by clicking this link.

Here are Some More Helpful Resources for You

Negotiation and the Art of Conversation

Changing the Seller's Expectations

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It's just a fact that there will always be obstacles and adversity that come along in our businesses. After all, if real estate investing was easy everyone would be doing it. However, for most of us, there has never been a time quite like what we are experiencing today. That means that today's show couldn't be timelier since it's on how to overcome adversity in your business no matter what obstacles you come face to face with.

My guest today is the host of the "Rock Your Money Rock Your Life Podcast", Rock Thomas. This man has faced a lot of adversity in his life. He was the youngest of 7 children that lived on a farm in Canada. Life wasn't easy. His family didn't have a lot of money which forced him to become resourceful at a young age. He learned the value of hard work and became determined to create a better life for himself.

Quotes

"Show up, say yes, stay late. Do whatever. Don't make excuses and the world will bring opportunities to you. That's what's worked for me."

"Do what you fear, and it will disappear."

Show Notes

After listening to this show, I know that you will come to believe failure only happens when you refuse to pick yourself up and start again. Listen in and hear more about:

• Choosing real estate as his path
• How a poor farm boy became a millionaire… more than once
• Failure: how to recover
• Buying his first property with a $2000 deposit on his credit card and owner financing
• How he bought the real estate company he was working at just 4 years later
• Why only focusing on the next step is one of his secrets to success
• How getting mentors helped him have massive success
• Facing your fears, taking chances, and doing the "hard stuff you don't want to do"
• How this introvert became the man he is today
• Mindset: Transforming the person you think you are into the person you want to become
• The reason habits that will make you a millionaire
• Creating wealth without giving up your health or your relationships

Final Thoughts

Make no mistake about it; you can overcome any type of adversity if you have the right mindset.

Be sure to stop by the Louisville Gal's Real Estate Blog and pick up your freebies!

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Today I want to show you how to use Bonjoro videos to grow your real estate business and create a little bit of marketing magic. As you know, the competition is fierce for both real estate investors and agents now. Learning how to stand out is more important than ever. Who doesn't need "an edge" after all?

Be sure to stop by the Louisville Gal's Real Estate Blog and pick up your freebies!

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For everyone that feels like there just aren't enough hours in the day, flipping 1000 houses while raising 5 children probably seems like an impossible task. But that's just what San Antonio investor Melissa Johnson has done since 2003.

Melissa is a successful real estate investor who has also built a portfolio of rental properties and real estate notes. She coaches other high-level real estate investors, and she is the co-founder of the San Antonio, InvestHer meet up group.

Show Notes

Here are some of the highlights of this show:

• Melissa's story: getting started almost 20 years ago in a very male-dominated field
• Why she chose flipping as her main investing strategy
• How she did owner financing on properties, then sold that note for 95% of its value
• Women in real estate: why Melissa thinks it has taken so long for women to catch up
• Why real estate is the perfect business for women and especially working moms
• The reason mindset and confidence are two major stumbling blocks for female real estate investors
• Challenges unique to women in this business
• Why you must have systems and processes
• The importance of building your network
• Starting a new podcast
• Melissa's final advice for any woman wanting to get in this business

Be sure to stop by the Louisville Gal's Real Estate Blog and pick up your freebies!

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I am asked this question a lot. Is marketing to absentee owners after Covid-19 still a good marketing strategy? I have to say that I think it is and here's why. You've probably heard me say this before that "time and circumstances change all things". And as we all know, Covid-19 has changed a lot of things. Owners that previously weren't motivated sellers, may be very motivated to sell now. However, there are some things to consider especially when buying tenant occupied properties.

It's Always About Motivation

Think about a typical absentee owner before the pandemic. What was their level of motivation?

• Not at all motivated
• Thinking about selling but not doing anything about it
• Getting really fed up with being a long-distance landlord but still not taking any steps
• Planning to sell in the next few years when…. (You fill in the blanks.)

Up until Covid-19 interrupted our world things were pretty good for out of state absentee owners. Home prices were great. The inventory in most places was low so that continued to drive prices up. It wasn't unusual for homeowners to get multiple offers on a property.

This is still true for many sellers today when it comes to their personal residence and their locally owned rental property. It's also true for some absentee owners that have tenants that are paying their rent every month. Forget about adding "paying their rent on time every month". If they're paying, that's good enough.

