All Forum Posts by: David Martin

@Jonathan Farber Some card issuers will have a virtual credit card number feature where you can generate a number that is tied to your main account, but is not your actual direct, main, card number, allowing you to essentially set up virtual burner cards. This protects in two ways, first, if you have an issue with a VA, you can burn the card number, and generate a new one within a few minutes, secondly, if a vendor that you're using has a data breach, you can burn the number and setup a new one to prevent it's future use by unsavory folks on the web. A third feature that some have, but not all, is you can sometimes also cap the value of the burner numbers, so for instance, you can use a particular card number for a vendor in which you expect there to be no more than $50 a month in cost, and set a cap of $75 on it to limit your exposure if that number is compromised by anyone in the chain of it's possession. You would then generate another number for another vendor in the same fashion, etc... It requires a little more management to handle, but should shield you in most of the ways I think you're concerned.

@Noah Brinker go for the more generic option. You can always subdomain (dfw.sellyourhousefast.com) from that or subdirectory (sellyourhousefast.com/dfw) from that to match the URL up to your SEO. Would also try and format the locations as close to what you have determined the most popular search term would be, so for example, in the subdirectory style, if people were typing out the full names more often for the city, instead of using 'dfw', go more for 'sellyourhousefast.com/dallas-fort-worth'.

@Mike Burkett For real. The sockpuppets really rolled hard on this one.

@Pete Storseth Not sure where you are on stored cash reserves, but have you looked at all at John Fedro's method for flipping mobile homes? It's one of the lowest dollar entry point strategies I think i've seen. There's another guy on here that does it up in the Northeast as well.

At a high level, you pick up a mobile from a motivated seller, say for $4k, put needed repairs in to make it fit for sale ($2k let's say), and then owner finance it out to a buyer for like $25k, with a move-in fee upfront that is about 50% of what you paid to acquire it and rehab it, and then by about month 10-12, you've been paid back everything you've put in, and from there on out you're just collecting the balance from what you put in up to the $25k. As any strategy does, it has it's risk profile, but as long as you keep within the legal limits on the owner finance side, it seems reasonable.

@Zach Mazur Could probably just operate the transaction like a wholesaler would. Have her get DU pre-approved from a lender to make sure everything moves fast. Offer your price to the seller, do the typical 'and/or assigns' language on the contract, and then just assign her the contract for $1. From then on out, she's the real buyer.

Nuts and bolts: 

https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/2016-07-05-contract-assignment

@Michael Lowe I've learned to not try and sell the idea to anyone above and beyond 2 houses. Anything beyond that seems to freak out mainstream thinkers. They can all swallow the pill of having a primary home and a second house (vacation home/seasonal residence) as a mental jump, but beyond that gets tricky, so I tend to just keep the idea to that level. It's enough for them to understand you're investing and why and how, but without making all the villagers scream that the dragons are coming. Once you get a few that see you're doing ok and show interest in RE, you can vaguely let them know that you have 'a couple more' properties, so they get an idea that you're expanding and still doing ok, but until they can talk to you like another investor, I see no reason to quantify a count of doors for them, because it's just too much for them. Gotta ease them in to the idea.

@Michael Lowe Just keep in mind these things:

1) Change is one of the scariest things to a person.

2) Change is usually only accepted when it's just different enough to be believable. Any move that's too big to comprehend is "impossible".

3) People are ridiculously bad at calculating risk.

4) By doing something different, you're stepping outside of the social norms of your tribe. Your tribe will fear that you've been led astray and will never return.

@Joshua Seguine Sort of agree with Joe, in that you'll know when you know. The "right property" is only like 30% of the puzzle. It's the mind game that gets you to the point where you'll take the leap, and that's because you'll have the mental toolset to see the property in a whole other way. Trying to not sounds cheesy, but you'll sort of have that moment in the Matrix where Neo knows he's 'the one', and is able to see the world around him for what it is, and not how it's been presented to him. 

To get to that point will actually be several leaps, and you'll have to face each one as they come. Your first leap will be actually making offers on properties, your second will be feeling like you know a property inside and out enough that nothing about it feels scary because you have the data and the team to attack it, and probably last is that leap in to agreeing to finance it with someone because there's little doubts left that it's the one. So don't think that you're just taking one big jump... know that until you've signed that closing paper, you're still able to walk away if it's too much, and all you will likely lose is cash for inspection, appraisal and earnest money. The real challenge is pushing yourself to take the next leap in the process each time, and that's the mental game.

Text of the bill:

https://legislature.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/sessioninfo/2020/legislation/H0461.pdf

@Bill Haldenby Ask her to listen to this podcast below with you and see where the conversation goes.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/2013-04-18-cash-flow-creative-finance-life-ben-leybovich