All Forum Posts by: Collin Emerson Miller

Hi all, I am currently in between transactions (just bought a place and now saving for next).  I was thinking of how to make some extra cash to save up faster for the next one.  I had an idea and would like to know the community feedback/response.  I have software skills (Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Science, etc) and I was looking to leverage them to do some jobs for those who are looking for an extra data edge on their property analysis.  

I think that the idea is sound, the execution is the important part.  So my question to the community is, how do you think I should go about this?  

For finding jobs, I don't like the idea of cold outreach especially on BP (I am pretty sure that is banned/against TOS). I do know about Upwork/Fiverr/other contracting sites, and I have used them in the past (although they are pretty saturated TBH).  Is the way just simple networking and marketing?

For the actual content of the work, I can see data science/AI/ML coming in handy, but I am pretty sure most of the ideas I have already exist in some other software.  My question here is what kinds of jobs should I expect so I know what skills/showcase projects to have under my belt.

Thank you for your time and brainpower!

Hello all,

Was curious if anyone has come across a collection(s) of real estate transaction case studies (Preferably residential)?  Not the average cookbook/overview, I mean a contract/date/exact cost breakdown.  I tried searching online for "Real Estate Transaction Case Studies", it seems like it either doesn't exist, or they have been SEO'ed to oblivion (i.e the 7th o of Google)

Thanks in advance.

I am 80% sure the answer is a yes, but I wanted to hear some opinions.  Is it better to learn the ins and outs by hiring contractors and managing the project yourself, or hiring this out if you are first starting out?

Hi BP community,

If you are investing in a state that you have never invested in before remotely, how much time would you give yourself to assemble a good core team before getting under contract?

My idea of a core team:

• Buyer's Agent
• Seller's Agent
• Lender
• General Contractor
• Appraiser
• Nark (progress reporter)
• CPA
• Attorney

Thanks!
 

Hey BP community,

I am working on a fix and flip in Virginia and am looking for some feedback on my market research and current game plan. To give context, this is my first out of state rehab project and I am about a month and a half into research which is encapsulated into a 13-page report. The details are a bit too large for a single forum post, so if you are interested, please reach out to me VIA dm.

Thank you!

Hi BP community, 

I am a California-based investor looking to execute a fix-and-flip in Virginia and a hurtle I want to tackle is to form a strategy for competing with local investors.  So, how can a remote flipper compete with local investors? I understand that this can be difficult, but I would still like to hear an answer nonetheless.

Thank you!

It would be a conventional interest-only loan.  Also, the loan on the downpayment is from a 3rd party personal loan site (i.e lending tree).  They wouldn't even have knowledge of what is being done with the money and only care if it is being paid back on time, no?  I wouldn't have any issue with paying the interest-only payments and the loan payments because I get paid more than enough to cover both at my job.

I am working on a flip right now using hard money and I am running into a catch 22/chicken and egg problem with finding financing and finding deals.  Here is what I mean:

I have been talking with real estate agents and they seem to have the sentiment that you should have financing lined up before you look for deals, but to apply for hard money you need to have a deal at the ready.  What gives?  What do you start with? Do you just find an agent that is willing to find deals without financing locked in?  Is there any way to find an in-between like you have a written letter from a lender that says "Given that there is an adequate deal, financing will strongly be considered?"

If anyone would like to hop on a call and talk about this I would love to connect.  I am looking for HMLs and deals in Virginia.

Hello, bp community,

Wanted to ask a few questions about hard money loans and the skin in the game part.

I understand that hard money lenders require that you have skin in the game, what I would like to know is how much skin in the game and how to approach them if not 100% of the down payment is your own money.

Let's say that you are looking for houses for 200-300K and you have 10K saved up.  For a down payment of 20%, it would be 40K-60K and that means that you would be putting up 16%-25% of the down payment with your own money.  If that is a large portion of money relative to you, how is that not skin in the game?

Also, how do you approach an HML with a scenario like this?

Lastly, if anyone would like to have a chat about this, I would love to connect.  

@Brett Durfee,

I own a property in North Hollywood and if you are looking for an accurate tax percent you can do it in 2 steps:

1. go to the LA County Assessor site, type in the address, and look for the Tax Rate Area (TRA) which is a number that looks like 00012.

2. Go to the LA County Auditor site and enter the TRA.

Then viola! you get the real tax percentage for the property and it is even broken down into all of the subcategories you are being taxed for down to 6 significant figures.