All Forum Posts by: Carlos Zapata
Carlos Zapata has started 66 posts and replied 340 times.
Post: How much do you pay per lead generated from a website?

- Investor
- Miami, FL
- Posts 363
- Votes 143
Dan, We do buy leads, do email marketing and call calling suing VAs, We also get a lot of leads with a referral program, social media finally is starting making leads for us, and when I buy a property using an agent, I do not ask for commission I prefer to get the deal rather than the 3% commission, those happy agent have been giving me deals for years
Post: How much do you pay per lead generated from a website?

- Investor
- Miami, FL
- Posts 363
- Votes 143
@Dan Turkel Congratulations for looking different ways to get leads, be sure he is not selling that lead to a lot of people, we have used those companies on the past, they are on the business to sale leads to everyone, try it for couple of months
Post: My first buy and hold property

- Investor
- Miami, FL
- Posts 363
- Votes 143
@Mike Rosso Congratulations, you are going to do great on this business, Hope the best
Post: Best books, resources for learning about financing

- Investor
- Miami, FL
- Posts 363
- Votes 143
@Michelle N. I love George Antone's books,
Post: Any suggestions?? Parents want me to invest for them

- Investor
- Miami, FL
- Posts 363
- Votes 143
@Matthew Gallacher hope the best, I have been investing for a little more than 10 years, and I am still afraid to do business with my parents, I totally agreed with @Ian Walsh but if you want to move forward put everything in writing
Post: Hot New 2/1 Deal in Fort Lauderdale!

- Investor
- Miami, FL
- Posts 363
- Votes 143
Bedrooms: 2
Bathroom: 1
Living Area: 1,287 SqFt
Lot Size: 7,877 SqFt
Const. Type: Concrete Block
Year Built: 1955
If you are looking for the perfect deal, you have found it! It's currently rented for $1200 with a lease expiring in February 2018, bringing in a good cash flow until then! This is an amazing deal if you want a starter home, and it can be a very good investment to end the year with!
Post: Purchasing new homes to rent

- Investor
- Miami, FL
- Posts 363
- Votes 143
@Victor Baronich , Welcome to this great community, you are checking the cash flow after taxes, management and insurance but you have not count the mortgage or the vacancy that you will have, did you ask the agent if he/she owns any of those rentals?
Post: It's 2018. Whatcha Gonna Do About It?

