All Forum Posts by: Chinmay J.

 Different states use the term "broker" and "agent" interchangeably.   In state of Virginia you are first a sales person, and then after 3 yrs or so, you can take broker exam and become a broker. Then you can have other salespersons work for you.  State of Georgia might do it differently.  You need a local guy to advise you.. 

How to build relationships is a little silly to ask.. How do you think? Open your mouth and talk to people. That's how..  Meet people at local REIs. Tell them about you interests. Ask them if they know someone, who knows someone..  Realtors know other realtors, who might know someone who is in commercial real estate.. Lenders know brokers/relators.. Do you have a lender? Do you have a Title Company you work with.. Geez.. Do you have a home inspector.. A plumber.. A handyman dude...  Talk to them.. Talk.. Talk... Talk.. Talk to everyone.. Good enough? 

Look at ad postings/listings.. Call those realtors up.. Ask them if they have properties.. I bet if you make 100 phone calls you will definitely find something you can work with..

Being a software programmer you write code, right?  This is easier than that. But you gotta do what? Open your mouth and talk.. 

Go have coffee with some people. You pay... People like it... Sometimes let them pay.. People like that also. Next time get more people for coffee.. Order pizza.. Go to happy hour.. Make friends.. It's fun.

 Zelle is primitive in its offering compared to Venmo.  Venmo, unlike Zelle, is a standalone app, and you can add multiple banks as receivers and multiple as sender. I have currently 3 banks added, and use it for my real estate as well as personal expenses.  One of my rentals is $2500 townhouse, and I can use Venmo just fine. 

I used to use erentpayment, but I don't see the point in paying $3.00 fee per transaction. It can add up quickly if you have multiple doors. 

Are your properties local..  Very doable if they are local, but you need boots on the ground for properties outside of your immediate area.  One of the reasons why I will never invest out of state anymore... PMs are crooks.. 

 Baltimore City was just an example to prove a point. I feel your pain.. I have a full time job as well.  It's hard.. No doubt.. I would say try and find deals in your area. Georgia is a good landlord friendly state. You can stay local.  Work with local brokers to see if they can get you some deals.  Relationships are key. 

You can get great numbers on paper in say Baltimore city, but are you OK with that area?  Have you ever been to inner cities where drug dealing and crime are rampant.   You might want to rethink your stance when you say that you are open to ANY location as long a numbers make sense.. 

You should really start out with the location first, and then see what you can buy with the budget you have. As far as getting the deals you can get them through BP Marketplace, MLS, your own marketing, relationships with banks and brokers, auctions...

@Gregory DeRosso and @Lauren Kormylo  - Both of you are spot on and I had advised him the same. We will see if this post and responses from y'all helps him at all to change his mind.   Just in my DMV area I have seen once that were Class A pockets go to Class C and ones that were Class C have now become  Class A (thanks to gentrification) in last 20 yrs that I have been living in this area. 

BTW - He wasn't thinking of buying $350K house.. He is too cheap for that LOL.. More like a $100K condo.. $125K max

@Bevla Reeves - TK is Turnkey. It is a model where the operator buys junk properties in decent neighborhoods, and rehabs them and sells them to either newbie or out of state investors with tenants in place.  This model is typically used in Indianapolis, Kansas, Cleveland... usually in midwest. 

 I believe his strategy is to buy a condo unit so he is only responsible for the inside. 

Happy Fourth of July everyone ! 

So the other day, a friend of mine came up to me. He knows that I am real estate investor and realtor, and he always likes to pick my brain over this and that....usually something very silly.

But this one was good, and it got me thinking.  So this friend of mine is in his late 30s, and has another 30 yrs of career left ahead of him before he wants to retire.  He lives on the east coast in the DC area, and plans to retire out in the Phoenix, AZ area as he has lot of friends and family on the west coast. 

So he wants to buy a property in Phoenix area which can be rented out, for another 25-30 yrs before he retires and can be his retirement home.  

I suggested him a TK model in parts of the country where TK business is a viable business model, but as far as I know there aren't any TK providers in Phoenix. Secondly, a lot can change in a given area when we are talking about 30 yr time frame. Even in Northern VA (where I am) areas have changed drastically in 30 yrs. The time frame is the major drawback in his analysis. Additionally, I suggested that he might not make a whole of profit, to which he responded that as long as he breaks even, he is happy.

The positives in his analysis, is that since the pouring of California residents and retirees in the AZ market, it seems lot of people are bullish on AZ (especially Phoenix), so as long as the demand keeps going up, he can buy the property relatively cheaper.

Has anyone done this kind of investment?

 Is this your first purchase?  Congrats if that's the case. 

What you need to do is have some patience and reach out to the old PM. If you are local you can even drive to their office.  Due to 4th of July weekend, I would wait until Monday. 

Going forward, you need to have in writing that any money that the old PM collects after the sale of the property will be diverted to you (new owner), and make it a part of the contract.  

If the tenant honestly paid, don't evict the poor tenant.. Sort it out.  Put yourself in his shoes, and imagine that if you had made an honest mistake, do you want to be treated like that..  Is there any receipt that the tenant can provide you as a proof of the payment? 

 Trigger happy much?