All Forum Posts by: Jason Pinkerton

I am buying and wholesaling multifamily in the Fayetteville area (so far all Cumberland county). I've had a hard time finding any good links for REIAs in Fayetteville. I no longer live in Fayetteville, but know it's a good market for multifamily--less saturated with buyers=more deals. I've been getting duplexes and triplexes in middle and low income areas but without a good REIA network, makes it a little harder to sell them. I know I may get a late response on this post, but that's ok--it's worth a shot.

Yes, you read that correctly. At a Tampa REIA, the host mentioned several ideas for being creative and one in particular struck me, someone wearing a costume. So, I'm trying out hiring sign holder to stand at a particular location in an inflatable T-Rex costume during morning and evening rush hour. I'll update how the marketing goes, but just curious if anyone has tried a sign holder in a costume approach and has any tips. I'll be starting up a Youtube channel soon and will be sure to post a video of the T-Rex sign holder. It's hard for me to imagine an inflatable T-Rex not gaining a lot of attention--and hopefully leads! And in our county it is legal for a person to hold a sign without a permit. Thanks for any tips!

Scott, you're absolutely right and that applies to everything in almost every couple. Something about significant others make us not trust their logic. I don't know the rationality behind it, and I do it to her as well all the time, though I have been mindful of it and trying to improve. I cannot count the number of times either of us have told the other something and we ignored it but then a friend or even a stranger says the same thing and it's gold. In the past this frustrated me, but now I just know it's part of the equation. So, when she has that "epiphany" instead of just saying I told you so, I just listen and don't reply with any snarky comments. After she finishes, she kind of smiles and says "I know you told me this but, I guess it just made more sense coming form someone else" or something like that. As long as we come to an agreement, it doesn't really matter who convinced her of it. Me wanting it to my "supreme wisdom" that convinced her is just pure ego. Knowing that allows me to let my guard down a little more and improve our marriage versus tearing it apart. And as my marriage continues to improve, so does my business. Because with my wife against my business decisions, it makes them one thousand times more difficult to make which causes stress and anxiety which makes me a much less efficient leader which leads to more poor decisions and worse leadership and the downward spiral continues. So having her support, even if reserved and cautious means the world and makes or breaks my business. 

Calling all new investors in the Tampa Bay area! I'm launching a new expansion of my business in Tampa. I am starting up a lease option arm of my real estate business and need someone to make and take calls, collect the information, work (virtually) with other members of the team to collaborate on deal flow. Good communication skills are a must, accents must be understandable--speaking Spanish is a desired, however not required. Though I have systems in place, since it is a new expansion, I need someone who can problem solve and be creative. I will mentor you on many areas of real estate investing, starting with lease options. I will also connect you with my power team and other members of my network, depending on what your REI goals are. I can outsource this job for a few dollars and hour, but prefer to help people who are starting out learn the business first hand to get them over the fear hurdle. You must be dedicated and willing to work, as I have little tolerance for laziness. I am passionate about helping others, but can only invest my time into those that want to improve. I love seeing new investors rewarded for their efforts, both financially and (more importantly) with greater knowledge and wisdom. I want to be apart of that growth for you, if you're willing to put forth the effort. Please e-mail [email protected] for easier communication. 

@Chris Szepessy, yes she knew I was buying the properties and she did warn "I think you're taking too much on at once" and I ignored it and endured the pain. But out of that pain came many many valuable lessons. Counter to Bigger Pockets mantra of free real estate investment education and being against paid REI training, I did buy some REI programs, specifically Robert Kiyosaki's REI training program and Lance Edwards' Big Money in Small Apartments training program. I spent a significant amount of money on them and my wife was against it. However, both of those programs gave me many tools and more importantly systems to put into place to turn my business into a business. With that, I started paying it forward. I now "hire" apprentices versus employees and teach them what I know as they work within my business. They get first hand practice using and improving my systems, weekly mentoring video calls, and when they're ready I help them develop their own business. I may have had to pay for a mentor--which I only did after a couple mentors fell through--but I can pay it forward for others. My wife sees this and sees how I am not only helping other budding real estate investors, but also helping the homeless by working with local organizations to bring housing opportunities for homeless veterans. When she hears me talk about that, she can't help but want to help. When I connect my real estate passion with helping others and tell her stories of the little girls who said all they want for Christmas is a home to live in she cried (this happened yesterday).

