All Forum Posts by: Douglas Christian

Totally agree with Augie

Work looking for work Joseph. This is your work. See what you haave to do is go out here and bust your A*** and begin to see that there is no other satisfaction like this.

Also you can team up with someone who already has themselve established and work on some kind of split with them in the beginning.

But I have been doing this for 6yrs and no money is really needed.

Not to offend Curt, but the deals I come across are not from a bank and nothing is required. Homeowners are who I am dealing with and the are MOTIVATED.

Now Joseph go out and get that first one done.

I agree Terry. Many newbies or part timers are trying to reinvent the wheel. The bottom line is you have something to sell and find someone who has the need to buy.

Here is where I see a problem. Many investors that say that they are investors are NOT TRULY INVESTORS. I am sorry, but that is just the fact of life. You must dig through and find the TRUE PLAYERS.

See everyone who says that they buy properties is not telling the truth. Trust me I know, and no it is not because I did not throw them an excellent deal.

Here is an example.
FIXER UPPER
1428 sq ft. REHAB SPECIAL
Corner Lot
2/1 with an attached garage
Easily converted into a 3/2
ASKING: $19,500
ARV: $105-110K
REPAIRS: 40K-45K

Now if you are looking for a FLIP, BUY AND HOLD would this not be a DEAL?

See, but what you start hearing is what type of neighborhood. This is a quiet neighborhood of 1700 people. Going through transition.

The reason I did this is to show and say that what would stop someone from doing this deal.

This is how I teach, start small and work your way into Financial Freedom. If the property stays vacant you can afford to make the payments.

Go to a family member or friend and borrow money to buy the property at least you do not have to worry about an expiring contract. Then you can go and clean it up a little and just include that into the price.

See there are many ways to skin a cat. I think teaming up with someone that already has a list of buyers and is a really good wholesaler will help benefit you in more ways than one.

It is no different if you went to a seminar and bought a package you would still need someone to help you, this is why they offer MENTORING.

See Dante here is the problem. Everyone is looking for the same thing and getting the same results.

I focus on buy and hold for myself and my investors. The reason why is because I have an eye for properties and you are right. Properties in Charlotte area are over inflated and that's why we focus in Rowan, Cabarrus, Iredell, and Union. Don't get me wrong if a property comes available in Charlotte by way of my marketing I will jump all over it.

Buy and holds is where the MAJORITY of your money will be made in Real Estate.

Cathy

on that property there are so many REO's out there until an agent is going to tell you the area is worth this.

I live in Charlotte and If can not get the property for 30-50 cents on the dollar I do not mess with it.

See in the end you have to take your feelings out and put REALITY in. What am I going to get stuck paying if no one rents this property from me.

Since I am in your area give me a call
or pm me.

Douglas

I have plenty of tenants and here is my take on this. You should look at your lease again and then set up a meeting with the tenant. Highlight the key issues that have been violated on the lease.

See we have all had a problem or two in our lifes. The key to this is this woman sincere or not? Only time will tell.

What I recommend is giving her a payment arrangement. See right now she is probably going through things that know one knows. Now if you go in the house and there is a XMAS tree and gifts all around it, then she took the rent money to celebrate XMAS and that is a no go.

Also I have noticed that Paul is having his own financial situation and that tells me one of two things about situations.

He is depending on this money to bail him out and if he does not get it then he himself will be in trouble.

See that goes back to my principle of investing. I buy where I can CASH FLOW immediately and if the property goes vacant or the tenant can not pay then I have not put myself into a no win situation.

Did not mean to go on a tangent, but we have to be real if we are going to be investors. Depending on someone else to BAIL US OUT is putting your life on the LINE.

Caitlin

I am coming in on the tail end, but I read every post and the KEY to me is MOTIVATION on the part of the SELLER.

See I believe you are getting to caught up on numbers that are in REALITY ficticious. You must stick to facts and they are.

What am I going to be paying out of pocket.

What rents am I going to be receiving.

What maintenance issues will I have to deal with immediately.

Mike and Rich whether they agree or disagree they can and sometimes will be disagreable. But, listen to what they are saying and at the END OF THE DAY. It is you and only you who will get stuck with that property and those payments and that is the bottom line.

Find a deal with a more motivated seller that is less complicated. One where the seller will actually carry back a large percentage of owner financing and the price is a lot less.

I just believe in finding deals with motivated sellers and this discussion would have ended a while ago.

But, I truly thank each and every poster out there, because someone you can bet on this will go out and make a mistake even after reading this post. Because the society we live in lives off of what feels right and not actually what is right and that is why we are in the mess we are in TODAY.

My advice is to walk away from this deal and find one a little less challenging for you and feel good about it.

I here many of you sounds like got screwed.

Word of advice for future endeavors. Check out the attorney and have him send you all his info. Such as his insurance number and others that he has done business with.

This way he holds all the money in his escrow account and can not release it unless it has been authorized by you.

These are the kinds of situations that make people sour and untrustworthy of the legitimate investors.

I am truly sorry to hear what has happened to many of you, but chalk it up to the cost of doing business.

Douglas

I agree with Homer. You need to go back and redo the lease and put all four individuals on the lease. This holds all four of them responsible.

Also you need to take pictures of the home when they moved in so that if you have to take them to court you will have evidience of how the property looked.

Also I would recommend a forum that we call move in and move. They have to sign off on this stating that the property is in pretty good shape or excellent shape. If there is a problem we get our repairman in there and fix it and then we have them signed that the work has been completed. They get a copy and you keep a copy. Always have a paper trail.

Make sure to that they are not slipping pets in on you.

We have a non refundable pet fee of $250.

For landlords go to NATIONAL TENANT NETWORK. This is a company that will screen your tenants for you. So if you are dealing with an out of state tenant that just moved into your area the will handle that for you. They can do whatever you need them to do. Go there website. They are out of Raleigh, NC.

Daniel I to agree with you. I am a buy and holder in the Charlotte, NC area. But I learned something about 1 1/2 yrs ago.

I now pay cash for my buy and holds. How you ask?

For every 3-5 wholesale deals I do I buy 1 or 2 buy and holds for myself. Oh yes it is happening. I am very good at what I do and it has created me a great life.

I have helped many people understand the value of leverage. See here is what I mean. See Jeff is not leveraged well. It can not get any money and he owns property that is great.

See if I need cash I go and do a commercial line of credit on several of my properties and now I am my own bank. Lending to myself and paying myself for the money that I use. VERY POWERFUL stuff.

Jeff you are going about it the right way, but like many they have to understand that flipping properties is what has gotten us into the mess that we are in today.

MY QUESTION: What happens when you fix this property and can not sell it. See you must always look at the other side of the coin. Work on your leverage stragedy.

Meaning find some other teachers or colleagues who would be interested in what you are doing. Talk to them and then find a good wholesale deal for them and sell them the deal and walk them through the process. This way you have created another relationship and everyone knows someone.