All Forum Posts by: Mark Sewell

@Kevin Wood is probably a good guy locally to visit with, Brian.  @Tony Castronovo is another guy that graduated from SFR rentals and moved into MF. And @Account Closed is a super talented guy - this guy gets advanced degrees for fun in his free time.  I hope these guys don't mind be mentioning them.

Brian, don't sell yourself short - I've seen what you've done since we connected here on BP and you got a lot on the ball, man.

Huge respect for your putting yourself out there like this - takes some courage.  I wanted to clarify, are you seeking a loan for rental/investment properties, or for a personal owner-occupied residence?

COVID isn't going to last forever - so with that in mind, start making the moves/adjustments you need to get yourself over 700 so that when the world normalizes again, you'll be ready or at least much closer to ready.

Respect to the OP for putting yourself out there like this. Now you get dozens of BP members passing judgement on your own personal money management decisions each and every day. I'm sure you are starting to not enjoy this. So when I add my comments here, I seek to do so with more than a small dose of humility. I'm nobody's expert on anything related to REI.

I've flipped just one house, but I will say that in retrospect, it would have probably been better if I had NOT started that journey until I had my own personal finance house a little more in order.  I got through it but it was harder than it needed to be and if one or two more things had gone wrong, or even not exactly right, it could have been disaster.

Really research what makes sense, logically, to get knocked out before you start investing.  You can get it all.  Maybe some low % rate stuff can remain.  Hit the stuff that moves the needle.  As Joe and others have noted, it really is just math.

Consider also utilization rates on credit cards and bank lines affect your credit score.  It's not just about paying them on time.  Getting the balances down under 20% or whatever it is can help you.  You'll probably need those credit cards and bank lines when you get going on your first house renovation.

And lastly, life is what happens when you are busy making other plans -- so is there ever a perfect time to start investing?  I'm guessing there isn't.  At some point, you will just need to dive in and take your lumps.  

Use some local lenders, and only contribute a portion of your cash to your deal.  You will require funds for renovations, holding costs, etc. so hang on to as much as you can.  Plus it is probably wise to have an experienced local lending partner to review your deals and make sure you aren't getting off track with your numbers.

Great article, I had not seen this.  I am going to dig in to this a bit more later today.  Thanks for sharing.

I believe there are some opportunity zones now as well over on the East side.  Will be interesting to see the effect over time that those will have in those zip codes.

There are several options for paying the fees, as I recall.  Maybe it depends on the amounts of funds you put in your account.

Your HM Lender is a partner in YOUR deal.  Think of them like a free mentor that is participating in your project right along with you.  If they aren't wild about your deal, it should give you pause to look at it again yourself.  And try to find one that is local to your market place.  

It does get costly when there are project delays or surprises.  This is where I got into trouble.  I managed it but it just took way too long.  

And that's on me, it could have been avoided.  I didn't properly calculate my repair and frankly, I let my burning desire to 'take action' and get started override my common sense.  I should have listened to my HM lender and simply passed on it.

There is a lot more to this than just a good interest rate.  Your HM lenders didn't get to be HM lenders by sucking at RE investing.  Find one and get in with them, like a trusted partner.

@Jerryll Noorden likes to hi-jack threads on the subject of origination, but he isn't wrong.  And I am starting to come to the conclusion that, whatever mode of marketing/technology/origination that you use, you STILL need to have a quality online presence to establish credibility.  Use deal machine, you direct mail, use smoke signals, use whatever, but prospective sellers are going to look you up online.  Make that online presence a strong one.  So you might as well just roll up the sleeves, do the work, create the content and provide value online.  You don't have to make it your main objective to rank your page (this will happen over time) but you are wasting your marketing/origination efforts if they come to your site and it is weak.

Classic hard money scenario.  Where are you located?

Check them out on Facebook @Tamarra Jean.