All Forum Posts by: Brian P.

I equate this type of investment the same as those investors that put their money into mutual funds. If you lucky you get a decent return, but not the same as putting the money into specific stocks at specific times. I think of a guy like Warren Buffet and wonder where he would be now if he had just invested his extra cash into mutual funds. 

Sophisticated investors became that way by being active investors. Why buy say 1/10th of a 20 unit apartment building when you can buy the whole building. First thing your going to say is I don't have enough money. I didn't either the first time I did it. Study master leasing and options to buy. I don't want to invest where others are making the final decisions for me, that is my job.

A great property manager is hard to find but worth the money. When I was a young man I used to have a drink with a famous criminal attorney. One day at the bar I was teasing him about one of his clients. He said it would be cheaper for the state if they just issued him a license to steal and just collected license fees and income taxes.

Then he said it would just be an expansion of the two licenses to steal they issue now. I said what two are those. His answer, probate attorneys and property managers. He was right I got several great discounts on properties over the years due to the hiring of the wrong property management company. One company was so bad I kept track of the properties they managed and when the time seemed right I would approach the owner about selling.

One of your problems at this point is you don't have the legal capacity to contract and this business is all about contracts. So get someone on board that can be the front man on the contract. EG your mother or father or cousin Joe who you can present as you partner. At the present time if you offered me a deal I wouldn't take it unless I contracted directly with the other party and you would need to trust me on your getting paid.

Now with my kids wanting to do this we formed a legal entity, didn't have LLC's back then so we used land trusts and for some deals a corporation. But I wouldn't do that since your 17 and so close to the legal age. When my kids were doing this the legal age was still 21.

When I started I had just turned 16 but had a 19 year old brother that was marred so could legally contract and he became my partner.

Kyle I have no idea what the market is like in Tucson now days. When I was doing business down there I lived in Scottsdale and did just one deal in Tucson that fell into my lap from one of my neighbors. The only reason I would go to Tucson back then is you could get the worlds best apple pie at a place south of there when their orchards were ready to be picked.

What is apparent is your hung up on financing and only one way to do a deal but if the deal is good enough that won't be a problem. What you need to do from what I can tell is to buy more then one tool for your toolbelt You do not want to be a one trick pony. That is great if you can scale that one trick into what you want and feed yourself along the way, but while your scaling that one trick you can pass up on a fortune. You only need to control property not own it to be in charge of a deal. Deal is generic to me, what ever will make me money and the sources and the methods to use are many. 

Finding problems and providing solutions is your basic job. You can't be a good doctor if all you know is how to prescribe two aspirins and call me in the morning. When I was a kid doctors made house calls and if our doctor had been one of those call me i the morning ones I would have been dead at the age of 6, thank god he wasn't one of those. So I suggest you start a binder and read this site from top to bottom and note the kind of deals mentioned here and the sources, buy a toolbelt or toolbox so to speak and start adding to it. Remember the old adage that to a man that has only a hammer, everything looks like a nail. One final thought is I would consider Phoenix Metro first, Maybe Tucson later.

Most everyone is saying this is not a good time for you to invest, BS this is a great time for you to wholesale and to do other things that make money including getting your license activated., It will produce income which is your prime goal. You fail to say how much debt you have but it would be nice to know in order to give better advice.

Also you don't have a Realtors license, there isn't any such thing, you have a real estate license from some state.

I don't know anything about where you live but Brian seemed to know and I second his advice to get the heck out of there to more fertile territory. Now sit down and list every penny you owe anybody and you will start to work on that list.

Do I know what I am talking about? Yes, at 34 I could have retired thanks to real estate and never worked another day in my life but I financed a start up silicon company and took my shot at joining the jet set. Just missed by inches, only mistake was the timing which was unforeseeable, If we had started just over a year later, I would have been in the world of private jets and large yachts and Monte Carlo. Instead my wife and I were in the world of a few bucks in the bank and owing about a million dollars after selling off all our real estate including our home. Loved that house. Plus two collector cars and my 2 newer cars. and started driving a 12 year old ford station wagon. 

Like the others said earn money anyway you can, legal of course, If someone would have asked me to shine their shoes for a buck I would have done it,

Way to go. Take the advice on time, having it done and renting it is goal #1. Get the cash flowing. And instead of working on the house itself you can take that same time and find another deal, a better use of your time and much more profitable.

My best piece of advice is the old old don't talk about yourself until it is time. Your goal is to get them to talk about themselves and their situation and what they are trying to do, build rapport. When they are relaxed and talking they will give times when you can dig deeper without having them immediately throw up a fence or take a firm stand. Most of the time they will give you an opening. Finding problems and motivation before you get into price and negotiations is key. 

Only use in marketing to other MD's. Plus these people could use your help. I  had many MD's for clients and as a group they were terrible investors. Plus I'm sure you will get a lot of shots for free medical advice which if not given will cause resentment that will need to be overcome if you are trying to do a deal.

And as you said it may encourage people to keep their price up. I remember I once ended up with a Rolls Royce as part of my commission on a large 1031 exchange. I was driving it for a few days during my investing activities and suddenly prices started increasing. I only used it for Brokerage activities after that in the upscale areas. I did get license plates that said IMAFAKE which got a good reception, but not from the limo service that rented the car from me from time to time.

Kyle

The deal gets you the money, not your charm, age, or good looks. I noticed in my post that I said get a job in the morning, I actually meant to hunt for a job in the morning then you will be up dressed and ready to begin your investing hunting in the afternoon. First place I want you to get familiar with is the courthouse and then other related county offices that provide leads.

I started my investing career one week after my 16th birthday so had full time school, a 20 hour part time job each week, and a full time girlfriend so I know it can be done. My motivation? That new thing that showed up called a Corvette.

I am also familiar with Arizona, My brother and I moved with our wives there for a couple of years when the lenders were going down right and left during the RTC days before you were born and there were bargains everywhere for people willing to take the risk. I even added a Arizona Brokers license to my wall to use during that period. I remember it it well, our first summer there was the hottest summer on record.   

Just do it. Look for a job in the mornings to provide an income, if it is related to real estate fine, you need to reduce the financial strain. Then be an investor from the get go, learn and do, and along the way get your license, your prospecting for deals as an investor can provide deals for your real estate license and vice-versa. 

College, it did one wonderful thing for me, gave me some great new friends and my wife since 1960. I could have done without the degree but it did get me a job with a fortune 500 company that turned into a pile of 90 hour weeks that got the bosses above me bonuses and me nothing but a paycheck really far below my contribution level, I started at lower management level and as duties changed or were added they never moved my pay grade up to where it was going and should be, and not even an acknowledgement of any kind  for me reversing a division that was headed south, not even a cup of coffee and thanks for the good job. 

I did hear from Corporate headquarters that I was lucky to be in a position where I could learn from such brilliant top management I finally said to the president of the corporation it was strange how their brilliance didn't show up til I did, which got me a very long silence but nothing else. But that job led to me quitting and getting my brokers license, I was already an investor. and it gave me the determination never to work in the corporate slave market again, or for anyone else ever again.