All Forum Posts by: Larry Turowski

@Mike Lattier One of the advantages of starting young is that you can take risks that maybe you wouldn't when you are older.  You have time to fail and recover.  For you, you'll want to make sure that your strategy is solid, that you know you're buying at the right price, that you are budgeting rehab correctly, and that your exit strategy is very realistic (renting and refinancing).  Congrats on getting started!

I’ve never had a budget. I just keep all my money. 

@Twana Rasoul if you buy right and don’t need the cash flow it is likely the more lucrative strategy. 

I live in an area where nobody invests for appreciation. And yet there is some. Right now I’m selling a couple of properties whose appreciation gains will return much more than I ever made with cash flow. 

@Gregory Williams you will learn best by doing. One of the things you will learn is that you really need to start with a motivated seller and you likely do not have one.  How do I know?  I don’t.  It’s just the odds.  That means you need to find lots of properties like this before you find one motivated seller.

The good news about this is that you can use it as practice.  You don’t have to worry about screwing up the deal.

(On another note I assume you mean assessed and not appraised. And where do you get the $45k current value figure?)

@Bryan Clement Isn't this covered in the https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/847-real-estate-not-so-successful-stories forum?  And you are asking it in the success stories forum.

But oh, well, my biggest failures have been failing to pull the trigger on awesome deals.  I can think of two that would have given me six-figure profits.  But I've learned from that and did pull the trigger on some big deals.  There will always be more deals. 

My biggest failure that I did pull the trigger on was a house that I bought as-is that had serious termite damage.  I lost about $25K on that deal.  I took my licks and moved on.

@Jo W. People should be a little less afraid of getting sued.  They react like it is a jail sentence.  Personally, I wouldn't worry about it at all.  First, it is unlikely that they would go beyond small claims court as that would cost them a good chunk of money and most wholesalers are scrappers.  Second, a small claims court judge wouldn't know what to make of an assignment contract like this.  Third, maybe he himself is doing something shady with wholesaling and wouldn't even want to expose that.  Fourth, he'll get a bad reputation if he does pursue it.

Act like you are in the driver's seat.  Because you are.

If you want to keep a good relationship with the wholesaler, simply explain the situation--it's turns out it is a bad deal--and that you will not be moving forward with it, and that you'll just need them to sign a little paper releasing you from the deal.  If they object.  Say, oh sure, I understand your time is valuable.  I respect that.  How about if I give you $200 and I'll just need you to sign this release.  If they continue to object, say, look, I'm trying to be fair with you.  You're other option is to take me to sue me.  Good luck with that.  I'd rather keep an amicable relationship and so I'm offering $200.  I'm sure you understand.  And then let the chips fall where they may.

@Dennis O. Evans What is the market value of the property?  I personally care much more about that than cash flow.  My spidey sense says you are paying too much for the property, that mortgage and other expenses are going to eat up your profit and you won't be able to easily exit from the deal.  I like owner financing, but there isn't enough other information here.

 I didn’t pay for a expensive guru program but this is exactly what I did. It seems a natural progression. I also flip have 36 units and have a FT job. There is no way I could do this without an assistant.  In fact, I find things get easier as I scale. But again, like Todd I had a crazy unusual crazy week. I thought about making a post about it. 

@Anthony Richards Like @Marc Winter said, of course he had get a mortgage on them if he meets the lenders other qualifications: seasoning period, debt-to-income, credit score, etc.  And as for lenders not lending on low value properties, you can wrap several or all up in one and get a blanket loan.

So how much did he buy these properties for?  I'm assuming he's got some serious equity.  I know properties are cheap here, but they are not $15K cheap unless they are atrocious homes in atrocious neighborhoods.

@Justin O'Malley I think you are getting ahead of yourself with all this license stuff.  You have no idea if this owner even wants your help.

And if all you are doing is helping the owner on an ad-hoc basis you are not a property manager. You are not getting any sort of retainer. You are not advertising to multiple property owners.