Mold Your Way To Motivated Sellers by Scott Rister
Finding truly motivated sellers really all boils down to people having a personal problem, or there being a problem with the property. If someone is making more than enough money to cover the payments and the property is in a desirable neighborhood then why would they wan to sell? That is not the type of seller that fits into the category of "motivated", so we're looking for the circumstances in and around a property that would make somebody want to sell a property fast and at a great price.
Sometimes people get in over their heads financially and get behind on payments, divorce occurs, etc...you fill in the blank. On the other side of the coin however there may be a problem with the property. I can work it from either way finding true motivation but when something is substantially wrong with a property, I start smelling a deal. If you haven't figured it out by now; for real estate investors to find great deals most all the time involves solving problems with a property. You should expect to be rewarded handsomely for being the "problem solver" whether that is in price or terms. That now opens the door for one of the hottest niches you should key into when it comes to finding great deals and it is simply frightening to death insurance adjusters around the country: mold!
There are areas of the country that predominantly have more of a problem with mold than others but great deals of epidemic proportions may be right under your nose and you didn't even realize it. In my area black mold has shut an entire school down and I'm running into cases all the time of home/hazard insurance carriers that simply won't underwrite a homeowner's policy until seemingly a hundred pages of legalese is signed off on. It has more than doubled insurance premiums on home/hazard insurance policies in some places. Now, you're probably thinking this is suppose to be about finding truly motivated sellers and not a lecture on insurance and biology. Problems of mold with real estate are exactly your tickets to finding motivated sellers.
Now that I've peaked your interest let me hit home real quickly here the opportunities this presents to real estate investors. When you can find properties with mold contamination you should be thinking big dollars because nine times out of ten the owner, insurance carrier, and lender want to be rid of the problem and like yesterday. When you locate a property with such mold contamination you should be able to negotiate price and/or terms very favorable to you.
When dealing in properties that have mold contamination you have to think of it in the same light as any other repair. The repair will be substantial to adequately remove mold contamination from a property and should be done by professionals that will insure the work in addition to being licensed and bonded. Of course there are nuances to having a mold-contaminated property resolved from start to finish so that hazard policy can be issued on in order to meet lending guidelines if applicable. The key here though is the problem which is mold and a way to get your foot in the door on a great deal.
I market aggressively to insurance agents that I buy mold-contaminated properties. How funny is that turning the tables because if you’re like me you get mailed to death from insurance agents about whole life policies, health insurance, etc... If I see business cards at public places of insurance agents I take their mailing address and phone number as well as the good old yellow pages. To date now I have over 200 insurance agents that I actively mail to just to state that I buy properties with mold contamination.
Scott Rister is a successful full-time investor living in Dallas, TX. Closing 72 deals in one 9 month period, Scott's property acquisition company, One-Stop Realty, LLC maintains current holdings in four states.
After building a sizable portfolio of keeper properties that was not getting him where he wanted to go, he discovered the art of wholesaling. Since that time he's done hundreds of deals and focuses exclusively on motivated sellers using technology and a targeted marketing approach.
Scott Rister's approach is based on the belief that the successful real estate investor will leverage the best use of his/her time by implementing systems that can run on auto-pilot with minimal maintenance.
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