All Forum Posts by: Carlos M.

@Craig Castro the life you want lies on the other side of fear. Every single person here had to make a decision. You either keep living the same mundane life that’s comfortable, or you get uncomfortable and act despite being afraid of the unknown. I mentor a lot of people. I mentored someone just like you. I had to push him every single step. It was so exhausting on my end trying to get him to take the smallest steps every day. But it worked. He is now a proud owner of a rental and looking to purchase another. He did it, so did millions of others , so can you.

First of all, This game isn’t for everyone. You will have sleepless nights, so many highs and sooo many lows. Tenants will lie straight to your face. Lenders will shoot you down, realtors won’t call you back. These are things you need to understand WILL happen in the beginning and accept them. This rejection Is part of the process until you get established.

I have crossed that bridge of fear. It gets easier with every deal. I’m here to tell you that life is absolutely amazing now that I am in control of my time and finances. My wife and I are financially free after investing in real estate for 15 short years.

Only you can make the decision to take action. You have to decide what is worse, living your current life or jumping off the bridge of fear. Most people need to hit rock bottom before they say , **** it, I have nothing to loose, I’m going for it!

It’s normal to fear the devil you don’t know more than the devil you do know.

It’s normal to be paralyzed by fear.

Stop looking at the big picture and break it down into small steps.

1) find someone here on BP local that is in your market that is willing to chat with you. Having someone you can run deals by will make you feel more comfortable.

2) starting working on your credit so you are financable.

3) start looking on Zillow both for apartments buildings for sale and apartments for rent. This will help you learn your market.

4 ) gain confidence. Go to the gym!! You will feel so much better about yourself , gain confidence and have more energy.

5) listen to podcast and read every single day!! I like the BP podcasts as there are a lot of beginners sharing there stories of how they overcame the same feelings and obstacles you have right now. Study the habits of successful people and you will start to see a lot of successful people have very similar habits.

6) tell everyone you know and meet what you want to accomplish. Eventually you will run into that one person that will help you and guide you. If you don’t put it out there , no one can help.

@Dustin Cramer pm me. I’m in lancaster

@Chris Geer

We always list it 30 days out if it’s a turn and burn. (Clean / paint). If it’s a total remodel, obviously we have to wait. I have had one month vacancy ( not including renovations) in 14 years! You either hustle or you don’t.

@Denzel Faulken I’ve had a truck from day one. But that’s because it was my daily driver. We did ALL of our maintenance for the first 10 years. I would say maybe once or twice a year did I actually NEED a truck. Now we own 80 plus doors and I still am in the field every day. We just purchased a Ford Transit 350 HD with a 12 foot fiberglass work box on the back. Best purchase we made! All of my tools and supplies are with me everywhere I go. The organization!!!! But keep in mind my team and I do 4-5 gut renovations per year , probably another 5-6 kitchens and god only knows how many floors. I would say work with what you have, rent a truck when / if needed. When your car dies and needs replaced then and only then consider a truck as you will know how much you actually needed one.

@Tom Romanowski considering you are first starting out , and already talking about buying a second property …. I would try and get into it with 3.5% down . Then you can get into that second property with just a little additional savings and not doing a cash out refi .

@Ezra Shami

Congrats1 down 9 more lenders to go! When I started 14 years ago, I would call all of my local banks and ask who was a portfolio lender.

Then I put a package together with my w-2s , last two tax returns , my PFS and all the info on the property I’m trying to finance. I would put a suit on and drive to at least 10 local banks that were portfolio lenders. I would ask to speak to someone in the commercial lending department. I would shake their hand give them my 2 minutes elevator pitch , hand them the package , thanks them for their time , and get on to the next. Normally only 2-3 of the lenders would actually call me. Two would say they were impressed with the package but wouldn’t do the loan. I asked them why and worked on what they said. Buuut there was always that one lender that would do the deal! That’s all I needed!!! It gets easier. Now two of my lenders are very close friends of mine. Long story short, expect 10 No’s for every 1 yes. So get out there and keep asking. Pull your credit and put it in the package as well so they don’t all

Pull your credit.

@Cade Gardner we ASK for it in every deal. Just because your not familiar with it or not comfortable with it doesn’t mean it won’t work. The most important thing is having a realtor on your side that understands it and will educate the seller on all the benefits for them.

I typically look

For the seller to hold a 10% second so I only need 10-15% equity to get the deal done.

My first deal with any owner financing was a 6 unit for $325 they held a $30k second.

