All Forum Posts by: Deneuve Brutus

Hi @Juwan Rohan, I recently passed my test as well. I'm waiting for my license from DPOR. I'm going to sign up with eXp. I've done a lot of their training already and have had a guest pass to eXp world. I think it is called a passport. 

Why EXP, my personal take:

EXP is the best choice for me. The individuals on the team I will be joining are very much like me, some are veterans, some are part-time, and some are both. My sponsor answers all my questions about the onboarding process and once I'm with the brokerage I'll get a mentor to help me with my first three transactions. They have two referral networks. Where you can network with other EXP agents around the world! Should you have an Aunt who is moving to Canada, and you know an agent in her future local. You can help her out to make that process much smoother. I really liked the fact that as an Agent-Investor I get to keep 100% of three personal transactions, I don't have to pay the cap fees if I haven't capped. I'll be buying residential, and commercial properties that sounded great to me. I always love employee-owned businesses. I get EXP stocks.

Why EXP, a Chief Technology Officer POV:

Since before COVID-19, I read from Gartner and other reports, society is shifting to being more virtual. EXP does exactly that as a broker. I love working from home. My office is 5 seconds away. I don't have to drive a MILLION MILES (what feels like it anyway) and deal with the people literally fighting to get to work, grocery store, home, and-or run errands on time. It increases my productivity tremendously, lowers the mileage I put on my car, saves on gas, lessens my carbon footprint, etc... Some home buyers will still want a face-to-face agent, and that is okay. However, that number will gradually dwindle as more children grow-up with the idea of "virtual". I don't have the need to go to a department store. I order it online. It comes to my front door. I try on the clothes if it doesn't fit, I send it back! or I drop it off at the store when convenient to me. 

Real estate is starting to see a shift very similar, as technology creeps into the retail home buying process. We already have virtual showings, and having a video tour of the home actually increases its chances of being sold. Let's not neglect 360 cameras, and Augmented Reality. Imagine a person shopping for a home. They throw on their Oculus Rift or HTC Vive or Other AR/VR headsets, then BOOM they are at the home walking around seeing how the house actually looks. As noted before, some people will still want to experience the feel/vibe, however, I think it will help lower the number of showings. I personally would want to see the homes I REALLY liked through AR/VR.

Hope it helps. Let me know if you have any other questions! Good Luck!

@Christopher R Price I bought and devoured it. It is the first of a series for real estate agents. It is towards what you need to do as a green agent. It has very useful information that I believe would be a great refresher for experienced agents. I'm waiting on my license to get to my address. It has prepared me for what my first 30 days should look like, with some scripts and all. Overall it is a great read for green agents. It sets the bar high early so that you can be a top producing agent. I highly recommend it to every new agent.

@Stetson Giralmo Congratulations on making the decision to get your first deal! Creative financing is dependent on what the seller is willing to work with since you are the buyer. You can use anything, I have read stories where a guy used his time as a down payment since the most important thing to the seller was that he moved out of his current house into the new one as soon as possible. This was an assumption of loans, there is a strategy for it.

Your parents may be willing to put a HELOC or second mortgage on their home if they have equity. Always ask the seller will they finance, basically you pay them instead of getting a traditional loan. Your parents can transfer funds to a Self-Directed IRA with their 401k and/or IRA and finance your venture that way as well.

You may not want to deal with Hard Money Lenders (HML) due to your parents would guarantee and they essentially are acting as private lenders for you. Which is a way better deal.

You can always find someone who is doing deals in turnkey properties in your area and partner with them. Provide value to them such as doing paperwork, sweat equity, etc...

Blogs:

3 Creative ways to Finance Real Estate

Creative Financing Blog From BP

There are many books on creative financing below are a few I've read and know about.

