All Forum Posts by: Kate Gagnon

"Money talks and bull**** walks"

People will be much more willing to chat it up if you bring something to the table - in this case money. 

Don't get me wrong, I love your approach and the motivation you have, however I feel you could focus in a way that is more fruitful in which you won't be feeling like you had a failure of a day. For example, yesterday I had a Realtor call me on a FSBO that I have, he had a potential buyer. After chatting for a bit about the property, and what I do, he asked if I work with other Realtors to sell any other properties. The answer was yes, but I have a "lot of birds to feed" - friends, colleagues, etc. that are Realtors. I had no problem working a co-broke on this property, but the people I work with add some intrinsic value to the deal. Either they bring deals to the table, maybe they're absolutely amazing at selling and holding the line, or they're fantastic at managing tenants. I'm not just going to try a new Realtor when I do have relationships with a handful already. And I got those by having properties to list, (mostly, I do toss friends listings as well).

So yes, I agree with every one saying get your ducks in a row with a lender. This will show that you're ready to go, and if a Realtor gives you time, and properties it will be mutually beneficial for them as well!

But don't not talk to people! You just need to go about it in a way that respects everyone's time! Join a Real Estate Networking group, or a Young Professionals networking group. That's were people are looking to chat about what they do and build a network or team. You might even find people that are new to their field that have the time to focus on what you're looking for as well, so they'll have more time and be excited for a new relationship.

I like your spirit and you're approach, but if you feel like its not working, the timing may be off. And once you get a dew deals and financing figured out, you'll find people wanting to talk business more.

I'll plan on being there are meeting everyone :)

@Dan Shelhamer Glad to hear your story! It's great motivation for us beginers!

@Michael Beeman I hope they do get you on the BP podacast, I think you're story would be incredible to hear.

@Michael Beeman - Really inspiring story, always great to hear plans working out!

This is very inspiring, thank you for sharing!

@Mike Dymski I passed on the extra $35K because it was a best-case-scenario number, and it would be months down the road, and the 15K up-front can help more on the next project, so that i won't be taking as much as a risk as I did with this one.

Also, everyone's heard the bird in the hand analogy, but the smartest investor once told me, "Pigs get fed, hogs get slauhgtered". 

I did something incredibly stupid that I wouldn't suggest for anyone, and as far as all I've read here, is NOT what you're supposed to do. But anyhow, I did it. I bought a single family house, that I intended to flip, as my very first flip project, sight-unseen WITH a squatter that needed to be evicted.

Now, I didn't write this post because now I'm stuck with no way out and my pockets turned, it actually worked out OK. I bought the house in January, with the intent to flip it in the early spring for a 50K profit after 15K in repairs. The purchase price was 78K and I put a very hard-earned 30K down with a private lender,a d financed the 48K for 1 year at 10%. The only reason I decided to buy sight-unseen was because in every scenario I could come up with, the loan for 48K wasn't going to make me broke, and I could always BRRR the property.

Just this week, and almost through the eviction process, I actually received an offer on the property 15K above what I paid as-is, cash. I accepted and will close this Friday, and only had $480 in carrying cost. I wouldn't suggest anyone do what I did unless, like in my situation, you weren't going to go completely broke, and had multiple exit strategies. BUT the RE bug has bit me hard, and I'm going to keep rolling until I can buy a nice 4-5 unit cash!

If it's paid off completely, I'd try and BRRR it to get some cash to do another... Best of both worlds I feel...

@Jason D., @Daniel Kurkowski, @Joe P., @Yi Lin, @Matt K. - Thanks everyone for the feedback, I really appreciate it. I was generally on-board with the idea, however wanted a second opnion, but it seems like everyone would do the same. My tenant will love her new floors :)