All Forum Posts by: Gregory Emmer

@Israel Santiago Welcome back to FL!  It's a great time to be back and investing in real estate.  I would engage in your local real estate investment communities and see where that takes you.  CFRI has a huge monthly meeting at Edgewater High School the first Wednesday of every month, and they also have several other affiliate/sub-group meetings throughout the month.  And GOREIA is another competing club that meets later on in the month (I believe the 3rd or 4th Thursday) at the Hilton in Altamonte Springs.  The clubs allow first-timers to come for free, so it's a great no-obligation opportunity.  We'll be at CFRI with as a table vendor, so stop by if you come.  Good Luck!

@Ingelise Long Do you see yourself branching into other areas of FL?  We offer financing throughout the state if you're ever in need.

@Brian Coons To what extent have you developed a buyers list?  Many wholesalers and investors continually aggregate lists of potential buyers for properties they accumulate.  You meet these end-users anywhere from your local investment club to a site like BP.  The key is to continually engage with your buyers by sending out lists of properties for sale and/or other e-mail marketing.  And it may not necessarily be someone you are directly e-mailing, but a colleague of a colleague, etc...

@Rashon Goode Regardless of whether you could buy it for $35,000 or even less, there is a $55,000 mortgage on that, and you will not gain free-and-clear title to the home until that is paid off.  The amount of money you will need to bring for this transaction is the amount to pay off that $55K mortgage plus any closing costs.

@Cody Bunch...answering your questions:

-There are reliable contractors everywhere.  I  would gather you can look up reviews online if you had to, however I would think you should gauge the opinions of local investors and individuals on BP local to the areas you want to be in.

-Landlord Tenant rules...per the FL Landlord/Tenant Act: http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_...

- If there is no written lease, and they pay you monthly, it reverts to a month-to-month lease
- Generally, if it is a single family home, then the tenant usually pays for all utilities.  However, in the case of a multi-unit for instance, where there is only one water meter, then landlord would pay for water, but you'd obviously build it into the rent.

Good luck!

@Justin Cabral Agree with Lucas.  Go to as many local real estate networking events as you can.  If you put your mind to it, you can learn in a very hand-on way through merely talking with people at these meetings who were in the position you are in right now, and that's just starting out.  I would put these meetings as a priority over any educational seminar.  At the end of the day, they won't teach you what being our in the field, getting your hands dirty, etc...message me if you'd like and I can give you a list as well and you can cross check that with Lucas'.

@Judi Hetherington Welcome Judi...what are some of your real estate goals so everyone on BP can give you appropriate suggestions and feedback?

@Ross Benedict Depends how quickly you need to close and if you are prepared for the long wait times to ultimately close on the property.  Remember, that the qualification process can take awhile, and the Seller may be prepared to even take a lower price if it means selling the property quicker.  Large bank or even a community bank, you still have to qualify, and there's always going to be a layer of red tape involved.  I would say it behooves you to close with a private source of cash (hard money lender, private lender, even a relative).  Get that property in your name or your business name, then refinance.  Sure, you'll spend a tad more in closing costs having to pay a settlement fee twice, however, at the end of the day you have the property, and not someone else.

I always suggest to our borrowers to buy the property in the name of an LLC, business entity or even land trust. Remember, if a property is in your personal name, you are not shielded from personal liability if you get sued for whatever reason. If the property is in your personal name, a plaintiff could go after any of your assets, including anything in your personal name.

@Tobi Rosario Don't forget about Polk and Volusia Counties as well!  Orlando market is very very good.  I would say comparable if not stronger than the South Florida market.  We just started expanding to that area because we found it to be a great investor community.  I would connect with the CFRI, which is the biggest Central Florida real estate investment group.  Their monthly meetings are the first Wednesday of every month.  Definitely never a better time to join than now!

Shalom @Account Closed.  I would say stick to the bigg metro areas, where you'll have access to a wider array of service providers, specifically realtors, that you can use as a guide to help you source properties.  The metro areas to pay attention to:

-South Florida Tri-County Area (Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach Counties)

-SW Florida (Ft. Myers and Naples area)

-Central Florida (Orlando and surrounding areas)

-West Florida (Tampa, St. Pete, Sarasota areas)

-Northeast Florida (Jacksonville)

Good luck!