• The Book on Investing in Real Estate with No (and Low) Money Down by Brandon Turner
• Creative Seller Financing: How to Use Seller Financing to Buy or Sell Any Real Estate by Chuck Sutherland 
• Creative Down Payments: How to Use Almost Anything as a Down Payment to Buy Real Estate by Chuck Sutherland Advanced  
• Creative Real Estate Financing: Breakthrough Success Strategies by Chuck Sutherland

@Ben Harhager To answer your last question, it all depends on what the market is willing to pay for the apartment/room. To find that out contact a realtor and ask for a rent analysis on the location you're looking to buy. One reason investors purchase duplexes is that it balances out the risk and increases cash flow. For instance a $2500/month mortgage, with tenants paying $2000/month each.  

Your big question about the SFR or duplex also depends on your long-term and short-term goals. You could stay with your dad put the $18,000 to $20,000 towards a few deals where you partner with a few other individuals. This will "stretch" your dollars and potentially increase your ROI.

All across the board make sure you are cash flowing, hire a great property manager to manage the property for you. They will deal with the clogged toilet calls, etc... All you have to as is give them the okay to do repairs.

Options with Duplex:

• House hack - live on one side and rent the rest
• If your market will support it rent out each room for better cash-flow. 
• More stability, more complaints about neighbors (to your PM - but you're paying them for your peace of mind). 
• I'm unsure about the condo conversion rules where you are, however that may be an option. This provides cash-flow without property ownership headaches as well.

Options with Single Family: 

• House hack - live in one room and rent the rest. 
• If your market will support it rent per room.
• You may also be able to provide seller financing to potential tenants
• You can do a lease option, with an addendum that the tenants will be responsible for repairs

Let me know if you have any other questions! Good Luck!

@Jordan Moorhead I build my own websites. However, a great place to find freelancers you can hire is Upwork. A website to find all kinds of freelancers who know give you bids on the work you want to have done. I've hired, landscape designers, architects, and others. You can interview them, ask for demo work, and much more. If you haven't already you can also ask others in your brokerage, (maybe redundant since your with The Moorehead Team - this could be your brokerage or your team, I am unsure), chances are they have a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) or other technology tools they use. Make sure the web developer is knowledgeable about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Internet Data Exchange (IDX)

... I had to look that one up (IDX).

it allows the integration of MLS data with your custom website. Think about website maintenance, blogging, Google Analytics, and Facebook pixel, in order to manage your traffic and see where your visitors are coming from among other details.

I purchase my hosting package and domain name through Namecheap. However, you have ample options.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

 Go right ahead! :)

• @Edward Webb Welcome to BP! I'm a fellow veteran, reservist as well. Definitely go reserve, it really helped with schooling and networking. I'm a part-time AD agent-investor. It does wonders for your Real Estate (RE) career. Looks like you already have a great plan, with actionable items. Go to school, buy a fourplex. Things to think about:
  
  Have you thought about out-of-state investing to broaden your properties?
  
  You may want to rent out on a per-room basis this is what I did when I was in school.
• It is normal in college towns/near colleges. However, due to the pandemic, this may be difficult.
  
  

Since you cannot use VA loans at the moment, you should look into FHA or 203K loans. Check with your local city, city banks, and credit unions for first-time homebuyer programs, Wells Fargo has a few good ones. You can partner with other veterans in the school since you are interested in commercial property to get multi-family investments. There may be a few going up for sale due to the pandemic and school closures. You can network until you find some private lenders who will give you the loan. There are many lenders on BP under Network -> Mortgage Lenders you can work with, definitely seek "Portfolio Lenders" in your local area and let them know your business plan. I'm not sure if you've looked into triple-net retail properties, such as strip malls. It may be the logical next step after you have financial freedom, or you can jump directly there if you have $100k. Definitely join a few investor meetups in your local area. It helps with networking. To make sure your money goes a long way, invest with others so that you can increase your velocity of money. Read as many books published by BP as possible, and listen to ALL of their podcasts. I believe all their information is equivalent to a B. S. in Real Estate. I should know because I've looked into getting an M. S. In Commercial Real Estate.

Good Luck!

