All Forum Posts by: Andrew Davis

Welcome @Jimmy Gonzalez !

Great to see a fellow Floridian.  I have found it to be a great place to live and invest, best of luck!

If you are new to Real Estate Investing, check out the Ultimate Beginners Guide:

http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investing

The podcasts have also been an amazing education for me, and a great way to pass time in the car.

Best of luck Jimmy,

Andrew

@Martin Elizondo Hernandez 

Welcome to Bigger Pockets!  This is a great resource for anyone who wants to learn about RE Investing. 

I strongly suggest listening to the podcasts, getting involved on the forums and reading the Ultimate Beginners Guide:

http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investing

Best of luck Martin!

Andrew

@Mildred R. That is a great dilemma!

I would second @DJ Hite 's suggestion of doing a cash out refinance or a HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit). That would still give you a chunk of cash to work with, without having to sell your house. From what I've heard about Atlanta, and based on the appreciation of your home, it would be wise to hold onto it.

Bigger Pockets is a great place to learn about investing and connect with other investors, local and around the world.

As for what you should do with the money, that's going to depend on your goals, appetite for risk, and your aptitudes or what you like doing.  I would strongly suggest reading the Ultimate Beginners Guide.

http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investing

This helped me define what I wanted to do in RE (and what I didn't) and I learned a tremendous amount about how to evaluate properties to determine if they are a good investment.

Best of luck and please reach out with any questions,

Andrew

@Justin Hall G

Greetings to you!  Sounds like you've already gotten quite the education and you're well on your way.  I'm also a transplant, living and investing in Central Florida.

@Dmitriy Fomichenko & @Elizabeth Colegrove have given some great advice for getting started here.  There is a pretty strong Central Florida Investment Community, and I have found it a great place to invest.

Please reach out if I can help in any way, looking forward to hearing those success stories!

Andrew

@Kelley B. and other's made some great points about by-laws, special assessments, rental restrictions... etc.  Due diligence is key, and finding a good investor/agent in your area will be invaluable.

I was looking at a few condo's in South Florida yesterday, and my agent pointed out a clause that wouldn't allow me to rent one of them for the first year.  Bullet.  Dodged!

Best of luck sir, Happy New Year!

Andrew

@Hermilo Garcia 

Welcome to BP, your girlfriend's mother did you a huge favor!

There have been some great responses to your post already from @Elizabeth Colegrove @Jared Adamson & @Dave Bingham .

I would strongly suggest reading through the ultimate beginners guide.  I really dove into investing in August of 14', and after reading the UBG I felt like my eyes were opened.  It helped me better define goals and gave me a much better idea of how to properly evaluate properties.

http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investing

Congratulations on graduating and getting started at a young age.  Something that worked great for me was house hacking.  @Brandon Turner started out this way, as did I, and it is a great way to live for free, or close to it, and begin building your real estate portfolio.  Here's a recent podcast where they delve into this strategy.

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2014/10/30...

Best of luck my friend, and please reach out with any questions.

Happy New Year!

Andrew

@Wade Marks 

Welcome to BP!  You've found a great community and the sky is the limit for what you can achieve with the right network and systems in place.

There is a wealth of information on BP: the podcasts, books, blog posts, forums, and personal connections you will make.

Happy New Year!

@Sandra Han 

Hi!

Congratulations on getting started in Real Estate Investing!  You have found a fantastic resource in Bigger Pockets.

I would definitely start here:

http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investing

This will help you define your goals, pick a location to start investing in and help you learn how to evaluate properties to see if they truly are a good investment.

To answer your question specifically, most banks hire a local realtor to represent them in the sale of a foreclosed property.  You would be wise to work with an investor friendly real estate agent.  They will save you a lot of headaches and help you find great properties.

I work with a great investor/agent in Orlando.  Her name is @Erin Legler and you can find her here on BP!

As for finding a good contractor... that is the million dollar question.  I find word of mouth has been the best solution for me.  Talk to your RE agent, mortgage broker, title company, friends, family... anyone who is remotely involved in Real Estate.  Check references, go look at projects they've completed or are working on.  

Hope that helps, keep us updated on your progress!

@Brittaney Woods 

Sorry to hear you're not having success on Craigslist.  My experience has been that you really have to have a compelling ad and need to be posting daily, and you do have to be prepared for a lot of filtering.

Unfortunately I don't know any wholesalers in South Florida, but I know plenty that are very successful in the Central Florida area.

Have you checked out @Brandon Turner 's book?

http://get.biggerpockets.com/nomoneydown/

There are a bunch of great resources on wholesaling specifically, and if you get the full version he has interviews with some of the must successful wholesalers out there!

Just a thought... Happy New Year!

@Tim Davids 

Hey Tim, I think your local REIA is a great place to look for private money lenders... that is where I've found mine.

I have not run into a situation where one tries to go around me.  You can get pre-qualified with a few, get a deal under contract and then go to them for the funding.

There's also a good list here on the site:

http://www.biggerpockets.com/hardmoneylenders

Good Luck!