All Forum Posts by: Mohammed Rahman

Hey @David Hyman - congrats on your first property and also on deciding to purchase a second one! I'm both an investor and a realtor and can help share insights, I cover Suffolk county so I can be of some use in sourcing deals as well as the right contacts for contractors, permits, etc. 

Shoot me a DM if you're interested and we can chat, I have an office in Suffolk as well as in Queens. 

Hey @Wojciech Grajewski - You may want to consider an FHA loan so you wouldn't have to tap into any of the equity in your current home. I also recommend speaking with a loan officer at your local bank directly as they'll be better able to give you an idea on how your scenarios would play out.

I say that because owning a house outright without any debt is a huge accomplishment, congratulations! You want to be wary of taking on debt for the sake of taking on debt especially with rates rising. 

Speak with a loan officer, and they'll give you a breakdown of your options. 

Hi @Kate Szeto - thanks for sharing the issues you're running into. I know it may be frustrating to read some of the comments with language along the lines of "you should have never invested in the property in the first place" but the reality is every investment is a learning opportunity. 

Judging by what you've written, my gut tells me your property had 2 stressors: (1) thin cash flow margins to begin with & (2) surprise monthly costs. These are silent killers for any deal, BUT it doesn't mean the property was a bad investment altogether. 

As long as it's appreciating smoothly and you're able to write off all your expenses, that's still a solid investment (depending on your investment criteria). 

P.S. My personal recommendation is to not use a property manager for the first few investments since you can google the info of any contractor/plumber/etc. that you need to handle a tenant issue. You automatically save 10-15% of your cashflow every month. 

 I had no idea about this, learn something new everyday! 

Hey @Scott Seydor - I can see your perspective on this and can understand why I would feel hurt by my agent (whom I've built a relationship with) and almost think it is duplicitous of her doing this. 

I don't think the agent did anything wrong (I'm speaking both as an investor, and a realtor too). Agents work with multiple buyers and unless you've signed an agreement/contract that she will only work with you, she's allowed to show the property to her other interested buyers (this is literally her job as a buyer's agent). 

If she was only working with you and couldn't work with other buyers, she wouldn't be in business for too long. 

Sometimes as small (or medium) investors we latch onto good agents/contractors/vendors etc. because we don't approach this realm as what it is: a business. I've made this mistake before and it's caused me to put up with poor quality vendors for longer than I should have because 'hey I have a working relationship with them already.'

Hope this helps, I don't intend for it to sound too harsh but reading your post in the forum reminded me of where I was a few years ago. 

I agree completely with @Mike Dymski - we hear a lot about how the rare few have been able to acquire a building with '$0 down out of pocket' and other click-bait titles, but at the end of the day we have to work our way up to bigger deals. 

What I've noticed is after I acquired my first couple of properties, and I was more intentional about investing in real estate, I started networking more openly with other real estate professionals/investors. One conversation leads to two, leads to a friendship, leads to analyzing deals and partnering up together, etc. 

Hey @Victoria Price - congrats on your new purchase! 

There are a few softwares out there that real estate investors use for marketing purposes in order to track down owner information. Shoot me a DM and I'm happy to run a quick query for you, happy to help out a fellow agent. 

I agree with @Caroline Gerardo - speaking from experience as both an investor and a realtor, even if you're in the same state and investing out of town. A local realtor will have a better grasp on her local market and know all the connections/insights to point you in the right direction. 

Additionally, there are different 'rules of thumbs' when operating in different counties even in the same state (as a realtor). For example, I'm local to the NYC & Long Island market, and our processes are quicker than say a county upstate where even a cash closing can take anywhere from 30-60 days. 

Hey @Santiago Focinos! Congrats on starting the process to get your real estate license. 

If i'm in your shoes I would start talking to the different brokerages in your area and get a good understanding of what their fees/trainings/tools look like. For new agents, I recommend a brokerage that is medium sized (around 50-80 agents) which will give you exposure to full-time agents. 

Are you going to become a real estate agent full time? If so, feel free to DM me and we can connect. Happy to chat about my experience in my brokerage. 

@Scott E. 's response makes a lot of sense to the video you posted @Cee Williams - seems like the person in the video had his property appraise for more than what he had it under contract for and the bank accepted the difference as downpayment.