All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Not sure why anyone needs to become a real estate agent to invest ? .. i invest and find properties without ever thinking of becoming a agent .. if you want to look at a property thats on the mls and a agent is short with you .. then hang up and call another .. there are plenty out there that know how to act and talk to prospective buyers .. are you asking to much of them ? .. lke asking for bpo's on every house or comps on every one .. if so you need to know those numbers yourself .. the only reason I ever ask a agent for comps or a bpo is if my investment partner requests one to make him feel more comfortable to pull the trigger and fund the project .. everytime he has asked .. My numbers were right in the same ball park as the realtors numbers .. 

thats because I spend a hr to two everyday to study whats up for sale , where , and what has sold and for how much .. sometimes I will follow a property that I might have wanted but lost for one reason or another .. I will follow it all the way till it sells again .. ill visit the open house when the investor who bought it gets finished with the rehab .. I can guess pretty close how much they spent on the rehab .. and I will have a good idea what they bought it for so then i can figure out if they made a good profit .. these are all things that can be done without a license.. but if you really want one .. then go for it .. it certainly cant hurt .. i hear Keller Williams offers a great class as does Coldwater banker ..  

I wish you the very best ..

God Speed, 

Michael Short 

@Account Closed i think you would not be a good friend unless you voiced your concern to him .. It may not be what he wants to hear and all the great ones tell you , not to listen to nay sayers but thats not what you would be doing ..make sure you explain that to him.. just lay it out .. you can even show him the post here on BP .. Is he a member ? If he is not he should be .. then he can see its nit all biscuits and gravey .. it takes hard , hard .. work to make it in the business .. people nowadays watch a TV show and think ..hum.. i can do that .. and most can but they have no idea how things can go wrong so quickly .. and costs.. dont even get me started on the possibility of overages .. and hidden damage .. Is the friend close to you geographically ? .. maybe you can offer to mentor him like others suggested .. have him work as a assistant to your project manager for a flip or two .. give him assignments like writing up a budget ( not that you have to use it ) but see what he comes up with .. have him there when contractors submit their estimates .. maybe he cant be there everyday because of his job but if he really wants to learn and succeed , he will find a way .. and he would be a fool not to accept your help .. thats the best you can do as a friend.. maybe tell him once he learns enough that you feel confident that ge can run his own flip ..then you will partner with him on a few .. then after that you will fund him at a lower cost than hard money would be .. explain to him your worried about his family and the decision he is considering to make.. maybe he wants you to offer to help him learn but doesn't know how to ask ..

I had a complete stranger offer to mentor me in the begining .. just because he saw potential and he has done very well the ladt 35 yrs in real estate and wanted to give back .. I had another complete stranger offer to fund my flips 100% including rehab and we split profits .. So.. you can tell him .. there are other ways then jumping into the deep end without teasing the waters first .. 

oh, one more idea came to mind .. take him to a reia meeting and have him explain his business plan to a bunch of strangers who are investors themselves .. maybe he will listen to them , if he does not listen to you 

I wish you and your friend the very best ..

God Speed, 

Michael Short 

@Thomas C. Barrage hello.. 

I just wanted to say congratulations on getting your website up and going ... nobody has commented yet and i just wantec to be the first ... I will soon check your site out .. not tonight because Im just about to go to bed .. its 1am and past my beddy time ..lol.. anyway .. 

I wish you the very best and thank you for trying to contribute to a difficult industry .. 

God Speed, 

Michael Short ..   

@Yan Wang hello and welcome to biggerpockets .. 

you are correct .. this site is great and is my all time favorite site .. 

There is so much information..

This site has changed my life and hope it does the same for you .. 

North Central Florida is a great place to invest .. heck just about anywhere in Fl is .. depending on  what your investment strategy will determine where the best area here in Fl you should invest .. 

