All Forum Posts by: Jonathan Smalls

I’m brand new to real estate and want to lean as much as I can from experienced agents. I would like the opportunity to shadow someone and learn as I observe. Anyone in NH or MA that are available please feel free to message me.

NOOB QUESTION ALERT!!!!

When I write up a contract such as a purchase and sale agreement should I get a lawyer to review it?

Benjamin,  you being on BiggerPockets is going to turn out to be one of the best decisions you've made. There's so much information to absorb and soany people who are willing to teach. My advice would be to pick a part of real estate investing that you're interested in and do it. You may or may not like it but that's the beauty of the business because if you don't like one aspect you can try another. You've been through  a lot my man and I'm glad to see you are still motivated to invest. Stay strong and know that more things will go wrong down the line but if you stay focused on a goal you won't be defeated. Living in the area you do is a huge benefit because there's so many real estate investors surrounding you. My advice wouls be to get a mentor who will show you the ropes and take you under their wing. Someone who can get your feet wet in a sense. Build your team by going to meet ups locally and just absorb everything.  Hope this helps man. Good luck with everything. 

James, from what you just stated above tells me that this house is a steal at 63k if your for sure all reno is only going to be 20k. If the comps are correct, your left with a nice profit my friend. Have you had the house inspected yet? Is the additional room to code? If so and everything is good and lines up and your ARV is solid then pull that trigger man. It may be tempting to put in a lower offer but with the bank taking highest and best thay leaves no wiggle room for a counter offer or something like that. If I was you and I did all my research and I feel comfortable with my team then I'll go in for sure.

Hey Robert, I'm new to this and don't even have my 1st property but I've been reading a lot lately on the matter. From what I've been seeing is people saying to not put too much money into furnishings in a rental property. I'm not sure if you just acquired thr property or if it's one you've had for a while but you should fix it up enough to appeal to a potential tenant but thereis a such thing as overdoing it. Not sure the type of neighborhood your rental is in and that can determine if your going to be vacant once every year. I guess what I'm saying is do what's cheapest but still looks good and has value. Lots of tenants give back the properties in a different condition they received it. Since hardwood is already there I would keep that and refinish it so it looks brand new. If you have someone who is going to make your rental property a long term thing for them then maybe it's not a bad idea to spend a little extra money to make them feel comfortable in their home. Again, this is a noob answer,  I do not have any properties and I'm just starting out but for the most part the answer I provided you is one I've seen around. Hope this helps a little.

Jonathan Smalls

Today was a great day! I could hardly sleep last night because I was anticipating @Justin Silverio 's Meet Up at his recent reno project. Not sure if I couldn't sleep because I was excited or nervous to actually start taking steps in to the real estate world. There were so many people there from all corners of real estate and boy did they have some great information to deliver. I couldn't get over how nice everyone was and how willing they were to provide me with advice. Usually people want all deals in life to themselves and don't want to share with others....Not today....

Let me start by saying Justin's house was amazing! The before pictures almost seemed made up if I wasn't there to see with my own two eyes. Just walking around the newly renovated house gave me a rush of adrenaline and excitement....Felt like Christmas day.....I guess I felt this way because before today all I was doing was listening to podcasts and having discussions in the forums. THINGS JUST GOT REAL!!!!!

I had an amazing conversation with @Brian Ortins as well....This guy is amazing and I can see that he loves what he does. He had no problems answering my millions of questions and this guy wears many hats in real estate. The connections you make with people throughout your life can help you reach the success you imagined since you were a kid. I thought being in real estate was far fetched and only for rich people with fancy suits and cars. WRONG! like Brian said..."The ones who show their wealth are usually the ones who are broke" ....Or something along those lines....

I really liked how humble these individuals were at this meet up. There's nothing like someone with humility and yet they still are passionate with their trade. If you have yet to experience a meet up, I highly encourage it! I definitely will be attending more in the future just to connect with like minded people for a few hours....Don't get me wrong....Talking on the forums is great but there's nothing like a good old fashioned face to face.

I would like to thank Justin and Brian for all the advice throughout the night. I know it can be hard answering the same questions 100 times over and over again so thanks for being consistant and for the constant smiles. You guys are awesome and I can't wait to see what I'm able to do in the future if I have people like you on my side.

Jonathan Smalls

I've just started to begin to understand what wholesaling actually is within real estate but still have some specific questions that I have not seen answered yet (or couldn't find). 

1. What happens if you don't have a network of cash buyers and your forced to do some hardcore marketing after getting the property under cotract with the seller? How long can you keep the seller waiting for their money, especially if they're desperate to sell immediately?

2. What happens if you cannot find a cash buyer or anyone interested in buying the property? Do you now have to buy it?

3. Does it matter if the seller sees how much profit you're going to be making on the deal? Wouldn't they feel hustled if they could've made an extra 10k on the property?

4. How do you find distressed sellers and how do you build a network of all cash buyers?

Thank you so much for any response you may have. If you can only answer one question that'll be awesome. 

 I definitely plan on it!

Makes complete sense. I've always heard people telling me "20%" and I guess either they didn't know about the FHA or thought it's a set up for failure. I'm not sure but like you, I am interested in a 4 family home as well. Are you planning on house hacking your current place for 2 years and then move?