All Forum Posts by: Colton Cook

Ryan Anderson , Hey man, I do the same thing as you. First of all congrats! Second, download OneNote by microsoft for all of your devices. Now for a minute, pretend you're a business you'd like to sell someday. With this in mind, you're going to want to write down EVERYTHING you do. So for me and my design-build company I have three basic notebooks: Consultation - where I outline the proper way to answer the phone all the way to signing a contract Production: -pre construction checklist all the way to our project management system (trello) and how to be in constant communication with the owner. Marketing: - how I generate and track all leads and lead gen systems And I'm about to add several more. These are called your SOP's or standard operating procedures. This will cause you to not only get organized, but create a system to maintain it, as well as improving your efficiency. Sometimes organization is a gift. For me it's a discipline. Hope this helps! If you want any kind of help on specifics I'd be more than happy to share some of my systems with you. Good luck!

Viante Fruit , So the first thing I would do is over prepare for building this thing. Document everything. Make an item by item estimate and know roughly to the dollar how much everything will cost. What you don't have in capital, make up for it in leg work. If everything pans out, you should be able to find a private investor. Start connecting on here for sure! Way to go man! Good goals

Lisa Renee , Auctions are a great way to get started. How to get into the auction varies. Auctions are, in my opinion less competitive than the MLS, and there is a risk to buying an unseen property. However, the properties listed for our next upcoming auction are online, so we're going to drive by and figure out what we want and how high we'll go prior. Ex: found one property, bones look good, bidding 2.5k, may need 20k of cosmetics, all in for 22.5k renting it out for 500/mo

@Jeremy Gue,

I would start by googling any and every four plex around you. Focus on the one'a not for sale. Look for ones that need a bit of work and are in okay areas. Then go to your county tax appraisal office and find the address of the owner. Send them a well thought out letter, maybe on a company letterhead and repeat this strategy. Hopefully you'll find an owner who is sick of that property and would want to unload it. 

Good rule of thumb: try not buying it for more than 70% of its after repair value minus rehab costs.  Not a rule, just a guideline. 

Another thought, if you're looking to break into real estate, try managing your own unit and see if you like it! It really isn't that hard at all. Just put systems in place and you should be good. If you like it, then you can see about pursuing the necessary education to run your own property management company. This is why I run a design-build company, to get large sums of investing cash, plus I love what I do. 

Hope that helps

@Kyle Lehnhoff,

I will for sure refer people y'all's way. If you ever find yourself up in Dallas give me a holler!

Dave Sanders Welcome to BP! This site has changed my life, I'm sure it'll better yours as well! Good Luck investing!!

Ellen Li , On second thought, why not call several of them in the area and ask them if it's even a possibility? That way you don't chase a dead end.

Ellen Li That's no fun. If it were me, I'd definitely hire a professional to rebut the 60ft setback. Worst case scenario, you waste some money, and still have the 60ft setback though. If this wasn't disclosed to you before you bought the property, you may have a case to get out of the property. I'm not a proponent of suing someone, but if it was never disclosed, that's an issue that may cause you to want to get rid of the property. Again, not a big fan of lawsuits, I'm just saying.

Shyanne Lecker-Agnew Well, for me, I'd make a plan. So I'm on the back end of doing this for my general contracting business. I would write Standard Operating Procedures: which is basically writing down the way in which you will do things in your business. For me, this made me think critically about ever step of the process. This will help you treat investing like a business. Next I'd pick my first market. Specifically. This way you can start networking in that area to score your first deal (texas is an amazing state to invest, balanced budget, cheap property, plenty of people to rent). But as of today, I'd connect with every mover and shaker I could find on this website. These people are amazing.

@Jeremy Gue,

I say if you're going to use your VA (I'm not sure how many times you can use it, or if it is like an FHA where you can only have one at a time) I would get the most I could for it. Meaning I would get the most cash flow per your capacity. Don't buy a 4plex if you aren't capable of keeping up with it. Not accusing you, just my 2 cents. For me, I would get the most bang for my buck. I'm assuming that you are only able to get up to four plebes since it is not commercial at that point. In that case, that's where I would start. Good luck!