All Forum Posts by: Donald Hendricks

Hello BPers...
My name is John Elmenhe, I'm 15 years old and I'm going to begin investing in real estate the day I hit 18 years old by trying to wholesale properties. I'm going to begin working soon and I'm NOT going to spend a DIME! It's all going into my savings account or a CD. RE investing is everything that I've wanted and more, so I'm not going to college.

I've been reading RE/business books and taking online courses in creative RE investing. One piece of advice that I keep on getting over and over again is that RE investing MUST be treated like a serious business, and not some hobby you partake in on a Saturday.

I feel like I should lease out an office space in a commercial building, so that I am physically removed from any sort of leisurely environment. Is this necessary? I mean I feel like my home isn't a really professional environment. Also, does anyone have advice on what necessarily constitutes a professional RE business?

Should I form a legal entity? Get an office with office supplies? Dress up in a formal way?

Your thoughts?

John I am 39 now. When I was your age I was thinking at times of doing real estate. Didn't get going with it until many years later.

Your brain doesn't stop fully growing until in your 20's and the last part to develop is the reasoning center.

All the advice about going to college I am torn on. To go to college to "get your education" is a waste in my opinion and here is why. If you do not know WHAT you want to do as a career then you can rack up huge student debt that by the way is NOT able to be eliminated even in a bankruptcy!

You are stuck with a degree that isn't going to bring you much money and a huge debt. That's not a positive way to get started in this world. Now if you have a grant or some other kind of assistance where total cost to go to college is only a few k on your part after 4 years then having a paper to fall back on could be beneficial just in case.

I talk to many people who say they just went with a subject to get a degree to pacify parents or choose something. I do not hear from them " I love this subject so much with a passion that I think of doing nothing else! ". There are cases where high income jobs and obtaining degrees make sense because demand is there to pay off student debts such as doctors, etc.

What doesn't make sense is getting degrees where the market is flooded having you start out at 30k a year with 75,000 in student loans. It just doesn't make any sense.

Drive and constant learning is what will make you have success in this world.

I work with a great deal of home builders, realtors and lenders turning around their clients with damaged credit. The best short term solution you can do is open up 2 secured credit cards for around $300 - $500 dollars. There is a line item on your credit report called "High Balance". To utilize your credit cards effectively, you will need to advance the full balance of those credit cards. There will be fees associated with doing that but a full 24 hours later pay those cards down to $10. Keep the cards open as long as you can, I would recommend going through a local credit union for this.
Keep those cards at that $10 balance. I know that a handful of my clients are in a student loan program where if you are 9 months on time, they will remove all lates on that account. I would inquire about that with your loan servicer.

Lastly, like everyone has stated before, do not pay off those prior collection accounts without a letter in writing from the companies stating they will delete the item. Otherwise, if you do pay it off it will reset the date of last activity and knock your score down in the short term.

It is true that the collection agencies do have a contract with the reporting agencies in which they cannot do what I stated above as it is against their contract. If you can work up to a manager of some sort, they will be able to get it done. The key is that they will not "delete" the item, but stop reporting it. After that you can dispute it and it will get removed. I have done this countless times with my clients applying for mortgages.

Originally posted by @Donald Hendricks:

Originally posted by @Account Closed:

Carry on you are the real winner.
Joe Gore

I concur, the mysterious "partner" and Dash F are real winners. I really like it when people show me who they are for free.

Oh don't tell me that you are the guy that can see through and is always spot on and can read people?

@Jon Holdman I didn't know bigger pockets had these gems of personalities who ganged to attack a member who is asking for help. This is not what this website is about and certainly not what I have experienced in the past.

What can we do to have these nice gentlemen call it a day?

Carry on you are the real winner.

Joe Gore

Good info from all!

Don't forget, if you still have a W2 job and decent credit, most banks will give you a signature line of credit. This may only be $5k for starters but you can take it out every month for a couple days and put it back in [the interest will only a be a few dollars]. Then after 4-6 months ask for an increase. Your good history should make the bank comfortable in approving the increase. Keep doing this for a year or so & you can easily have $20k-$30k available. This is how I bought my first rental.

Also, when you get those credit card offers to give you a zero percent balance transfer, you can simply write yourself [or LLC] a check for the full amount of the line available on the card and use that money for free during the promotion period [usually 12-24 months]. NOTE: this takes self control, do NOT go to vegas or shopping with the cash!

I bought my second rental like this. I used the CC money for the down payment on a duplex with seller financing. I had enough left to complete the rehab as well.

In this case, it is a physical object that could poke your eye out or knock out teeth - it is no Internet lingo.