All Forum Posts by: Jeremy Bourgeois

Just throwing this out there for the world. I bought my primary residence last year, and actually got paid $7,000 at closing for a new construction house! You can do it too! Here's the catch: you have to be a veteran and you have to have your real estate license. That alone probably eliminates most people. BUT, if you are there, or even if you are a veteran and on the fence about getting your license but looking to buy your primary home, you can finesse your way into getting paid at closing! VA loan= 0% + buyers agent compensation.

Incredible right? Dave Ramsey would not be a fan of this, as he also would not be a fan of putting 0% down on a house, but if you don't mind leverage, this is a great strategy. Personally, I'd prefer to use that money payment on a fix and flip, or for marketing expenses to find that next deal.

So here's what my wife and I did. We bought a new construction detached townhome (think of a townhome with common areas but without adjoining walls). We bought in a developing area with a lot of new construction and commercial construction to ensure maximized appreciation, both in rent and in home value. If we were to think short term, we'd probably say that this is a bad investment. If we were to move out tomorrow and rent this sucker out, we'd be losing $500/month (yikes). But as the property value appreciates, so will rent. Did you know that not so long ago, a house in this area would rent for $1,000, but now rents for $2,000+?

We have already seen our property go up enough in value to completely offset our payments in just 6 months. And we got PAID at closing! Real estate is awesome, and this is just one of many tactics to get into it.

 True, and good points! I had never thought of refinancing it with another lender

That's a good way to think about it! Super helpful, thank you. I'll have to see if I can find a good potential partner

Yeah, I was trying to think of a way to structure it that made sense for both sides. It would be a good project for a custom builder, but I would think that the guys who are building big expensive houses would probably just want to buy the lot outright to keep more of the profit (understandably so). 

My thought was, I pay for land, builder pays for construction, and we figure out a fair split in the profit. Probably takes a certain kind of builder for that deal though

Cold calling has worked the best for me, but I think you could see success in any of those methods as long as you get a good strategy down. It also depends on the competition in your market I think. If a lot of people around you are cold calling, you will likely be calling the same people. My advice would be try to pick a marketing strategy that is unique if possible. I haven't done a ton of mailers or door knocking, just stuck with what was working for me. Although now I am expanding into PPC and SEO, I would recommend just doing 1 thing until you have it down before trying a lot of different strategies.

Looks like a solid option to me.

I have sold a few properties on similar terms (A lease option that converts into a contract for deed) Similar to the BRRRR strategy. Buy fixer upper, rehab, sell on lease option, refinance. And I just mark up the interest rate.

It works for me in Utah because there is no other way I can think of to make a house cash flow here without putting 50% down. I'd assume California is similar.

(Heber City, UT)

I bought a few acres of land in Heber City, Utah a few months ago slightly below market value on seller financing. Terms:

$160,000 purchase price

10% down payment

3% interest

Balloon payment in 5 years

My plan was to just make the payments on the land for the next 3-4 years, ride the appreciation wave and sell the land in the same condition. For context, land here has gone up 4x in value over the past 4 years and continues to increase as the city sees more development. The only thing I could do with the land is build a house there. Zoning would not allow for anything else, and it wouldn't make sense to try. 

The other option was to partner with a builder on a new construction home. New houses there are going between $700k-$2 million.

Worst case scenario, I know the sellers pretty well. If 5 years hit and I still had the property, I'm fairly confident I could negotiate an extension with them. Any other thoughts or ideas for this situation? Is it a stupid buy? Would love to hear from anyone who has done something similar.

In my experience, you can build capital much quicker in the wholesaling world than with rentals or other strategies in real estate, BUT, if you are starting your business it takes a lot of work to get going. Too many gurus out there saying wholesaling is a quick and easy way to make money fast, only to sell their courses on wholesaling.

It's a grind. But worth it if you want to build a steady flow of discounted properties. Just don't expect to get that first pay check in your first month. It takes time, resources and effort to build a pipeline.

This 100%. I would start with your market, and make sure you get your eyes on as many deals as possible, whether they are on market or not. When I started I had a lot of time and not much money so I drove for dollars and wrote letters to the owners of those properties by hand. It worked, I got a few deals that way after awhile, but there are more efficient ways to market if you have more capital to work with like PPC or hiring VAs for lead generation.

I'd still advise that if you're just getting into business, I would start slowly in terms of marketing spend. Make sure you dial in a strategy that works before you go all in on it.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence wholesale investment.

Purchase price: $220,000
Sale price: $260,000

Tenant occupied fix and flip in West Valley City with an estimated ARV of $430,000

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Off market through cold calling. Negotiated directly with the seller

How did you add value to the deal?

We were able to get it locked up and assigned with the tenant in place

What was the outcome?

$40,000 assignment fee