All Forum Posts by: Kesete Thompkins

Thank you Alex. I'm going to reach out to banks beginning next week when I'm on Spring Break. I'm going to see what their particular standards are and then go from there. This HELOC is the key to my scalability. If I can establish a good relationship with a bank through their investment products, I know that I can get to the next level where I'm doing 2+ deals a month.

I appreciate your willingness to share. I hope that you and your family are well. 

Kesete

Good evening Mrs. Katherine. Will you all be holding any more events in the upcoming weeks/months? I'm just seeing  your post and I would have loved to attend the webinar. 

I'll continue to follow your page to see when you host another event. Good luck with your business ventures moving forward. 

Kesete

Nasser, I'm all about creative financing. Three of our deals have been secured via seller-financing, and I must say that they are the best when done well. I only look for seller-finance deals and I'm going to stay in that lane until more traditional financing avenues open up, at which time I can hopefully take HELOCs on my first deal to buy more properties. Let me know if/when you want to hop on the phone to chat. I'm always down to hop on a call to chat with other investors. 

I'm open to a weekly chat at any time. 

@Merritt I respect your willingness to support your tenants. I know that they will respect your moves and reward you later. Nice move!!!

As of this moment, all tenants have paid rent this month. I am anticipating that we will not have a gap in rent payments, but we have prepared a back-up plan just in case things get even worse. The house we have on a traditional mortgage payment always gets paid first. The tenants have paid rent, but no matter what, that house gets the most support. The houses on seller-finance deals get paid next. We have great relationships with those sellers, so we've communicated our concerns with them when necessary. The other houses are paid for so we can take that cash flow and apply it elsewhere when necessary. 

Nasser, thanks for reaching out. My deal pipeline is strong as I'm getting most of my stuff through word of mouth. We have three 'open' deals right now and have one deal waiting for us when we are ready. After tackling these ventures, we are going to pivot our strategy. For all of our deals, we are focused on cash flow at the moment. Ironically, the first deal that I got when I didn't know what I was doing may get us to the next level in our investing journey. 

What about you? What's next for you and your team?

Nasser, thanks for reaching out. My deal pipeline is strong as I'm getting most of my stuff through word of mouth. We have three 'open' deals right now and have one deal waiting for us when we are ready. After tackling these ventures, we are going to pivot our strategy. For all of our deals, we are focused on cash flow at the moment. Ironically, the first deal that I got when I didn't know what I was doing may get us to the next level in our investing journey. 

What about you? What's next for you and your team?

How are you all handling rents for your tenants this month? As of today we haven't heard of any issues with people paying rent this month, but I'm not sure how long that will last.

Thank you both. The biggest regret I have is that I didn't go full-throttle after my first deal. Pittsburgh has always been a sleeping giant and I was sitting in the middle of a gold mine and I didn't even know it. I am from the Northside of Pittsburgh (Manchester to be exact) and I could have purchased half the neighborhood if I wasn't scared. I was caught in a space where I thought I needed a title in my profession to be successful, but I was totally ignorant to the fact that my needs and wants in life would change drastically. Now that I see and feel the power of this real estate business, I'm ready to go. We (my wife and I) are at eight properties and now we are ready to scale. We will (hopefully) use the equity from this first deal to fund more deals. 

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in Pittsburgh.

Purchase price: $79,000
Cash invested: $10,000

Up and down duplex on the Northside of Pittsburgh. Attached garage, front porch, quiet street.
My first deal EVER!!!!

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

I read Rich Dad Poor Dad and decided that I wanted to purchase my first house. I looked for houses for months and then I heard that someone at my job was selling their duplex as they looked to move out of state.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

My principal at the time was a real estate agent. We looked at plenty of houses, but nothing worked. One day while at work, a bunch of teachers were talking and it came up that I was looking for a house, preferably a duplex. One of the teachers spoke up and said that he was thinking about selling his duplex and that he wouldn't mind selling it to me because he wouldn't have to work with realtor. He had a price in mind and it sounded good at the time so I went for it.

How did you finance this deal?

Traditional financing.

How did you add value to the deal?

I didn't know what I was doing so I honestly just jumped in. Over time I've done some improvements to the property, but initially, I was excited because I was house hacking and it was my first deal. I didn't know how to be a landlord.

What was the outcome?

I still own this property today and it has about 80K worth of equity. I didn't know what I was doing at that time, but I knew that the property was in a great space and that I was getting the house for a decent price. I ultimately want to use this property's equity as a catalyst for future deals.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

1. If it's your first deal, make sure you run the numbers.
2. When you are looking for a mortgage, make sure you know YOUR numbers (credit score, bank account balances, pre-approval mortgage amount, how much house you can afford, timeline for purchase)
3. Reach out to those who have purchased houses before. Going through the process of getting a mortgage by yourself isn't fun.
4. Get educated BEFORE you purchase your house. Don't have analysis paralysis. When's it's time, pull the trigger!!!