I say all this is because I was trying to make her see real estate through my eyes. When I figured out what would make her want to help (which I stumbled upon, wasn't seeking it) it changed everything. She saw this not as a way to make money or just one of my crazy projects but a way to help humanity, even if on a small scale initially (I still have huge goals in that area). So, I would say you have to look at it through your spouse's point of view, not your own. How can you connect REI with their passions? It doesn't have to be some humanitarian thing either. If your spouse loves purses or traveling or a new truck, whatever it is, connect REI with it. Show them how it will help them. Keep it simple at first and set realistic expectations--saying we'll be financially free in one year is a bit overkill unless you are a freaking amazing rock star and have an incredible mentor. So, that's what I recommend and where I'm at right now. Hope this helps someone.

To answer everyone's questions, it did not go well and still is tough at times. So, against some members' advice, I did not take it slow and bit off a lot. Not so much more than I can chew, because I handled it, but just more than was reasonable in getting started. Lesson learned? Not exactly. So I learned how much I can handle. I grew a LOT. I learned a TON. All the lessons I learned are cemented in and I will not make those mistakes again. But this is how I am, I take action, I learn and I do 10 times better the next time. My wife knows this, she married me after all. She's the polar opposite. She's slow to decisions, calculates, analyzes, goes back and calculates again, plans, analyzes some more and eventually comes up with the "perfect" plan having gone through all the "what ifs". This is not knocking her, this is who she is (she would be great at analyzing deals). 

So, to get to your question, no she's not entirely on board with the whole real estate thing, but she's seen how it has grown me, how I've become more organized, driven, a stronger leader, a better husband, a better father (from all of my self improvement journey, not just real estate...but real estate started it all). She's seen that it's not going away, it's not a fad. She's seen that I have taken real estate and more specifically my homeless veteran initiative to "END veteran homelessness, period" on as my life's purpose. She doesn't like hearing all the details of real estate (ironic for a detail oriented person...just not her thing). What I have learned through much trial and error is that she has to warm up to it. I exploded from the beginning and from her perspective, kind of shoved it down her throat. I was so passionate about, but she wasn't. 

If I could do it over again, I'd probably do the same amount of real estate (it pushed me) but I would have approached it with her differently. I could have "packaged" it better for her in a more presentable fashion with spreadsheets, PDFs, etc. If only there was a website that gives you all that...whoops. But now that I am providing us with additional income, she can quit her job and go back to school full time to chase her passions, which I was a very strong advocate for. There's another point right there, if you are bringing in the extra income, don't highlight it too much. For a strong independent woman, she took that as "you need me" and it did not go over well, despite NOT being how I meant it. 

Real estate is no different than any other disagreement in marriage. It has a huge effect (negative or positive or both) on your finances, which is one of the core tenants of disagreement in marriages. So treat it as such, a delicate subject and put some thought into HOW it will be received by your spouse, NOT how you mean it. If you love them, you'll want to ensure you're speaking their language so it is well received and not huff and puff saying "why don't you get it?"

I hope this helps. I'm sure the older and wiser men and women in the forum can agree. If not, I'd genuinely love to hear why or why not.

@Danny Overfield, I use REI BlackBook (REIBB) for my business. I was using it with just me and it worked well enough, but since they have rolled out the Team Tasks feature, I have found it useful as I develop a team to grow my business. I considered using Podio, but Podio takes a lot of time (or money) investment up front to set everything up. Podio just coordinates all the other systems to run together automatically. REIBB does much of the same thing. As for compatibility, I've had no issues with REIBB on my Mac. I use Safari and it runs smoothly. In some of the videos, they show REIBB running on Safari, Firefox, and Chrome in OS X so it should be good to go. I've also used REIBB on my Android phone a little and it appears to work well in mobile form, though I have not played with it much there (but will soon in the future).

