Distressed Property Acquisition Through Complex Title Resolution

Key Quotes

"Basically, you're buying property that can't go through title insurance, and property owners are unwilling to fix incomplete or unapplied for probate. I call them like abandoned estates, things like that. You've got missing owners, you've got judgments and liens against sellers, you have feuding owners, you have breaks in the title chain, no affidavit of heirships. All those things, the deals that when you're getting ready to wholesale, you have to terminate the deal and you can't close it because of things like that. That's what I want. So my deals are the ones that everybody else cancels. I'm rummaging through your trash can for deals."

Logan Fulmer defines distressed acquisition as acquiring properties with significant title issues that prevent standard title insurance. Fulmer explains that these are often deals that other investors abandon due to complexities such as missing heirs, liens, or broken title chains. He frames his business as finding value in properties that others deem unworkable.

"The attorneys weren't looking at the risk, they were just looking at, is it going to work or not? I'm looking at what's the risk because I'm giving this guy $500 for a deed, and I'm buying it subject to the tax debt, and then I go sell the damn thing and pay the taxes off at closing when I sell it. I'd literally be in a $150,000 deal for $5,000 or $10,000, and the attorneys kept telling me it won't work, and I went and did it."

Fulmer highlights a key difference in his approach to distressed properties compared to traditional legal counsel. He explains that attorneys focus on the certainty of a deal working, while he prioritizes the potential upside by assessing the risk-reward ratio. Fulmer demonstrates this by purchasing properties with significant existing debt for a minimal upfront cost, intending to resolve the debt upon sale.

"Finding them, we literally spend no money on leads because there's not really good programs to do this. So we use the appraisal district to search for certain terms and titles. We use the land records to look for lawsuits and judgments. We'll look at certain foreclosures, and then we'll go into the dockets and look for different pleadings against multiple owners, things like that. So you got to get decent with land records, but you can't buy good data like this, you have to go get it, you have to go find it."

Fulmer describes his method for sourcing distressed properties without incurring lead generation costs. He explains that his team actively searches public records, such as appraisal districts and land records, for specific indicators like lawsuits, judgments, and foreclosures. Fulmer emphasizes that this data is not readily available through paid services and requires diligent, hands-on research.

"Everything can be settled. There is always a solve. At the end of the day, you have to figure out, is the juice worth the squeeze? So you've got to be able to allocate a budget to each of these problems or solutions, and that's why you have to start with a massive margin."

Fulmer asserts that all title issues can be resolved, provided the potential profit justifies the effort and cost. He explains that the key is to assess whether the "juice is worth the squeeze" by budgeting for solutions to each identified problem. Fulmer stresses the importance of starting with a substantial profit margin to accommodate these resolution costs.

"I will, thanks for bringing that up. But before I tell you that, what I will say is when I talk about some of this stuff, it sounds remarkably complex, but I'll tell you two thirds of the deals I do are not that complicated. All they are are multiple owners who don't get along and basically don't care about the property. I know that sounds crazy for someone to say they don't care about a vacant inherited $150,000 house, but you know, one of my friends here is a musician, he loves music, like it's in his blood. I'm cool with music, but I don't really care that much. If you can believe it, people are the same about money. Some people don't care about money at all, and that's okay, because I do, and I'll solve that problem and make a lot of money."

Fulmer clarifies that while his strategies can sound complex, a majority of his deals are straightforward. He explains that these simpler transactions involve multiple owners who are uncooperative or indifferent to the property's value. Fulmer uses an analogy to music to illustrate that just as some people are passionate about music and others are not, some individuals are indifferent to money, which he capitalizes on.

"My dad was a CPA with a drinking problem, and he had a hard time keeping a roof over our head. I got off the bus in middle school while the sheriff was moving our stuff out of our seller finance home after it had been foreclosed on onto the yard, and we moved in with our neighbor. I just like a guy told me not long ago, I thought you grew up in Highland Park and went to SMU, and I'm like, don't let this nice sweater color fool you, dude, that ain't where I came from. But there was this time when that happened, and things like that, my early life, I was like, this cannot happen anymore, I'm not going to let it happen."

Logan Fulmer shares a personal anecdote to explain his motivation for "Waking Up to Wealth." He recounts a childhood experience of his family facing foreclosure and eviction due to his father's financial struggles. Fulmer states that this difficult upbringing instilled in him a strong resolve to prevent such instability from happening again in his own life.