All Forum Posts by: Lori Greene

Good advice Jan. 

Thanks for sharing the back story. That makes it even more interesting.

Well it sounds like you are on the right track. Everything you are doing makes perfect sense. And if you ever find you have a weakness that you can't seem to overcome, try taking on a partner who has the strengths that you don't have. For instance, my partner is great at starting conversations which is great for networking but isn't my strength and I am great at technology and marketing which aren't her strengths so we make a perfect team. Is there anyone that you might be able to partner with so you can combine your strengths?

My pleasure Donna. I'm glad you made a decision. 

Thanks for sharing that story Jan. It's great to hear how far perseverance can take you even when you have no experience. I have a similar story. My first investment many years ago was the first house I ever built. My husband and I had been living in a tiny house, then we had another child, then his mom moved in, gasp, and then we got a dog. We were so over crowded and my business was doing well so we decided to build a bigger house.

It took forever to find the right lot and when we did, everyone told us it would be impossible. The agent said the seller would never accept my offer, the first lender said we would never qualify for a construction loan, the building dept said we'd never get our permit because there were no utilities in the canyon, no water in the ground for a well, that the perf test for a septic tank would never pass and that the driveway would never pass because it would need to be cut into a cliff.

But we were in love with that lot (40 pristine acres for $100k, my offer was $70k) that we persisted until we overcame every obstacle and built our dream house. Persistence and creativity can overcome almost any obstacle.

Jan, what is it that led you to be so passionate about real estate investing?

Michael, that's great to hear. I love it when people are persistent enough to stick with it until they overcome their issues. Building a good power team of investor-savvy agents, title co's, attorney's, CPA's, lenders, contractors, inspectors, appraisers and other investors is the very most powerful thing an investor can do. Relationships are everything in this business and all of these people can make your life so much easier.

Can you elaborate on what types of team members you've found to be the most helpful to you and why? And also how you found them? I'd love to hear more about your journey.

Karen, it's smart to be in a good financial situation before investing into your first property. And I'm guessing you know about bird-dogging? That's a great place to start from when you have no money at all. Keep you eyes out for potential deals, drive neighborhoods, text and email rentals and FSBO's on classified ads and local signs, tell everyone you know to keep an eye out for distressed or vacant properties or motivated sellers. Practice analyzing and doing your homework on them, and when you find one that looks good, present it to another investor for a finder's fee.

You can do this with both wholesalers and cash buyers. Build a list of other investors to bird-dog for by making as many connections as possible here on BP, by going to local auctions and REIA meet-ups and from local rental signs and I Buy Houses signs.

You don't need to have a plan to start doing this. Just start doing it. It's the fastest way to learn!

If you don't mind, can you tell us what strengths and weaknesses you realized you had? Do you have any ideas for how you might overcome your weaknesses?

Having had so many investing students and BP members express their issues around funds, education or just plain fear, I thought it would be helpful for everyone to not only hear from investors having challenges or hesitations, but also from the more experienced investors on how you overcame similar issues in the beginning.

Investors: Please tell us what is slowing your progress.

Those Who’ve Overcome Your Roadblocks: Please tell us what challenges you’ve had and how you got past them. And please help those expressing their issues.

That's good to hear Nate.

William, you asked why private money is our favorite way to fund our deals. Private Money Partners (people who have money but don't lend as a profession) is our favorite funding strategy because it is generally much lower interest than hard money and you set the terms.

To find private money partners all you have to do is get into the habit of starting conversations with everyone you know and meet about what they're doing for a living. That opens the door for you to talk about your real estate investing.

Then you say, if you know anyone who wants to make a high return on a short-term note backed by real estate, let me know, I'll hook them up.

Often they will say, I'm interested or I know someone. Ask them what they consider to be a high return. They might say 5%.

That's a pretty good rate for private funding that you don't have to qualify for. And since they don't lend money as a profession, you'll be setting the terms.

Do this all the time and before you know it, you'll have all the funding you need always at your disposal.