All Forum Posts by: Michael Ehmann

Hi Ingrid, I connected with a husband/wife team at one of the BP meetups. They live in the Dallas area and should be familiar with it. If you want their contact info, PM me.

Hi Scott, A few things I'm curious about (sort of playing devil's advocate here): 1) Have you explored much closer to Alexandria? 2) How long has it been since you lived in Rochester? 3) How far away is Alexandria from Rochester if you were to want to go visit? 4) Are you planning on offering friends/family stake in the deals (or steak in the deals if you plan to compensate in fancy dinners)? Or are they going to help out of the goodness of their hearts? 5) Why pay all cash and only do one a year? Have you considered only putting 20-30% down in case you want to do multiple at once?

Ashview Heights has a decent amount of activity from what I've seen personally. You'll find some stuff on the MLS, but as with most areas, off-market is your best bet.

@Joe McCarthy: I love the idea of your daily routine and writing out the next day's goals the night before. I might consider adopting this. Also, Never Split the Difference is amazing - one of the best business books I've ever read. 

Hi everyone. Newest thread is here! I'll be curious to see how everyone did last month if you have anything you want to share. 

@Damir Kamber @Erik Anderson @Monica Pina @Joe McCarthy @Johnny Kang

At the beginning of January, Brian Burke created a poste titled "It's 2018. Whatcha gonna do about it?" At the beginning of each month, I am starting a thread with a few others for the purpose of reviewing:

1. What we accomplished in the previous month to achieve our goals.
2. Where we fell short of our goals last month.
3. What we plan to tactically do this month to drive towards our goals.

Link to the February update thread for everyone's reference. 

First, what I accomplished in March:

• Attended the North Atlanta Meetup organized by Jered Sturm. It was a great opportunity to meet more folks in the industry, and I got connected with several folks with whom I plan to keep in contact. 
• Attended another spontaneous, informal meetup I saw happening on BiggerPockets in my area. 
• One of my current partners was in town for work (he lives in Chicago), so I took him on a drive through the part of Atlanta where we are considering investing to help him better understand our market, and we met with a prospective agent with whom we are likely considering working with for our first few flips. 
• Finalized financing for my first few flips and explored alternative financing for deals following once we have maxed out our financing with the first source.  
• Connected with another wholesaler in Atlanta to improve deal flow. 
• Knocked out a few more hours of my real estate course. 
• Started listening to the BiggerPockets Money podcast with Mindy Jensen and Scott Trench (I think I've caught up on all but one or two episodes). It's been extremely valuable and has made me want to re-evaluate my current spending/saving habits. 

Where I fell short:

• I didn't analyze as many deals as I intended, but in a way I think it's okay because my efforts were prioritized elsewhere. Even if I found a deal, we were not yet in a place to feel comfortable making an offer, so I worked on eliminating these barriers. 
• Did not spend enough time researching contractors, so I missed my goal of identifying 3 more potential contractors. 
• Only completed a few more hours of my real estate course, not the 10 I had set for my goal. 
• I was semi-active on the BP forums but still had spans of 7-10 days where I did not actively check. 

Goals for next month:

• Make at least 1 offer. If we are able to do this, it means my partners and I have set everything in place where we are ready to commit to a deal when we find one. 
• If I am in town and not traveling for work, attend the BP North Atlanta Meetup. 
• Complete an additional 5 hours of my real estate course (dialing back from 10 to see if this is more feasible). 
• Timeblock 3 hours to research contractors online. If we do our flips through the person with whom we're planning to work, he has contractors he uses for his deals. But I still want to have backups. 
• Timeblock 1 hour per week to read/post on the BP forums (hopefully more, but I am going to set aside at least 1 hour). 
• Regarding personal finance: audit my spending. I'm fortunate to have a decent income-to-spending ratio, and I have a ballpark idea on where my money goes. I don't buy things that often (i.e. buying a new gadget or clothes every few weeks) and know that I'm able to save a decent amount, but I don't actually know how my money is being spent.
• Blocking 30 minutes each week to review the previous week and plan goals for next week to make sure I am on track to meet my monthly goals. Setting a Google Calendar reminder right now. 
• On a more personal note: I want to find an opportunity to serve in Atlanta, ideally something focused on job training/professional development for the homeless or underserved. I have a few nonprofits in mind (ATL Mission, Dress for Success, The Gateway Center, and Year Up).

How did everyone else do???

@Joe McCarthy - good stuff! I like your approach on plans for March. From personal experience, viewing properties in person definitely helps get a feel for the area (it's amazing how things can appear online vs. in person). Looking forward to hearing how things go over the next few weeks!

@Marcel Williams: if you were to live in it, what part(s) of town are you considering?

@Damir Kamber: glad to hear you're making progress, and I love the fact that you're also tracking goals in your personal life, too. 

@Erik Anderson: way to go on the property!!! I'll be interested in hearing how the tenant search goes. Have you looked at The Ultimate Guide to Screening Tenants? I've heard it mentioned on some of the podcasts. I haven't read it myself, so I cant vouch for it personally. But I wonder if it has anything about finding tenants, not just screening them?

@Monica Pina: thanks for the recommendation!

@Damir Kamber @Erik Anderson: newest post is up here. How'd you guys do last month?