All Forum Posts by: Brandon Hopkins

I think getting your hands dirty with a SFR is ideal as a starting point. You don't literally need to do any work but it will give you great info on all parts of what happens from making an offer to getting a rent check. I have property managers and don't do any work myself, I want pros doing what they do best so I can focus on what I do best.

Have you got hard numbers from the county? We spent $20k on fees, plans, permits and taxes before putting a shovel in the ground.

Chad Stickley at A Step Ahead is fantastic if you want a PM. If you anti Shia contact info online, send me a message and I'll look it up.

There are commercial agents for people and corporations with that kind of money.

You definitely need to talk to a CPA. There are a lot of other tax issues like his income level, gift tax, inheritance, other children, etc.

I believe wholesaling and bird dogging fall into similar categories. I think California is opposed because someone is "working" without an hourly income. In California you can pay commission but you can only pay commission of its greater than the hourly minimum wage.

Looks like a great deal with the little info that you provided!

Can you get conventional financing and live in a duplex? Low money down and two future rentals.

Are they cash flow positive? Surely you have a few winners and losers, see the losers or a couple with the most equity.

I've been buying with Prosper since 2006 and Lending Club for the last few years. I love them both. I've never taken out a loan, only been on the lending side. Here is some hard data from what I consider an aggressive portfolio.

Prosper Notes:

• Total active notes: 423
  Current: 406
  Past due (1-30 days): 9
  Past due (31+ days): 8
  Payoff in progress: 0
  Total charged-off notes: 53
  Total notes paid in full: 226
  Total notes sold: 8

Prosper Returns:

• Overall 8.50%
  2015 11.79%
  2014 8.98%
  2013 10.07%
  2012 10.08%
  2011 (Prosper Dark)
  2010 4.13%
  2009 7.79%
  2008 7.91%
  2007 1.68%
  2006 6.86%

Lending Club Notes:

• Total notes 413
  Not Yet Issued 14
  Issued & Current 282
  In Grace Period 3
  Fully Paid 76
  Late 16 - 30 Days 2
  Late 31 - 120 Days 7
  Default 2
  Charged Off 27

Lending Club Returns (NET Adjusted):

• Account 1 - 11.29%
  Account 2 - 7.53%

You can see that Prosper has proven itself in my mind and my returns have increased as I've learned what types of buyers I prefer. While Prosper and LC have liquidation options, they're not great in my experience. There will definitely be a delay between the time you need the money and the time it takes the sell the loans, receive the proceeds and transfer the money to your account. I would imagine that process is 1-3 weeks.

I would consider it semi-liquid, but nothing like a bank account.

@Mary Joe to answer your initial question, I think it's a great investment and I like multiple investment methods that are independent of each other. You can see the Prosper returns weren't impacted very much by the housing decline in 2008-2010.

For a nearly 100% hands free approach, check out BlueVestment.com. They will automatically invest in loans that match your criteria. Prosper has a built in feature that I use, and I've used a few other site like BlueVestment in the past and they have all worked very well if I can pick the right criteria.

Hope that helps!