@Josh Deeden Many technology companies are moving to Texas, it's a great place to be. I know a few engineers out there in Austin and San Antonio. Being from Tampa, FL the same thing is happening there I had to leave the city, it's way too noisy and crowded.

TL;DR: As an investor so long as the market is in the rebound phase, and jobs are moving in. It's a great market. As an agent, If homes are getting multiple offers it's a great market. As a homeowner, I like to get in while the market is slow, with potential jobs in the IT industry in demand for talent. Depending on what you're looking to do after those 5 years, sounds like you can move anywhere with a great market. Joseph (Joe) Asamoah makes a killing in DC, with Section 8 housing. Listen to BP Podcast 356. He is a great guy to learn from.

Northern Virginia (NoVa) as a W2

Life in NoVa is ideal as an old-soul-jock-techie (me & friends). It is called the Silicon Valley of the East. Jobs, wine vineyards, local beers, diverse foods, sports. There are ample contracting jobs from large contractors HQ here such as Leidos and Lockheed Martin (great work-life balance, even greater job security due to the number of contracts available). Government jobs are available from DC because most agencies HQ there. I recently noticed a major uptick in positions available for Google, Facebook (Reston, VA) not to mention Amazon as they build HQ2, possibly due to the pandemic and their revamped remote policy. If start-ups are your thing, we have a plethora of those too. Housing is still incredibly affordable. However, I can see the price rising as more people move into the area. You can draw a 50-mile radius around Arlington/Alexandria, VA outside of DC and you'll be able to commute within 45 minutes from a six-figure job depending on your expertise as a tech. Fredericksburg, VA is also another one of my farms. For the past three years, the market has been blazing hot, especially near I-95. If you are willing to leave home before 0630 from Fredericksburg, VA, traffic is non-existent or you can take the train and nap. The trains go directly to the heart of DC-Baltimore Metro (The Metro Center). Don't want to do either, carpool is a major thing. There is "slugging". Another secret area, no one knows about. I'm sure they will know now, is Culpepper, VA right outside of Fredericksburg, VA. It is much slower, but it has great vibes. Amazon has a datacenter in Culpeper as well. I believe due to HQ2 being not too far from Culpeper. It will also be seeing major population growth in the next 15 years. Many people choose to live in Woodbridge, Stafford, Manassas, Lorton, Gainesville VA area due to the affordability and closeness to the DC-Baltimore Metropolitan area/work. They afford the tranquility and robustness of suburbia life, without the DC madness. Silver Spring, MD (Montgomery County, MD) is on the border of DC, Downtown Silver Spring is great to live in as well, also recently gentrified. Silver Spring was one of the final cities Amazon was looking at for HQ2, ironically it is not too far from Alexandria. I've lived/traveled for extended amounts of time in all the locations I've listed except West Virginia. I just know many investors who invest there. Not many Multi-family homes available in NoVa, you have to go to Central and Southern Virgnia.

Investor in VA:
As an investor in the area, it is great.  You can drive to Maryland (Baltimore Area), West-Virginia, and Pennsylvania (Philidelphia). Those are great states with cities ripe for investing, Central and Southern Virginia have locations such as Petersburg and Richmond, VA which are in the gentrification phases. Ample Opportunity Zones for investors looking for a major tax break. VA beach still has houses that are EXTREMELY affordable in comparison to the Clearwater Florida beach homes I'm used to seeing. If you are up for it, an Air BnB, the beach house is a great vacation in the summer when everyone drives to the beach. 

Investor in MD:

Many Multi-Family and SFH, available for BRRRR or Flip.

I wrote a novel! However, It sounds like you and your spouse are planning a major life revamp. I wanted to give you as much information as possible. Let me know if you have questions or need anything else. Good Luck!

My brain: "Why would you want me to do mat- , add 7 and 8, gives you 5, carry the one add 4 and 2 and 1."

@Kaylee Walterbach As a brand new agent, my number one tip is to buy the book SOLD! It's like my personal mentor, for my first 30 days! Which is invaluable.