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The Titanium Vault hosted by RJ Bates III
RJ Bates III, affectionately referred to as the Viking Wizard by his students, started his real estate investing career in 2014 after attending a real estate education program that put him $65,000 in debt. RJ contracted his first deal he found on the MLS and wholesaled it for a $7,500 assignment fee. That was the end of his former life and the beginning of his venture into becoming a real estate investor. Since that moment, RJ has become an influential figurehead in the real estate investing industry. He has successfully purchased and sold over 2,000 properties all across the USA including wholesale deals, rehabs, rentals, owner finances and short term rentals. One of his passions is being the host of The Titanium Vault Podcast where he interviews the top real estate investors and finally, RJ has won back to back Closers Olympics earning him the reputation as the King Closer!
The Titanium Vault hosted by RJ Bates III
Michigan Wholesaling Secrets You Need to Know!
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If you’re new to my channel my name is RJ Bates III. Myself and my partner Cassi DeHaas are the founders of Titanium Investments.
We are nationwide virtual wholesalers and on this channel we share EVERYTHING that we do inside our business. So if you’re looking to close more deals - at higher assignments - anywhere in the country… You’re in the right place.
Who is Titanium Investments and What Have We Accomplished?
Over 10 years in the real estate investing business
Closed deals in all 50 states
Owned rentals in 12 states
Flipped houses in 11 states
Closed on over 2,000 properties
125 contracts in 50 days (all live on YouTube)
Back to back Closers Olympics Champion
Trained thousands of wholesalers to close more deals
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With over 2,000 Videos, this is the #1 channel on YouTube for all things Virtual Wholesaling. SUBSCRIBE NOW! https://www.youtube.com/@RJBatesIII
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RESOURCES FOR YOU:
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Want to know what the best markets to wholesale in are? Grab my breakdown of all 50 states here: https://www.titaniumu.com/markets
Welcome back to Wholesaling Around the World, the Michigan edition, the series where I go state by state, giving my thoughts and my feelings about whether or not you should virtually wholesale in each state, and today we're talking about the Wolverine State, home of my partners, love the maize and blue Michigan Wolverines and also become one of my favorite places to virtually wholesale Michigan. But it wasn't always the case. Back in 2020, when we did the initial 50-50-50 and we started doing deals in Michigan, which we had never done previously, I significantly struggled with understanding how to comp and underwrite. Significantly struggled with understanding how to comp and underwrite specifically in Detroit, the most populated state, but over the course of time, I had to come to realize Michigan is the 10th most populated state. It has over 10 million people and it is a place where there are a lot of motivated sellers. So we had to figure it out. Now I'm going to try to fast track that for you guys and give you some tips, but the other thing is is at the end of the episode, I'm going to give you some resources that might help you out, specifically on the disposition side. One of the other things that I've come to love about Michigan is we have several members inside of Titanium University and I've learned that they're experts in this market and in sometimes in specific locations. The united states it takes that expert knowledge specifically in detroit when you look at analyzing deals there.
Speaker 1:It's one of those markets that can be street by street. It can be the ARV is 100,000 here and on the next no one's going to pay over $50,000. So when you are comping and underwriting inside of specifically Detroit, but it's basically statewide, be very strict on your comping guidelines. I always start with a quarter mile radius, but if I have more than five or six comps in that quarter mile radius, I will even narrow it down even more to 0.1 or 0.15 miles to get the most specific and accurate comps as possible. Because when you go to dispo these deals, the buyers are picky. They are going to be very strict on what they will buy and how much they will pay and more often than not what you'll hear from the buyers in Michigan and specifically Detroit is what's the zip code, what's the street, and they'll already know how much they're willing to pay for that specific property, how much they're willing to pay for that specific property. So it's one of those areas that, if you're new and you're virtual. Yeah, it might end up being a couple of terminations before you truly understand what's taking place inside of that market. Here's a tip on helping you with comping and underwriting. Probably more so than any other state, I guess. Let's narrow it down to city Detroit in particular, as that is the most populated city in the state, requires you to pay attention to the as-is comps more than anywhere else in the nation, because that's your competition. So, as you're looking at the comps, go through and look at what is currently listed on the MLS and also see what are the end buyers buying these properties in similar condition? What is the price point that they're willing to pay for these? Now, this is also the case in places like St Louis and Birmingham, alabama and Kansas City, but Detroit this is extremely important.
Speaker 1:Another hurdle that you have to overcome specifically in Detroit is the land bank. Now, the land bank can be a good thing and it can also be a bad thing, and essentially what the land bank is is they give properties away for next to nothing under the pretense that you have to improve the property. Now, this came back to bite us in the rear end several times where we talked to sellers and they're like yeah, I'll sell the property to you for $3,000. And it's like, oh, my goodness, $3,000, this is a great deal. But the issue was is they got the property from the Detroit land bank and they did not improve the property, which means they don't have the rights to sell the property yet. That has come back to bite us. So if you notice that they're selling the property for a low price inside of Detroit, ask the seller point blank did you get this property from the Detroit land bank and have you done the necessary required rehab to the property so you have the rights to sell it?
