How to Use MyHouseDeals as a One-Stop Shop [Troy’s Story]
Troy’s success as a real estate investor is actually pretty simple. He had a problem…
And needed a solution. Enter: Real Estate Investing
Sounds good, right? Troy was on the road too much with the business he ran and wanted to spend more time with his wife and son. He knew something had to change…and it did.
He didn’t wait until he was an expert to get started…
He didn’t second guess himself…
He wanted to start doing deals…so that’s exactly what he did.
Troy had previous experience as an investor with the goal to start flipping houses. A friend suggested he wholesale a deal to get some money and then look for fix and flips. Troy had never wholesaled a deal…but he did it well!
So well that he actually built a great relationship with the motivated seller and continues to do business with him.
Troy found a deal on MyHouseDeals, then posted that property on MyHouseDeals and that’s how he found a buyer. What a one-stop shop for Troy!
Listen to our conversation with Troy to hear more about his investing experiences, the deal he found on MyHouseDeals and his tips for new investors plus…
- How to win over the trust of a motivated seller
- Why you should always get insurance as a real estate investor
- How you can turn a motivated seller into a private lender
NOTE: Troy is a premium member, he received a FULL refund of his upfront membership fee for simply doing a deal! Find out more about our premium membership here.
Tell us about yourself…
How did you get into real estate investing?
Me and my wife owned a trucking business, but I got off the road in August and decided not to get back on. I’ve always wanted to do real estate. I’ve actually done it before in Louisiana before Katrina. Then, Katrina hit and messed me up there. Long story short, after I got off the road, I wanted to try real estate again.
My friend and I decided that we were going to do it together. He went to an informational meeting and then mentioned MyHouseDeals to me. We went online and started checking it out. I signed up for a premium account so I could get deals sooner and happened to come across this one deal that looked good.
I got in touch with the homeowner, and we got together, came up with a number, and made a contract.
I had a small list of buyers and I even had buyers looking at the house, but a lot of guys said it was too risky. I had to extend the contract a few times, but the seller of the house stuck with me. We finally found a buyer two and a half months after the original contract and all the numbers worked out with the buyer, the seller, and myself.
What was it like working with a motivated seller?
He was very motivated and we built the relationship between us. We talked on the phone a lot and told each other about our personal lives. I kept saying, “Yeah, we’ll get it done, we’ll get it done,” and he believed me. When we finally got it done, he told me, “Man, I’m glad that’s over.” The relationship of trust we built definitely helped close the deal.
Why was he selling?
His mom and dad owned the house. He grew up in the house with his family, but when he got older everyone went their separate ways. His mom passed away in March of last year, so his dad was the only one living there. When the storm hit, his dad moved in with the daughter who lives in Houston. He really just wanted to get rid of the house.
It was one of the houses by the Addicks that was flooded after Hurricane Harvey. When the water in the reservoir was released, all the houses in the area flooded. The house had about three feet of water inside, so he decided to let it go and move on.
Tell us more about this deal you found on MyHouseDeals.
I was actually looking for a house to rehab myself. I wasn’t even looking for motivated sellers because I was so new to the site. I really didn’t know much about how the wholesale part worked.
I started reading up on it and I have a friend who’s been in real estate for awhile. He said that I should try doing a wholesale deal to get some money to help with a rehab deal. This sounded like a good idea, so I read up on it and got some more information from him. I found this particular deal and I just went for it.
How did you get the seller to trust you and work with you?
I actually called the guy to tell him that I’d like to make an offer on the house. He said he would look it over but that he was getting other offers too. I got a contract from my friend, filled it all out, and sent it to the seller.
About two days later, he called me and said that I was the only one to send him a professional offer… He decided to go with me.
He was getting texts and emails from people with good offers, but I sent him an actual contract and he liked the professionalism. Now I try to always be professional and people notice that.
How would you compare this experience wholesaling with your experience flipping houses?
Wholesaling was new to me. I honestly got lucky because the first deal I saw is the first one I got. With this experience, I learned that there are a lot of wholesalers out there trying to wholesale your wholesale. I worked with this one guy who kept trying to find me buyers. He told me that I could wholesale deals three or four times if the money’s right. It was all new to me, but with his advice I sold another house to an investor. It worked out all right.
Now, as for my experience with flipping houses, I actually bought a house in January. I got the deal off of MyHouseDeals too. I found a house, bought it from a wholesaler, and right now I’m in the process of fixing it up.
I’d rather just buy from a wholesaler and start working on the house. I would consider wholesaling for another deal if it came across, but I’m not really looking right now. I’m real busy with current projects.
Both wholesaling and flipping have their pros and cons. Wholesaling is a lot easier because you just have to find a buyer. There’s so many buyers out there, so you can get deals done a lot quicker. Buying a house from a wholesaler is a long process because you’ve got to find a money lender or private money.
Tell us about your past real estate investing experience.
A friend of mine was into investing in New Orleans. I’ve always had the idea of taking a house and flipping it and this friend said that’s what he does. He taught me everything I needed to know and we still do some deals together.
He found my first house for me. It was a duplex. He told me that we could fix it up and put some people in there. The government pays for most of the rent of houses in the city. The people only pay partial rent so I just had to collect the partial payments.
My friend and I also got another house about two months before Katrina hit. It already had renters, so I started collecting rent. After Katrina, this house got six feet of water in it and ended up being a lost cause. The first house in New Orleans that was in the process of getting fixed up also collapsed during the storm. Everything was torn down.
After Katrina, I moved to Hawaii for six years and tried to do this business, but everything’s so expensive there. I didn’t want to risk anything and stopped with real estate for a while.
Looking back, I’m glad I got into investing back then. It gave me an opportunity to buy my own house that didn’t get flooded during Katrina or Harvey. Real estate is a big experience. It’s always been in the back of my mind and I knew I wanted to do it again.
Why did you get into real estate again after moving to Texas?
With my trucking business, I was on the road two to three weeks at a time. After three years, that wore me out, so I had to think of something else. I wanted to be home with my wife and my son. That’s when my friend in Texas told me that we should look into real estate. We went to a few meetings together and started back up again.
What has changed since you got back into investing?
Especially with the house that I’m now rehabbing, I’ve learned to do a lot of things myself. I’m learning to put down tile and put up sheetrock. I do whatever I can do, and I get other people to do what I can’t. It’s hard to trust others but learning to do so has been a good change. I know who to pick as my contractors.
Also, my motivated seller may become a private money lender for me. He wants to take money and invest it to make more. I explained private money to him and he’s all for it. The wholesale deal might turn out to be an even better deal all around.
