All Forum Posts by: Mark Shaffar
Mark Shaffar has started 27 posts and replied 316 times.
Post: Starting out with little capital.
- Real Estate Agent
- Madison, WI
- Posts 328
- Votes 88
@Bob E. The lender was Brian Bentley at Wintrust Mortgage. Please mention me if you reach out to him. I you can also PM me for his email.
Post: Starting out with little capital.
- Real Estate Agent
- Madison, WI
- Posts 328
- Votes 88
And for the record. I highly suggest Rich Dad:) here's a recent interview with the author:
http://joefairless.com/blog/podcast/jf262-wanna-do-a-deal-with-robert-kiyosaki-well-ya-better-have-a-good-answer-to-this-question/
Post: How to find chinese investors
- Real Estate Agent
- Madison, WI
- Posts 328
- Votes 88
Originally posted by @Kellen King:
I'm also interested in this.
@Mark Shaffar from what I keep reading it seems as though some of these websites (such as Juwai.com) require that you have a listing and submit it to their website. Are a lot of the Asian buyers already represented on the buyer side? I'm interested in representing them on the buyer side, but do not have a listing...is this possible?
I talked to juwai and beimei and it sounds like they will be happy to list properties for you on their websites. The listing agent on the deals is the local American realtor. I called on a couple listings out of curiosity and they had never received a call from a Chinese investor. Perhaps in Cali you would have better luck. You need someone in China telling them about it. That's my take
Post: Newbie From Sheboygan WI interested in buy&hold/flipping/wholesaling
- Real Estate Agent
- Madison, WI
- Posts 328
- Votes 88
welcome to Wisconsin Bigger Pockets
Post: Turn-key Milwaukee
- Real Estate Agent
- Madison, WI
- Posts 328
- Votes 88
Originally posted by @Darren Budahn:
Hi--@JosephBarbaretta
It is easy for me to identify the good and bad areas because I have lived in the actual city of Milwaukee for my entire life. The neighborhoods change very quickly as well. Good areas border fringe areas which border terrible areas, etc.
You can certainly talk to an agent and get their perspective of the neighborhoods as well. However, if they are not experienced working with investors or if they don't personally invest in rentals, I would take their advice with a grain of salt. I can tell you about any neighborhood in the city if you'd like. Just PM me. By the way, there are plenty of very good areas to invest in for rentals in the city of Milwaukee.
Just be very cautious of trying to invest out of town. I have no experience doing so. However, you can read a whole bunch of threads here on BP about trying to invest out of town for cash flow. I certainly wouldn't try and invest in any C or D areas from out of town unless I had someone who I trusted like family to manage them.
Great advice Darren, I would also add that realtors are bound by laws against steering clients away from certain areas. Another thing you could try is trulia and look at their crime section.
Post: Starting out with little capital.
- Real Estate Agent
- Madison, WI
- Posts 328
- Votes 88
@Steven Scheer I was talking to a banker the other day about a play you can try. This bank was offering 15% down investor loans. On a turnkey rental in Milwaukee say you buy a 53k rehabbed house your down payment is $8000. you have 5k so you borrow $3000 from a private lender and secure it with something other than the house like a car or boat. You should also have a maintenance reserve, but you get the point. Has anyone tried this?
Post: finding deals in rising market
- Real Estate Agent
- Madison, WI
- Posts 328
- Votes 88
@Dustan MarshallI'm partial to cash flow regardless of the direction you think the market might go in. If you buy where the numbers make sense, then you can enjoy cash flow whether it goes up or down. If up, you have an easy exit strategy if you want it, if not, just keep collecting money
Post: My 1st month experience with out of state turnkey property... WTF
- Real Estate Agent
- Madison, WI
- Posts 328
- Votes 88
Originally posted by @Jay Y.:
@Brandon Low Wow, same (similar) thing happened to me with one of my turnkey rentals in Indy... And I also know someone else with a turnkey in Indy who had the same thing happen to him!
Is this all a coincidence? Maybe... But I do know that I am spending a ton more on maintenance to service these types of properties (relative to my Bay Area rentals which I own a lot more of), so maybe we're investing in the same neighborhood, price point, etc.
Wishing you all the best as you get over this hurdle!
Jay, How in the world do you now know 3 people who've had their house crashed into?:) Amazing!
Post: Turnkey properties, what happens after the first year?
- Real Estate Agent
- Madison, WI
- Posts 328
- Votes 88
I agree with @James Wise and @Alexander A.
There is a tradeoff in low up front prices nut higher costs down the road in C neighborhoods vs higher prices up front that are financeable and lower headaches and costs down the road with tenants in better neighborhoods. I bought very low in St. Paul in 2012 in C neighborhoods and am cash flowing fine but the way I look at it now I think I'd rather finance another 10k or so for say $50 a month and I'm sure I will save headaches and probably at least $50 per month in extra maintenance costs in a better neighborhood.
Post: How to find chinese investors
- Real Estate Agent
- Madison, WI
- Posts 328
- Votes 88
Originally posted by @Maxwell Lee:
Originally posted by @Mark Shaffar:
you could also network at Asia Real Estate Association of America events. They just had a summit in Chicago.
Do you have experience with this organization? The website makes it seem like its mission is more for representing the interests of the Asian RE community domestically, and not necessarily to cultivate overseas investment. But I can read between the lines...
I was just at their summit and they focused on helping US sellers know how to market and work with Chinese buyers. Feel free to contact me about it