Speaker 1:The other thing that you need to pay attention to, just like every other low price market in the United States, is quitclaim deeds. Now, I'm not saying quitclaim deeds means it's a deal killer, but it can be. So pay attention that, specifically, if you're using PropStream, you can go in and you can see the transaction history and see A did you buy this property via quick claim deed or did you get a warranty deed on it? Because sometimes there's such a chain of quick claim deeds that the title company will not insure it and your end buyer will not be willing to purchase the property. So these are some of the hurdles to overcome.
Speaker 1:Now, that being said, there are nicer parts of Detroit where the price points do increase and you can make pretty decent spreads. The other thing that's common there is smaller multifamily. Looking at this. You need to pay attention to what the rent rates are. And then, what are your end buyers willing to purchase those properties for long-term? So sometimes it'll be a 1% rental, rare, more often than not, a 2% rental and then in some cases even a 3%. What I mean by that is the rent rate is 3% of what the end buyer is paying for the property. So a 3% rental would be $3,000 a month of rent and they're paying $100,000 for the property. Hope three percent rental would be three thousand dollars a month of rent and they're paying a hundred thousand dollars for the property. Hope that makes sense. It's easy math.
Speaker 1:Now, moving away from detroit and some of the other places inside the state, on the western side of the state where we have grand rapids and then central lansing lansing is home of michigan state university, so that could be decent for rentals and Then also flips Grand Rapids, larger city. We've done deals there Not as common. I see a lot more leads specifically from the PPL providers inside of Detroit. But Lansing, grand Rapids, are still great locations to dispo deals. Now, once you move up into the northern part of the state, saginaw, and even up higher by the Great Lakes, this can become somewhat rural and very difficult to Dispo. So if you're looking at leads there, specifically on like Speed of Lead, where you can actually see the city before you purchase it, or if you're looking on LeadZolo's marketplace, go into your Dispo software and see how many buyers do I have in that county. Remember the rule of thumb is we need a minimum of 2,000 buyers before we purchase that lead.
Speaker 1:I have gotten myself into trouble with what looked like great deals but just not having buyers specifically in the northern part of the state. The other thing that makes Michigan extremely unique is we do have the peninsula, which is that little piece of land that is really not a part of the state but it is. It really should probably be a part of Wisconsin, but it's not. I've done deals in Iron Mountain before, but it's not. I've done deals in Iron Mountain before, but the majority of the peninsula is extremely difficult to dispo in. So realistically, guys, if you're looking to do deals and you're new to the state of Michigan and you don't have an extensive buyers list, start in Detroit. If you want to expand out to go to other markets, I would recommend going to Grand Rapids next and then after that, lansing and Saginaw.
Speaker 1:Now I said I want to give you guys some resources and I've never done this before and I didn't ask for permission. But I love my TU family and I recommend working with these guys. So what I'm going to do is I have my map of TU members and I'm actually just going to scroll in. This is where our TU members live in the state of Michigan. Todd Chun we call him the mayor of Detroit. Guys, if you've got a deal, I'm giving you their email right here. Todd Chun is a great resource.
Speaker 1:We've got Charles Charles has been with us for a while. I'm giving you their email right here. Todd Chun is a great resource We've got Charles Charles has been with us for a while. He's an end buyer in Detroit and really majority of Michigan. Al Bean does significant volume there. Give you some other Nick scroll in here. Daniel Salmo, a wholesaler as well as a licensed realtor there Down south. We've got Chris Martin, we've got John and we've got Robert, scroll out here a little bit. Up here up north of Detroit, we've got Matthew and Maddie, all right, and then all the way up by Saginaw we've got Justin Peterson. These are resources for you guys.
Speaker 1:If you're new to the state of Michigan, those are Titanium University members. More often than not they are also doing deals in their local market. They probably have buyer connections and they could be a resource for you to JV a deal. I just pulled it up. You want to pause the video? You've got their email. You can reach out and say, hey, I saw you on RJ's Michigan video. I've got a deal, I'd love to work with you. Here's the only thing that I ask If you're going to reach out to them, reach out to them when you already have a property under contract. They're not going to be your resource for comping and underwriting and closing leads. They're your resource to JV a deal that you already have it under contract. Let them do their due diligence and say, hey, I think this is a good deal I can dispo for you. Otherwise, don't bother them.
Speaker 1:My honest opinion about Michigan is it is one of my favorite states to wholesale in. Anytime someone comes to me and says RJ, I'm new to virtual wholesaling. What market should I get started in? I always say the Midwest and the Sunbelt, but when I talk about the Midwest, I'm specifically saying Michigan is one of those markets. The reason why is because, one, it's easy to do acquisitions there. It is very easy to find a motivated seller that is willing to sell a property for a discount, and that's the number one thing that I'm always looking for in a virtual market. But number two there are a ton of end buyers, specifically in Detroit, that are always looking for deals and they are repeat buyers. Why? Because the price points are lower. There's a lot of landlords there. There's still people that do flips. They'll do hotels.
Speaker 1:All of the exit strategies are possible in the state of Michigan, so this is an ideal market for us. It's also populated the 10th most populated state. So for me, michigan checks all of the boxes for what I'm looking for for virtual wholesaling. So if you're looking for a new place to go, michigan should be at the top of your list. All right, guys, let me know if I left anything out. Send me a comment, make sure you like the video and if you want to know more about my opinions about each and every market. Make sure, down below you click on our free market PDF. It gives you title, companies, wholesale regulations and then my official rating per state. We'll see you guys on the next one.