I am brand new to the world of property preservation and am seriously trying to decide if it is something i want to get into or not. I have a full time job working alot of 4pm to midnight shifts and i have done several flip houses with my father and brother. Family has been in real estate in my area for a long time and have new construction and remodeling experiance along with a long list of local sub contractors that we use when remodeling to resale. I have been researching the idea of starting my own property preservation/REO service business (small -side business) and I dont know where to start. I contacted a national franchise real estate company and their REO agent is supposed to send me the contacts that he has for the larger companies (safeguard, etc.) ..... Is it worth it? Is the market drying up? Too Much competition? SOOOO MANY QUESTIONS
Need help
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Honestly, many people in preservation are trying to crack the rehab new construction market and getting out of this mess. We do flips, new construction, etc and its much better money with less headaches than working for yokels like Safeguard, FAS, Cyprexx, etc. Sounds like your traveling backwards, lol.
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Yep, I agree with GTX.
Stay away from P&P work from the national companies. They will turn your "side business" into a nightmare.
Go to the REO agent and sell your company's services to them directly. They might tell you that all work has to go through the national companys, but that is not always true. Every house has an asset manager that the brokers deal with and every asset manager is different when it comes to who they'll use for work. Some will asign work to a contractor the broker recommends, and that needs to be you!
Get to know the broker personally, throw in some extras for them (most are way overworked for what they are getting paid on these REO's), and educate yourself by hanging out here or other professional property preservation forums, amongst other ways.
Stay away from P&P work from the national companies. They will turn your "side business" into a nightmare.
Go to the REO agent and sell your company's services to them directly. They might tell you that all work has to go through the national companys, but that is not always true. Every house has an asset manager that the brokers deal with and every asset manager is different when it comes to who they'll use for work. Some will asign work to a contractor the broker recommends, and that needs to be you!
Get to know the broker personally, throw in some extras for them (most are way overworked for what they are getting paid on these REO's), and educate yourself by hanging out here or other professional property preservation forums, amongst other ways.
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We know from talking with area brokers that companies like FAS and Safeguard are getting trashout crews to travel from Milwaukee, Indianapolis, St Louis, 250-300 miles across the midwest, one way, to handle initial service orders. What does that tell you about them when they can no longer get local vendors (in this economy) to service their properties?
We can knock out the rekey, an initial yard service and any code violations for the agent and walk away with a nice profit, and I don't lose a crew for a week, or 30% of the invoice a month later after they adjust the debris totals.
We can knock out the rekey, an initial yard service and any code violations for the agent and walk away with a nice profit, and I don't lose a crew for a week, or 30% of the invoice a month later after they adjust the debris totals.
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FAS was doing the same thing here for a few months.
They evidently can pay mileage to a contractor 200+ miles away, but they can't seem to give the local vendors $30 more for a wint?
They evidently can pay mileage to a contractor 200+ miles away, but they can't seem to give the local vendors $30 more for a wint?
My advice is to start slow. Apply with brokers and nationals only. Familiarize yourself with the different loan guidelines.
Keep your job and other business. This business could improve but at the rate it's going, it's doubtful.
I've been told that every 10-12 years it gets this way and more and more qualified individuals flat out refuse to work for peanuts. The prices go back up.
Purchase an xactamate PRM license. It will help you heaps with bidding.
Thank you all so much for the information. I want to start off small and test it out to see if I could get some local work. My plan was to get in touch with all the local real estate companies in my coverage area and let them know what i can do. The requirements did scare me a little with some of the national companies like cyprexx. I did not want to have to drop $10,000 just to get a $40 job here and there. The only bonus is i have most of the equipment already from doing remodeling on the side and a whole list of subs that we use. Thanks again for the help.
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