All Forum Posts by: Leighann Davis

@Andy Mirza This is great, thank you!

@Shiloh Lundahl 

Well, my career started in financial planning and investments, so I started out in the stock market and am very comfortable in that area. My interest in real estate in general grew because I wanted to diversify my portfolio. Not just for the sake of higher returns but when the stock market inevitably pulls back there seems to be a little more stability in real estate from a cash flow perspective if you go the rental or lending route (barring another real estate meltdown I suppose). 

I was exposed to notes through my reading and I kind of just feel like that's right up my alley. I love analyzing investments, I love the numbers, structuring deals, etc. I know there's much more to it than that (relationship building, vendor and borrower communication, etc.) but I feel like this area plays more to what I know and what I love doing. Lending in general really appeals to me. 

When I first started reading up on real estate it was primarily focused on rentals. I've made some offers on potential properties in my area but, as I'm sure you've seen in other areas, there are multiple bids on properties above asking... at prices that wouldn't provide the COC return that I'd be looking for. I've been looking at some off-market deals recently but haven't jumped for anything yet (some have been in pretty rough shape and don't feel it would be wise to take that on for my first investment). Still working on that. I haven't had much desire to go the flipping route yet because I have very little knowledge/experience in construction/contracting/etc. That comfort level may rise after owning a few rentals but I'm definitely not there yet.

In my perfect world, I would get to the point where I would have my stocks, some rentals, and some notes. I know I've read people saying "focus on one thing", but stocks are a no-brainer for me at this point and I feel like rentals and notes can go hand-in-hand. 

@Christopher Evans that's awesome! Your original post 10 months ago is pretty much where I am now so just curious what path you took. It's encouraging to see the progress you've made in a relatively short period of time. Did you end up paying for any courses or did you just do self-study via books/free online material/conferences and then go into JV?

@Dan Zitofsky @Patrick Desjardins @Bob Malecki @Chris Seveney @Jay Hinrichs @Tim S.

Thank you all for your insight! Definitely a lot to consider. Getting involved with notes is a little tricky when you're first starting out... you don't want to get screwed over by diving in and trying to "learn from doing" but then losing money because you're not prepared and don't know how to execute, you don't want to get screwed over by paying $2k for a course that won't give you enough knowledge to be able to start on your own (and gives you info you could probably find for free online), and you don't want to get screwed over by partnering with (i.e. trusting) someone that you really don't know much about. 

Obviously due diligence significantly reduces the risk of all three of those avenues but it's a lot to consider when deciding which path to take and how much to invest/risk on that path. 

Thanks again. 

Leighann

Hi @Michael Jone, mind if I ask how the Bootcamp and MasterMind meetings went?

@Christopher Evans, mind of I ask what your progress has been since this post? Did you end up doing a JV or going a different direction? Attend any conferences?

Hi all - 

I see forum posts referencing JVs frequently as a good place to start for new note investors. 

My question is this - At what point is it "worth it" for veteran note investors to JV with a newbie? How much of those JVs are actually worthwhile from a business standpoint versus the veteran taking on a JV to "give back"? Is it worthwhile for the experienced investor simply because they're getting "free" funding?

I'm fairly new to note investing (and real estate investing in general) and am not accredited, however I have worked in investments (stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc) for 6 years and actively invest in those arenas and am a CPA, so I'm pretty comfortable with financials/investments/risk/etc. (though I know note investing is a different game). My preference would be to "learn the ropes" from someone for my first couple notes but I would still want to provide value in some way and would want the transaction to be worth it to them as well. 

I would consider providing the capital for a couple notes and allowing the other investor to keep a chunk of the profit in exchange for being able to really learn the process. But is this something that experienced investors are actually interested in? Or would it probably not be worth their time from a business standpoint because of the time required to teach and relatively low volume involved? Or is it worth it to the experienced investor simply because they're getting "free" capital? What's the motivation for the experienced investor to JV?

(And yes, I've seen posts on the forums about the standard setup of the newbie providing the funding, the experienced investor finds/manages the deal, and then splitting profits 50/50.... but I've also read where some newbies were not very involved in the process and therefore didn't feel like they were prepared to do it on their own after that JV, which is what I would want to avoid. Learning/experience would be my priority.)

Sorry for the long post - just trying to understand the motivation from both sides. 

Leighann

In line with what @Wayne Brooks and @Jay Hinrichs referenced, I had a mentor that purchased several hundred thousand dollars (literally) in tax liens several years ago. We would help him grab up liens on the secondary auction every year for a couple years. But then the hedge funds found out our dirty little secret and started bidding them down to ridiculous rates (i.e. 0.25%). He went front buying $250k in liens to buying essentially $0 in liens. Not worth it anymore. And like Jay mentioned, most of the properties left at decent rates are duds. 

To be fair though, it was great while it lasted.....

His strategy would be to buy liens on properties that hadn't had lien in the past, and if they did have some that they were paid off fairly timely... only owner-occupied homes... and other criteria that gave him a some level of confidence that they would be paid off (he wanted the 18% interest, not the property). 

Hello,

I've been able to accumulate a list of contractors, handymen, and real estate attorneys in the area, but was hoping I could get recommendations from investors that have actually worked with/are working with someone in the area and had a good experience. 

Preference for the Polk County area (Lakeland, Bartow, Plant City, Auburndale, Mulberry, etc.).

Thanks in advance, 

Leighann

Hey @Trey Reese, just out of curiosity, what was the outcome of this deal?

How did it go?