- Investor
- Miami, FL
- Posts 363
- Votes 143
Originally posted by @Brian Burke:
Every year around this time I see threads on BP asking about your goals for the coming new year. “Put it out there, hold yourself (or each other) accountable” yada yada yada. Those of you that know me well know that I don’t normally post this type of stuff.
This one is different.
I’ve never been big on the whole state your goals thing. I’ve never had a coach or mentor to hold me accountable. But I’ve still managed to accomplish things that many people aspire to but never do (like going from broke grocery clerk to buying over 700 properties for starters). I didn’t do it by just putting it out to the universe. I did it by taking action. Taking specific thought-out steps on a consistent basis.
Your goals don’t matter to anyone but you. They can be as lofty or as modest as you want—because they are YOUR goals. So whether your goal is to buy the Empire State Building or your first house hack, your participation in this thread is relevant. Someone out there will benefit from what you have to say.
Go ahead and state your goal, not to hold yourself accountable, but to give context to your answer to the real question: What are you going to do in the coming year to accomplish your goal?
I’ll start. My goal is to buy $100 million of real estate in 2018 (my primary focus is large apartment complexes). I’ve done $50 million-ish a year for the last two years so this goal, while lofty, isn’t an impossible stretch. And if I don’t accomplish it, I don’t care…if there aren’t enough great deals to get to $100 million I’m perfectly fine if the final tally is less.
But I’m going to fight hard for it. I’m going to evaluate over 1,000 deals. I’m going to thoroughly underwrite several hundred deals and I’m going to tour and make offers on many dozens. I’m going to implement a secure online portal on my website where my investors can obtain copies of their quarterly reports and tax documents, which will give added transparency and make it easier for them to monitor their investments and performance. I’ll add a place on my website where investors can view new offerings and subscribe to investments online without shuffling paper documents via email which will make it easier to invest. These last two steps will build additional investor loyalty and referrals, which ultimately leads to more capital to fuel purchases.
I’ll post on BP to help others, and at the same time build awareness to my skill set and my business. I’ll write a series of articles for the BP blog which will initiate discussion about topics of interest to income property investors, which will ultimately lead to more brand awareness. I’m going to put at least ten opportunities in front of institutional private equity groups, guys that can write $10 million checks (or even more) to further leverage my investor base, which will allow me to not only buy larger properties, but more properties, and give additional opportunities to my growing base of investors.
Now it’s your turn. Whatever your goal is, give the rest of the BP community a peek behind the curtain. Some readers will have the same goal as you and are struggling to figure out how to accomplish it. Or maybe you need this more than they do…have you really thought about the steps you’ll need to take to get to where you’re going? If not, think about it now and post it here. You’ll thank me next year.
Maybe I can even convince some of my go-getter BP friends to participate? How about it, @Tarl Yarber, @Jered Sturm, @Arlen Chou, @Mindy Jensen, @Scott Trench, @Jay Hinrichs, @Brie Schmidt, @Joe Fairless, @Michael Blank, @Engelo Rumora, @Ben Leybovich, @Reed Goossens, @Jeff Pollack, @Account Closed, @David Greene, @J. Martin, @Serge S., @Johnson H., @Bryan Hancock, @Jeff Greenberg, @Dave Van Horn, @Brian Adams, @Karen Margrave, @Brandon Turner, @Will Barnard, @Chris Clothier and @J Scott?
So…what are you going to DO in 2018 to accomplish your goals?
Great post, This year has been really great for me, moving from SFH investor to bigger deals, one of my primary goals for 2018 is starting doing syndications, finish selling my portfolio of SFH, buying my first 50+ spaces MHP, increase to 4 wholesale deals per month, paying my bad debts, I almost forgot, lose 30 pounds,
There is a great event for goals by the Real Estate Guys Show, I have been there several times and it is amazing,
Post: New member in Maryland

- Investor
- Miami, FL
- Posts 363
- Votes 143
@Earnest Payton , welcome to this great community, I used to do business there, I will be in the area in couple of weeks, we can have a coffee with other BP members good luck
Post: Is Section 8 Housing as bad as people say?

- Investor
- Miami, FL
- Posts 363
- Votes 143
Originally posted by @Chinmay J.:
Originally posted by @Mathew Zorn:
I have a rental home in zip code 23513 and wanted to know if it's worth switching the home to section eight? I understand that section eight makes those that qualify pay for a small portion of the rent and section eight covers the rest. My concern is will they damage the home, who pays for the repairs (homeowner, section eight, or the tenant), how will that affect the neighbors, will section eight tenant be responsible for all utilities as well? If anyone has any stories to share as well as any other information that would be great!
You will always get two diametrically opposing views on section 8. Its one of the most polarizing real estate conversations. I am very much for it. The county/city pays you on time.. Always..The first month might be delayed due to administrative reasons, but from then onwards its like clockwork.
I have 1 Section 8 tenant right now, whom I have vetted like anyone else. They are good people. They pay their own utilities. No issues. They stay long term unlike 1 or 2 yrs for some other tenants. Eventually, I plan on making all my properties, at least in the state of Virginia, Section 8 properties.
Also, the county/city does yearly inspections. The tenants are at the mercy of the the city/county approving them for the next year. If they are found in violation of rules like authorized pets, authorized guests, drugs, damage to the property, they could lose their vouchers. Once they lose the vouchers, its not easy to get reinstated. There is always a huge waiting period. Huge demand for housing and not enough supply.
We have been working with Section 8 and non section 8 tenants, after some bad tenant we work better when the tenant has to pay a good portion of the rent because they have some skin on the game, if you decide to work with section 8 tenant, do your due diligence as they were normal tenants, do not be sorry