All Forum Posts by: Dave Van Horn

Congratulations @Micki M.!!!! These are my favorite stories to hear. That's the beauty of kickers.

So glad our group on LinkedIn could be of help.

Best,

Dave
 

Thanks for the mention @Steve Babiak

When I was starting out I would go to about 8 meetings a month (probably half of those were DIG meetings both the main one and various subgroups).

I think the main meeting in Horsham is almost always good, but I really like the networking at all of my local sub-groups. I like the ChesMont group that Steve mentioned, and my office is located directly in-between the Chester County and Delco subgroups so those are my other go to's.

@Joseph Scorese also runs a couple groups, I'd definitely recommend connecting.

Hey @Bob Malecki,

Thanks for chiming in.

We have accepted money from sophisticated investors in the past, but we currently only accept funds from accredited investors upon approval.

Best,

Dave

@Chris Strokes

You would need a securities attorney to review a PPM. Since securities law is federal, they can be located in pretty much any state. I use Craig Zappetti of FisherBroyles to review my PPMs.

Hi @Scott M.

All good questions.

@Tom Chen is pretty much correct in explaining how it works and how your investment is protected. To elaborate, by investing in our fund, you're essentially investing in shares of a non-publicly traded company. So once you invest, you're added to the operating agreement of the company and you would now own a percentage of the company's assets - in this case it would include homeowner payments, bank accounts, REO's/properties, as well as all of the notes in the fund.

The biggest risk of any fund investment is that you could lose some or all of your investment principle if the company were to go out of business. In the first six pages of our private placement, we detail the reasons of how that could potentially happen. The reason track record is often mentioned is because whenever you're investing in a company, you're investing in it's management team and past performance.

The good news is, unlike when owning an individual note, by investing in the fund you cannot lose any more than your initial investment principle and you're well diversified among multiple assets. So the benefit to investing in a note fund is that with no additional exposure, investors get access to a consistent return with less liability.

Best,

Dave

Hi @Joe Garbarczyk

Not sure what the current use of the land is or what it's zoned for but when finding land buyers it's really about finding the best person for the current property. What's the highest and best use of the property? Is it already farm land? Is it just forest/timber? 

Normally, unless someone wants the property for themselves, no one will shell out millions of dollars for land unless it's subdividable. Usually a land developer will put the property under contract subject-to subdivision approval. There's a value of the land today and there's a value to the land with subdivision approval. But this is only applicable if the land is in a worthwhile area, worthy of development and if they can get the zoning changed (if it's not zoned for it's best use already).

Best,

Dave

Hi @Andy Xu,

I haven't done it myself, but I actually talked to about this very topic in a recent article post (and more in-depth in the comments of the article):

https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2016/06/0...

Best of luck.

Dave

Hi @Fatima Champagne,

Welcome to BP! I'm also a Philly area investor and I agree with a lot of points above about the advantages of buying a multi-family as your first property with FHA financing. I even wrote an article about it for BiggerPockets!

If you ever have any questions feel free to reach out.

Best,

Dave

P.S.

I also always suggest to local investors to check out a meeting at our local REIA group called DIG (Diversified Investor Group). They have meetings all around the Southeast PA area and it's a great place to get educated on Real Estate and build a network in person.

Hi @Genevieve Cen

No problem! Happy to help.

We use a software system company called Exceleras that has a network of REO and BPO Agents as well as Contractors nationwide. It's a fee based service but you can track the agents' progress online. You could also try US Best Repairs and RealQuest offer similar services.

We also use referrals from local REO and Real Estate Agents in other areas from personal contacts as well. We've even found reliable agents here on BiggerPockets.

We've had success purchasing assets in New York but we only purchase in bulk from larger banks and institutions which usually don't sell individual notes or to individual investors.

We've never personally gone through the cold calling banks/credit unions route, I've heard it's not impossible to obtain assets that way but I've also heard it can turn into a bit of a needle in the haystack situation. If you want to continue that path though, I'd suggest looking up Distressed Pro which will tell you which banks have assets available.

You could purchase notes from note funds, servicers, and loan exchanges. I'd suggest starting with FCI Exchange just to get a feel for assets for sale. There are also plenty of individual note sellers here on BP and on LinkedIn.

Best of luck,

Dave

Hi @Genevieve Cen

My company and I have invested in notes in all 50 states and it's definitely possible to do so without traveling. The key is performing the proper due diligence when evaluating the property and the neighborhood it's located in just in case you have to take the property back. But keep in mind, even then, it doesn't necessarily have to be a desirable neighborhood or the nicest property because if a note is performing, it's performing. The beauty of notes vs. hard real estate is that you don't own the property (and all that hassles that come along with it - tenants, maintenance, townships, etc.) you just own the secured paper behind it.

So in that regard, having boots on the ground in some form or another when performing due diligence is important whether it's a Realtor, BPO agent, and/or contractor assessing the property. And finding someone to do this for you and completing other forms of due diligence can pretty much all be done via the phone/computer. 

Hope this helps. If you have any other questions feel free to Private Message me.

Best,

Dave