All Forum Posts by: Jonathan Greene

@Landon Whitt well said. Bro Investor always is focused on the cash flow or cash on cash return or some other acronym they made up instead of the tenant and making the place a better place for them to live. Bro Investor just doesn't know enough to invest, but want to anyway and always gets in over his head.

That is a huge problem. The first thing I ask every off-market seller is do they have a place to go next and how are they planning on getting there? I often give 90-day leasebacks to make sure they can find a place. Bro Investor just pays someone local to kick them out and then overpays some contractors to do a Home Depot special renovation (not that there's anything wrong with that, but Bro Investor thinks it's "top of the line").

"Bro, just got my first deal. Don't know what to do. LOL. Halp!"

How many times a day are we seeing this post? Yes, everyone has to start somewhere, but the problem with the Bro Investor is that he is ruining good deals for the other real wholesalers and off-market experts in the area. Bro Investor makes too many promises, pays way too much, and relies solely on the advice of strangers on the Internet to win that first deal. Bro Investor opens himself up to every opportunist out there by unsubtly telling everyone that he has no idea what he is doing, but is determined to do it anyway.

Bro Investor wants to win a deal, not find a deal, so he overpays so he can call himself a "Rental Property Investor." But Bro Investor forgot about a repair fund because he only used a deal calculator once because "it's just numbers, bruh." So then Bro comes back to the forums:

"Bro, how much is a new furnace? Only allotted $27/month for repair. LMAO. Tenants are cold. Halp!"

Bro Investor is pushing the prices up in every market across the country right now by buying bad deals. Then, because someone in the forums told him that Oklahoma City is hot right now he bought turnkey at a monthly loss because of "appreciation and stuff." When you try to ask Bro Investor serious questions about why they are in the business or what their level of experience is or why they are taking deals if they have no clue what to do when they get one, they are like:

"Bro, chill."

But they can't answer because Bro Investor is used to being coddled and back patted and just wants people to help him solve his problems, quickly over the Internet in a warm, safe space, with no questions, only constructive solutions that also agree with him and align with his life principles.

You know if you are a Bro Investor or not. If you've done your due diligence, hit REI meetups, looked at deals in real life, made real-life connections with others in REI, you are not a Bro Investor. You will be fine. You will probably have to swoop in and buy Bro Investor's "deal of a lifetime" in 12 months when the market turns down, but by then Bro Investor will be posting in a forum about opening up a co-working space in Bali with 4-Hour Work Week on every table.

@Account Closed it's not negative to ask questions of posters as to why they are doing a part of the business or to clarify what they know if their post says they know nothing. The reason everyone thinks wholesalers are cheats and the business has a terrible reputation is because so many of them don't know what they are doing and mangle the leads, which can affect other real wholesalers in the area.

The forums are certainly for gaining knowledge, but if you come to a board where there are experts, you can't run home to your mommy when they ask you questions about why you are in the business if your OP says you literally don't know anything about it.

Too many new investors post too little and expect to get help, but you can't help someone if all they say is HALP!

@John Halverson "I may have my first potential deal and I really don't know what to do from here" - yup, I was really off-base reading this.

@As-Shakoor Wright you are off to a good start, but you will need more money to buy a multi in Essex County. If you've saved 10k, that's awesome, but that will just be your repair fund. Have you been prequalified? You need a downpayment (say 3.5%) an closing costs (3%) and multifamilies in Essex Co are all selling for over value. You can find deals in some parts of Newark, Orange, and East Orange, but you will need more down to close these deals. Keep saving and slowly watch the market to see what you qualify for and what that number looks like in real life. If you qualify at 200k, the properties are not going to be first-timer ready most of the time, depending on the size.

@John Halverson so you can't answer the questions? You could be burning a good deal. It's a valid question. Why are you getting a wholesale lead, if from everything you said in your OP, you literally don't know anything about wholesaling. The questions are supposed to help you. When you can't answer them, that's the answer.

You should be able to do well still in Atlanta. Looking on Zillow is completely worthless and a waste of time you could be spent building lists or going to REI meetups. Why are you looking for 3+ units on your first deal? Are you going to live in it? Have you ever been a landlord? Seems like you might be biting off WAY more than you can chew. A 3-family should have 3 furnaces, separate everything so what happens when all things break at the same time? Saying you are looking for a 3-family that cash flows is like saying you want air. Everyone wants that. What have you done to prepare for it and what do you know in terms of finding properties and how to landlord? Hit the REI meetups for like a year, make contacts, see properties with a local realtor who is an investor, but whatever you do, don't take your debt-free life and put it into a first deal, not knowing much, on a 3-unit.

@John Halverson if you don't even know what questions to ask, why are you getting a deal emailed to you? What do you know right now? If you don't know how to use the deal calculator or evaluate a deal or pricing or repairs, what are you doing wholesaling? Everyone has to learn somewhere, but if it's a good deal you have to be prepared to act on it without hoping forums will help at the last minute. 

@Morgan Granger you can most definitely grow your sphere by being smart and respectful about it. The absolute best book on how to do it, without spending a cent, is The Seven Levels of Communication by Michael Maher. I was a real estate coach and told everyone to start with this book way before doing anything else and before doing what everyone else tells you that you HAVE to do to be good. All you have to do is be yourself and build relationships.

There is just no sense chasing them, even though you have legal recourse. By the time you pay attorneys and find them, you will just be trying to get a diamond from a stone. Too much trouble. If my tenants leave, they leave. I keep the security and clean it and get it back out there as fast as possible. You do need some way of documenting the abandonment just in case though so take photos and if you have a text, email or message from them about leaving, hold onto it.