All Forum Posts by: Blaine Alger

@Hannah Wright

I don't think it matters as much with credit union v.  Bank.

You'll definitely have better luck with a smaller bank/credit union. Wells Fargo won't be lending you any money, but your neighborhood bank will be more willing to work with you.

I use propstream but It costs $99 a month and if you are just getting started. you might not have that kind of capital.

You can also just google "city" GIS. This will pull up an interactive map of your city and should allow you to click on different parcels and see the owner info and mailing address. Once you have that you can go to whitepages/truepeople search and do a search of the mailing address to find the owners contact info. You could also use a skip trace provider but that'll cost more money.

You can also use landglide($10/month) to get ownership data on parcels.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

-BA

Take full advantage of that VA loan and house hack. You can't beat 0% down and if you can lock in a 30 year fixed at these rates, you'll be heading in the right direction.

I would stay away from flips starting out, unless you have prior experience with construction and feel comfortable rehabbing/managing contractors. It is very easy for a new investor to lose their shirt on a flip and that would not be a good start your investing career. I would probably go the turnkey duplex route if I did not have time to look for an off market deal. 

Also, try to network with some other active military investors. There seem to be alot on BP and I am sure that they can provide some better advice then I can in terms of putting that VA loan to use.

Get after it!

-BA

@Kandice Manciel

Well that is an art within itself.

It all starts with getting out there and talking to people. Whether that is agents or investors, they might have a good recommendation of someone who works well with investors. 

You want someone who is familiar with the deal analysis, owns rentals themselves and who are down to hustle. 

I don't know how many banks you have talked with but I would encourage you to keep talking to as many lenders as you can. Most will give you the same answer but you might be able to run into a small community banks that might have some different loan products to offer.

You could also try to partner with an investor or someone else who has access to financing and do some type of equity split. I am still learning more about this as well but essentially you find someone to bring the loan and down payment and then you split the cash flow. You use your half of the cashflow to pay back to your partner until your half of the down payment is paid off. I have no experience with this type of transaction but I think it has potential. Check out this forum post, it gives a good run down of how to structure these deals: 

https://www.biggerpockets.com/topics/879011

You can always go the creative route and pursue owner finance opportunities but you have to know how to approach these conversations from the right angle and structure the deals. This can allow you to access the bank and get into deals for less money than a bank would require with a down payment. 

Feel free to reach out. Happy to help anyway I can!

-BA

If you are just looking to buy a couple houses here and there and not planning on doing a lot of volume, then I would say its not necessary. 

Just get a good buyers agent and they will be bale to help you out and provide you with whatever you need.  Only way I think a RE license makes sense for an investor is if you are going to actively use it to work at a brokerage and sell homes or if you are going to do a large volume of flips and that way you can save some on commissions.

I am in your exact same shoes and figuring it out as I go.

Creative finance is your best bet to get into the game, but it wont be easy and you will need some type of access to capital. There are a ton of landlords out there who hate their life and would love for someone to take the deal off of their hands. However, you have to know how to approach the owner finance pitch from the right angle because many investors just want to cash out and don't want to deal with the payments, especially when it is coming from an 18 year old. Pitching owner finance is an art and you have to be able to explain it effectively. 

You could also try to find a co signer to sign on to a mortgage (parents, older siblings, familty friend), but you will have to offer them something in return to reward them for their risk.

It will be hard to get in to an investment property at such a young age but not impossible. Anything is possible for those who are willing to hustle.

Feel free to message me if you have any other questions. I am always down to talk some RE.

-BA

I don't know what market you are in and depending on non-disclosure laws, it can be a lot harder to get access to data.

I would start with list source and propstream. They are not free but will be able to provide you certain data on niche lists.

Check out your local property assessor website. Some have ways to export data of motivated seller. (evictions, pre foreclosure, water turn off etc.)

Best of luck!

-BA

You are on the right track. 

Very free people will give away there time for free, but this doesn't mean you have to write them a check.

I would encourage you to continue to build the personal relationship and just ask them what type of value can you can bring to them and don't expect or try to get something in return. If you bring them value, then they will return the favor.

So if they are looking for deals, find out what they are looking for, how much they are willing to spend and all other pertinent deal criteria. Then you take that info and go hustle to find a deal for them.

Get after it!

-BA

Usually the biggest hurtle for young investors is access to financing, but if your parents are willing to co sign and you have the cash for a down payment then go for it. 

I would suggest getting in to a house hack ASAP so you can get into a property with little down, save on living expenses and conserve some of the capital for the next deal.. I know CO is expensive so you will have to get creative. I would encourage you to look for properties that have an unfinished basement. Depending on zoning requirements, you can finish out the basement turn the property into a duplex and add massive value to the property. 

In terms of getting in to that second deal, I would suggest look into owner finance opportunities. They are out there, you just have to know where to find them and how to approach the conversation. I like targeting small time landlords (no LLC and own 2-5 properties). This tells me that they are not a professional and problem don't have the systems in place in order to make land lording easy.

Feel free to message me if you got any other questions.

-BA