How to Find Real Estate Deals for Free Using Facebook Marketplace and Direct Sellers

Josh Moore (00:00)
So for every viewer that sees this, just know, first off, you can a hundred percent do this. You don’t need as much as you think. And the bigger things as far as capital investment are for scaling, not for starting. So and Prop string, don’t kick me in the butt over this, or any of the other companies. They’re amazing, list pulling softwares, all that, great. Needed to change your life? No. Remember this. So it’s like It was done at a point with like county records, maybe a phone, pen and paper, and a notary. So that’s technically all you need.

Scott Bursey (02:05)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros podcast powered by Investor Fuel. I’m your host, Scott Bursey. Glad you’re with us. And today we’re delighted to be joined by Josh Moore, who is a single family homes and acquisitions operator in Western Michigan. Listeners, you can expect to learn how to replicate that success and scale your own operations. Josh, welcome to the show.

Josh Moore (02:27)
Hey Scott, thanks for having me. I really appreciate the show and investor feel taking the time to have me on.

Scott Bursey (02:33)
It is awesome having you here and to help our listeners get up to speed. If you could give us the ninety second highlight reel of how your career ignited and really where you’re pouring your fuel now.

Josh Moore (02:45)
Absolutely. So my career started off in acquisitions or mostly considered wholesale. and then from there I started wanting to figure out hey, how do I start keeping some of these things for myself? And then I started delving more into creative finance and then as I was learning creative finance I started using other skill sets from

the allotment of other ventures that I’ve had in life to start building more of an acquisitions engine in terms of marketing and now at this point I have an acquisitions business, some of my personal holdings and then holdings in a few different ventures as far as like equity stakes just guy trying to do a lot of things and figuring out a system to actually make those work.

Scott Bursey (03:32)
I appreciate you walking us through that journey, Josh. That’s that’s quite fascinating, to be honest with you. And let’s get right into the strengths of your operation. What is one thing that keeps your machine running smoother than the competition in your particular market?

Josh Moore (03:51)
Absolutely. I would say that my main strengths and my market in particular are through marketing and systems. I have a pretty good take on multiple mediums of marketing and learning how to address and reach out to people at frequency from, multiple directions and

beyond that figuring out on a more back-end standpoint through different KPI and analytics how to identify how I can reach people that I can actually help as opposed to how can I run the best campaign and give somebody a dollar over their mortgage.

Scott Bursey (04:26)
Thank you for highlighting that. When it comes to weaknesses or internal bottlenecks, let’s say, what is the biggest friction point you’ve identified in your current workflow?

Josh Moore (04:36)
Yeah, so my workflow spans over a few different things. I have a very weird model, so I like to involve myself in a lot of ventures. So that is a overall bottleneck in not even just my acquisitions in general, but just my whole thing, and I like to be very vulnerable and upfront about it. I’m neurodivergent. So

But I I want to do a lot of things. So usually the take on that is you do one thing and you pour everything into it, and that’s the only thing that makes it successful. And I get that, but I’ve kind of figured a way to where basically the bottleneck is wanting to do all the things And I think that has been my biggest hurdle up until a certain point of my journey.

Scott Bursey (05:21)
What’s the first step you take to pivot away from doing so many things at once so you can focus on the strategy of your acquisitions and investment portfolio as it stands today?

Josh Moore (05:34)
Absolutely. So the I’m all about vertical integration. So I try to make sure that my ventures in some way can all tie into and support each other. So for instance, as far as my own personal acquisitions, I have an acquisitions company. as far as an investor, I’m kind of a kid in the candy store.

off market opportunities. So that’s kind of how I address that is I just do really good at my active arm it presents me passive opportunities when they occur.

Scott Bursey (06:00)
Looking at the landscape, Josh, right now, what is the greatest opportunity you see for your business? And what do you feel you may be able to capitalize on here in the next twelve to eighteen months?

Josh Moore (06:13)
Absolutely. So I’d say that the biggest opportunities, is actually two parts. It’s one for myself in general, and then two in my market. So for myself in general is the kind of system that I figured out of wanting to do all the things. And the way I figure that out is through a combination of fair and proper structuring with partners,

Not like equity partners or things like that. So more so EQ active partners, obviously they get a ton of equity. Actually, they get the majority of revenue and I keep the majority of equity. so then I combine that with agentic systems, AI, good old fashioned systems. So between working with people and these systems that I create, I can work on scaling it and making it bigger while my partner works on the operations.

And that allows me to just do a lot of different things. So it’s more so now me managing like one big thing of little things. And now as far as my market, because I sure do love my market, is Western Michigan. And then I have an especial affinity for Muskegon because I was raised there. But just Western Michigan in general and even the Midwest, but I’d even say Western Michigan in particular, I think a big advantage is when you’re investing,

When it first starts, is how much money am I gonna make off of this? So it’s like, hey, I’ll make twenty or thirty K off of this fix and flip. All right, cool. But what if it cost you five, six hundred thousand dollars to do that when it’s said and done? Did you really win? So the thing is, I think that you start looking at things at a certain point in your maturity as an investor in terms of like marginal gainer return or your cash on cash. So I think in a lot of other markets that are way more popular.

