All Forum Posts by: Jay Orlauski

If you enjoy your current job then maybe you could keep doing that for as long as you still enjoy it. The extra income could come in handy if decide to start investing in properties yourself. Keep building up your sphere of influence closer to you  like you're already doing - maybe you can connect with a local broker closer to your sphere of influence to be your feet on the ground to show houses for you to cut down on the trips you have to make if a client is looking to buy in the area.   Maybe you can use the money your earning as teacher to help supplement a marketing plan that will enhance what you are already doing so you can build a bigger network closer to where you live. 

All in all - it is a totally personal choice - if you can afford to walk away from the teaching job and you get more personal satisfaction from doing real estate - then follow your dreams. But if you do decide to go full time - make sure to put a little savings aside  ( about 3 months) to help weather the slow periods. 

Another thing to take into consideration is the type of retirement plan you have at work. Are they contributing anything to it? are you fully vested? would you be leaving money on the table if you walked away now? Those are some of the things that may affect your decision to stay or not. 

By the way - congrats for getting yourself into position where this is a choice for you. Best of luck to you!

@Garrett M.  - I look forward to that - just give me a heads up when you're gonna be in town and I'll be happy to pencil it in to the calendar. 

Hi Joe - did you ever make to Fresno? - let us know how close you are to coming out here if not - maybe the next time you come up we can grab a quick lunch or something and talk about the area. There are some good places to invest here and there are places I avoid like the plague -  many of the posters have nailed it as far as north of Shaw - there are also other nice little pockets in south east Fresno too - I would be more than happy to help you look around the area.  

Welcome everyone -It's good to see so much interest in the Central Valley.  I've been investing here for over 15 years now and even though its getting tough - the deals are still there.  It helps to know what areas to stay away from and where the real money is. I guess it all depends in the type of investment you're looking for but - if you are looking for large multifamily buy and holds - there are not as many opportunities here for cashflowing  - Fresno is still priced lower than many of the coastal cities and we are still seeing a lot of growth here. A lot of the opportunities now lie in the outskirts of Fresno, where development is starting to catch up with demand - investors in the area are looking to these outlaying areas cause they are still cheap - yet close enough to Fresno to draw in buyers. 

I am more than happy to help anyone here with any questions they have about the area. I hope to meet you all - if you are ever in Fresno come to our local REIA meetup and network with our group of investors.

Hi Garrett - would love to connect sometime! I will be out of town till the end of June on vacation - when I get back - I will reach out to you. Have a great weekend! 

Oh.. P.S. - most new investors don't realize that there is plenty of money available to those who have a deal - so they fall on the sword of " I don't have the money to invest"   - on the surface  this can be a real deal killer for the uninitiated. 

You have discovered our secret - I'm sorry - but you know too much for us to let you go now......

Ahemm... well... ok .. so in theory it really is the simplest thing in the world and why the hell isn't everyone doing it?  Here is why - DEALS.  While having all the processes lined up can make a flipping project easy - the first hard part is actually finding a deal. Now for some people - they may be in a position to see deals coming and going all the time - but for most of us - it is like an easter egg hunt - now we can make that search a little easier with some marketing - but it something you should be working at consistantly - for many,  the longest part of the process is getting that deal -this is why you see so many people all over BP asking everyone else where the deals are. 

Getting the property under contract at the right price can be the next challenge -you may have found what looks like a good deal , but may take a bit of massaging to get the seller to meet you on your terms. 

If you pull that off - I hope you have a good contractor ready to go - cause many people I talk to - especially if they don't have deals all the time either do not have a contractor already or they do - but have limited availability.  Once you get him there - hope that he takes into account all the small details you may not see until you start tearing out the walls - where you can discover an unaccounted for extra 5K of labor. 

So as others have said -  on paper it IS easy and in reality, it can be - but there are a lot of moving parts involved and each part needs to work for the next part to work -many people do not want to take a chance that they will coordinate everything just right and have a deep fear of failing or losing money. This fear can work in favor to ensure you are doing your due diligence and getting the best deal you can or it can paralyze you and until you don't make a move. 

When you are new and don't know what you don't know yet - it can still be a challenge even if it seems simple -I have always ran into some snafu of sorts - whether big or small - you just never know what is going to rear its head - 

I once had all my numbers dialed in and was in the very last stages of closing when I found out at the last minute that the lender was going to require flood insurance - well.. . this was an assault on my cash flow - however , luckily I still had enough meat in the deal so that it works out - still - it was my 5th investment property and took me by complete surprise - but now I know to check for that in advance when running my numbers - and I'm sure I will run into an unknown in my next property - in fact I am getting  a good education right now about working with city on a burnt duplex with over 60K  in city fines and learning about how they deal with new buyers and what fees they need to recover and what fees they don't. 

Best of luck to you - I hope your first BRRRR is a snap and you come back and ask - "so what was the big deal anyway?" Keep us up to date

I'm loving this thread - so great to hear compelling arguments from both sides - thanks for the great info - not sure if OP is any closer to an answer - but wow - a lot to take into consideration on the subject. I personally dont have an LLC for my multifamily and feel a little exposed , but at the same time - I also run things above board and feel fairly confident that something wont happen... but then you never know .... there is always that ONE time.....

Hi George - I was dealing with the same issue and I found a guy here on BP who was able to quote me much better rates - previously flood insurance was only offered by FEMA and you could not shop it - but there is private insurance available now - try @Jacob Passmore  - reach out to him and see if he can hep you out. 

Welcome to BP Emad - Congrats on getting your license! If your investors have any deals to flip right now - PM me and let me know -I have a buyers group that is looking for a buy and hold investment right now . And of course we are always looking for flips too. One of your first tasks aside from gettin gto know your market really well is going to be to network with as many people as you can - you've got to get the word out to everybody that you can help them out - start off with local networking meetups like the "Succesfull Thinkers Network" right here in Fresno - also you should come by our REIA group one of these days - we meet every week - every other Saturday and every other Thursday at 12:30 pm at the Bitwise Hashtag in downtown Fresno- our next meetup is Sat the 18th. There is another group that meets once a month in the evenings too - Bets of luck in your new career - P.S. I was wondering if you are interested in investing too? or are you just looking for investments on behalf of your clients? Have great week!