All Forum Posts by: Kyle Smith

@Nick Kenrick I have done investing here in my local market, up in the Bay Area and other parts of the country too. PM me and I’d be happy to answer any questions I can

Hi @Nick Kenrick and welcome to BP. You have a few really solid things going for you to help start a successful REI career. You've figured out the 'why' portion, have a solid W2 job, some experience in the industry already with your folks and you're getting yourself educated. Now you do need to get off the bench and take some swings. You don't need a homerun on your first venture out. As long as you're up there taking swings, eventually you'll figure this stuff out. With that said, this is a long game and the ones who are successful are the ones who consistently put the effort in over time.

A great thing about BP is the network you can leverage and the amount of information available too. Keep at it and you're sure to find what you need. Good luck 

@John James good job on finding a solid deal. I think what @Caleb Heimsoth is saying though is that there will be times when the property might be cash flow negative (ie high than expected vacancy, big CapEx piece, misc expenses etc). Are you prepared to contribute/raise capital to offset these expenses? If not, maybe just take a fee on this one and use that money to do your own deal on the next one.

Hi @Rich Metteer and welcome to BP. You’re right to want to break into the industry and if you’ve already built businesses in the past, you’ll find a lot of similarities investing in RE.

BP is a great community of people in the industry and most are more than willing to help. Reach out if you need anything!

Hi @Sean Abrahamsen if you're actually considering hiring this person, I'd strongly recommend getting some references from other OOS investors like yourself who agreed to this guy's scam. Maybe the realtors on this thread can correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the 3% commission at closing was the compensation you earn for all the hours you spend? Shaking down unsuspecting investors is what gives you a bad name. 

Here's how the scam goes: you pay this guy $300 for the privilege of him emailing you a bunch of junk listings. At the end of the 6 month contract, since he's technically held up his end of the deal, he walks away with your $300. 

With that said, I get that realtors have to deal with a certain number of 'tire kickers' and that gets old quick, but a $300 fee to receive the listings this realtor can't pawn off to his local network is wrong, flat-out. 

At the end of the day, this is just a reflection of supply and demand though. If this realtor is getting away with charging a $300 fee, it's only because the market supports it. Just one more sign we're nearing hyper-supply...

@Doug Peters any of those four would be a good next book.

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie is really good too

@Maya Shirvani I would add that no matter where you decide to invest, it is a really good idea to identify 3 replacement properties for your 1031 exchange, not just 1 or 2 like your post suggested.

As you may or may not know, you MUST close on one of the replacement properties you identify in order for your 1031 exchange to work. You have 45 days to ID the replacement properties and 180 days to close on one of them.

With that said, and as others have already mentioned, you’re likely going to need to expand your search criteria outside of San Diego and Oregon to meet your goals.

Avoiding the FL market because of hurricanes might be similar to people in FL not looking in California due to earthquakes though...?

Hi @Catherine Emert. That’s what I was concerned with. I pay for water/sewer/trash. They only pay for their electricity and gas. I was intending on starting a RUBS for the remainder of the utilities when their lease expires along with a rent increase. This Bill may throw a wrench in my plan though

@Victor Wheby No worries. Asking questions is how to learn! REIA is an acronym for Real Estate Investor Association. There is at least one REIA in most regions of country. These are great sources of info for your local market and a good way to start networking

@Victor Wheby you're right to want to break into the industry. If you're limited in either time and/or money that you can invest, I'd spend at least part of it networking at local REIAs. Here is a local one that seems pretty active. You're certain to find people at these events who need help scaling their business and you could try to fill whatever need they have. 

Big picture though, it's less about the 1 or 2 days a week you commit and more about the long term relationships you forge that will lead to success