All Forum Posts by: Abel Curiel

Hello @Tiffany Alfaro,

At $50K, you would be able to invest. 

The median sale prices for 2-4 unit properties in these counties is $775K. The minimum down payment for a property in this price range would be roughly $27K.

That said, you also need to account for bank closing costs, inspection costs, appraisal, attorney fee, and title costs.

Your scenario may require a seller's concession to account for these additional expenses.

Investing with $50K is totally possible in this market but your journey may be met by challenges i.e. Higher/equal offers with no concessions needed, All cash offers, Offers with 20%+ down payments, etc.

All the best!

Abel

Welcome to the forums, @Craig Sparling!

The experience here on BP is what you make of it. There are plenty of valuable contacts, relationships to create & grow, helpful bits of information, etc.

3 things I'd recommend for a new BP member looking to make the most of the platform:

1. Complete your profile with information on your experience, goals, what you look to add to (and gain from) the BP community. I see you've added a deal already which is a great start.
2. Set up keyword alerts to stay on top of topics and locations of interest. You'll get a notification any time a keyword is mentioned in the forums.
3. Stay active on the forums. Ask Questions, answer questions, search for previously discussed topics

All the best!

Abel

@Taylor Robertson

Some buyer agreements include language for situations like this. For example, an agent would collect a reduced commission, flat transaction fee, or no commission if the buyer sources an off-market deal directly.

In your case, if you'd like to compensate your agent, you can include it in the loan. Since you're purchasing it under market value, you shouldn't have an issue getting it appraised at $145K.

The seller would net $140K and the additional $5K would be seller's concession towards broker commission and closing costs. 

Another option would be to keep the purchase price at $140K and bring a check to closing for your broker. The bank would still want to know about the commission to include it as an expense on the final closing disclosure.

All the best!

Abel

Hello @Matthew Hull,

Scripts can be helpful, but we sound like robots if we rely on them too much. 

Main questions should ask about the seller's:

- Reasons/Motivations for wanting to sell
- Desired timeline to close
- Plan's after selling (relocation, reinvesting proceeds, 1031 exchange, etc)
- Back-up plan in case they are unable to sell within the desired timeline
- Reasons for not already selling to/with a investor or Realtor

Additional questions will depend on the type of seller lead i.e. pre-foreclosure, probate, fsbo, absentee owner, etc.

Here is an example of a youtube search you can use to begin finding call recordings.

There are 1,000s and you'll find that the best/most effective ones don't even sound like sales calls. They sound like regular conversations where the RE professional/investor is genuinely interested in discovering the seller's pain points to help find a solution.

All the best!

Abel

@Andrew Lax

Wishing you the best on the sale of your portfolio!

Both things are happening.

Buyer agent commission is still negotiated up front with sellers although there is the option not to compensate a buyer's agent - aka have the buyer pay their agent.

We also tell buyer's agents to include their commission in the offer. We ask them to keep in mind that our seller is willing to pay or offer a concession of X amount towards buyer agent commission.

Hello @Keegan Felix and welcome to BP!

You're definitely not too late to the game!

I have used retirement funds for investing and I do not recommend cashing it all out. If you're only using a portion of the funds, its less of a risk and could make sense depending on your situation and the deal itself.  

Its good that you've already established some target markets, I'd recommend diving deep into 1 or 2 markets, then branching out. 

Look into any and all factors you can think of regarding those areas so that if/when you decide to research other markets, you know what information to look for. 

Information including but not limited to: 

- Median Sale prices for different property types (SFR, MFR, Condo/HOA, etc.)
- Average days on market
- Absorption rate
- Historical data on rents and sale prices in the area
- Population growth
- Main economic drivers (industries, individual companies, etc.)
- Crime stats... if you know specific zip codes/submarkets that you'd like to target, the best data will come from local precincts. 
- and more..

I'd recommend remaining active not only here on BiggerPockets, but in other valuable RE investment networks that you can find - i.e. local meetups (meetup.com, eventbrite, BP local events). 

Lastly, your $8K and market knowledge could be a great start to a partnership with someone who has more funds but less time & knowledge... I'd also suggest speaking about Real Estate with friends, family, neighbors, and anyone else in your sphere of influence. 

You never know who is on a similar path, has a similar mindset, or just believes in you and your goal for a better life for the family.

All the best!

Abel

Hello @Ignatius Okeke,

If you're looking for a cold-calling company for initial outreach to home owners, I've used a bunch and found that virtudesk had the best system to vet and manage cold callers.
I paid a premium with this company compared to cold callers I found through different sources (i.e. referrals, fiverr, upwork, etc.).

I have never heard of a company that specializes with cold calling sellers specifically for negotiating. This is a high-level type of conversation that I am not sure cold-callers are equipt to handle. 

Cold callers are usually tasked with calling 1,000s of numbers to then narrow down a contact list of qualified leads. The next step is to then convert these leads to an appointment. At the appointment, or subsequent appointments, pricing is discussed and negotiated.

In my experience, the folks negotiating directly with sellers on pricing are investors, acquisition managers, and Realtors. 

Hopefully there is a recommendation out there that fits your needs!

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@Kenneth Johnson

You are at a starting point that many investors can relate to. Low salary, low on funds, low on knowledge. Each of these things can be worked on and in a few months of consistent and persistent action, you can see a gradual change in your situation.

Don't let current circumstances paralyze you.

As far action steps:

- Research and strongly consider the househacking strategy. I used this strategy at 24 years old with little money and even less RE knowledge. What I got in return was valuable experience and equity.

- check out the BP bookstore and start with 1 book... then move onto the next. I'd also recommend an amazon audible account so that you can listen to books on the go.

- There are plenty of good RE podcasts including the BP podcast. Search podcasts on Youtube and check out some of the recommendations

- get out there and network both virtually and in-person. Meet like-minded people and start building your own community of people who willingly share helpful information

All the best!

Abel

Hello @Jordan Wisser,

I agree with you regarding competition heating up if/when rates drop. This could potentially drive up the price on the subject property. 

Another option here could be to buy down the interest rate a bit. 

If you, your lender, or agent can pull up higher comps, there may be a way for you to negotiate a seller's concession and use it to buy down the interest rate. You'd be borrowing a slightly higher amount but your monthly debt service could drop by a few $100s. i.e. Purchase price is 500K + a 25K concession, provided the property can appraise for 525K. The 25K would go towards a rate buy down.

As far as accounting for cap ex and maintenance for newly replaced/updated items, I'd still recommend doing it. Instead of 5% for cap ex and maintenance respectively, perhaps 3%. Something will likely come up within the first couple of years.

All the best!

Abel