All Forum Posts by: Ken Virzi

Originally posted by @James Wise:

Holton-Wise does not use outside marketers or have any affiliation with outside sales representatives or marketers of any kind. The only people whom are paid to sell our products & services are our Real Estate Agents. This entire post is completely slanderous to myself & my company.

I wrote "potential" for a reason. I used the word "circumstantial" for a reason, and left out the name on purpose. I also was very intentional about not being accusatory, but instead being cautious and asking in the event that this was in bad faith, what are the BP guidelines. I also chose to post in public so that anyone could chime in, my hope was that there was nothing shady going on, and it seems there is not. I am not sure how it was so offensive to you however, that is not my intention. In fact I even made sure to say I think it is fine for someone to be a cheerleader of your company (hardly slanderous).

So I couldn’t respond and there appeared to be no response but now there is a response and one says it’s from 23 hours ago. So good news is that it seems this was a glitch and my interpretation was wrong. I do think we need to make sure and help each other out though!

So I got a colleague request with the following message:

"Hi Ken!

I am a Cleveland investor living in Los Angeles who is trying to gauge interest with people about organizing a Socal/Cleveland investor meet up.

I am reaching out to a couple dozen people on the Bigger Pockets site who are currently investing and/or interested in the Cleveland Market. If there is enough interest I will schedule a date in the next month or two.

This will just be a casual networking type of thing. I have nothing to sell other than my Knowledge of the area growing up in the Cleveland and the experience of investing there from a long distance.

I think it could be enlightening to hear from other people in the same long distance investing situation and find out what has worked and what didnât with their investments.

If youâre interested, let me know.

Cheers!"

The first slight (very slight) red flag was the line "I have nothing to sell" those kind of statements usually stand out to me. Nonetheless I thought it was a great idea and responded in kind with a question about where in Cleveland he grew up.

We sent a few messages back and forth and then in response to where I had bought he said, "let me guess, did you buy with Holton Wise?" I had researched his name and saw he was a cheerleader for them which is fine, but I thought I would test the water. I responded with "Yes for the first, but after that hell no." 

Next thing I know, he disappeared and possibly blocked me. 

I call these red flags because I cannot know for sure and I try to assume the best, but there is enough circumstantial evidence here to make me believe he is profiting through referrals and not be open it. Instead of inquiring why I said hell no, he simply cut and run. That just seems odd, unless you are trying to get a group together to specifically push them in a certain direction (even though you have nothing to sell). 

I know there are a lot of shady people in the business, and I hope we can protect Bigger Pockets and maintain a standard of ethical high ground, but I was wondering if there was a way to self police? I mean I do not want to see any lynching or false accusations, but what if we had a reporting feature where a team of volunteers or something could investigate? This site is a potential goldmine for those looking to take advantage and I would want to protect the members if possible. 

Then again we cannot protect everyone from everything and need to learn ourselves, but I am guessing there is some standard of behavior expected. 

Originally posted by @Ginger Marcos:

@ken 

@Ken Virzi how did your deal end up? I’m considering them myself. 

 It was my first out of state deal. It is cash flowing and I have not had any real problems, but I have learned that even though I made an offer under asking and it got accepted, it was still over priced. I have purchased 4 other duplexes in the area since then and this Holton Wise one is the worst of all the deals, but still a decent deal in regards to cash flow numbers. If I had to do it all over again, I would have offered $11k less then I did probably.

how to decide wether or not to use the bigger standard deduction. Assuming you spent about $1500 on plumber’s etc and have a couple mortgages where is the cut off in general?

I moved to Miami for work and although I have a few rental properties (in Cleveland and Los Angeles-I am from LA) I currently rent. I am looking to house hack in Miami, but Miami seems overly bloated to me. Any deal I can find is for cash buyers only, and I would like to take advantage of using an FHA since I would finally be living in one of my properties.

Has anyone had any success with wholesalers who want cash or hard money only that would take an FHA? If I get pre approved for an FHA how fast could closing be?

I would be ok living in a C class neighborhood but would want it to be a safe one (so I guess not D) and I do not know Miami that well yet, so any insight on neighborhoods would be awesome. I also want to be somewhat close to the airport since I go there for work. 

Thanks so much. 

Old Brooklyn is where I own a couple properties and where I identified as a place I like investing in. What made you land in Old Brooklyn of all places? How do you like the area?

Why not sell 4 of the houses and get your down? then 100% ownership in the rest?

I think there are many different markets. I’m from LA and watched the 2008 crash happen as I watched prices go crazy, watched friends buy places they couldn’t afford and too many get interest only loans. I called the crash but just did so too early (2005ish is when i started seeing the numbers not working). Now, that’s buying a home to live in. This is based on location and what people like. The number here is “what do i qualify for?” that is a totally different question then what investors are looking for. Another market and buying group asks “what is it worth? how much does it cashflow?” and they are buying totally different properties. the fist group would lose if things took a turn down but the second group would be fine and maybe even benefit. that first group would turn into renters increasing the demand. We are still seeing high rent prices as a result of the growing demand after the 2008 fiasco. So what to buy your dream house? absolutely. wait to buy your investment property? no way. In three to four years my rentals will be paid off.

I am in the process of getting an appraisal on one property to see how much of a HELOC i can get in order to buy more rentals. It helps in regards to up front costs, when getting a mortgage for $35k the closing costs are well over 10% of the loan, it’s brutal. A HELOC will help me avoid all that.