All Forum Posts by: Eric Thomson

Hi Michael, has your agent sent you any sold comps to compare your offer against?

Hi Ian, although many brokerages may negotiate with you on their fees, for the most part those are pretty firm, in my experience. If you were doing this full time and were a high producing agent, then you would have more bargaining chips. What you would want to look for, since you are not interested in becoming a full time agent, is a 100% commission or flat fee brokerage. You won't typically get a lot from them in the way of training, leads, etc but you'll get to keep more of your money. You'll get all the access to the MLS and ability to view homes without having to coordinate with a Realtor.

Hey Kyle, you'll certainly want to line up your financing before you do anything else. That will tell you how much money you have to work with, and when the deal comes along you'll need to act fast, so already having access to the funds is crucial. Of course your investor/lender may not like the deal so it wouldn't hurt to have several lined up.

Next you can find a Realtor and start finding deals. Typically you would be required to have the Realtor (yours or the seller's) present any time you or your contractor enter the home. I would try to have the contractor take a look at the property before you put it under contract, but that's not always possible. There's usually an inspection period in every state (in Texas we usually pay for a 10-day inspection, in some states there's an automatic 3 days or so and probably an option for longer) and you can have the contractor inspect at this time.

I could be wrong, but in Sub2 title is not actually changing hands, so I don't think you would.

Hi Brandi, I am a Texas Real Estate Broker and investor. Like you, I initially got my real estate license for the same reasons (finding properties, saving in Realtor commissions, etc). I certainly think, even if your intention is not to be an agent, that getting your real estate license is beneficial. You mentioned not being able to buy a house without a brokers license and that's not the case. What that means is that you cannot earn a commission on the purchase or sale of a property unless you are working under a Real Estate Broker. There are plenty of options on Brokerages you could work with. If your intention is not to be an agent that represents others buying or selling homes, and strictly want to work on buying and selling your own properties, I would suggest avoiding the big Brokers (Keller Williams, Remax, Century21, BHGRE, etc). These are all great brokerages, but they charge high monthly fees and commission splits and if you're not an agent you don't necessarily need the "perks" they offer for those fees (training, etc). You need to find a Brokerage willing to let you "hang your license" with them for low/no monthly costs and a very low commission split. You may look for some 100% commission brokerages in your area. 

As far as investing without your own credit, I'm not sure. I know there are some options where credit won't play a big part. Your best options are probably purchasing homes through owner financing or sub2 (subject to). There may be some other hard money lending options where your credit won't play as big of a role. You'd probably see higher interest rates, but you may still be able to be financed. You may also look at private money (finding an investor/partner to work with), or pulling out money against the paint business if that's an option. But ultimately, I think you should get your license! :)

Well my primary residence started as a flip. When our previous home sold we decided to move into the flip and my investment loan is about to expire, so I had to refinance anyway. 

A couple of thoughts. I think it depends on your audience. It only works on Android devices with Bluetooth enabled. So if your property appeals to a younger/millennial crowd (who, because they buy Android and not iPhone, you know are not great decision makers :) ), then it may be a good idea. I'd also consider the amount of foot traffic. Is somebody passing your listing at 30 mph going to notice the message? It could be really cool for an open house or showings and could really set your property apart from the others potential buyers are viewing. I don't know how effective it would be at luring people through the door though.

Hey George, I'm in the process of doing a cash out refi on my primary residence to invest in a flip. I think it's a terrific way to fund an investment. If you got hard money for a flip you would be paying around 12% with 3 - 4 points (if anybody has any hard/private money contacts that are better than this please let me know!!). With an equity loan/refi you're paying closer to 4% and costs typically less than 3% in closing costs. Obviously you're limited to the amount of equity you have in your primary residence, but after you snowball that on a couple of flips you'll have plenty to work with.

Based on the numbers provided, and even considering 20% for vacancy and maintenance (which may be conservative estimates) you'll still have a nice cash flow. 

thanks for the info @Julia Dugger