Got a free online demo from DataQuick.com today - Posted by Ryan_MA

Posted by $Cash$ on July 13, 2002 at 21:42:13:

Sydel,

Glad to meet you.

I buy all of my properties Sub2, and sell on Contract for Deed.

The houses you are referring to in this area have no equity. That is good for me because I can pick them up for $500 to $1,000 for the sellers equity.

Price range is O.K. same as where I am. After I buy the property I sell on a “No Qualifying” program for $10,000 to $12,000 down. If the loan original loan is at 7% when I sell under Contract I make the new buyers pay 9% to 10%. Every point is about and extra $100 per month extra for me.

I can justify my sales price based on there are no real estate commissions or closing fees involved I get them in reality.

With a Non Qualifying buyer the extra interest percentage points are what I consider the risk factor. If they had credit they would not be calling me. So like on any loan the poorer your credit the higher the interest rate.

Chances are because they must re-finance in two years, it’s in my contract, they may not be able to so I have the house back to re-sell again.

I do not mean to seem cold hearted, it is just business. I have had many people who do re-finance in two years.

$Cash$

Got a free online demo from DataQuick.com today - Posted by Ryan_MA

Posted by Ryan_MA on July 12, 2002 at 16:10:32:

I sent them an inquiry about finding absentee owners and I had a salesperson call me back and we did a live demo using a test username/password. The program is incredible! You actually just use telnet and it’s all command line, so it will take Microsoft users a little while to get used to. They have so much information in there. The salesperson told me that I can download approximately 1000 records into ASCII format (easy to use MS mail merge features) for about $90. She told me she would wave the $200 enrollment fee. I think I’m going to sign up and do a test mailing of 2000 postcards to absentee owners. I figure it will cost about $800 for all the supplies, postage, and download from dataquick. Anyone have any experience with this? Can I expect any deals from 2000 mailings? Thanks!

Shop and Compare. - Posted by Ronald * Starr (in No CA)

Posted by Ronald * Starr (in No CA) on July 13, 2002 at 17:58:34:

Ryan–(MA)------------------

I have responded to others inquiring about such services in the past. Here are some excerpts from those replies. It will be a little disjointed, but will save me repeating myself. I hope this will be helpful to you.

Yeah, they cost quite a bit. But they are like a mircle for the serious real estate investor. Isn’t it amazing that you can drive down a street, see a rundown, vacant house, and immediately find out who the owner is, the tax-bill mailing address, when they bought it, the assessed value, the property characteristics, etc.?

You may find some company similar to CD Data here in CA which is considerably cheaper.

By the say, if you press FARES, you may be able to get fewer updates, say one every three or four months. If you can work with it, you might even be able to just get a disk once a year.

I know a group of four investors that have a FARES monthly data disk subscrition and share the service. Each one gets the new disk every four months. If you organized it, maybe you could get the new disk every month then pass on the prior month’s disk to one of the other co-subscribers. It pays to think of ways to cut these big expenses.

Maybe First American Real Estate Solutions (FARES) or DataQuick–they have 800 phone numbers. Their services are very similar. Perhaps some local company that is similar to the latter two companies, but is only local.

Try the title companies first. If they can’t help you, you might want to ask some real estate investors in your area. FARES has bought out TransAmerica, they used to have separate microfiche for out of area owners. FARES might still offer that.

Here in CA, and in other western states, one can often get a lot of information from customer service at the title insurance companies. For instance, if I wanted to solict single family property owners in one town who had owned the properties over 6 years, I could probably get that downloaded onto a 3 1/2" floppy disc in ASCII comma delimited format. This could be read by any database program and by mailing programs.

If you are a very serious investor, there are on-line and CD-ROM services available to get access to property tax records anytime. The two biggest are First American Real Estate Solutions in Southern CA (ask 800 info for phone number) and DataQuik, also known as Acxiom. Check the internet for these services. You might find some local service also avaiable. I have a CR-ROM with all the assessed properties in Sacramento County, CA, right here in my computer now. I can do as many down-loads as I want. And check out comparables. However, it is getting a little out of date now. If I want up-to-date comparables, I can tap into FARES computer and download them. Not only for all counties in CA, but for many different counties in different states across the union. CD-DATA now has an on-line service for almost every county in CA, with various subscription programs. It is not as good as the discs, but handy since it can be used in many counties and for most is very up to date.

