All Forum Posts by: Gary Alford

Well I'm still fairly new but I can tell you the route I am looking to go. I am planning on using my VA loan to buy a house 0 down as well. However I am looking to buy a multifamily because with your VA loan (unless it has changed) you can buy up to a 4-unit house as long as it is owner occupied. So rent out 3 live in one is my plan to reduce my living expenses greatly and use the savings to help pay down the principle on the loan and invest back into growing and automating my wholesaling business to use that money to build my portfolio faster.

This is just the route I am looking to go and may not workout for you but it is an idea worth looking into. Also while wholesaling I am looking to grab any owner financed properties I can to add to my portfolio with little to no money out of pocket! I am actually looking to call back a lead tomorrow to try to work out a deal now for owner financing on a property that is already cashflowing. Good luck to you on your journey and I hope this helped.

If anyone see any flaws in my plan please let me know as I am definitely open to criticism. 

@Elizabeth Colegrove I love your strategy! it is the exact reason I wanted to get started investing here in Hampton Roads. The military always make for a good tenant as they get paid every month for sure and if one leaves there is guaranteed to be another to take their place. Real smart to price slightly below BAH as well because I know I always looked to have a little left over when I was looking at housing while I was active duty. 

Congrats! Like everyone said this is a great Christmas gift and way to start off the year.  Was this on your first round of mailers? Keep us updated and good luck

Morris this post is one of the reasons that make BP so valuable and important in every newbie or even seasoned investors life. We all need to hear stories like this on a daily basis to keep us going. I have the same mind set as you right now just market market, market. This is truly the most important part of any business you are in. So I read on other topics and continue to learn but my main focus is marketing first and all else will fall into place. Congrats on the first one and can't wait to hear you talk about deal 100!

Welcome to the site! 

Make sure to listen to the podcast they have a ton of information that is worth so much. I wish you the best on your investing journey. 

Gary

Whats going on Edward, 

Although I have not closed a deal yet I actually have pretty good results finding owners from driving for dollars. First I would say make sure to be consistent as most of the houses from my experience will turn into nothing and not fit the criteria. I feel that every house you find you should knock on the doors on both sides, right across the street and sometimes even the house behind it that share a fence for the backyard. You will normally at least find out something good like how long it been vacant or maybe the story of the people that lived there. I have had neighbors call them on the spot for me at the door so I could talk to them. 

Next when you get home use the city or county tax assessors website to look up the address and find the name of the owner and sometimes a mailing address (which is a last resort of contact). 

Now its time to turn into a PI and start to do some serious digging. Throw the name in Google and see what pops up. Also use places like whitepages.com, spokeo.com, anywho.com and plenty of others. Go for any free results first and call all numbers you find, even for relatives. Facebook works pretty well also. I have sent people messages on there and they actually answered me back or called me. If all attempts fail to get them on the phone send them a letter and wait to hear back. If you get returned mail this does not mean it is over. It might actually be worth using a skip trace service to see what they can find because chances are you are one of the few if not the only one going after them from that point. I have not used a skip trace yet but plan on doing so in the near future. 

Also some properties if they have mail in the mailbox I even try to take a peak or accidentally knock some out. This sometimes will give you a name already to start your search. I tend to be a little long winded sometimes but I hope I was able to help at least a little. Good luck to you!

Gary

Welcome Jamie,

You seem to be onto a great start with your first property I'm looking into my first one now that I'm hoping to be able to get owner financing on. We all wish we could get that type of equity in one year, that is just amazing. What are the numbers looking like from rent and monthly expenses if you do not mind me asking?

You also could be sitting on your money for your next property though if you have that much equity. Maybe you should look into opening a home line of credit on the equity that you can use to help fund your next property. This is not me giving you advice as I am just as new as you but just an idea that might work that I read and heard about people using here on the site and podcast. Hopefully someone else can chime in and say if this is really a good idea. Good luck to you! 

Gary

Welcome to BP Tony,

This site has so much information that can be used to create that utility belt of tools us investors need to be able to make deals happen. You just have to spend the time to dig in. Like @Roger Lin said the best way to learn is through others and NOVA, D.C. and Maryland have some great REIA's to meet people. Good luck to you!

Gary

Welcome to BP Eric,

The podcast are a great resource, I wish I had been listening to them a long time ago. The Baltimore market is hot so hopefully you can get in on the action. Good luck to you on your journey! 

Gary

@Michael Quarles  That number seems to make sense to me. I think I will go in and fill in the years with another list. 

@Ed Kahle  Your criteria seems just about identical to mine assuming you meant 50%-100% equity range. Except I do from 40%. Your results are great! I will be mailing about the same number of mailers and can only hope to get even close to the same type of results. How long have you been mailing to this list?

I just called and talked to them the other day and learned that they allow you to have full access to all of the files from home for $50/month. If you haven't already dealt with probates I would suggest starting out going to the probate office at the courthouse and use the computers their first though. If you are having trouble understanding the records, the people in the office can tell you how to comb through them to find exactly what you are looking for.