All Forum Posts by: Scott Dixon

Hey @Arin Hanohano 

Sounds like you are ready to get rolling with a Customer Relationship Manager (CRM). There are numerous CRM's which are used inside and outside of REI with a lot of helpful youtube videos and how to guides to get you started. You can search "CRM" for numerous forum posts like this one: BP Post of Best CRM .  Personally I use Podio and find it easy to use and meets all of my needs.

Best of Luck

Scott Dixon

Hey @Nick Jones @Will Porter @Shawn Morey 

You probably already found this answer but wanted to follow up just in case.  In terms of how to get lead voicemails entered directly into your Podio Leads App there is a few locations for more info on this subject. @Ben G. did a good job outlining this in his Blog Post 7 Intuitive Tech Tools to Streamline Your Wholesaling Business.  Also he touches on this and other helpful topics in BP Podcast 91, I recommend listening to the whole thing but specifically around minute 45-ish he gets into tools used to automate his business.  

High-level Process Flow

Vumber > Email > Podio Email to App > Podio Lead Entry

Best of Luck,

Scott Dixon

Hey @Joe Bushman ,

Welcome to BP and REI. Good to see another Champaign County member. I have a couple of units in Champaign/Urbana and the student rentals can be a little more labor intensive but also have a lot of upside. With the drastic increase in multi-family investment at UIUC over the past couple years I would stay away from the high-end college rental market (greater than $500/room) and focus on one of the many other sectors. Best of luck and we will keep you posted on the next meetup in Champaign.

Scott Dixon 

Hey @Brian Schroeder 

Will you be purchasing this property with all cash or obtaining financing? If Financing, will you be looking to get more of a commercial loan product or a Fannie/Freddie 30-year fixed product?

I have 3 properties and don't hold any of them in a LLC. Everything is under my name but I also have 30-year fixed on everything. Not 100% but pretty sure if you want a 30-year fixed loan you will have to hold the property in your name.

I agree with @Michael Seeker  leaning towards good liability insurance and sticking away from renting to drug dealers.

Best of Luck!

Scott Dixon

Hey @Zach Nelson ,

I have bought a couple places in the Peoria, IL area and have used Ryan Blackorby who is a broker for Traders Realty and has an office in East Peoria.  Ryan is an investor himself so he understands what we are looking for when it comes to single families or small 2-4 unit  complexes.  Good Luck and welcome to biggerpockets.

Scott Dixon

Hey @Brett Brown 

Congratulations on taking some action and getting started in REI. I used to live up in Peoria area prior to moving down to Savoy which is a mile or 2 away from the University of Illinois. I imagine the house you purchased is close to Bradley? If their college rental market is anything like ours the leasing cycle is pretty tight with 12-month leases running from the 2nd or 3rd week of Aug to the 3rd or 4th week of Aug the next year (1 week or so to clean the properties). Of course you will always have some graduate students, post docs, and traveling scholars coming and going but for your 5 bedroom property I would target a group of 5 friends all on the same lease to simplify the management. To do this you most likely will have to wait and sign a lease for the next school year when most students are signing leases which could be as much as 9 month prior to the start of the lease. In the mean time you could rent out on a per room basis or even check and see the current market around Bradley for a service like airbnb You need to check and see if similar properties close to yours come furnished or un-furnished and could check Craigslist or local property manager website to get a handle on the current rental rates which is most likely advertised on a per bedroom basis. Also get to know the rental cycle and when most students sign for the following year. It is very important if your property is going to be a college rental that you understand and advertise according to this well established rental cycle.

Best of Luck 

Scott

Hi @Tammy Stinson 

You should probably start with establishing your goals?  Are you leaning towards becoming a buy and hold or fix and flip investor?  Be careful not to get pulled in multiple different direction when starting out.  Focus on one method of investing, educate yourself, build your network, and once you find success maybe venture to another type of investing.  

How much money would you need to put into the properties to get them rent ready?  What are the current rental rates for comparable properties in the area?

Best of luck!

Scott Dixon

Hi @Noralee Deason 

How do you plan on managing the condo (Self Manage or Property Manager)?  If you plan on managing student rentals yourself I would say you need to be located relatively close to the units.  My student rentals are primarily graduate students and are very quiet and focused on their studies but they always have little needs that I don't see in my standard non-student rentals.  At least in my case most of the graduate students have not been in the United States long and need a little help with things we might think are obvious and as such necessitate more management.  

Best of luck with the condo!

Scott Dixon

Central Illinois BP Members,

Sounds like we are well overdue for our 2nd meetup for Central Illinois BP Members. We will stick with the original location of Jupiter's at the Crossing and gather on the East side of the 1st floor between the pool tables and the bar. This will be completely informal which you can come and go as you please for some networking with like-minded REI BP members.

Urbana Savoy Rantoul Danville Mahomet Decatur Bloomington Peoria Tuscola UofI Universityofillinois illini UIUC

@Rob Anderson @Tyler Zindars @Anthony Hornbeck 

@Jeremy Lamb @Account Closed 

Hey @Tony Moenck

Welcome to BP, no better place to get started and pursue education in real estate investing. I am also a local to the Champaign / Urbana area and slowly but surely getting more experience in real estate investing.

We are overdue for a local Chambana BP meet up and should be putting something together in the near future. Good luck in starting out and let me know if you have any questions or properties where you want a 2nd opinion.

Scott