Finding Cash Buyers with PropStream
What's up guys, and welcome back to another blog post.
Right now I've got two properties under contract, and I've got some exciting news about what's been going on in my wholesaling business.
But before I get to that, I want to show you guys how I find cash buyers.
I’m going to find those cash buyers, give them a call, share the conversation with you, and see if we get any interest in the two properties I have right now.
What would be ideal is that some of these buyers want to come out and see the properties that I have.
But even if they don't, I would love to just make the relationship, connect with them, and get them onto my buyers list in case they’ll be interested in future deals that I get.
So the first thing I'm going to do is open up PropStream.
If you guys don't have PropStream, definitely use this link to get a free seven-day trial, and you'll also get a little bit of a discount off of the monthly price if you do decide to keep it.
PropStream is something I use literally every single day, not necessarily to find properties, but to research properties that I get under contract and find cash buyers.
So I'm going to open it up and type in my city up in the search bar.
And like I said, right now I've got two properties under contract.
They're in different areas, but I'm gonna set up the filter to see if I can get buyers that would be interested in either or both of them, and I'll show you how I do that.
So I'm gonna draw on the map the area that I want, and I'm gonna search.
So what PropStream is showing me are the details of all of the properties within a green highlighted area.
So I can see that there's 1,129 of them on the MLS. There are 475 foreclosures or pre-foreclosures, 24 auctions, etc.
Finding local house flippers on PropStream
What I'm interested in are the cash buyers, but I'm actually not just going to straight away click on this because there's 10,000 cash buyers that have purchased properties in this area for cash.
So that's not what I want. I want to go up to filter, quick list choices, and go down to “flippers.”
From what I understand, this is showing me properties that were purchased for cash and less than two years later resold on the MLS.
So we could think of a cash buyer or a real estate investor who purchased property for cash, fixed it up, and then resold it on the MLS for a profit.
And so these are the exact cash buyers that we're looking for.
Not just people who are purchasing properties for cash, but those that are reselling them on the MLS.
They're flippers, not just cash buyers.
And the reason that's important to me is because both of the properties that I have under contract right now are not great rental properties but they could be really great flips, meaning that the price point is high and the margin is high.
But if somebody was to fix it up and rent it out, the rent value wouldn't cover what they needed to for it to be a good deal.
So I want to look specifically for flippers, because both of these deals are great for flippers.
All right, so a couple of the things that I want to add in here is I want to say that the property type is a single family house.
And I want to see how many we have here. So we got 106. I want to have a minimum price point, let's go to the ownership info section, then see the last sale price.
One of my properties is for sale for $155k and the other one is for sale for$ 220k, so we're going to say a minimum price point of $130k.
We can see 62 properties that were purchased for over $130k, and that are now either being resold or recently resold on the MLS.
So I'm gonna take this list, and select the entire list, and add to list.
I'm going to name it “cash buyers 130 k plus” and then today's date which is “September 29th” and I'm going to save that list and close it.
Skip tracing for cash buyer phone numbers
Then I'm going to come over here to the skip tracing section and I want to get phone numbers.
I did skip trace emails before, I didn't feel like the emails were working, maybe just because I didn't get any responses.
But it's just hard to know if your email is being sent off into the abyss or if it's going into a spam folder or if it's the wrong email address.
So I don't want to do emails, I want to do phone numbers.
Through the conversations that I have with people, I'll get their emails if they're actually interested cash buyers.
So then I'm going to hit select contacts.
I'm going to go up to select groups where I see the list I just made.
I want to add all those selected contacts, and I have 62 of them and I'm done.
Now it's going to charge me, and it says 17 selected 45 have been omitted due to being duplicates having been appended already or having insufficient information.
I don't know, but let's try it.
So for some reason our list got put down from 62 to 17.
If we go into contacts we can see that the skip tracing is processing.
Finding flipped properties on Zillow
So let's go in and just see what's going on with one of these properties and open it up on Zillow.
I can see this property is pending for $1.5 million.
Okay so it says “meticulously restored estate,” so this is definitely a flipper.
And I want to scroll down to see how much they purchased this house for.
Based on the complete price history, in 2009 it was purchased for $790,000. In 2019 it was purchased for $740,000, and they flipped it for $1.5 million.
Right, so this is a high-end flipper. I definitely want to get this person on my list.
So that's hopefully someone that I’ll be able to reach today.
Let's look up another one.
So this one's for sale for $850,000.
There's no pictures.
Oh it's a new construction, so I'm not necessarily interested in the new construction ones. I want to look for people who want to buy my house and flip it.
Let's see, okay let's try this one. It’s actively on sale for $500,000, and if we scroll down it was sold in 2019 for $165,000 and is being resold right now for $499k.
Obviously a very nice high-end flip. This is exactly the type of cash buyers that you want to be looking for, people who are actively buying in your area.
