Graham Treakle

What you missed September 2008 Meeting

Graham Treakle

by Robert Davis

Graham Treakle spoke about declining equity, foreclosures, and short sales. Now that many investors have been wiped out, the ones who remain have started grabbing up some very good deals. As a result, he claims that steep discount deals are harder to find due to more competition. He has been a full time investor since 1998 and published a book entitled ”Your Insiders Guide to Successful Short Sales”.

Two things Graham said we need to do to be successful now is to get to the deals before others even know about them, and to work deals that other investors don’t know how to do. He said about 80% of foreclosures lead into bankruptcy and that 80% or more of bankruptcies fail. If a homeowner declared bankruptcy to stop a foreclosure and failed to do what the courts demand, chances are they will be very motivated to make a deal. This is one area Graham said could be fruitful. Another area he said is properties in probate. Often the heirs do not want the property or properties; they often owe money for example in unpaid property taxes or unpaid maintenance bills.

He has a one page letter he sends to targeted areas in his city. He divided his city into four quadrants and targets possible clients in one area at a time. He found sending letters has worked better for him than bandit signs or the standard foreclosure list. Too many investors send letters to those on the foreclosure list so the letters often get tossed.

Banks are more motivated to move properties now than in the past. According to the Wall Street Journal in an article dated June 17, 2008, he said it stated that there are over 1.6 million workouts with banks since July of 2008. Graham said we need to know what the banks want. If for example they are willing to accept 80% of the loan amount to release the property, and if we can offer anything above the minimum they want, we will probably win the deal.

Graham conducts seminars from time to time, and gave us some examples of how successful deals have been made by his former students. One student he claims netted $5 million in three years! That’s a lot of success. For information on his one day of training, contact the SREIA office.