All Forum Posts by: Chris Erwin

@Robert Fountain Just do as much due diligence as possible. I would highly recommend doing property inspections on these as well. 

@Stephen Moskowitz Hi Stephen, not familiar with this group. I am curious when you say offered a deal working with them. Are you looking at investing in U.S. real estate?

@Ron Sturdevant Hi Ron, what type of investments are you looking for?

@Robert Fountain I would check with local property managers/Realtors to get a feel for the area if you are not familiar with it. You could check out some raw data in terms of crime reports on Trulia. I would say just because they are cheap, doesn't mean they are bad properties. Make sure whoever is selling them can provide a legitimate rent ledger showing rent is being paid on time. I would also ask to see the lease agreements and make sure there are active leases involved with the properties. You don't want to buy these to find out the seller just put a warm body in the property to claim they are rented and performing. Happy investing.

@Account Closed Hey Victor, glad to see you found BiggerPockets, it really is a great resource. I can tell you our group invests in single family homes primarily in St Louis, MO and Birmingham, AL. We have found that there are two types of investors that work well for our program. The first are the investors that like buying and holding property and collecting rent. The other is the more passive investor that likes buying trust deeds and just hold the paper on investment properties. Let me know if any of these investor types is something that you would be interested in discussing more. 

Best,

Chris

@Eric Eastman I recommend getting involved with investments that you have security recorded against the property. I know a guy @Darren Eady that works with trust deed investments. These investments are recorded against the property in first position and pay out 12% interest only annually. I have invested in trust deeds before and love the program. Happy investing. 

@Shawn Smith If I were in your position, I would put a lien against the property for your monetary interests. I would have the current owner sign a listing agreement with an agent before anything is started on the property, this hopefully gives the current owner the mentality that everything is moving forward with a sale. I would also put a contract together specifying all of the terms of the agreement and consequences of breaking the agreement. Have the current owner sign and notarize the agreement. I would also have a title company run a title report to make sure there are not any outstanding issues on the title. It always best to try and file a lien in 1st position. 

@Jared Jenkins We have used Wells Fargo for our business accounts and they have worked well. If you are going to be doing real estate transactions, using a larger bank that has locations nationwide can have its perks. 

@Carlos Tolosa It's great you want to get started. I would recommend searching your local area for the local REIA (real estate investor association). Find a mentor that has experience and learn from them. It sounds like you want to hit the ground running with buying an apartment, but I would recommend getting some experience in the industry. It's better to start slower and make money, than trying to go to fast and losing money.

Hey @Andrew Hutson I'm not local to you, but I am curious on what your goals in real estate investing are? Are you looking to just flip properties, or are you looking to buy and hold some investment properties?