I believe the flipper filter on PropStream does it for the properties that have been purchased for cash and re-listed on the MLS in the last two years.
Skip tracing LLCs vs. individual investors
One issue that I think we might be running into with why we only got like 17 out of those 62 contacts is because a lot of them are probably purchased through LLCs and it's really hard to find LLC phone numbers.
And I don't think that for the most part LLC phone numbers show up when you're skip tracing, I think only individual phone numbers show up so that might be why our list got knocked down so much.
But I still think like even if it's just 17 I mean I wasn't going to show you all 62 people today.
I'll probably look up those LLCs on Facebook or online and find their numbers.
But even 17 is a great number of cash buyers to get.
All right our skip trace is complete and I think I was actually right. The ones with the LLCs, those numbers aren't showing up.
But there is something that we could do for those.
So for the one that was a super nice flip, I'm gonna copy and paste the address, and see who the listing agent was.
I can call this person and say “Hey, I see that you sold a house for a flipper over on Hazel Boulevard. I've got a property that I'm looking to pass off that'll be a great candidate for a flip, can you put me in touch with your investor?”
But in some ways I do want to build an individual relationship with the investors.
So the ones that aren't under an LLC, I can call them and have that personal conversation.
And the ones that are, I can try to reach them through their real estate agent.
So I'm gonna go back to PropStream, and I'm gonna hit export.
Calling house flippers
Now I'm going to make this first call.
L: Hi, my name is Lil. I'm a local wholesaler and I was just wondering if you're still purchasing investment properties?
C: You know, not at this moment.
L: Okay, when do you think you'll be back in the game?
C: Gotta get some money.
L: I hear you I hear you. Would it be okay if I got your email address and sent you what I have? And then whenever you're ready you can reach back out to me.
C: Oh yeah just call me in a couple months.
L: All right, I will hit you up in a couple of months.
C: Okay thank you.
L: Bye-bye.
All right, so I’ll make a note of that and keep going down our list.
I'm gonna tag her as not buying right now.
Here we go.
C: “Number disconnected, your call has been forwarded.”
L: Hi, my name is Lili. I'm a local wholesaler and I was calling because I was wondering if you're still picking up investment properties here in town. I have a couple of properties that I'm looking to assign to a buyer.You can reach me at this number.
I wasn't really ready for that voicemail, I had to think about what I needed to say.
All right, let's see. Next.
C: “At the time when you are finished recording, you may hang up or press one for more options.”
L: Hi, my name is Lili. I'm a local wholesaler here in town and I was reaching out to see if you're still picking up investment properties. if so, I have a couple that I'm looking to pass off. You can reach me at this number.
That was better. All right.
C: Hello?
L: Hi, my name is Lili. I'm a local investor and I was calling to see if you're still picking up investment properties here in town.
C: No, not right now.
L: Okay, do you know when you'll be back in the game?
C: We've got a bunch of places down here we have to take care of, so I'd say probably in about a year.
L: Okay, well I'll definitely keep you on my list and sometime next year I’ll reach back out to you.
C: Sure.
L: Thank you so much.
C: Thank you, have a good one.
L: All right, bye-bye.
C: Bye-bye.
Okay come back in a year.
I'm not gonna lie, I probably won't remember him in a year, but it's okay.
Buyers are much nicer than homeowners when you cold call them.
L: Hi, my name is Lili. I'm a local investor here in town and I was wondering if you're still buying investment properties.
C: Oh no, I already bought a home.
L: Okay so you're already good to go?
C: Yep, I am.
L: I appreciate it.
C: Absolutely.
L: Have a good day.
C: Bye, thank you.
L: Bye-bye.
So she's just somebody who’s got money and who just bought her house for cash. She's not an investor.
So I'm gonna just tag her as “not an investor.”
One good thing about cold calling buyers is that they are nowhere near as hostile as when you cold call homeowners and ask them if they want to sell.
Because buyers, you're bringing them a deal and even if they're not interested they kind of know the game.
So yeah, I've had much more pleasant conversations with buyers than I have with homeowners.
L: Hi my name's Lili. I'm a local investor in town, are you still buying investment properties?
They hung up.
Okay it's all good. Maybe I didn't sound as confident on that one.
C: “Hello, we are not available now.”
One more for now, don't worry we're not done.
All right so we’ve got six voicemails.
One person hung up, two numbers disconnected, two people not buying right now, one person with no voicemail set up, and one person that was not an investor.
Hopefully of those six voicemails that were left, some of them will get back to me.
But I didn't want to sugarcoat what it's like.
When you only get 13 numbers, you're bound to not do too well.
Oh, I missed a call.
Let's call them back.
C: Hello?
L: Hi, sorry I missed you again. This is Lili.
C: Yes, can you hear me?
L: Yes, I can hear you. I was just calling to see if you were also an investor buying properties in town?
C: Yes I am.
L: Awesome, are you still looking for more properties? I have two available right now that would be good for fix and flips.
