All Forum Posts by: Joshua D.

I'm wondering all the time why people tell there secrets and tell people how to do what they do. It's a hard enough market in my area to find deals as it is why do people do the classes and so forth and show and mentor people in there own market. Seems to me makes it harder and impossible to find any good deals?

Hello Everyone

I'm a investor in Pa and my brother lives in Wilmington actually where I grew up also. But he has a tree service there and would really like to find him beach front property and help him find a good deal. I would assume its hard to find good deals in that area a lot more competitive there then here I would assume. But is that area a tax deed state? Also any wholesalers around the area. I usually do a lot of marketing where I'm at and find my own deals. Any Insight for the area would be great would like to help him out.

So sorry Joe! Thought it said John. 

By the way, have you seen success with the gas industry boom in ND? Hope it's been a great cash cow for you out there!

@Joe Splitrock

@johnspiltrock Thank you so much John! That makes total sense. Yes, we are thinking that we are going to take some time to evaluate, make sure that our systems are where they need to be and numbers, and build up a cash buffer. You are totally right. We have periods of time that we like to call 'savings sprees' where we try to hang onto as much cash as possible, definitely makes you feel less nervous. You are so right! Thank you, and kudos! We love seeing other husband/wife teams!

@Steven Mitchell If we are ever looking to liquidate our portfolio, we know who to call! ;)

@Steven Mitchell Thank you so much! Made our day and tells us that we are doing something right then!

 We buy from many different avenues! We have realtor contacts who constantly alert us to new houses with the criteria that we look for. We keep constant eyes on the market and use realtor.com, zillow, trulia, CL, auction sites, etc.   Tax sales, oftentimes, (judicial and upset, but prefer judicial.) PA is a tax deed state, which makes this great, but DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE and research any judgments, liens or mortgages or you could get yourself into trouble. We always use an attorney for these. Even if its a 'free and clear' sale, it does NOT mean free and clear if the judgement hasn't been 'served.' Also, any government 'super liens' NEVER go away. Examples of this would be PA Dept. of Revenue, IRS, etc.  @David Krulac is an expert on tax deed sales, (read his book, he's amazing!) and could educate you far better than I in this arena, we are newbies. 

We've haggled down prices on properties by up to $50,000 before ! We are in a market where the local landlords/property managers treat it as a hobby, don't seem to know what they are doing and don't seem to much care, so we stand out in this arena. We treat it as a business, which is the ONLY way that you can do it and make it work. They have no systems, many don't even have leases!! So most don't get the amount of rent that they COULD be getting on their properties and have horrible tenants.  Many people don't realize that you can up the rent and will, most of the time, get it if you do up the property nicely and sell the area/house. We bought a duplex where the original owner had one side that wasn't inhabitable, and the other was only renting for $450/month. We re-did the uninhabitable side and raised the rent to $550/month plus utilites, earning us $630/month on that side. We re-did the other side for less than $4000 including labor and now rent out that side for $550/month, as well. That extra $200/month on that duplex really goes a long way! 

We use the @Brandon Turner analogy of BRRR, buy, renovate, rent, repeat. It's what we like so far and what has been *knock on wood* working so far for us and our goals.

@Steve Vaughan LOL! There are so many different terms on here (REO, RE, ROI, NOI, ARV, etc.) that I figured that was another that I hadn't yet heard haha!

That makes total sense, thank you so much!

@David Dachtera Thank you so much! You have definitely given me a confidence boost with your response.  I think you are right. Our feelings are more on the "confident and diligent" side. We try our best to be as diligent and cautious as possible and pay close attention to numbers. You've given us much to contemplate with your 'success cycle' and that is so insightful! Thank you so much David!

@John Chapman Thank you so much John! We have made the mistake of putting carpet in a few properties (YIKES) and will never make that mistake again. What flooring do you most suggest? Is laminate what you use, or something else?  What you said about buying faster we can identify with. Often, it seems we have many deals on the table and are afraid a bit to move on them because we want to make sure that we are doing everything "right," and I feel we, too, can definitely be overly cautious about making a move. It sometimes feels like we are taking calculated risks but just jumping and that's a scary feeling! At the prices we are buying and in the areas, I don't think we can lose, but still feels like a risk regardless!