REIBB does not have everything you need as a CRM in my opinion, but still quite a bit. It has a lot "out of the box" that comes standard and much more if you upgrade to the "small business" package of $197/mo. Once I took on team members, this was a no brainer. For the extra $100, I can have my team of 4 in there getting way more deals done and have everything automated. As far as a CRM goes, I wish it was more visual, displaying all the tasks and timelines how some other CRMs do, but given that everything is pre-built and you just activate it and set your own campaigns up, and all the how to videos are built into the system (vice searching Youtube endlessly), it's still pretty great. 

Podio is still good though if you either invest a weekend to set everything up or pay someone (I've seen most people charge around $1,500) to set it all up for you. But the most important thing (I think) is to pick one and if it works well enough, to stick with it and master it. Once you yourself have systematized your business, the "system" (aka people and processes) will run on any application. If you want a good book on building systems (again, people and processes, not apps), check out The E-Myth Revisted--it's mentioned on BiggerPockets many times. After you listen to or read it, go right back to the beginning and listen/read again, then take notes on how you are going to implement it.  Then as you implement it, listen/read it again. Why? Because you'll pick up on different things each time and perfect your system. And as I say this, I'm reminding myself I need to do it again as well as I'm updating my own system. 

I hope all this helps. If you ever want to talk privately about setting up your system, PM me and I'll tell you what I did--no sales gimmick, I just nerd out on this stuff :)

Cheers!

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Rachel,

You could consider yourself very lucky! You may be thinking WTF!? But despite this being a big blow to you emotionally, the seller pulling out at the last minute could have been saving you from a world of heartache in the future. If it was meant to happen, it would have happened (by belief anyways). I have had contractors, wholesalers, realtors and many others "screw me over" and my initial reaction was of complete anger and revenge. But, for what I could have gotten in damages just to stick it to them (maybe a few grand at best) would definitely not been worth my time, effort and sanity. I had to let it go and chalk it up to a lesson learned --I made mistakes too, missed red flags, etc. You said you "should" have seen the red flags. Well, tomorrow or when you cool down some, grab a pen and paper and write down all the mistakes you made and red flags you missed. At the top, write "NEVER AGAIN" and place it in your office/work area. If it's painful that's good, because you won't make those mistakes again because when you see that red flag and think "well, maybe I could..." or "yeah but this is different" you'll remember that paper and go oh yeah, not doing that again. 

I also say you're lucky because how much did all of this cost you? I don't know how much all the due diligence costs, but it shouldn't have been more than a few hundred dollars for inspections and appraisals. So, you got a very expensive lesson for very little money. Does it sting? Yep! Does it really piss you off? Yep! Is it fair? Nope! But you're going to face these situations at least a few times in your real estate investment career. And you're lucky because you learned this cheaply on your first deal on what is a cheap property compared to what you will be working on in the future if you stick with it (million dollar properties). I went through similar experiences so I know exactly how it feels (writing a forum post about it soon). Better to toughen you up now so can built up some calluses on your hands now and take what success is coming your way soon! DO NOT quit now, keep going. You didn't walk the first time you tried, you fell again and again and learned from each time you fell. And now (I assume) you walk without thinking about it. So, dust yourself off, write down the lessons you learned and get back out there! 

Lastly, as for whether or not to pursue suing for damages, that's a conversation to have with your real estate attorney. But make sure you do it when you're calm and level headed. I would even recommend bringing someone with you who is not emotionally involved with this (i.e. not your protective parents) but can be there to support you and knows if you're making an emotional decision versus a logical one. Good luck and I hope to keep seeing you on BP!

-Jason Pinkerton

All,

I was able to find private funding to make the deal happen. I am cutting ties with the HML that waited til the last minute to work on it. I've learned the lesson of ensuring all the funding is 100% good-to-go before signing a contract. I thought being pre-approved was enough, but with a bad lender who's not ready, that's not the case.

I also learned how much easier it is to purchase a home with private lending versus hard money. Will be keeping an eye out for more private lenders in the future. Thanks again for everyone's input. 

-Jason