You can still get returns and great returns, but I think you can get those exact same returns, or even maybe better some type cases, for a dramatically lower entry and investment. So you can spread even spread that mitigation over more deals for the same amount of money.

So that’s what I like about my market. I don’t want to say it’s cheap because that diminishes value, but there’s just a lot of opportunity. It’s like and it’s not just like dollar houses from the land bank and stuff like that, because that’s not really as much of a thing now. But I wish I wish I was investing in that era. but hey, look good thing about real estate, doesn’t matter what you miss, there’s always a there’s always another thing like next month.

Scott Bursey (08:32)
That is great perspective. I love the way you’re looking at that potential, Josh. And it strikes me that in this industry, there’s always threats looming. Yeah. What are you most concerned about when you look at the macro environment?

Josh Moore (09:35)
Sure, yeah, absolutely. From a macro point of view, just high level. I’d say that crazy as it is, perception. So what by that is and I’m gonna more say Michigan in general, because I work in more than West Michigan, but I just have a high concentration in West Michigan. So I’m gonna bring a example to the table that everybody would know. Flint, Michigan.

So, Flint, Michigan, they had a terrible water crisis. And this is a truth and reality. But another part of that truth and reality is the better part of a decade, a lot of that has been fixed. Now, the news and PR backlash that arose from that, which truth be told, it’s not like it wasn’t deserved. it happened. But the amount that hit.

economic infrastructure and investment, investment sentiment, really hurt them. And the thing is there’s a lot of opportunity in Flint. So I think it’s more so getting past the perception of what about this and what about that, and more so kind of looking at your balance sheet and your settlement statement and your Excel that you’re underwriting in.

So I think that’s like one of the bigger challenges is that perception is there’s a lot of opportunity in Wish Michigan, especially like a place like my town, Little Muskegon, Michigan. infrastructure’s building out, you think about it from an investor standpoint.

crashed out l old lumber town where lumber’s not a thing anymore and it’s just getting back on its feet and building internal infrastructure in downtown areas. there’s a lot of opportunity there. But again, I think that perception is actually the bigger things. And then one more is and this is more for my creative finance investors out there.

because I do love creative, is for those guys grabbing subject twos, just remember this in your underwriting for your pro forma. right now taxes and are going up high. I know people in Florida are feeling it. They’re but they’re always feeling it on those taxes, but and insurance. But

when you’re getting these and you’re acquiring these, when you’re writing these things out, when you’re when you’re doing your P IT I and your Proforma, take into consideration that buffer that you might need for these this next however allotted amount of time for when those property taxes go up. Because you can’t just go to the bank, when you’re taking over a mortgage that’s not yours and talk about it most in most cases. So when you’re underwriting and doing your P IT I stuff.

just remember that those escrow audits and take, economic factors into consideration. So I think that’s more for my market, but also just nationally.

Scott Bursey (11:57)
Fair points right there, Josh. It’s critical to keep a pulse on those realities to stay ahead. Strategy wise, how do you align your long term vision with the day to day tactical execution?

Josh Moore (12:11)
my methodology is relatively simple, even though when I speak of it sounds complex. I just build Lego blocks. So I just figure out how do I make something where my whole core of everything I do is how does everybody win?

If you can figure out how everybody wins, you win every single time. And a lot of people can’t figure out, I don’t want to say can’t, but choose not to figure out how everybody can win. Maybe that’s just because they don’t have the ability to, but a lot of times they do. And maybe it’s just not a good enough return for them or a stake of their time or whatever. So I think it’s more so figuring out instances where everybody can win. And then as many times as I can do that.

build systems around that. And then I got a Lego block and then I just stack all up and just have a cool little Lego castle with a whole bunch of different colored blocks when it’s all said and done.

Scott Bursey (12:58)
Thanks for highlighting that, Josh. And let’s dig a little bit deeper. What does your professional network look like right now?

Josh Moore (13:06)
Yeah, my pre professional network just due to the various amount of things that I’ve done, is pretty wide. So it’s just crazy a couple crazy things. So I actually at a point, believe it or not, I was a rapper. Wild, right? So I was in a

the full page of the 2007 XXL Freshman Edition, which is one of the biggest issues of the biggest hip hop magazines in the world. I toured nationally with celebrity acts, did my own small tour in Japan. So I’ve just done a wide variety of things. And the beauty of that is it was not even that I necessarily failed in them. Some things I crashed and burned. But it was more so it just didn’t I didn’t feel it anymore. so I moved on to another thing. But like

I acquired so many awesome relationships across those lanes. So it could range from rappers to celebrities to lawyers to just old friends. I have a really wide variety. And then when I connect and meet with investors, I try to bring value up front and not be as much of a gatekeeper on things.

Coming forward with value first when cultivating relationships leads to way more solid things. And in a weird snowball effect, subconsciously, those people want people who they truly align with around them to kind of figure out some type of value too. They’re like, hey man, this guy brings value and I really like my friend. I want my friend to get some value. And that just ends up leading to a very robust, unique, and

Awesome network.

