All Forum Posts by: Christopher Leon

Anil Samuel sounds like your learning pal! I think a lot of us have been in your shoes before. Hindsight is always 20/20 when were doing this.. Was the interior paint that bad? Depending on color/smell/or condition I may have done everything I could to NOT paint it. I like to concentrate more on electrical and plumbing being the stuff that keeps you up at night! Anything aesthetic is always last thin on my mind. We're talking about a $1000 rental here, and look at everything you did! There is a huge market out there for properties that are INexpensive that are in par or sub-par condition. I'm not saying be a slum-lord,I am saying that if you concentrated on the stuff that counts you should be able to sell your prospects on the idea that of they wanted a freshly painted beautiful looking unit, it's going to cost $1200 a month! Now a lot of this is also contingent on their credit. The folks that have 750+ credit scores, are going to prefer a painted unit/clean/etc. but if your prospects were sub-par in terms of credit, I would of made the unit safe And not painted as just rented for a $1000 the whole way through. You would of rented this unit within 3 wks based on price, but because you advertised higher price you lost that time. There's more people out there that can afford $1000 a month then $1200. At the end of the day, we just have to know what our market will accept for what price. This being your second, it might be still a new process but that's OK! Sounds like your doing an awesome job with acquiring, fixing, and renting! keep it up and keep learning like you are! Good luck

Brent Ludwig also, there is no incentive to receiving the money in one lump sum for the year. What if they end up being a crap-*** tenant? How are you going to evict them? I think if you take that money it's as good as honoring a 12 month lease. Make them pay monthly for sure, and take no mercy if it's late. This is the real I would do it, the other comment I left was if you were going to take the money, then no discount. But it's safer to take the rent by month I think.

Brent Ludwig no discount. Your supplying housing, not your fault she probably has no credit or is a student. If the mother was going to house her child on campus she would pay the boarding in advance too with no discount. Be firm, but fair.

Mark Dunn I think the best way is to build your financial base, specifically your personal finances. Create a budget, learn to live on less, chop down any personal debt like credit cards and such, and just plainly get in control of your finances. After you do this, build a 6 month emergency fund for cushion. While your building the emergency fund, get out to your local REIA, meet and hang out with some landlords who are actually doing business and pick their brain, go on some repair calls with them just to help, learn, stay in the loop of things. You might just build some rapport with someone that can help you find a good deal and even help you finance it as a private lender. You just never know, that's why you got to build your foundation first and get in a position of control. Get out there and hang with some folks that know the market and learn it real well. Once you know what the market looks like and how it moves, you can then find/spot deals based on your experiences with the landlords your hanging with. This is what I did. Good luck

All I got to say is "word."

Derek Walkington same here Derek. Depending on the deal of course, some REOs let you skate with just 3% down, but with other or most deals we put up 100% money and typically close within 30 days. Can't remember a time when we didn't as a matter of fact.

Bill Bonds there are probably different tax benefits too so you have to try and consider those in the equation as well. Ultimately, the goal is to figure out the net return.

Bill Bonds I'm not exactly sure but I would do a side by side comparison. So put the $50k in the annuity @ 4.5% until your 65 and figure out what that would turn into at age 65, minus monthly expenditures or maintenance and that's your projected net return. And then you find a good mutual fund earning on average 10-12% and figure out what that would make with same deposit, 41 years (65-24 y/o = 41 yrs) minus the expenses that would take and compare to see what is a better investment. Makes sense?

Jered Sturm as an agent I see folks put down $1-3k as EM a lot of the time. Pretty pathetic, but I guess it works. I typically don't mess with SS or REO unless it's on an auction site and I can buy it very very quickly. Last couple of auction sales (REOs) I closed within two weeks of purchase. Auction site had me put down 3% of purchase price.

David Taylor just google search a bunch of different brokerages and interview them. When you become a broker, you (can) become an entrepreneur. You have to turn the tables of your thinking. Now get out there and don't post until you've interviewed some brokerages and tell us about your progress. I did exactly this and stumbled upon a brokerage that only specializes in investment property and requires no fees, desk time, or anything. Real good split on the gross and I am in control of what I do. I also work full time too as an agent while investing. I am sure you can find something like this too. Good luck.