All Forum Posts by: Marcello Di Gerlando

Lots of good stuff in the replies. These offerings are not new and sound enticing. Beyond the cost of rehabbing and operating overhead, taxes will be a sticking point. I understand that these deals require a commitment to pay taxes for x amount of years. And Italian taxes will make your hair stand on end.

Definitely dive into the forums and the resources here on BP to start. You will quickly find out that Real estate investing is not one animal it is a entire eco system that you need to get very familiar with before you spend your hard earned funds. Are you looking for fix and flips? buy and holds? Long term residential? vacation rentals? commercial? wholesaleing  etc etc etc. This is a great place to get started. good luck...avoid the gurus!

@Marco Morkous

If you are starting out you may have a hard time finding a hard money lender. They will want to asses your ability to execute a project such as a fix and flip with a track record. If you have construction and finance skills with a good support network and a great property for them to evaluate then maybe someone will take a risk on you. Private money, in the sense that you get it from a rich uncle or friend as opposed to a hard money lender may be easier, if you have such people you can borrow from and they trust you with the project and their funds.

As far as how to use hard money...the short answer, most of the time, is it's used for fix and flips so you can sell the property and pay back the high interest loan as quick as possible. Most hard money lenders will be looking at short terms. I will never lend more than 9 months, penalty's and increased rates are built into the contract if a borrower has to extend for a year. Then is foreclosure time.

@Benjamin Vail

Thanks for the thoughtful analysis. I have definitely been keeping my eye on the competition using Airdna and more recently with Evolve's own analysis sheets. This is on top of my own scrubbing of Airbnb, Vrbo etc. for the last two years. Couple of things to keep in mine is that I just came on the market, zero reviews and an inch away from Christmas week. In consultation with Evolve we deliberately set opening prices at a discounted rate but nothing to insane. We juggled with the pricing model and I set the prices 10% higher than Evolves suggestion and they accommodated me. 

My concern has not been setting competitive rates accurately its been assessing vacancy accurately. I can see clearly what months are busy and slow and I can see what rates are being offered but its unclear from Airdna and Evolve how accurate the vacancy rates are. Airdna is clearly inaccurate because they cannot account for owner occupancy and Evolve has a self interest angle that probably makes occupancy look better than it actually is. Srubbing my own data gives me similar results as Airdna. I will definitely follow up with the pricing tool you suggested. I believe Evolve purchased a dynamic pricing software firm recently. My rates fluctuated with all the early bookings; its a dynamic algorithm at work for sure. So I don't think they are using cleaning crews anymore to set market prices. As I have already said, more to follow as far as Evolve is concerned.

As you @John D.@Anand S.and others have suggested I may have left money on the table. Quite possible. Currently my prices are where I would expect. However, all the bookings dropped off. What? now my prices are too high?  literally zero bookings in 4 days. Acknowledge, the best dates for the season are booked but there are plenty of dates on the calendar for the season and the south Americans and Europeans will be pouring in for months still. @Julie McCoy comment regarding VRBO, Airbnb algorithm boosting my search rankings because of an empty calendar is resonating here more than my price being either too high or too low. Its quite possible my price is to high at the moment so I will be adjusting it down and see what happens.

@Michael Baum

The last replay was directed at you specifically. 

Breckenridge ski area is less than 30 mins. So definitely not slope side for the winter months. Most of the homes in Breck that are comparable to my own will set you back between 1k and 3k a night depending on proximity, time of the year and the quality of the property etc. These are multi million dollar properties. My property is an alternative to the higher rates, but it is a short drive and catching first chair is not a problem. The summer months from my research seems to be busier for the vacation crowd in the valley my home is in. Tons of world class hiking and gold medal trout fishing. Also one of the niche attractions are the OHV trails and rock crawling where folks tow in their big wheels vehicles. Often they come in large groups. These vehicles are not cheap so I think their may be a target market to pinpoint.

@Tim kaminski 

Yes, for the refinance or what ever creative finance method you may have available. HELOCs haven't always been variable Igave a fixed line still open. Shop around you may find one. I've been shopping for a new fixed HELOC myself but no luck just yet.

@Tim Kaminski

I second @Paul Defngin

If you have a property already lined up to buy then the cash out may be best. I would recommend the HELOC if you dont already have a property. HELOCs at easier and cheaper to acquire and you are not paying for it if you are not using it. I prefer HELOCs personally because I'm not doing back to back deals. I keep the line open and I'm always ready to pounce when an opportunity presents itself. Keep in mind HELOCs are temporary and you need an exit to clear the line quickly.

Good luck

@Ronald Guerrero

Hi I think I know what you are trying to ask. Are you trying to buy at a trustee type auction where the bank is foreclosing on an owner? If so what type of auction exactly? Online, trustee, tax, sheriff etc.

If this is the case I dont know of a way you can get funding in this situation. As others have already mentioned you will need to get pre approved or get something under contract.

I guess it would be feasible that a benefactor may let you bid with their dollars. But without an established performance record I'm not sure that person would be easy to find. Good luck.

@Dominick Tanella

To help with my own decision making I limit what I spend my time on when looking for real estate to buy. One of my criteria includes no condominiums period. This is a portfolio preference for me. Some folks may do well with buying condos. I have spent many hours scrolling foreclosure properties and taking calls were the inventory didnt work for me. I also only look for properties that are built 1990 and later. Never any drug use and never with tenants I have to evict prior to occupying. To be clear the properties I leave alone may work for you and others. However everything I listed has additional grief and costs you may not he able to control. Buying right is one of the secrets to successes in this game as I'm sure you already know. Good luck. Food for thought.