You can get information by subscribing to DataQuick or FARES (First American Real Estate Soluntions). Both have 800-type phone numbers. My FARES account is about $70/mo for minimal use. There is the choice of the on-line or dialup system which gives you up to date information about all the counties in the state. Or you can subsribe to the disks, which gives you all of the assessment roll for a particular county. For CA there is a cheaper alternative for a lot of counties: CD Data in San Diego 619+265-2586. Somewhat less data, but much cheaper.

How could you find some local company? Read advertisements in local and state magazines aimed at real estate investors and r.e. agents. Call the local assessment office and ask who buys this material from them. Talk to local investors and ask them if they are aware of a different service. Call title insurance companies and ask them if they know of these services. I discovered CD-DATA when I got some parcel maps from a title company in a low-population county in the Sierra foothills. I got from them the reference to the company.

You might also find some small advertisement in the real estate section of a major metropolitan newspaper near where you live. Also, check the yellowpages for advertisements under real estate supplies or services or something like that. You might call up appraisers and ask if they know of such a local service. You might go to apartment owner groups meetings or “trade shows.” Or those for real estate agents. Or just ask agents if they know about that for which you seek.

In other words, don’t commit to a year with DataQuick until you have explored your options. Shop and Compare.

Good Investing**********Ron Starr**************

It’s a good investment. - Posted by $Cash$

Posted by $Cash$ on July 12, 2002 at 17:56:38:

Ryan,

I recommended DataQuick on an earlier post. It is costly but if you are getting the leads and getting the deals, then the price is worth the investment.

Glad to meet you,

$Cash$

Re: Shop and Compare. - Posted by $Cash$

Posted by $Cash$ on July 13, 2002 at 23:55:49:

Ronald * Starr,

Recieved an e-mail from Ryan. Advised him to pick up a book on How to do Direct Mailing and study it before investing in DataQuick.

He is just starting out and I am trying to see him get started the right way.

$Cash$

Re: It’s a good investment. - Posted by Ryan_MA

Posted by Ryan_MA on July 12, 2002 at 18:01:16:

Hi Cash

Nice to meet you too. I’ve enjoyed reading your informative posts in the past.

Did they lock you in with a 1 year $75/month subcription? I don’t like the idea of being stuck with at least $75/month when I could probably download most of the data in one month and pay for what I downloaded. How often do you find you use the service? What specific seaches do you do?

Thanks for your help and advice
Ryan

Re: It’s a good investment. - Posted by $Cash$

Posted by $Cash$ on July 12, 2002 at 18:43:32:

Ryan,

I use DataQuick to target specific area codes that I want to direct mail to. $75 dollars a month sounds like a lot, but if you are getting the leads, it then becomes a small amount to pay for what they offer.

I direct mail to 1 to 2 year old propety owners they seem to be more likely to need our help. Just bought their first house, then they bought the furniture for the new house, Momma bought a SUV because Daddy bought a “Bubba Truck” (for Easteners that’s a truck with big tires, and a light bar across the top).

Pretty soon they have buried themselves in debt and can’t afford the house payments. This is where the REI comes to the rescue.

$Cash$

Cash - how do you do that? Semi-Long - Posted by sydel - florida

Posted by sydel - florida on July 13, 2002 at 20:51:17:

Cash:

That’s a fascinating niche you’re concentrating on - owners of 1-2 year old houses. I’m very interested in how you get the numbers to work for you.

In my area of South Florida, and possibly an area in the circumference of 15 miles, the minimum price for a new home, or a one or two year old home, is probably at least $150,000, and frequently much more.

I don’t know what the price range is where you’re located, but are you buying these houses subject to the existing mortgage, and then either renting them out or leasing them out with an option to buy? How do you get the numbers to work?

In this area it feels as though the PITI of an almost new home would be too high to lease it out and get a respectable positive cash flow.

Any hints for us on how this can work?

Thanks, Cash.

Sydel - Florida