All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

@Winona Benson I think networking is a great avenue for you to follow on this one. Meeting in person goes a much greater distance than meeting online.

With that being said, before I allowed you to do physical work on one of my properties/rehabs, there would be a bunch of paperwork. If you got hurt, there is liability issues as you don't work for my company, no worker's comp would be there. Then there is the issue of, if you cut the wrong thing and the property got damaged, does my insurance cover if the work wasn't done by a licensed and bonded individual.

Then if not licensed would the local building inspector give me a pass.

So, be prepared to answer those questions for someone.

@Danielle Jones There is no one set answer. Each person is different in their position in life. The first thing you must have is a LOVE, not a want, but true love and passion for real estate. Not because you want to make money, but because you truly love real estate.

Once you have that, then you have to educate yourself to find the niche you want. Real Estate has many avenues. Flips, Rentals, Turnkey, Notes, Tax Liens, HML, Private Lender, etc... I could go on and on. Which meets your passion for it.

Once you have that, you need to learn about that niche, as you learn you will either see your passion grow or fade. If it fades, is it because of the niche, or because of real estate.

Either way, if you choose a path, stay with it. As @Bryan L. stated, he was making offers but took two years. What if he had given up after 10 months? I see that happen to many times to people. They get frustrated that they didn't make the "infomercial" deal immediately. It doesn't happen like that.

With that being said, no deals come to the person that sits at home all day behind a computer hoping a deal comes to them. You have to go out, network, discuss, learn, study, visit properties, and yes, MAKE OFFERS.

You can't even with the lottery unless you go buy a ticket.

It could take you 3 months prior to your first deal, it could take 3 years. Either way, if you have a passion for this, it will happen. I have stated to many people many times, that the "Biggest" deal a person does is their first deal. It shakes off the fear and gives you the confidence you need. Also that is the reason many businesses have their first dollar framed somewhere.

Good luck to you and happy investing! It has been rewarding on so many levels for me. I hope you find that reward as well!

@Jason Topolski - What are you wanting to do? Because you can do what you want. Have you thought about why you are doing this and not some other type of investment?

Have you thought about the rate of return you would like to see? Do you feel better about lending short term, intermediate term, or long term?

Would you prefer lending on a project close to you geographically so you could monitor the progress?

You can answer there here, but the key is to answer that to yourself. Once you have that, you can move forward more readily.

@Sean B. I posted this in another thread, but feel it fits this situation.

So many people get fixated on making investments work in a given area. It is akin to fishing. If you want to catch TUNA, you have to go to where TUNA are, not attempt to make a walleye look like a TUNA.

If you currently aren't catching what you are fishing for, you either need to find another area of the lake (move your boat), move to a completely different lake, or change what you are fishing for.

Don't attempt to fit a square peg into a round hole. I do suggest you either move on, or work with @John Weidner since he was so gracious to offer his assistance.

I have several properties under contract and put in another 6 offers recently. They all make sense, and will add to the ever growing portfolio. If counter offers don't meet my needs, I don't get the property. Sometimes, I make my offer, wait for months, re-offer and get my price. In the mean, the sellers have to pay the holding costs as a fee for their stubborn ignorance.

Happy you are making a go of this, but don't push a bad position.

Hope to see you all on Wednesday night!

Yes you may certainly buy it in the name of your LLC. In fact, I would highly encourage you do that.

A commercial loan is possible (local banks may handle it better than the big boys). You will have to more than likely put a "personal guarantee" on the loan, but it isn't in your name.

You may get some push back then from lenders that will sell the loans to Fannie or Freddie on using the appraised value.

If you find a small local bank, they are usually more willing to forego the title seasoning requirements in place.

@Jeremy S. Actually, 75% of Appraised value depends on when you purchased them. Many lenders have what is called Title Seasoning. If it is under their stated seasoning, then it is 75% of the purchase price. If you wait out their seasoning it is 75% of appraisal. You will have appraisal and loan costs involved. There is no way to avoid those to be honest. however, if you can use that money to buy more properties and have more long term income, you will have to agree it is worth that cost.

So you need to contact lenders and find out what their seasoning requirements are for cash-out refinances.

Also, I assume the properties are titled in your personal name?

@Brie Schmidt is right, that only 75% of the rental income will be used as "income".

They have lowered the forecast for Thursday here in Chicago, Illinois. Of course, we get 4-6" tomorrow, then melts (even the weather ppl are saying flooding) but then on Sunday we drop back to 6 degrees, so all that water will FREEZE!!

It all comes down you how you plan your risk. what you are willing to lend on, how you want to do business, and what returns you want to make.

I will advise one of my favorite sayings, "Pigs get fed, hogs get slaughtered". If you want really high returns, think about this. What kind of person is willing to borrow at such costly numbers? Usually someone that doesn't have access to it elsewhere, thereby more than likely being new and inexperienced themselves.

There are ways to protect yourself, but sometimes to many layers of protection make the money more "Hard to get" and scare of those that value the speed of the transaction. You must find that happy medium. If you goal is to just make a solid steady return, then you want to find someone that has a history of constantly having projects going. The minute someone pays you back your loan, you stop making money on it. Whereas if you have say one or two people that you lower your rate to, keep the money moving, your overall combined return will be much higher than if you do one here and there with people.

I used to do HML. It was solid. I found out what not to do, what to do, and that repeat business was worth taking a little less in return for, because it was safer, and kept the money moving constantly.

I have to side with @Ben Leybovich on this one. However, there are times that I was in the area, and it would be quicker for me to respond to the tenant's needs and fix it, than to wait on getting the maintenance guy there to fix it. SO I do, but having a maintenance person on call, is CLUTCH!

To many people depend on me buying more properties to spend my time fixing minor things.

With that being said, I 100% believe most people need to know how to fix things. If you don't, contractors will walk all over you and treat you like the way many of of have heard of the "mechanic taking advantage of the single woman".

Glad you made it down safely @Brandon Turner