All Forum Posts by: Brian Halstead

@Cristobal Soto, I would start a relationship with a real estate agent and their recommended lender now. I have worked with people for over three years to motivate them and wait until they are financially ready to dive in. I hope it would not take you that long, but sometimes it does. It will also help you keep your focus on your goal. Sometimes, if you don't pay attention, lifestyle creep will take away your ability to accomplish your goals. 

Yes!  We do customized keychains for every buyer and we have six different signs that say goofy stuff like, "We said yes to the address!!" and stuff like that.

@Cristobal Soto, A great real estate agent in your area is Alisha Fickert. She can help you decide what is best for you. Once you graduate, you may want to keep whatever you buy to continue to build wealth in real estate. There are plenty of students looking for housing there.

@Hunter Reed, Studying for the exam is a personal thing. For me in California, I did everything online and downloaded the books as a PDF to read them.  After I was done with the courses through Allied Real Estate school, I used the same course for the exam cram.

Some agents have a hard time doing everything online, simply because there are so many distractions. Back when I got my license, there were way fewer distractions on the computer. If you can dedicate some time to study and focus, I think online is the best way to go. Good luck!

@Flabia Alonso Trujillo, I would start with a real estate agent first, who will hook you up with a good lender, who will in turn give you some options. You can buy as a first time home buyer, even if you are buying a duplex. Some cities do have down payment assistance, but a knowledgeable agent or loan person usually are the only ones to know about that. I have some friends who sell real estate in Tampa, but I am not sure BiggerPockets would want me to give their name when they have a list of agents on this site. Good luck.  You are on the right track to building wealth through real estate!

@Joe SMith, Closing gifts have been something we struggle with. We started out with Cutco knives with our logo on them, but that is too pricy. Some people don't really know the value of Cutco also. We would buy about 75 at a time. When we were out of them, we started buying gift baskets from one of our agent's mother. That got a little too expensive. Lately we are packaging a cutting board with two plastic champagne glasses and sparkling water. I know, what a crappy gift! So, lately we are listening to the client during the transaction and getting them something personal, in the area of $50. We also give exceptional service. With buyers, we also have a locksmith key all the locks to the same key, and make them as many keys as they want. We do not customize the gifts to the client and we stopped branding them to us. 

@Julia Hagen,

Have you thought of door knocking her and having a conversation about the house and her motivation for selling it? Sometimes it just takes personal contact to find out her motivation and see if you can come up with a solution. The listing agents are probably taking the listing just to generate buyer leads and have convinced her or the kids that she can get the higher price.

I think the next meetup in the area is on April 22 in Stockton if you want to find an investor who will not mess you over.  I forget where it is though.

If you keep these properties long term, you can put the fence anywhere you want to. Or put no fence at all. You just have to keep track of the property line. I would also consider putting a private, fenced in area in the front yard if you can so the front house has the opportunity for a private area. You may have to make the new lot a flag lot, because I think San Joaquin County no longer allows landlocked properties.

@Jordyn Lai,

That is great information!  Thank you.

Darn, We have a Spring Shred Event for our clients that day from 10 - 1.  I will have to wait until the next one.