All Forum Posts by: Charles B.

Well before starting with my review I will state plainly, that I have not joined their network. My close friend and business partner bit the bullet and signed up in hopes of being able to have access to funding for deals that we were able to find.

I will say, that the earlier statements are true; you are basically paying to be a bird dog. Now I will also say that if you find quality properties, they absolutely have some investors who will step up to the plate and buy your deals.

Now having said that, my partner and I believe that there is no need to pay someone for the services Ameraco provides. The bottom line for us is that when we really find great deals (and their investor network will only be interested in your great deals), we can find our owning funding and buyers without jumping through as many hoops. Also, we tend to make more money on the deal when we find our own buyer/funding.

So is the system good. Yes, it is. Does it work. Yes, they will buy your best deals. It simply was not for us. But if you are a relatively new investor and/or you have a hard time building a ready buyers list, it can be a useful source of deals.

Well lets see. Boy, thats a tough question. I have literally spent several thousand dollars spread over 30 plus investing courses and conferences over the years.

I would say that the best residentail courses or series of courses I have purchased are those by Chuck Smith. I have read/listened to his Ultimate Real Estate Investing course, and luxury home, and probate courses. Each has been top rate, and can actually be applied by someone with a modest amount of investing experience.

The best commercial courses I have purchased have been Dave Lindhal's Apartment House Riches course, and Scott Scheel's Commercial investing course are excellent resourses for someone starting out in commercial investing.

Each of the course I have listed above I can honestly say have made me money. For me that is the ultimate measure. BTW these are a handful of the well over 2 dozen courses I have purchased over the years.

I have Dave Lindhal's Apartment Riches course. It was worth every penny. I thought it was a good overview for one who is not familar with multi units and their financing.

I have never been to the boot camp, but have spoken to more than one investor who said they benefited particularly from the creative techniques covered at the bootcamp.

All in all, Dave's home study is course is a good beginning and overview of multi unit investing. If you use his forms and go step by step you will seem like a seasoned multi unit investor to the brokers and sellers you approach.

For more advanced or creative financing techiques I think you will have to look elsewhere.

Very very good post. I do the same thing. I use www.privacymatters123.com.

Personally I think it is a an important weeding out tool. If they cant pull their own credit for me, then they will not be responsive to my requests for paperwork later on.

wow. A guy with a stick, who was asked to leave and then left. Friends our very democracy is at stake. lol

Hi again Lifesstudent. To answer your first question, I only do commercial deals these days (unless a residential once in a life time deal just happens to fall in my lap) :D . As for what I say to the seller or his broker and/or attorney there really is not one pact answer to that. My presentation concerning earnest money vary depending on the seller's motivations.

There is one question that I ask almost all the time. Why do you need earnest money? Well, what if I can close by xyz day?

I also explain in detail why I can still close, but I perfer not to tie up my money with any deposits. This way they don't confuse my reluctance to provide an earnest money deposit with the inability to close. And BTW, I actually do have the money to make earnest money deposits. I simply chose not to.

Also for what is it worth, I find that many of the creative financing techniques used in residential investing do actually work in commercial investing. They will not work all the time, but thats ok. I can't buy every good deal I come across either.

I don't want to make this sound easy, because it is not. Many brokers/agents/owners/attorneys are used to doing things a certain way and they will not deviate from what they know. I suppose my message is that if you do you homework, present yourself professionally, and have your financing absolutely locked up, it is possible to find a steady supply of deals that do not require an earnest money deposit.

During a local investors meeting, the topic came up the other day of whether you can use creative technicques and even no money down techniques in commercial investing. To my suprise the uniform opinion was that it was even easier in commercial deals because most sellers are by definition investors themselves.

Personally I have had a lot of success using JV agreements to avoid using my own cash. I was curious what other creative techniques people were using to buy commercial properties creatively.

My personal experience is as follows. First I have 3 deals under contract right now that require NO earnest money. So it can be done.

Now for the reality. You are right "most" sellers will require some earnest money. There are only two ways to deal with this. First, you can always partner with someone who can put up the money for you (have you considered establishing a line of credit for such occasssions). You can also only deal with sellers that do not require earnest money (say in exchange for a quick closing) until your funds are such that you can put up earnest money on your own.

I am a little more agressive than most buyers, but my basic approach is I cover the issue of earnest money up front. I don't hide from it. Personally Scott's course is excellent, but terms in an agreement such as earnest money is due at closing is silly. I simply would ask for a requirement for No earnest money. I find sellers appreciate someone who is direct.

I could go on and on about how to negotiate a NO earnest money requirement, but then again I do it for a living. The bottom line is to realize that earnest money is not automatic, it can be negotiated. Also as someone else stated, do not lose the credibility by using contract terms that make it seem as though you are trying to hide the fact that you don't have earnest money.

Perhaps I am biased, but I think this is an excellent time to make the transition to commercial investing. Have you considered partnering with an investor with available cash? This strategy has worked very well for me during 2008. There is a lot of cash sitting on the sidelines and afraid of residential market right now.