All Forum Posts by: Andrew Holmes

@Kyle Grimm

I feel your pain from the age of 19 to 23. I went through that period. I was a real estate agent and I was struggling. Even thinking about those years give me bad nightmare. Believe me there is hope. Just give up. There is a pot of gold literally at the end of that rainbow of dreams. 

I read couple of your posts in this tread and make me think back to those years. I wish I had done it differently. Having a W2 gives a huge amount of stability. Unfortunately it take away a huge amount of free time. If you are not going to get a full time job and do investing on the side then dig in and go to work. 

By 23 I figured out that I had to become the Cold call king. I know everyone hates doing it but I used to call every expired listing, every cancelled, every FSBO. 500 Dials each day. Goal was 100 contacts. and 14 appointments with prospective sellers each week. Everyone at my office used to snicker and laugh at my effort. I just had no choice. I was just not willing to give up not because I didn't want to but because I did not see any other options.

One thing that did change by the time I was 24 was that because of consistency I was making sales and carried a lot of listings. At least I was not dead broke. It took me to the age of 26 to really get good at it. Then things got better but the market was going up each year and I could not seem to jump in. I was finally 33 and 2008 hit and I was ready and primed. 

Now it seems just like yesterday but it was not. I know I worked hard and years I struggled but life has a funny way of beating the crap out of you when you are down. Either you keep banging your head against the wall and finally give up or the wall just breaks through. 

Things are very different today for me and looking back now I know when I was able to finally break through that barrier but along the whole journey it is a struggle and a fight. Even today there are challenges but these challenges happen because I am trying to continue to grow the business. 

Keep the faith. There are some wonderful speakers in the real estate agent training space that changed my life forever. Mike Ferry and Tom Ferry. I followed their exact model for really getting good at sale. I am not trying to sell these guys just relaying what worked for me. May be not the easiest path but it does work very well if you are willing to put in the work they suggest. 

Being an agent today is very competitive. Yet good agent do very well and you are primed as an agent to be great at investing if you keep your eyes and ears open. I think being on a forum like BP is a great place to be. 

Just be careful of any advice. Check out source before you follow someone's advice. 

Wish you the best.  

@Oscar Chirinos@Corina Eufinger

Oscar: Ms. Corina is 100% on the money with her comment about Zion. If you are in Crystal Lake go to Dan Clarton and Joe Mullers (Tannis Realty) they do a meeting in Algonquin. Great guys. 

@Sanja Noble

Reach out to Gardi & Haught Law firm in Schaumburg they are very investor friendly. BP does not permit posting phone numbers other wise I would post their number. We have over 1300 investors at Chicago REIA we refer a ton of business to them. Reach out and talk with Carolyn. You can use me a reference point. She will bend over backwards to help you. Excellent with shortsales and working with investors that may have difficult private sellers.

Also they will put you in touch with the correct person to reach out to at Fidelity National Title for flips, wholesales and Cash Flow rentals for all title needs. The name of the lady at Fidelity is Desiree. 

@Rogelio Rosales

Like your post if you find any stats would love to know more on this topic. Have heard all sorts of wild claims but nothing concrete. May be someone can contribute to the topic. 

@Brian Olson

I think personally my suggestion is you do not do that. It's a can of worms. I have heard some people on the speaking circuit say these types of thing. It all sounds ok at a seminar but I would highly recommend you do not do that. 

I know of folks who have done this and someone does work on the property even improvements and then there is a contractor mechanics lien. A lot of folk here I feel are right that do no let you tenant do anything to your property. 

It's not their property. It your investment. You want to charge a frivolous call or nonsense call amount that you can charge after the first time. Like a light bulb going out. But really beyond that personally i don't think it's a good idea. 

We manage our own 160+ single family homes. We buy in good areas and good tenants only with only 2 year or more leases. No exception. We tend to be hyper vigilant about our properties and repairs. I think at the end of day it is a philosophy of how you want to run your business. 

I have always thought of a tenant or contractors at the high 14 year old. You give them any chance to go off the path. They will. Not saying that all tenants or contractors are bad. Just saying that better to be safe. 

@Khoa Ha

@Account Closed I bought a second lien by mistake. The paralegal working on the file screwed up but we were able to buy out the first lien position also but it was big mess. 

Over the last 7 years we have bought about 350 or so properties from sheriffs sales but there are always issues that come up. Not for the faint of the heart and your odds are much better if you have a bit of a war chest built up. Plus if you buy in high volume the numbers work out pretty well if you really know what you are doing. 

Personally I would not recommend this for most investors. Risk is too high. Unless there is someone in your market that you can verify has bought hundreds of these be very wary. If you can work out a deal with someone that deal with these everyday then it's a different story. 

Fernando: Cash flow wise it does not make sense to me. I don't know your market but if it was here in chicago suburbs I would sell it and buy 5 or 6 properties with good cash flow. Minimum of 400 per single family after all expenses. 

In my market I can still find deals with huge equity position is good suburbs and huge cash flow. 

@Account Closed

Brian is right. Look up with your area has any wierd laws regarding tenants. City of chicago has all sort of rules about security deposits. Some of the other suburbs have the same in our area. Most of the suburbs follow the state guideline. 

Barring any strange ordinances or rules by the city your lease states that specifically then you may want to consider returning the deposit minus the costs of due diligence and any other expenses you may have incurred. 

If you are happy with the tenants they found for you and you are moving forward with them then if you go to court all the court would award you is the damages. What did you loose because of the tenants action and breaking the lease. 

No one wants their leases broken and it's not fair yet in the real world you have pick and choose which battles are worth fighting. 

Seems like you can work out a amicable fair deal with you previous tenants. 

@Chris T.

Chris hope you got the policy.

Last year I was in a huge accident. It was not my fault. The person who was at fault was under insured. The problem was I had a passenger in my car. One of the guys who does work for me. 

The underinsured driver's company only paid $ 25K towards my damaged car. I had a $ 119,000 in car claim for a total loss on a brand new car. I got away with out a scratch but the guy riding with me got a whip last injury because of the seat belt. It could have been far worse. I was very glad to have a very good sized umbrella policy. It could have been a night mare and not even my fault. 

You fault or not it can become your liability. Thank not was was hurt bad at all but it could have been a major disaster. You think about it but it can happen to anyone and just like that everything you have built can be wiped out. 

These policy are very inexpensive relative to the peace of mind and benefit just in case. 

You may want to talk to Secure Pay One - Linda.

Really good.