Article of the Month for June 2003

Raising Cash

The one crucial ingredient that seems insurmountable to most of us just starting out in the foreclosure game is raising enough cash to play the game. Most of us have a personal grubstake that typically amounts to $25-30,000 - but that falls too short to have a decent opportunity to continuously bid on most upcoming deals. To stay in the game and prevail we will (initially at least) increase our opportunities if we can include outside investor cash. So how do we attract and keep investors?

Traditionally, investors' concerns revolve around your:

Knowledge,
Experience,
Profit potential, and
Trustworthiness, integrity.

In the beginning you can feel caught up in a "Catch 22" situation . . . you need investors to get started but the investors hold back until you can show a track record.

Well, start with your foreclosure knowledge, which can be demonstrated by your detailed command of the various foreclosure rules and regulations, the terminology, the current foreclosure trend/local conditions, and any special foreclosure training you might have completed.

You can satisfy the experience requirement by going over several recent foreclosure deals completed by your local competitors that you’ve researched and worked up, detailing why they were good or bad deals and what the winning bidder stood to make (or lose) on each one.

Local, profit potential is fairly easy to establish by showing your potential investors, via recent foreclosure case studies, the winning bids on deals bought by your competitors at auction and then their respective resale prices garnered in the following six, eight or ten months afterward.

Finally, the most important issue, your trustworthiness, can be attested to by reciting your background, your roots in the community, and volunteering an extensive referral list of at least 30 people in all walks of life who can comment on your integrity, honesty, keeping your word, etc. Also share your planned accounting set-up, how often and in what form you'll keep them informed, preparation of tax reports, etc. Explain your intent to put $5,000 to $10,000 of your own cash in the current deal you’re chasing (as tangible proof of your enthusiasm for investing in that particular upcoming foreclosure property).

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InnoVest Resource Management, 4569-A Mission Gorge Place, San Diego CA 92120-4112
(619) 283-5444, Fax (619) 283-5455