All Forum Posts by: Doug Merriott

@Jason Abbott what is the actual breakdown of the units? Rooms, etc... Location? Have you toured the property? Have you run the full numbers?

If you finance the property it will be a commercial loan, which I like because it runs off the income of the property. Local lenders that I have spoken with are looking for 25-30% down with 3 or 5 year balloons, and rates just slightly more favorable than what Brady pointed out.

Even better would be if you could get the owner to carry the financing. Could be a win for him on the tax front and a win for you if you could negotiate it close to 5% and keep it that way for a large number of years or perhaps the duration of the loan. Perhaps the owner does not need $50k lump sum, you would need to find his needs and then come up with a solution that works best for both of you.

Calling everyone from Clearwater, Largo, Pinellas Park, Palm Harbor, Safety Harbor and Dunedin. Calling all Oldsmar, Tampa and Brandon folk. Those of you on the beaches, Clearwater Beach, Indian Rocks Beach, Reddington Beach and Treasure Island too!. Calling north Pinellas, Port Richey, New Port Richey and Holiday (even though you're Pasco).

Let's get together and talk about building wealth with Real Estate. This is an open forum meeting. Members of BiggerPockets.com and non-members alike are encouraged to join us. There will be discussions on the issues that are important to you. So bring your knowledge, bring your questions, bring your success stories and bring your notebook.

It is helpful if you sign up on meetup.com too so that I know how many to set up chairs for.

See you soon!

Hi @Dailin Fajardo ,

That is a pretty tall order. You could potentially pop a deal wholesaling. I don't know what your area is like. Getting a Real Estate license solely for this purpose is not very effective, but also possible. You would have one month to study, a month to train at the brokerage, two months to find clients, search properties, put in an offer and a month to close. Seems kind of tight.

Can you trim your expenses? Get a roommate? Can you extend your time frame?

More specifically, why this goal? What are you looking to achieve?

@Pamela Holland Welcome to Bigger Pockets. My heart goes out to you being downsized. I would recommend the podcast from Lisa Phillips, that happened to her not once, but twice... You have definitely found a great home for finding knowledge.

Hi @Account Closed Welcome to Bigger Pockets.

Sounds like you are on a good track. Educating yourself is number one! Keep your debt low. Save your money. Try tracking down a few tips on easy and effective ways to do that. I like Lifehacker's 52 Week Money Challenge. It's not much, but imagine if you doubled the amount or got crazy and quadrupled it.

You should start setting your criteria now. What exactly do you want to invest in? Where do you want to do it? Keep an open mind and listen to people. I never thought I would be interested in mobile homes until I really started listening to John Fedro, and I did not understand notes until I was at a REIA and someone was selling his and it clicked.

With that being said, network like crazy. You work in a Real Estate office, you should be able to see who the movers and shakers are. Talk to them and listen. Go out to other events, professional clubs, etc... Figure out your niche and then specifically study that. When you are ready you will be ready to execute.

best of luck and let us know how you do

Doug

That was an awesome Podcast, @Brandon Turner @Joshua Dorkin @Ben Leybovich . I thoroughly enjoyed it. A lot of opinions were thrown around and that generated a lot of thought. I was glad I listened this morning. I would have loved to see the Youtube video, but I cannot watch a screen for that long.

@Mark Pritchard I was thinking that myself!!!

Doug's Map of the War Zones of Pinellas has a nice ring to it...

I actually used this site extensively before I moved here 9 years ago.

Pinellas Crime Map.

@Richard Brito and @Elizaveta Dolzhenko welcome to Bigger Pockets. You guys are awesome and have very bright futures. I love to see people making the right decisions and working towards a goal. Very inspiring.

@Ardijan Has and @Jon Holdman I can only really speak for Mid to Southern Pinellas County. There are some "War Zones". Primarily you have to be careful of areas south of Central Avenue in St. Petersburg, this is however a broad brush statement because many of the neighborhoods are nice and working class, and there is even some affluent neighborhoods. In Clearwater the areas to be careful of are 6 - 20 blocks from the water, 4 blocks north of and 4 blocks south of highway 60, extending about 10 blocks in each direction. Highway 60 is Downtown and the area is kept rather clean. Gulfport can be marginal, Largo has some rough patches, Pinellas Park also has some iffy spots. If there is a property you are particularly interested in feel free to message me.

@Account Closed There are a number of REIA meetings this week. Tonight there is one over in Pinellas Park. Come on over, listen and talk to people before and after.

There is HML available. Depending on your target properties you may have other options available to you.

I hope to see you this evening. I believe you already have my phone number or you can look in my profile if you need it.