All Forum Posts by: Chris L.

@Christine Glasner

I had this same situation about 4 yrs ago. I filed the claim with my insurance company and had contractors working on this immediately. My insurance company then battled with the car drivers insurance company for compensation. I only had to pay the deductible for my policy on the repairs. I eventually recovered about half of my deductible from the car drivers insurance company.

Feel free to message me if I can be of any further assistance.

Sincerely,

Chris

Chris,

Gopher work is an old term meaning that you "Go for this and go for that." Essentially you are helping out with miscellaneous errands and learning in the process.

IMHO, It is very unlikely that you will find an investor to fund your deal if you have never done a rehab and do not have any of your own funds in the deal.

I am not trying to rain on your parade but just want to prepare you for some of the challenges of getting started with no funds and no experience.

Keep asking questions and you will find great assistance right here.

Chris,

Do you have the funds and or credit to purchase a property and fund the rehab? Most rehabs need to be done with cash as banks will generally not loan on a property that needs a rehab especially a non-owner occupied home.

The process is not complicated but it requires some knowledge of how much rehab will maximize your profits. Too little and you are not able to sell the property. Too much and you cannot get your money back.

Do you have any background in construction?

Someone should join in the conversation from your area that does rehabs. I recommend that you offer to do some free "gopher" work for them in exchange for learning from them.

What aspect of real estate are you looking for mentoring?

You should read everything possible here at BP. Listen to the Podcasts.

After you have studied the Free Beginners guide here, then you need to determine what aspect of real estate appeals to you.

You then need to do an asset inventory in terms of what you have working for you. For example: Available cash, credit, skillsets (construction background, finance, etc), time available.

Once you determine a course of action, there is ample help right here at BP. I live a few hours away in Ft Wayne but I travel regularly to Joliet.

Have a great day and good luck.

Chris

Hi Rhonda,

I also recommend that you check out the free training that Dave Van Horn provides on his website.

I have purchased 4 re-performing notes from Dave's company. I am still early in the process but so far it is working as advertised.

I also signed up for the NPN training course on Dave's website. There is a small fee for this course.

My take after going through the course: investing in Non-performing notes is not a part time-spare time venture. There is certainly money to be made in non-performing notes but you are going to have to run this as a business and ensure you are fully compliant with all of the applicable laws. This will be a much more active process than investing in cash flow rentals utilizing a property manager.

Good luck to you.

Chris

Hi Jeremy,

Welcome to BP. You found the right place for making connections and learning from the people that have made Real Estate work. I am just a few hours away in Ft Wayne.

Have a great day.

Chris

Hi @John Chapman,

I did not take your post as ridiculing other options. I just wanted to share my primary lesson learned that it is all about the property management company. I routinely buy great properties from burnt out owner/landlords.

If I were managing them myself, I would not own any rentals.

I am always open to ideas/opportunities that create better returns.

Thanks for starting this thread. It is always beneficial to hear how investors are succeeding in their markets.

Chris

Hi John,

I wanted to share my experience. I have built what you would classify as a junker portfolio and have done well. I have a large collection of 3/1's in C class neighborhoods with a mix of section 8 rentals in there as well.

I have found the key to my success is a competent property management team. I invested for cash flow and do not anticipate that I will have much appreciation. I am able to get portfolio loans on these properties although I have only done this once.

I realize that I am going against the grain on this thread but just wanted to share my results.

Chris

Hi John,

That is a great summary of why I do not buy 2-4 unit properties. I have owned duplexes and 4-plexes. I much prefer SFR's.

I found number 7 to be especially true. If all of the others were not true as well, #7 is enough to keep me from ever buying another duplex, triplex, or four plex.

Great post.

Chris

Steven,

I have played the game multiple times and have been playing it in real life for some time. The game is easy to win: buy enough small deals, sell and create enough cash to pay the down payment for a large deal and you are out of the rat race.

In real life, I have never purchased a negative cash flow property and have only borrowed money for one deal.

The biggest issue that I have found in terms of translating the game to real life is finding the big deals. I have a collection of SFR's. When I have evaluated larger deals like apartment buildings, commercial projects, etc, I discovered that the returns were no better than what I already make on my SFR's. Since the returns are at or below the "small deals", I did not see that the risk was worth taking on for these larger projects. So, I have just continued to add more and more small deals.

Good luck to you.

Chris