I did another 6 unit and did the same thing with the 10% second.

We did an 11 unit and my realtor talk the listing agent into both of them loaning me their commissions!! Not my idea but my realtors!!

Did an 15 unit and the seller held a 10% second which came out to be $140k.

Last year we did 25 units for 1.7 million. I put $200k down and the seller financed the rest. They are 75 years old getting out of the game , and wanted the monthly income with out paying the huge capital gains exposer.

I have my youngest “student “ ( I mentor a few selected individuals for free) under contract for a deal. He is putting down 130k and the owner is going to finance the rest of deal . Sale price is 1.3 million and my student is only

27!!!!!

Again, find a realtor that is comfortable with it and also find a lender that will work with you only

Putting 10% skin in the game. It’s 100% possible.

@Andrew Perkins , It absolutely can! But it can also make some people miserable, stressed and I’m sure give someone a heart attack. Happiness is an emotion. Emotion = energy in motion. I love and need daily energy/ motion! I can’t speak for others but I will share my personal experience. I love the small daily wins I get from it. When I take a not so desirable space and make into something very desirable, I get a huge feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction which makes me very happy. I work on real estate with my wife. She is super happy also when we work together. She loves working with her hands and loves being able to be part of a finished project. We are both way happier now that we work in real estate ! ( multi family investors )

But maybe you were speaking from more of a financial perspective… So Real estate can bring you great wealth and money. So I guess the question would be , Does money make you happy?? absolutely not!! Money is just leverage. Money will expose you for who you really are. If you are a miserable greedy person, money will

Make you more greedy and miserable. You will hoard all your money and think every one only wants your relationship for money. On the other hand, If family is super important to you , imagine how much time you could

Spend with your family if you didn’t have to trade your time daily for a paycheck. Imagine all the vacations, , the memories, the cooks outs , never missing a soccer game or wedding. What if a family member became ill?? you could help tremendously with financial support, providing them with the best possible care and nutrition… that would make me happy! if you are a person of faith, imagine what you could do

For your church if money was not an issue. The bottom line, money will exaggerate the person you are today. Only you and your mirror can answer the question , will money make me happier??

@Mike Hern ,

My fault. I didn’t explain myself either and just rattled off. So we did start at the bottom of the market. It was super hard to finance a multi family at that time. The plus side was there was plenty of inventory. When we first started I would put on my suit and make a package containing all my financials , a little story about my wife and I as well as the property details. I would stop in unannounced to at least 10 local banks and ask to see the commercial lending department. I would simply introduce myself, give them my elevator pitch and the package and keep moving. I would only hear back from 2-3 lenders but typically only one would be willing to do the deal. That’s how we secured financing for our first 3-4 deals. It got was easier after that. Now it’s to the point where one or two lenders per year may reach out asking yo finance a deal for us. That feels amazing!! As far as pour deals. We only purchased small multi family deals… 3-5 units for the first 4 years or so. Then they got a tad bigger. 6 u it’s , 8 units , then 11 units , then a 15 unit and our last was a 25 unit portfolio. We bought the building. renovated while paying cash for the Reno’s. ( I did the work myself) and did a cash out refi to get our initial equity and rehab monies back. That was key to keep growing. To this day we have never sold one of our properties. So it’s the combination of sweat equity, a little bit of luck , and a wild market they have our portfolio the value that it has today… I would encourage any and everyone to purchase small to medium multi family properties, roll up their sleeves and get to sweating that equity out!! It has changed our life so dramatically!!

it’s our entire portfolio silly. We have stuff selling for $200-$250 per door in our backyard. Lancaster PA. When we started the cap rate was 10-12. Over the years it has compressed down to 7 for a building need lots of work. I know someone who is looking at an 8 unit for $700k and they are going to gut it! We have renovated stuff selling for a 4 cap. A 3 unit just sold for $900k here. It cracks me up that instead of trying to net work and connect to ask questions on my market and get more details and ideas , you just simply deny the possibility. I have nothing to gain from my reply. I don’t sell any courses I’m just here to help motivate people with MY reality. Clearly it’s not your reality. But I assure it’s possible and my reality . I do how ever give back and mentor people for free. I currently mentor 7 people. As a matter of fact I have one kid who is 26 years old and has 8 units. He is crushing it. What he saw was us crushing it. He asked , can you help me get started and we did. He never asked me to prove it to him. Side note , If you were closer to me I would invite you my next business mixer we are hosting on our yacht. Cheers, best of luck in your investment career.