Tom:
Okay.
Bill Twiffer:
So, that's been my philosophy from day one.
Tom:
And it makes a lot of sense. So, you still actively invest, Bill?
Bill Twiffer:
Yes, I do. We actively invest. And, you know, we do some investing and we chase some foreclosures in different states like, Georgia and Texas. What you find out is people in those states, in Georgia, they have a 28 day time between from when it's a notice of default to till it goes to sale. In Texas there's 21 days. So you really don’t have time to go out and mail postcards to people when they become a notice of default.
Tom:
Yeah, it makes a lot of sense.
Bill Twiffer:
By the time they get it and by the time they call back, you’ve already lost a week. So what I try to do is get people to chase the business.
Tom:
Yeah, it makes a lot of sense. So, let me ask you this. You talked earlier about some of the ways you communicate with people. How are you different than other investors in your area?
Bill Twiffer:
Well, I'm a lot different than other investors, because I come from a basis of selflessness. What I mean by that is, to me it's all about the homeowner. It's all about what can I do for them? How can I serve them to help them out of their situation? If you start putting the homeowner first, you’ll find out that you will have so much business that will just show up because of what you do. Word travels fast that you're out there to help people. You start getting letters of recommendation from homeowners that you’ve helped out. You start using those with other homeowners when you start talking to them.

See most people in my situation, it's all about, “How much am I going to make on this deal?” And “How soon can I get the homeowner out of the house so I can close this deal and make my cash?” That’s okay to be like that, but what happens is when you start putting the homeowners first, you’ll find out that the business will come rolling to you effortlessly.
Tom:
Okay. That makes a lot of sense. So, Bill, you do large port sales?
Bill Twiffer:
Yes, we do. I've probably done 350 of them, so far.
Tom:
Is that the main primary source of the deals that you do? Short sales?
Bill Twiffer:
It has been the last four years. I learned short sales from Dwaine.
Tom:
Okay. So, when you're dealing with banks, what’s the correct way to talk to banks when you're negotiating a short sale?
Bill Twiffer:
Well, when you're talking to a bank, see the thing is with banks, the situation with banks, is banks don’t want to train people how to do short sales. The typical loss mitigation rep has 3 to 5 hundred files on their desk at any time. They don’t have time to deal with somebody that says, “Do you do short sales?” That’s like driving up to MacDonald’s and saying, “Do you sell hamburgers?” So, you know they do. That’s their job at a bank. Their job in loss mitigation is to mitigate the losses. They do short sales. So , we don’t call up and say, “Do you do short sales?” Because that’s a red flag right off the bat. What we do is we call up and say, “Hi, my name is Bill. I'm a local real estate investor. I do short sales for a living. I've got a short sale package put together for you on 123 Elm Street. Where do I need to fax this to get this approved and get this off your desk?” Now, it sounds like I've done this before. People in loss mitigation want to work with people that they can - that they know are going to close deals and get some of these files off their desk.
Tom:
That makes a lot of sense. So what is the best way to approach a homeowner, then?