Scott Bursey (14:38)
Very well said. It’s clear your network is a major asset to your growth. Absolutely. And Josh, this is what we call the money question here. If you were starting over from scratch with only your knowledge and no capital, what is the exact move you would make in the next thirty days to get to get on top?

Josh Moore (15:39)
So for every viewer that sees this, just know, first off, you can a hundred percent do this. You don’t need as much as you think. And the bigger things as far as capital investment are for scaling, not for starting. So and

Prop string, don’t kick me in the butt over this, or any of the other companies. They’re amazing, list pulling softwares, all that, great. Needed to change your life? No. Remember this. So it’s like

It was done at a point with like county records, maybe a phone, pen and paper, and a notary. So that’s technically all you need. So but that doesn’t really answer the question. And I want to really give the real meat because I’m hoping that somebody sees this and it really changes their life. And I’m not just gonna give you the generic go look at Zillow and lowball people thing. So this is what you can do. And this is a small piece to the beginning of your journey, hopefully.

So check it out. This is something you can do very easy. Go to Facebook Marketplace, home for house for sale by owner. Go look through the description. Make sure it’s not a real estate agent. Make sure it’s not a wholesaler. Make sure it doesn’t mention assignment. Make sure it doesn’t mention investment opportunity. If it says the word cozy, skip it.

Like anything that could flag that that’s not actually the person that owns that house. Message them. If it’s a messed up house, say, hey, looks like this could be really cool when it’s all done. Why don’t you do it? What makes you want sell it? If it’s awesome, say, this is a beautiful house. This is great. what makes you want to get rid of it? Figure out why. Because that’s the essence of all of this is why. How can you help them?

Figure out their problem. Then see if you can get on the phone. Start talking. Figure out what the problem is. Say, hey, I need to run some numbers. Let me just see what I could do. I can’t promise anything, but I’m interested. And then step back and see if you can figure out their problem and see if there’s room to make money on that. So this is how you do that. And it’s just simple wholesale assignment. You figure out their problem.

You see how much it costs to solve their problem. You see if after you add, let’s just say $5,000 on top of that, if that makes sense for s another investor to buy that and it truly solves their problem. Because if not, you’re doing something called equity stripping, you’re taking advantage of people, and that’s not cool.

So it’s just figuring out how you can take all that in and filter the problems you can solve. So figure that out. Go online, find your random free mentor, get their purchase and sale agreement, get it under contract after you’ve done the math. Go find YouTube videos to see what the math looks like. Look for something called an M-A-L. And then go ahead, put that under contract.

Go to your local real estate meetups, go find somebody who invests, say, hey, I’m just starting doing this. I really want to do this. I want to change my life. I don’t know everything. I’m just telling you that up front. And I have this opportunity. And truth be told, it’s already under contract, and I need to get this figured out. And I’m putting $5,000 on it. Do you want to buy it? Does this math make sense? And one other thing I want to mention before you do that.

Make sure that you have that sitting with a title agency before you approach people and make sure that you specifically tell the title agency and ask them if they can do a assignment closing. And tell them specifically, before you find your investor that agrees to do something with you, tell them please do not run abstracting or underwriting so you don’t waste any money. This is the situation. I’m just figuring this out and I want to make a good relationship with you.

So please just wait for my go ahead before you start abstracting and underwriting because I’d hate for us to start off with me losing your money your money because I don’t have this figured out yet. And you do that, try and do that a whole bunch of times, and you will probably make some money if you’re diligent on it. Because that is the actual structure that a lot of people actually probably will charge you money to try and teach you.

Scott Bursey (19:24)
Powerful. Very powerful. Our listeners are gonna get so much value out of that advice, Josh. And for those of our listeners that want to keep this conversation moving, Josh, stay in your lane or collaborate with you on possible future deals. What’s the best way for them to plug into your pipeline and reach you directly?

Josh Moore (19:41)
Take out your phone and scan this QR code.

Or you can catch me on my website, itsjoshmoore.com. And then my social media across the board is Josh Moore Invests. And you can catch me there. And then if you want to send me an email or anything or opportunity that’s couldn’t quite be fit in a text, you can send me an email at [email protected]

Scott Bursey (20:04)
Josh, this has been an absolute masterclass. Thank you so much for joining us today on the Real Estate Pros podcast.

Josh Moore (20:12)
so much. I really appreciate the opportunity, Scott. And I’m so excited to be able to provide value to somebody. And I just hope that somebody who sees this is the spark and this is what lights their fuel.

Scott Bursey (20:23)
And to our listeners, we appreciate each and every one of you. If you receive value from today’s episode, please subscribe. We’ll be fueling your tanks with the lineup of elite guests, just like Josh Moore, who are accelerating and setting the pace for the rest of the industry. Until next time, keep your standards high and your vision clear. We’ll see you in the next episode, everyone.

Josh Moore (20:46)
Bye everyone. Thank you.