One of the many reasons you need a mentor is so that they can teach you how to properly evaluate a potential deal. Early on in my real estate investing career I was foolish and did not get a mentor for several months. I probably lost thousands of dollars because I did not know that a short sale or subject-to opportunity was staring me in the face.

To determine a deal, the first thing you need is a seller evaluation form. My students use my 21 question form which answers questions such as property address, number of bedrooms, number of baths, mortgage balance, monthly payment, etc. Make sure the form you are using is detailed enough to get a good amount of information, but not so detailed that you have 100 questions to ask, because you will not be able to keep a seller on the phone that long. Once a seller has called you and you have completely filled out your form, you need to run comps on the property to see what it will sell for TODAY. After your comps are run, see if there is enough equity in the property to wholesale or pay all cash for the property. When paying cash you will purchase the property at 70% of ARV at the very most. If you run the comps on the property and there is not enough equity to pay 70% or less, then this will not be a wholesale or cash deal. Next, you will want to contact a Realtor or property manager and determine the market rent for the property. In order for the deal to be a subject-to or lease option, the property needs to cash flow. If the seller's monthly payment is $1,800, but the market rent is $1,400, then you cannot do a sub-2 or lease option. In today's real estate market many leads end up being short sale deals. You know you have a short sale deal when the property has no equity and it will not cash flow.

In the beginning it will take you a while to evaluate deals. Once you get comfortable, you will be able to determine within five minutes if a property is worth pursuing. So with every property determine if you can pay all cash or take over the payments and make the property cash flow.

More info on your stop foreclosure information search:

Get Free Foreclosure Advice and Free Refinance Quotes
Get your free on-line foreclosure refinance quote and free advice from foreclosure mitigation specialist in minutes. Compare real offers from top national subprime and hard money lenders... more...

Short Sales - 3 Key Factors Gurus Never Tell You About How To Do Short Sales
For those of you who are new to the Short Sale arena or new to real estate investment, let's first define what a "short sale" is and what it's SUPPOSED to accomplish. A short sale is the process of negotiating with a Mortgage Lender to convince them to accept less than the Homeowner's mortgage ... more...

Short Sale 101
This occurs when the net proceeds from the sale of a home are not enough to cover the sellers' mortgage obligations and closing costs, such as property taxes, transfer taxes, and the real estate practitioner's commission. The seller is unwilling or unable to cover the difference. Some ? although by ... more...

Short Sale Questions
The main stream media continues to be rich with stories about the struggling real estate market, here in the Sacramento area as well as across the country. They generally revolve around the increasing number of foreclosures, the mortgage crisis and now some of the government programs that may or ... more...

Short Sale Training - The Biggest Short Sale Mistake
I'm writing to let you know about the #1 way to speed up the Short Sale process that very few Realtors actually know about. Not using this strategy is the Biggest Mistake most Short Sale Realtors make. It may not be what you think, because it's not a "traditional" real estate strategy... I can't ... more...