All Forum Posts by: Mark Mynhier

You say that you don't have the money to flip, yet, but I would argue that you don't know how to flip without money, yet. I've never put a penny into any house that I've ever bought and yet I've continued to flip houses over the last 18 months.

It takes a strategy and an understanding of leveraging OPM (pronounced opium, but is Other People's Money). Trust me, it is addictive...lol.

There are some local FIBI's you can go to (no pitching allowed, only education). I have gone to a couple and the networking is great. I also like CIA (Club In Action) in Burbank. If nothing else, go to their free CashFlow game and have a drink with others in the business.

Networking is truly the answer to this...when you network you open yourself up to many ideas that you hadn't thought of before...things that you didn't know that you didn't know.

Mark

Mark,

I'm not a wholesaler, but I am a flipper and a mentor. Part of my advice is to build a solid buyer's list (people like me who would take the good ones off of your hands for a nice profit). A lot of wholesalers get greedy (hey, it's what the market will bear, right?) and don't look at the long term. Make a respectable profit from each but don't gouge the flippers or else they won't do business with you in the long run. You want to build a list of REPEAT customers so that everyone wins. Think of it as the CostCo method...make a respectable profit from a lot of deals instead of trying to make a killing off of one.

Also, learn Craig's List...you can do a lot of buying and selling from there.

Third, download the Ultimate Beginner's Guide to REI (http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investing) and read it over and over.

Fourth, find a good REI (I would suggest any of the FIBI's or the Club in Action in Burbank) and network like crazy. My catchprhase is "Your network is your net worth" and it is the truest statement that I know in Real Estate...especially in the LA area.

Drop me a line if you want to talk...I'm always open to helping others.

Mark

Peggy, my experience with HML is that they NEVER have been involved in anything but writing a check after they vet the deal to make sure that it is a good deal. The gap funder should be a bit closer to the deal, but not supervising and helping, unless you specifically are asking for the help. Typically they both are just the money partners and not the rehab partners.

I have worked with MOR Financial and Center Street Lending as HML and they both are good to work with and don't interfere with the rehabbing, other than to check that the rehab is being done on time.

PM me if you have any questions or problems with the flip. I'm here in LA, too, and would be happy to lend a bit of help if you need it.

@Anthony Johnson I do flips, not wholesaling, but I'm always willing to work with people. You can also hit up one of a few REI's in town to meet people there. Tonight there is a Cash Flow game in Burbank run by the Club In Action (www.meetup.com/Real-Estate-Club-In-Action-Burbank-...) where you can meet people. Next week is their regular meeting and you can meet with several people there who do wholesaling. Matt Skinner is one of the guys who runs it and he is a great wholesaler.

Contact me, also, if you want to talk about the business and get a handle on the LA REI scene.

Mark

@John Schofield 

There are other options besides wholesaling, flipping and buy-and-holds. One that I (and many other flippers) look for is someone like you who has "a decent sum of money" but doesn't have the time to flip houses. We partner with them to flip houses. I have had a couple of partners like this. What it basically boils down to is I do all the work, using money from a gap funder and a hard money lender, and then I split the profits with them. They are on contract, if they want to be, and approve any deal the is funded, of course.

What that allows is for those of us who don't have the money to gap for ourselves to do the flipping and allows the funder to put in a minimum amount of time. Win/win for both. Always vet your partner AND the project.

Club In Action has a Cash Flow game going this Wednesday night in Burbank. (http://www.meetup.com/Real-Estate-Club-In-Action-Burbank-CA/events/201136332/). Come on out and talk with others who are just getting in the game. Julie runs it and she is wonderful. I'll be there, as well.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, @J Martin...@Jean Norton is by far a more experienced investor than I am (and I read her stuff for advice, too). Study the markets and do the research. Network like crazy to have someone with boots on the ground and then have rock solid contracts in place. I would use Legal Shield or something like it to make sure that you know the laws in the area (some places have funky laws regarding buying and selling houses) and that your contracts aren't missing anything that is peculiar to that area. It is all about homework, like Jean says.

There are several people who specialize in that. Our very own @Ali Boone here on BP, for instance. @Julie Falen (who I think is here, too) does them in Kansas City. Black Belt Investments does them all over the country with a good bit of success and he is also local to the SoCal area. If you look around BP and get references for these turnkey enterprises, you will find some good ones.

In the mean time, read, read, read everything that you can here on BP and elsewhere.

Mark

West Adams is starting to hop, so if the foundation isn't too bad it might be great. Unfortunately, without a contractor inspecting the extent of the damage, it is hard to tell. The damage may be just foundation or it may be structural, depending on the extent of the damage. With cracks throughout the house, it is hard to tell and wouldn't be fair to you to try and estimate the damage.

Find a good contractor that you can work with (I use Chris at Avatar Green and love his work) and get them to give you an estimate. This is probably something that requires someone with some expertise to deal with.

Also, remember that those 8 offers are probably contingent on inspections and they can be withdrawn if the damage is too extensive, so you may want to follow this one through until the end.

Good luck.

Mark

Welcome to BP, Daniel. Let me say that I'm also a Veteran as well as an LAPD employee, so we speak the same language on more than one front. I started, like you, as a newbie a bit over a year ago and this community has been a great help for me. I'm in the Pasadena area, if you want to connect and discuss real estate. 

Early retirement can be done if you apply yourself. Just network, network, network.

@Dmitriy Fomichenko gave you some really good resources. There are also some VERY good REI's in LA (as well as some bad ones), that are geared towards helping people, as well.

Add me to the list...can't wait to meet my fellow BP'ers.