All Forum Posts by: Harrison Painter

1. Not Putting a Dollar Value on Your TIme

One example is this: If you have over 4 properties, my advice is to hire a good management company. One of the biggest mistakes I see investors make is that they try and do everything for themselves. Spending hours marketing, showing properties and doing handy work to save a few hundred dollars. Your time is worth money, and you need to figure out that equation for yourself. I would rather play with my kids on Saturday than snake a toilet to save $200.

2. Not being in Touch with Reality

We see too many Investors trying to sell properties based on false rent rates and/or showing higher cash flow than what will really happen. In return, we see too many buyers fall for it over and over again. I know, as folks come to me often to clean up their mess!!!!

I can show investors cheap properties in sub par neighborhoods with $500 a month cash flow too, on paper! However, collecting the rent in the real world is a different story!!!

Our focus is to buy and sell in neighborhoods where we have the odds of collecting rent in our favor. We might only cash flow $150 to $200 a property, but we actually get the rent every month! The other folks might hit for a couple of months, but the vacancy and repairs will only out them in a negative situation.

3. Not Realizing that here is more to cash flow then the money that you physically put in your pocket each month.

As most of you know, I do not live and die by the 50% and 2% rules that are so often discussed in this forum. I have been beaten up pretty good over disagreeing by folks in here, but hey, if I followed the rules of others, I would probably be working for someone else right now. :wink:

While i am not going to give accounting advice here, there is so much more to this than the money you put in your pocket at the beginning of each month. There are no simple rules, or easy paths in real estate.

Make sure you find a solid accountant and understand pre and post tax cash flow, depreciation, how to deal with expenses, equity, ect......

4. Not Understanding Risk

Real estate investing involves risk. Period! No way around it folks. You need to keep some reserves, and plan ahead.

Also, plan your exit strategies. If you get in trouble, can you sell that inner city dupex or quad quickly? Will a lender approve a loan on the property? Do you have enough equity?

Keep these things in mind. The reason why my company puts a focus on single family homes in solid blue collar neighborhoods is all based on exit strategy. We have enough equity to sell them to investors for cash flow, and enough reserves to try and sell them on the traditional market while vacant for 60-90 days for showings.

5. Not Having a Business Plan

This should probably be #1, as this is the most common of all mistakes. However, my experience is that folks usually remember the last thing they read, so I put it here since it is so crucial to your success.

If you own rental properties, you own a business. Please treat it as such. Create a business plan and evaluate it as necessary. This is not a hobby, hobbies cost you money, they do not make you money.

These are just a few issues to think about.....there are many more.....but look at these concepts, plan ahead, and it will give you a good foundation to get started, or back on track.

Good Luck!

Well, I just voted!

While I am not pleased with the decision I just had to make, I am still proud to have the right to vote, and honored to be part of the American process.

Josh, I agree.....I do hope that we have a new President after tonight as well. I do not think our country can afford to weather another vote counting storm like we have had in the past.

We have seen too much political passion from normal folks turn into downright anger over the last decade, and we need to get back to basics and start working together to keep this country great!

I will give the ticket that wins the benefit of the doubt, keep an open mind, and hope that they surprise me as well.

Being an American, there is always opportunity, we just might all need to work harder to find it my friends........

As a leaning conservative who has been let down by the Republican party over the last 8 years, I will not throw a party if the candidate I vote for wins.

While I am not disclosing the candidate I am voting for here, the fact is that I am not happy with either ticket and have my doubts regardless of who wins the election.

While I hear "4 more years of Bush" and "Socialism" being thrown around, I honestly do not believe that is going to be 100% accurate.

McCain is not Bush, and there is the checks and balances of the Congress and Senate. (for whatever the is worth!) :roll: If something were to happen to McCain, then Palin is the face of the Republican party........While I have said before that nobody could be worse than GW, I might need to eat those words if Palin, God forbid, took the Presidential role.

While I am not sold that Obama is a Socialist, if it is true, the fact is that Socialism will need to be paid for, and it will take much more than 4 years to implement. Also, the Capitalist of our country have too much money and power for a true socialist environment to evolve.


The questions I am asking myself are:

Macro
1. Who is best for our Economy?
2. Who is best for our National Security?
3. Who is best for our World Relations?

Micro
1. Who is best for my Family?
2. Who is best for my Business?

I STILL can not give myself a definitive answer to those questions......and I am heading out to vote RIGHT NOW!!




See you all on the other side!! LOL

Right Wing Code Phrase of the Day:

Radical Left Rioters in the Streets = African Americans

I got that from my Rush Limbaugh Thesarus - Fifth Edition 2008 :mrgreen:

Disclaimer: This post is satire and not intended to refer to anybody on this board as a racist. It is simply to point out, once again, what the media has filled all of our heads with.

What people in America miss out on is the fact that most of the "radical" religious groups are actually a minority group with a majority power.

Religion is VERY easy to manipulate, place fear in folks, and control people. Especially in countries where common folks have very little else to live for.

I have been in some of these countries, and I have served in the military, so I feel more than qualified to express my point of view.

My observations have shown me that MOST humans are all basically the same. We care about our family, our work, and having a decent existence during our short time on this planet.

It is a poor statement to make in regards to not caring about what other nations think about us. While we would all like to believe that America is this strong, independent nation that is the end of all means, that is simply not accurate, or even possible.

Just like in real estate, networking and relationships mean everything.

How has Kijiji worked out for people?

That is a site we have not really used yet and I would appreciate any feedback folks could give on that site.

My Top 3 are:

1. Craigslist (Buyers - Sellers - Renters)
Craigslist is King, no question, but such a pain in the butt with all the flagging from competitors. Howver, It is 100% worth it once you figure out the ways to use the site effectively.

2. Backpage (Buyers - Sellers - Renters)
We call it Craigslist Lite, as it does not have near the traffic, but still a great site.

3. REINusa.com (Buyers - Sellers)
This site has been very good to my company, we have put together quite a few deals from properties we have promoted on their site.

Now, you must still have what the folks are looking for and be able to write great ad copy to attract them.

I credit my companies success to the quality of our rehabs, the value in our deals, and the professionalism of our team. Without that, even great advertising will only create below average results.

Good Luck!

Bought a 4BR last week in Indianapolis for $15K. It only needs about $7K worth of works and it will have an appraised value of $62K. This will rent for $800 a month!

We sell most of our equity and cash flow properties we buy via our ZERO DOWN Program, but I might keep this one for my own portfolio, as I have not added to my personal holdings in a while.

The deals are just too good right now!!!!

Down Market + Bad Economy = HUGE OPPORTUNITY!!!!!

I have clients in OC that I can introduce you to.

One of them is a OC Police Officer, so I am confident that you guys would have a lot in common.

My reaction will be to simply continue to run our business with speed, agility and adaptability. I will change and work within whatever rules are placed upon us.

At the end of the day, there is no greater country in the world that can offer more options for normal people to create success. So to carry around negative energy would be counter-productive.

There is ALWAYS opportunity, it is just not always so easy to find!