Let's talk about marketing to the other group. The ones that aren't so lucky.

Marketing to Absentee Owners that Aren't that Lucky

As you can probably guess, there are a lot of buy and hold landlords across the country that haven't been getting all their rent since this mess started. In most cases that would be since March. Some landlords have gotten some of the rent, some initially got all or most of their rent then it stopped, while other tenants lost their jobs and couldn't pay at all. Many of these same tenants didn't qualify for any assistance. Those tenants just stopped paying, but they continued living in the property.

Initially, everyone thought that this situation was going to last a couple of months. Then everything got extended a few more months. As of today, we are looking the beginning of 2021 at the very earliest to see real change for landlords. I personally wouldn't be surprised if it was the summer of 2021 before things were back to normal.

Landlords Have Been Hit Hard

With the Cares Act and the eviction ban extended until the end of 2020, a lot of landlords are panicked. They are worried about losing their properties. Some are scraping by and have been able to make the mortgage payments at least in the short term. But there are many more that can't pay the mortgage without the rent each month.

There is also a ban on foreclosures so for now, the banks can't foreclose on your property. That doesn't mean that there aren't a whole lot of panicked buy and hold investors out there.

How Motivated are Absentee Owners Today?

In many cases, they are very motivated to sell the property.

I talked to one buy and hold investor the other day. He told me they were able to make the mortgage payments for a few more months, then all their savings would be gone. When that happened, they could no longer make future mortgage payments and they would have no savings (which was terrifying for them). What if one of them lost their jobs? They could be facing financial ruin.

Another investor told me that she had taken the path of applying for forbearance on her properties since she couldn't make the payments herself. That gives her a temporary reprieve. However, she had no idea what she would do when forbearance ended and she had to pay the entire balance.

A third scenario is where the property owners are in some type of severe financial distress themselves. This might be due to job loss or illness from Covid-19. This scenario is one where in addition to owning rental property where they tenants aren't able to pay rent, they are struggling personally.

Should You Buy These Properties?

The short answer is maybe. That's going to depend on you and your particular financial situation.

There are going to be some good deals out there. However, you need to look at the big picture before making the decision to buy one of these properties. You need to know if you can weather the storm financially if you buy a property that has existing tenants that can't pay the rent for an unknown period-of-time. Ask yourself if it makes sense for you to do this. Is it still a good deal 12 months from now? The answer may be yes.

Here are 4 questions you should ask the seller about the tenants:

1. Are the tenants paying rent?
2. Have they paid every month? You want to know what their payment history is since Covid-19.
3. Were they behind on the rent before the pandemic?
4. Can you provide me with proof of payment? (The answer must be yes). Ask for a rent roll for any properties you are considering.

3 Questions to ask the current owner:

1. Are you current on your mortgage payments? If not, how far behind are you? Once again, you will need proof before signing on the dotted line on a sales and purchase contract.
2. Did you apply for a forbearance? If so, when was that?
3. What is the total amount needed to bring the mortgage current?

This will tell you if you can put together a deal that makes financial sense for you.

If you have a situation where the homeowner hasn't been paying the mortgage and a tenant that isn't paying the rent, then you have some decisions to make. If the price is low enough, you may still have smoking, hot deal.

Final thoughts on Marketing to Absentee Owners after Covid-19

As time goes on, many people in financial distress will conclude that their number one priority is saving their credit and/or their personal residence rather than their rental property. There will be buy and hold landlords just looking for a way out. Once the moratorium on evictions and foreclosures is lifted it's going to be the wild, wild west in real estate.

If you can buy distressed property that makes sense for you, then it can be a time of wealth building. One thing I am sure of is that investors will find a lot of opportunity in the next 12-18 months. This is especially true for rental properties that are vacant where you can choose your own tenant.

Let me know your thoughts on this topic. What do you think the future of real estate investing looks like?

Quick Start Marketing Plan Template

I just want to give you a heads up that this is one of your final opportunities to get your copy of my Quick Start Marketing Plan Template completely free on the blog. I'll be taking that down this month. You can get that now here at: Louisville Gals Real Estate Blog

Want More Information on the Niche of Absentee Owners?

How to Get Better Results Marketing to Absentee Owners