All Forum Posts by: Charles Kao

Richard Boyd I sense the frustration. I can say you have a lot of options. In the mean time be prepared and nothing can replace hard work. Maybe you can't get a mortgage now but when you can, make sure you have as much knowledge as possible to seize the opportunity. I used to tell alot of people when I worked at the bank, if you were in my position and somebody came that you had no history with and asked for a loan with your exact same situation would you lend your own money to them. While blunt it was effective and I used it to guide my own investing over the years. Hopefully that can help guide you in your next move, as I think it applies to every person you work with.

Pamela, As this stage early on I would utilize this forum to see who will really spend the time to answer your other questions. Referrals are great but in my experience is that somebody who does a good job for me may not do a good job for you. In all honesty, if I'm flipping 15 houses a year and know the ropes an agent is going to prioritize me as a client over a newbie investor. if you are one. If you find a realtor that has investment experience, and is helpful to you even before you put money in their pocket that will go a long way. Lastly, look at what kind of investments you want. If you want to buy foreclosures, then see which agents have alot of listings for foreclosures. My agent actually would tell me about unlisted foreclosures he was about to get when I first started because he wanted to double up his commission versus just taking a listing agents commission. At the same time I have people that I would refer him that would say he was not a good agent because they would expect him to show them 50 foreclosures when he was only making a 1000 commission on it. Take your time choosing.

Cut your losses. I am in a similar situation that will cost me 20,000 with the sellers blatantly lying but I know for a fact that the sellers were dirt poor so even jf I win they will unlikely never be able to pay. So even if you win and spend that in legal costs in court, you may have to spend 2-3 times that just to get them to actually pay. If they don't have the money or don't live in the country that may never happen. If it was a contractor you may be able to get the contractor to come back and do the work but normally you have to transfer warrantied work into your name prior to closing.

Anybody like to do a meetup for investors in Livonia, Plymouth, Canton, Novi, Northville, Farmington, Westland, Commerce Township, West Bloomfield and Walled Lake area? Feel everything is in Troy for investors.

I think I am going to work with the one website for now as I don't think it would be difficult to do three seperate later.  I live in a suburb of Detroit area that I would like to focus in but I'm not sure how smart it would be to go to that concise of a market in the state in the domain name.  I think I am going to leave the domain name more general, and then use adwords and marketing to be more specific to the market I really want to be in.  Thanks for the feedback Justin.

I have been using REIA tenant forms for the longest time, but I feel like they are so tenant friendly it does not cover off on all the tenants responsibilities. I had my lawyer draw up a tenant contract as well but it looked like a legal document and feel like it would scare away tenants. Not sure if it'd be worth the money spent to get a lawyer to do another contract with language that is not so legal sounding. Any feedback from anyone.

@Beau Miller Not effective at all from my experience.  They make you excited and they waste so much time because most are expecting a quick paycheck.  I have tried the mailman lead, that works great.  I also have tried down at the permit office to find out of homes that have been  issued a violation for not cutting their lawn, too much junk in the yard and things like that.  Lastly, the foundation guys and roofers I use are great for that as they get these massive jobs where people can't afford their services.  With those guys they only require that I go through them for the project, so I don't even pay them a referral fee.

Does anybody know where I can get a checklist for tenants who check out that tells them what they will be charged if they do not clean or replace it.  For example I remember I think it was Podcast 35, where Josh or Brandon said they have the list and tenants will see they get charged 10 bucks for a lightbulb.  I thought this was a great idea and while I could create it myself, I figure it's easiest to not reinvent the wheel.

Lee Smith Where are you going for VAs now?

@Parker Ihrie What credit union do you use? Also send me a PM if you want a new client. I am market for new lawyer