All Forum Posts by: Ben Daniel

My best advice: Stop deciding. Start doing.

There's a book or four out there somewhere that goes into great detail on the topic, but that's the summary of the back cover of the Cliff Notes version, and it's really what it all boils down to.

To borrow from a favorite Baseball movie of mine, "If you build it, they will come".

My advice is to show up on a regular basis to every meetup you can find in your area. Come early, leave late. The more you show up, the more you get a feeling of who the real players in your area are who work regularly with others, and the more recognizable you become. People who are ready and willing to be a mentor look for enthusiastic, intelligent, and dependable people. (After all, if they're at the point in their career that they are willing to lend their expertise, it takes deliberate effort on their part, and they don't have time to make an effort if you don't reciprocate.)

In going to over a hundred meetings in the past year, I've made a lot of contacts with some very savvy and successful folks, and not once did I ask to be mentored. Specifically because I found that, almost without fail, if a newbie popped up his head and asked to find a mentor at an event, the room would quietly groan and/or literally turn away in their chairs as if to say, "Not me, buddy! Don't look at me!" Plus, the newbie would show up for 2 or 3 meetings and then stop after not finding that person to guide them by the hand to the promised land. A very predictable outcome.

So, I didn't find a mentor. My mentor found me. Not kidding - I just participated in discussions at meetups, showed that I was progressing on my own by asking intelligent questions and building upon previous discussions, and offering opinions if I had an intelligent one to make. Even though it was obvious I was new, I didn't expect anything for nothing, and through active participation, I made myself memorable enough that when my mentor decided it was time for them to take someone under their wing, I was the one that came to mind first. Sure, it took a year, but I'd rather have a hard time finding a quality mentor who wants everyone to succeed than have an easy time finding someone who just wants a grunt to work for free (or pay them for the privilege!) until they burn out. I'm not paying my mentor for their time - my mentor offered to pay ME for MY time. (I declined, but you get the idea - I made myself valuable enough that I became attractive to the point where I was seen as an asset.)

@Guy Gimenez and @Erik Stark are absolutely right - it really comes down to what you bring to the table. If you don't show your value by being consistent and engaged in the meetups, especially when you don't have demonstrable skill in profiting from real estate deals yet, you are behind the curve. The value you bring as a serious, focused, and engaged person goes a LONG way to establishing your reputation. "Go the distance", as the movie says. :)

hey, Guy - just curious, why no VA/FHA/USDA loans?

I'm interested in attending the monthly Wednesday meeting, could someone drop me a line and invite me please?

The Big Daddy's lunch really is great - there is a wide mix of backgrounds (investors, wholesalers, developers, title guys, money guys, and even a self-described organic lady who does almost all of the above) and it is always packed, so get there on time for sure. There are some other meetings listed at meetup.com as well, as you are right that it is a very active investor community. I have to ask, are you a cash buyer, and are you open to Hutto/Pflugerville and Cedar Park/Leander as well?

I have a longstanding personal relationship with a well connected commercial broker and developer in the Austin area. Send me the details of the property and I will have him call you if it's something in his wheelhouse

Well, picking out one phrase and throwing out the other parts of the argument isn't very useful, but I'll respond anyway, for the sake of anyone else reading. I actually come from a background of property management in a previous life, and I can tell you that if you're trying to find a weasel way to evict "due to non payment, wink wink" because of some other non-rent related issue, then you're likely either not screening properly, or more likely your leasing agreement doesn't cover things like fines for other situations like unkempt grounds, noise, etc. There should be no reason you wait with bated breath hoping someone doesn't pay so you can kick them out - you should already have the mechanisms in place to do it for the reasons you really care about if you need to. Bad screening is one thing that isn't always controllable (you may get along with someone and everything checks out golden up front, but maybe they pull a Mr. Hyde on you later and call you twice daily for issues that aren't actually the responsibility of the landlord or something), but fines for noise complaints, trash, etc., are a vital tool to keep harmful or unwanted behaviors in check - especially when they're discussed up front in the lease, since they can then become a screening tool themselves. Anything not able to be covered in the lease, frankly, often comes down to "I don't like that guy, I wish he wasn't a tenant" - ergo personality conflict.

If you're keeping a good tenant that has prepaid, fantastic. That goes to the point I was making originally - they do exist. If you're keeping what you subjectively consider a "bad" tenant that has prepaid, you fall back on the terms they agreed to when they signed the lease - whatever makes them a "bad" tenant in your mind should have a corresponding clause in there with some specific recourse available to the landlord. Either way you have already been paid, so instead of having the headache of trying to remove the tenant or correct the behavior AND trying to make up for lost revenue, you only have to worry about the tenant. Finally, and to your point specifically, if someone is going to be a "multiple-issue tenant", and they're likely to be "repeatedly late on the rent", then it's unlikely they would be in the group that wants to (or is able to) prepay for a full year, so it doesn't really matter for them. On the other hand, if they are a "bad" tenant who is willing and able to prepay, then you have the exact same situation as if you had a "bad" tenant who paid on the 1st like clockwork: your other good tenants may still want to move away just as in the other scenario, and crossing your fingers and hoping they suddenly forget the rent one month won't change the outcome one bit - but your well-drafted leasing agreement gives you recourse for those specific situations.

Fortunately for the original poster, it appears she has already made an easy decision, and has declared that it's not a good fit for her due to other reasons, so it's become unnecessary to give her additional specific advice on the matter. But I would reiterate my point that an offer of prepayment in itself is not something that would raise red flags for me, assuming it's not an attempt at the tired old "oops, I overpaid with a bad check, wire me the difference" scam - but even then, that should become immediately obvious through proper screening procedures.

Think about it from a legitimately flush renter's perspective: every time I've rented an apartment, I asked if I could get a discount by paying for a few months up front.  While we were building our existing house, we got a 6 month lease at an apartment, and I offered to pay the whole thing up front for a discount, non-refundable. I certainly wasn't trying to scam anyone, I just had a bunch of cash laying around from the sale of my previous home and wanted to get a deal. The manager of the complex got a deer-in-the-headlights look, and in retrospect, it's probably because she was warned about prepayment scams... but it certainly didn't apply to my situation. (We weren't allowed to prepay, even without a discount, by the way, which was stupid, but whatever.)

And who cares if you can't evict someone for non-payment because (shock and horror) they've paid up front? Even if you have a personality conflict with someone, whether petty or legitimate, you already have their money, which is ultimately what the business is all about. If you're just grasping for reasons to evict someone and you can't find a legitimate reason other than hoping they don't pay you on time, then you're likely not very well suited for the business on your own, and you should seriously look into hiring a property manager to handle things for you on a non-emotional basis.

were most marked "refused", "addressee not known", "insufficient postage", "forwarding expired", or what? There's more than one reason for a letter to be returned. You can always take a handful and ask your friendly local postal worker (well, they're friendly in my town, anyway, but it's a small town) and they'll tell probably be able to tell you right away what's going on.

Just saw this story pop up on my local news site:

http://kxan.com/2014/07/28/east-austin-tenants-for...

Is this a national trend, requiring online payments in lieu of any other payment method? If so, is it being met with as much resistance as the comments that this news story is generating? What kind of payments do you accept?