All Forum Posts by: Joshua Martin

@Tyler Mutch Welcome! Do everything @Marty Johnston just said, and you'll start meeting people left and right. Also feel free to give me a call if you want to talk about Milwaukee markets or anything else!

Best of luck,

JTM

Sarah Otto I guess my thought would be that being an agent isn't really a 'fall back on job.' It's starting a business, without any paycheck until you start generating leads and sales. Building a sales pipeline is hard work, and it's all I currently do (though I'm yet to get my first check - next Monday I'll close on my first listing!) I thought it made sense for me because my other job (working in a restaurant) didn't have a lot of potential to increase my income, and I'm in the field still meeting people and networking all the time, so it'll start paying off shortly. If you make good money doing what you currently do, I guess I'd invest the cash directly. You can learn the market by studying it, talking to other investors, and choosing your strategy. Buying your first property I think will be the real learning experience, and as I'm getting very close to this, my experience listing property and writing a bunch of offers for other investors doesn't really console me, lol. It's a learn as you go teach yourself kind of business. PM me if you want to talk about Milwaukee or et any advice about where to meet other investors. Best of luck, JTM

@Craig Carmichael Thanks for the shout out!

@Account Closed I didn't take the licensing course online, I did it in person at Shorewest (a large local brokerage whom I don't currently work for), but their course was great, about $400 I think. 

I would, however, say that you should think carefully about getting your license. What you learn is mostly legalistic, and doesn't help find deals as much as you might think. And there are lots of costs aside from the licensing fee (the WRA just hit me up for my dues again!) and being new these add up. If you have cash reserves, it's something to consider. But being a realtor is just as difficult as being an investor. 

There's a good site here for multi families though, I think it's just milwaukeemultifamily.com, and the guy doesn't hold the listings but he markets the properties. Check it out. 

And let me know if you need anything else!

Best,

JTM

Thanks for the input everyone, I really appreciate the insights. And I guess posing the question it didn't occur to me how high the buy in in some of your markets is. @Manolo D., I feel like I would be a king with that cash! (In Milwaukee, that is).

I think my play would be multi-families, the bigger the better. That's where I've wanted to be since I started this journey, but I thought all the perspectives would be good, and they have.

Thanks gang.

@Kellen Driscoll And even in Milwaukee, A areas will not yield that kind of ratio. Looks to me like our A properties are selling for, on that metric, between 1-1.25%. But, as you've been discussing, we have lots of C areas.

Marty Greenberg at Summit LDS works with lots of investors and seems remarkably knowledgable.

Best of luck!

JTM

Hey gang,

  I saw this post last week (on BP) about Grant Cardone saying you should wait to invest till you have 100k, and I agreed with all of the posters regarding starting as early as possible with whatever you have. So, whatever Grant...

  But it had me thinking, what would you do with 100k? Would you jump into commercial property with that chunk of change? Or go for multi-families? Or, like anything, it'll be an investor preference. 

  It just had my mind going, because the deals I'm getting into right now require no to low cash.

Best,

JTM

Lol, @Nathan Ackerman. I only get updates for Milwaukee, so I just assumed! There goes @Shawn Ackerman again!

Best of luck,

JTM

@Daniel Johnson I'm no marketing expert, and I'm definitely small time, but based on everything I've read about writing copy (and hopefully as some of the other contributors will chime on), it's all about resonating with the target. The shift to your background seems like the main piece, and this is common for realtors (I'm one too, but I don't do it that way), but a consumer will care less about you and more about what you can do for them. Give some vague teasers about how to add value (don't give too much away obviously, you want them to call), and try to hit on something that will really resonate. 

One of the probate marketers talks about a series of themed letters, each resonating with a different issue the owner is probably dealing with. I've been doing my own version of this, and god knows how that actually triggers responses (I don't mail control groups or anything), but it seems like I'm catching them where they're at.

Best of luck, for whatever my advice is worth,

JTM

Welcome @Nathan Ackerman! Get in the mix. Milwaukee investors are a great group!