All Forum Posts by: Kevin Paulk

@Simon Luo

"The ultimate beginners guide to real estate investing" on biggerpockets,  Is a good start. 

@Marisa Alvarez good tip would be to go to there website (FF) and  use the "search our map " resource. Type in your city and see what units are going for, how much they are charging and evaluate the demand. Another good tip would be to join a few facebook traveling nurse groups. They discuss housing and more.

@Simon Luo  Three things you want to do before you Invest your money

First thing you want to do is educate yourself on the real estate investing. Find as many books as you can and just read. Study it enough to where you can explain it to somebody else. There are so many strategies within real estate.

Second thing is figure out why you wanna invest. A lot of people are doing it because its cool and thats not a good enough reason and it won't keep you in the game long enough.So figure out that "Why"

Third thing is set a goal, something measurable and attainable, and make yourself accountable to somebody. Just one goal until you complete or master it and then tackle the next goal. Your goals will evolve over time but start with one. Here are a few examples.

-learn to analysis a deal 

- Learn real estate vocabulary 

- build i relationship with a real estate investor 

- Attend 1 REI meetup a month

 -learn one market inside out.

The worst feeling in the world is saving up your hard earned money only to lose it in a investment you know nothing about. 

@Shawn Legree 2 fam's in philly would just depend on the neighborhood class. Just like here in Brooklyn. A two family in fort greene is going to look different than canarise.

A lot of those new inspection laws were put in place for construction safety, all in response to building collapsing's and high reports of property damage.Mainly dealing with development teardowns and excavations but if you see that as a con, every state or city is going to have one whether its high property taxes, friendly tenant laws, no appreciation, red tape.. etc. You just have to be aware and understand the environment you are investing in.As for location anything past New Haven coming from brooklyn is going to take you the same 2 hours it would take you to get to Philadelphia. Also keep in mind that you have the option to get into philly in a 1hr 15 minutes by train ride.

@Shawn Legree  3rd option.....you might want to look in Philadelphia and its surrounding burbs. For awhile Philadelphia was the best kept secret for a lot of NY investors but as of the last few years there has been a ton of NY money being dumped into philly, especially now because of the Rent control laws that passed here, but there are still deals out there. 

snap shot of philly 

- Steady population growth yr over yr

- Steady job growth yr over yr 

- Diverse economy  ( top 3 health care, education & tourism )

- Location...  2hrs from NYC "financial hub of the country" &  2(1/2) from Washington DC " the political of hub of the country.

@Nina Granberry Haven't read "flipping blueprint" but a book that really helped me with investing out of state was David Green's book "Long-Distance Real Estate Investing". Biggest take aways was learning how to find a really good agent because it makes a world of a difference and  also learning to leverage as well as build relationships with your team from out of state. 

Hope this helps. Good Luck!

@Jorge Rivera With 26 million plus Americans out of work right now, the U.S. consumer sentiment hitting its lowest since the recession of 08' and banks tighten up on lending requirements. My guess is we haven't seen nothing yet. I would sit on the sidelines and slowly try to make sense of it as the months go by. To early to jump in. 

@Daniel Lozowy Have a good routine around staying in touch or following up with the people you meet. We have all been guilty of meeting somebody having a really great conversation, exchanging cards or info, only to never again hear or reach out to that person. 

@Dale Miller

Check your county website. You might have to spend some time navigating through it to find foreclosures but there should be some good info on there including foreclosure addresses.