C: Yeah, but is that residential or commercial?
L: They're residential.
C: I'm looking for a house, but I'm looking to flip it and fix it and sell it off.
L: Yeah, these are both great for fixing them up and reselling them. They need updates.
C: Oh, I bought six this year.
L: Awesome, well maybe you want two more?
C: Okay. The house you’re talking about, how much are you asking for?
L: I'm asking $220k for it. It can be resold for $355k.
C: And how big is that? I am really looking for a one-story house.
L: Yeah, this one is actually one story, and it's 3,700 square feet. So it's a big house, but there's no upstairs. It's all one level.
C: Oh, 3700 square feet. Okay, can you send me a link of that? And how about the second house? i know you are a real estate investor, are you working with a real estate agent or how do you have those houses?
L: I work with other investors to find them deals on good houses, and then I pass them off. So I'm an investor too. I've had rentals and things like that too.
C: But this house wasn’t something you liked, is that right?
L: I just don't have all of the cash right now to flip it, so I'm looking to pass it off to another investor who wants to fix it up and resell it.
C: And what is the last price? If I like it, we can go.
L: Well, I could do this one at $220k, and then I have another one for sale at $155k, the one in Owen. Do you know where Owen is?
C: No.
L: It's right by downtown, but a lot of the houses over there are being fixed and flipped. So I'm asking $155k for the one in Owen and it can be resold for $255k.
C: Okay, send me the both of the houses.
L: Okay, and if you want to see either of them tomorrow, let me know and I can let you into the houses so you can see them.
C: Okay sure.
L: All right, I will text this number the link to see the pictures.
C: Okay. Thank you so much.
L: Okay, you're welcome.
C: Bye-bye.
All right, that was a good conversation.
She said she bought like five or six houses this year, so hopefully she wants this one or these two.
What this is showing me is that serious buyers are already buying properties in their LLC’s name, and so it's going to be difficult to find them using this method.
And I think part of the reason is because it's such a high price point.
For my other cash buyer list, when I did this I got like 80 numbers and I just went through and cold called.
But that was because the purchase price was between 50 and 90 thousand dollars.
This list is a much different type of buyer, and so they've obviously stopped buying in their personal names and started buying in their LLC names.
But we're not done, we're going to find those other cash buyers and give them a call as well.
If we go back to PropStream to our list, I'm going to look at the addresses of these homes to see if these buyers are interested.
There’s this expensive one that might be a little bit too much.
My ARVs for my two properties are $250k and $350k and while it is still a high priced house it's not this high priced.
So I'm gonna reach out to that buyer at another time, but they might be on another level.
There’s one that sold for $325k in November, so yeah it's right in my price range.
$250k and $350k are the two ARVs I have, and they sold theirs for $325k.
So I'm gonna look and see who the listing agent was.
I can go down to the sale and there is the seller's agent right there.
And I'm gonna give them a call.
First, let me look at the pictures and make sure that this was actually a flip.
I would say this is staged and flipped, but there's a bunch of clothes in there.
So not staged and not what we're looking for. Never mind.
Sorry, we're not calling you.
All right, here's one that's pending for a million. This is a high-end flipper for sure so let's just go ahead and call.
So here's the listing agent. It's gonna look up her contact information and there's her cell number.
L: Hi my name is Lili, I was calling about one of your listings. Is this an okay time?
C: Yeah.
L: Awesome, I see you are selling the house over on Columbia Avenue. I'm an investor and I was just inquiring if that was an investor who flipped that property?
C: No, that house is sold.
L: Yeah, I was just wondering if it was an investor who flipped it? I'm an investor as well.
C: No, that was brand new construction.
L: Oh that's a new construction. Okay, good to know. I was just looking to see which properties were flips and which were new. So that's all I need.
C: Oh I see. Okay, thank you.
L: All right, bye bye.
Okay so that's something to take note of.
You might be wondering why I didn't just blast texts out to those investors that I cold called, and there's two reasons.
One, I want to try to make the relationship by getting on the phone and talking with the investors.
I think that's better than texting.
And two, Google Voice, which is what I use to make the phone calls, send texts, and to have a local number, will ban you if you send out too many texts in a row that say the same thing.
And you'll also lose your number forever, and I don't want that to happen because that's my business number.
So that's why I'm just very careful with the texts I send and make sure that they don't all look the same going out back to back like that.
I wish I had gotten a chance to talk to more buyers, but hopefully you have an understanding of how to find the buyers using both PropStream and by calling agents for other listings that have been flipped.
And it doesn't always work out.
You gotta understand that when you're sitting down to make these calls, you might get all voicemails, you might have wrong numbers, you might have agents who don't want to talk to you, or people who just don't know what you're talking about because they’re not investors they’re just people who purchased their home for cash.
But at least you know exactly how to find those properties.
Thank you so much for reading.
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