All Forum Posts by: Ryan Landis

@Christian Efseaff don't worry about it too much. When you do the marketing, better to have a name that people are only seeing when you send it then if someone with a common name is hitting them with direct mail every other month. 

In terms of SEO, I imagine it will help to have it be a less common name.

If you think one way or the other will give you more confidence, go with the name that will help you out the most with the confidence as that will ultimately make you successful.

@Aaron Fox let everyone know you are licensed at the first interaction (get it in writing if you can - i.e. email, etc.).

If it sounds weird/fishy/etc., get a second opinion. If the title/escrow officer think the structure is odd, ask them why. If the lender involved thinks the history of transactions seems off (i.e. a foreclosure and a buy back after) do more digging. Long story short, make sure you really understand all of the different moving parts in the transaction so that someone doesn't come after you afterwards and say you knew something was off but didn't bring it up.

@Kenson Goo make sure the check goes to the brokerage of the Realtor if they are doing licensed work. And then make sure the agent asks the brokerage if they are willing to accept that arrangement. The main issue you are going to run into (I imagine) is the broker/brokerage saying why on earth would I want to be associated with the showing and open up Pandora's Box in litigation over $200? If you are doing the screening but the prospective tenant names you in a discrimination case (or any other issue) they almost certainly are going to bring in all of the parties that were involved.

But, outside of all of the legal issues, depending on the split at the brokerage, it looks like the person would be making $25-$40 an hour. You might be better off just paying an hourly consulting fee or something.

@Russell Brazil cost of living is a bit higher out here - might as well aim for $850+ an hour if we can :)

As @Natalie Schanne mentioned if you at least let the agent get the listing they will be able to potentially win other business from the lease up and that might motivate them to be open to a lower fee arrangement for you.

@Hannah Wilkinson something else to consider is not all brokers (and not all states) allow dual agency (i.e. represents both the seller and the buyer). I also want to make sure to share that working with buyers tends to take 10X more time than sellers. We work with buyers all of the time and it is fun and I love helping them find a place of their own, but I think on BP people forget the value of someone helping out when otherwise no one would. Sure, if you are a GC and graduated from Harvard with a degree in Contract Law and Negotiations you probably can handle everything on your own, but most people underestimate the amount of work a place needs and overestimate their ability to pull it off - that is where a great buyer's agent can pay for their commission tenfold. 

@Ken T. I imagine this loan is for more than $100K. If that is the case, make sure to have people professionally review it if this is your first time doing it. As @Account Closed mentioned you probably can get it from a solid source, but I would highly recommend getting one more set of eyes on it - you want this to be the first of many I imagine? If so, it is better to make sure you have your i's dotted and t's crossed before writing the check.

@Account Closed congrats! The big brokerages (CBRE, JLL, etc.) have a completely different process than the smaller ones. If you are going full time into the field, expect to do a lot of shadowing to start if you are not winning your own business (i.e. have a ton of friends that are landlords looking to sell). Enjoy! Working in commercial real estate you might do less volume than your peers in residential, but if you can hang in there the payoffs can be quite large.

@Ashley Watkins your Realtor should be helping you navigate what areas and what "work" you should be willing to consider in buying. In general I think 99% of people buy fixers and overpay for them - so be careful doing that. Especially if you are considering the value of your cash (cash is king right?) then you might be better off just buying a property that is pretty move in ready and not needing to use your cash after the purchase to update it much (not getting 90% LTV on the repairs after unless you are financing them in with a 203K loan or something).

How much would it cost to break your lease if you decided to end it early? I bring it up mainly because you might be better off allowing yourself to make offers for the next 8 months then giving yourself 3 months to make something work. The Bay Area is a fun little market for buyers (not uncommon for you to try and buy 3-10 places before you actually get an offer accepted and close).

@Katrina Razavi speak with the city first - if they are nice they will explain the process and you will get an idea of how straightforward it is (or is not). In general, if everything was build to code but just did not get permits that is different than if the work was poorly done and will need to be completely redone.

@Ori Skloot keep us posted on how this pans out. I have never known someone to hire a PI, but then again someone is going to end up buying the house. There is a tradeoff as you know in terms of spending money and transacting, hopefully the resources you put in find a seller that then is willing to let it go at a price that makes sense for you.

@Osazee Edebiri I would highly recommend talking to an attorney that is familiar with the process. Others might say you can do it more economically on your own, but the way I view it is a lawyer is just part of doing business. One arbitrary way to think about it is how much more valuable would the place be to you if you were getting an extra $1,000 a month? $2,000 a month? Etc. The real way to do it is to look at comps :)