All Forum Posts by: Alexander Murillo

@Ronnie Wainaina what city do you plan on living in? Is $250k a realistic price for either a small multifamily or a single family home with 3+ bedrooms (the more the better)? An FHA loan with 3.5% down would be less than $9k down. There are also conventional loans for first time buyers at 3% down. Get seller to pay for closing costs. Saving 20% down will take forever, and is unnecessary. You already have some decent savings in case of emergency.

I'm not saying to rush or feel pressured. Learn to make an educated, numbers based analysis and decision. But depending on your home market, investing can be very realistic for you. In 5+ years you'll only have wished you started sooner.

@Eric Derer Start locally and try to house-hack. This will be easiest and cost effective, and there are local people everywhere having success in every market.

But I'm unfamiliar with your market, and wouldn't discount looking out of state either if it really doesn't make sense or if you want to put down 20-25% down on a property regardless. I've liked Ohio and can refer you to my team there if you'd like.

@William Conn find a sales job that has high income potential and works with your schooling goals (summer sales for example). Talk to investors, or at least other people who WANT to invest. Practice finding and analyzing deals where you live. Consider alternative niches that might be cheaper to break into (like mobile homes).

I bought my first 2 houses while still in college and it was the best thing I ever did. I had to work full-time while going to school in order to get loans, and would do most my studying during graveyard shifts of a 2nd job. Obviously I don't know your full situation or market, and I'm definitely not telling you to get ahead of yourself. But it's worth considering that hands-on investing experience isn't out of the question just because you're in school.

@Joe Ludwiczak obviously everyone is saying it's a bad idea, but I think in reality it's up to you and your goals. If you want to scale and grow your portfolio, don't put 40% down on one house. If debt gives you anxiety and your goal is just to pay off a couple strong properties as quickly as possible and be done with it, then go ahead.

Another idea is to consider getting a heloc on the property if you were to put 40% down on it. Some credit unions will give you 80% LTV on a rental and up to 100% on a primary for example. So put 40% down, and get a heloc for half that amount and you still have the money available to use for another deal if you want

@Sadierose Lemire I'm an agent/investor in Cedar City! I have lots of contacts here for just about anything you need. Let me know if I can help

@Jon D. Point proven! Like I said you're looking for new agents or agents who do less than 10 deals a year in low price markets. Find a way to filter those out in your market and you might find some interest. All the top-producing agents I know wouldn't negotiate their commission structure MAYBE until you became a repeat client and assuming you weren't a pain in the butt to work with during the first deal

Sounds like the OP is fixed on the idea that his hourly proposal should be accepted by all agents and is getting defensive when they want to defend their market pay rate. Unfortunately by proposing an hourly rate, you will immediately filter out most of realtors worth their salt. They're more likely to understand business and opportunity cost.

Try asking an accountant for a discount because you've done your own taxes before

Try asking a lawyer for a discount because you majored in political science

Try asking a dentist for a discount because you brush your teeth every day

Try asking the grocery clerk to rebate you a percentage because you collected all your own groceries and they didn't even ask how your day was

Realtors are professionals that have an established pay rate. Finding ones that are quick to negotiate this are likely desperate or new. The hard part is finding the ones that are worth it. Sounds like you just haven't had an experience yet where a realtor has saved your butt or out-done themselves, so you question their pay structure

After reading the thread, something is still unclear to me. Did the LENDER say the $1k in repairs was required before closing the loan? Or are these just repairs that YOU think need to be done?

Either way your realtor probably just doesn't want you to lose the house over $1000 since getting you under contract was tricky enough.

If the lender needs the repairs done, ask your realtor what they recommend and work it out with the seller. Worst case scenario they say no and you have to fix it yourself in order to close.

If the lender does not require require specific repairs, then move on, close on the house, and be happy you bought something below appraised value.

I joined a team, and I've closed a little over 30 deals in my first 10 months. I've been able to learn from and duplicate an agent who sells a couple hundred deals a year for the last 10 years. I doubt I would have had a successful first year otherwise.

On average after about 100 phone calls a day to a combination of warm leads, SOI, FSBOs, expired listings, etc should get you about 2 appointments.

2 buyer appointments should equate to 1 offer.

You should take most of the listing appointments you get. I was able to take my team lead with me at first to up my credibility. Consider leaning on someone else's experience until you're more confident and have more deals under your belt to brag about.

Talk to some lenders. Get pre-approved. If they deny you then you will have to take their feedback and look at alternative options. You're creating a roadblock for yourself before you even start walking down the road.