All Forum Posts by: Marcus Auerbach

We have about 400 agents at my office in Milwaukee and I know maybe 10 who personally own real estate (okay, fair to assume that I miss a few). I have been an investor first and agent later, given classes on investing for agents - for some reason they don't get it. They like the idea for retirement, but at the end of the day 99% of them never buy one. And too many don't even own their own home. 

As an agent, if you don't own rental properties, you don't know what market rents are - and anything else that comes with being a landlord.

Would love to hear that story @Jim K.! Who do we need to petition for that @Mindy Jensen? 

I always thought the passion for REI runs a little deeper than just money. You have to have a love for brick and mortar and a little bit of an obsession for the game. I see it sometimes with people who come over from Wallstreet for the ROI - if you don't have the bug, you are not going to power through.

@Jeremiah Dunakin I think you should drive the car you want, regardless of what people think, old or new (and as long as you can buy it cash). I have tenants who drive more expensive vehicles than me and it's just all leased, rented and financed. I should add my Audi Q8 is a 2019 and I have put over 100k miles on it, technically the company owns it and since it is fully written off, I guess I am going to put another 100k on it before I take the tax hit lol

This reminds me of a guy I met years ago when I was trying to help new investors and we were looking at duplexes. He showed up in a jacked that looked the stuff the Kardashians wear and managed to point out his 100k watch in the first 5 minutes of conversations. Yuck.

On the opposite end, it seems like some investors have a hard time spending money. My brother in law is 65, they own maybe 20 duplexes almost paid off, and they still pinch every penny to pay off mortgages. They will get there in the next 5 years, but why? And then what? 

His wife wanted a new (new to her and very modest) car to replace a 20 year old VW and she was hemming and hawing about it until my wife sat her down and said just buy it and enjoy life a little, you might be dead next year and you can't take it with you.

I don't know if I totally agree @Jim K. I got into real estate so I can afford things and I live in an expensive neighborhood and drive an expensive German SUV. And if you look me up on social you find out that I travel a lot and not exactly cheap. But frankly, I did that before REI too, so it is what it is and I am not going to hide it.

On the other hand, I am also not flashy. You'll find me wearing jeans and a $9 black t-shirt from Target and I am not afraid to get my hands dirty, if I can fix something on the spot with what's in my toolbag before I call a contractor.

Most tenants think that you are rich anyway, because why else would you own multiple houses? They don't know about your loans. Or care about them.

As far as they are concerned, I am one of the owners, so there is always the let me check and get back to you with an asnwer.

Looks like Nick is part of a larger team, I would reach out to the team owner and ask for clarification on what happened to the EMD. https://www.ezsalesteam.com/meet-the-ez-sales-team/

The time to cancel a deal is during inspection. Backing out late in the game (Nov-Jan?) is always problematic (and it also really screws the seller), but for the trust fund to release EMD buyer's and seller's signature are required. If they don't agree they can sue for specific performance. Agents can't control what parties sign and thats also not flipping the script. Once you are outside of the contract, your agent is prohibited from giving you legal advice. At that point you need an attorney.

Buying OOS is a lot harder than people think. And cheap properties amplify the issues. The purchase is really just the beginning; there is a lot more to deal with during rehab and then when it comes to renting a place out. Always best to invest in your backyard.

The biggest issue for flippers (and builders) is controlling their cost. It is too easy. If you pay your drywaller $12,000 instead of $10,000 it does not seem like a big deal, but if you have 25 trades to pay, that is $50,000. 

On top of that a few "oops" extra items that where not in the budget you loose money quickly. Flipping is hard. To get good you need to flip a lot, like 10 houses per year. Thats when you can start really controlling your cost. But at this point this is also a full time job and you are running a full fledged business. Might as well open a car dealership. Nothing passiv about that.

Frankly, before I would flip houses I would rather run a contractor business and charge 100k for a kitchen remodel. But guess what, that's not so easy either..

The judge actually commented on that. He was following the law, so he had no choice, but he pointed out that this was not the intend of the law. 

We are working  on legislation - if you are in Milwaukee, Green Bay, Madison - or anywhere in Wisconsin, please join the RPA and support our efforts.

Love the intention, but let me shoot some holes into this. I am on the board of the RPAWI in Milwaukee (a non-profit landlord organization) and have enough exposure to landlord-tenant law and the cases of our members (and a few of my own) to say evictions are very complex, the circumstances vary so much, the devil is in the details and it even varies by county. 

As long as it's a simple non-payment of rent and the tenant does not contest at the hearing you might be fine as a DIY. But our tenants get now free attorneys that will find a stupid clerical error in your paperwork and delay the inevedibale another month or two, costing you more money. If you make a mistake with the security deposit you could be on the hook for double damages. If your lease contains any of the 10 deadly sins, you may have to refund all of the rent that tenant has ever paid (Koble vs Marquart) and if you have more tenants in the building they may try to do the same thing! Personally, I'd rather hire an attorney!

You buy forclosures on MLS with an agent, but there are almost zero foreclosures, because everyone has to much equity. We are about 1% forclosure rate compared to almost 50% back in 2010. Everyone seems to think that foreclosure means great deals, which means the bank gets top dollars.

Possibly, if you can build for under 500k, but that is a fairly complext project for a noobie. 600sqft is tiny for an apartment; your rents will be limited by the size. From what I know LA is hard to work with and expensive to get permits. Quite frankly, I would start with something that involves paint and new carpet :-)

Probably probate and your chances of success are small, but give it a shot, it's good practice getting comfortable. If you do this long enough, you'll get to the point where this feels as easy as like asking someone for directions: hi, sorry, I have a question..

First step is to establish trust. Be authentic, tell them you have never done this, but you are interested in buying the property. Don't give them a number, because you don't know. In their mind all they want to hear is a number, you have to change that to "we know a guy who will buy it and make the process easy" -- the number comes later.

Ask if you can see the house. Ask if they know about probate and what they are looking for. Exchange information, give them a chance to talk, swing by again next week. 

You don't need to impersonate an "investor" who has all the answers, just be you and show an interest in the house, everything else you can figure out.