There's Gainesville which is a great area because of the collage but its not without challanges .. if your in the price range then Mobile home parks can be a great investment .. they are plentiful here and more going up every year .. 

i know where theres a off market .. 52 lot Mhp for sale that just needs the pads and its ready for homes .. now in my mind its a bit over priced at $599k but everything can be negotiated i imagine .. plus .. i did a bit of digging and found out they only paid $150k for it in 2014 so they may take a serious offer .. Its around Ocala area .. or just below it ..    

By the way, Im not a wholesaler and I have no ties or contract with that or any property I might mention .. its just a example of whats out here .. 

I dont want to break any BP rules .. 

Jacksonville is a hot bed right now .. and even though it can have very bad areas ..properties are getting harder to come by, they are expanding the port there and bringging in a huge amount of jobs for the next 5-10 years , maybe more .. 

The panhandle is always a good place to invest .. Pensacola area .. especially around any military base  ..

I like smaller cities just outside the big ones .. seems deals are still to be had in the smaller ones .. like the small town Im in .. Our average price on homes is around $185k and you can still find one or two ever so often for $35-75k 

I hope that insight helped a little .. I wish you the very  best .. 

God Speed, 

Michael Short 

@Josh Calcanis no , im sorry I dont .. I cant believe somebody has not chimed in yet and post it or the number .. everyone must be busy .. if I come across it Ill try to let you know ..  

good luck as always ..

God Speed, 

Michael 

@Mike Ballew Im sorry you are having such a hard time at it .. maybe , just maybe because you are cautious ( which is a good thing unless you are to cautious ) maybe .. deals slip away while you try to decide whether to move forward on them .. in this market , there are deal out there .. you just have to know how to recognize them and act as fast as a mouse ..or a mouse trap .. I lost a bid / offer by the cost of closing just last week on a 3/2 w / a pool 1650 sqft tgat the seller was asking $45k .. I talked to my partner after inspecting the property and told him we should offer full ask .. well we did but he insisted on them paying closing .. well the next person who looked at it offered full ask and they were willing to pay the closing costs of around $1100 .. the property needed $40k worth of rehab and if you figure $10k fir holding and buying and selling costs ( I market the properties myself , although we are willing to pay 3% to a buyers agent ) so, roughly $10k .. that puts us at around $95k and with a Arv of $140-145k that leaves between $45-50k profit that we missed out on .. over closing costs ! .. and the whole rehab shouldnt have taken more than about 5 weeks and maybe 60 dom ( days on market ) .. I would do flips like that everytime I can .. but ..I rely on a financing partner right now that sometimes moves a bit slower than I like or gets stuck on things like closing costs .. I have lost a few deals like that but , I also have done very well on some that we managed to get .. 

The one I am currently rehabbing has a projected  profit of $65k which is also 65% roi .. and believe me .. this market is just as flooded as Jacksonville .. It took me almost 5 months to find one that fit our wants and needs .. meanwhile 3-4 slipped by because of being over cautious .. 

After time my partner will learn to trust that I know my numbers and the market well enough for him to invest his money without all the extra research needed now .. 

Don't get me wrong .. information is good but if it takes three days to make a decision on a property that will sell in the matter of hours .. then thats not great ..       

Keep plugging away at it . You will find the right one .. network , network .. and network more .. I get over 50 emails and probably 200 properties sent to me daily plus I look at Zillow, redefine, and mls portal daily .. Also, be sure to look at craigslist .. 

I wish you the very best ..

God Speed, 

Michael Short 

Hello , 

Your right .. things are tight in orlando and 20% is aggressive but attainable , might not be exactly in Orlando  as of right now .. Daytona seems to be a decent area to purchase right now .. I have seen a few multi Fam selling fir what seems like a decent price and  may be able to meet you cash on cash criteria .. full disclosure .. I have not invested in MFP myself and only recently started looking and evaluating them .. so .i still have a bit to learn about cap rates and stuff .. that being said, 

I am no dummy either .. I can recognize no brainers when i see them .. I do only flips right now on SFP .. my latest has a projected profit of 65% ROI with just $100k invested total .. those are the kind of deals I look for .. they are hard to find but I manage to stay above the 40% Roi mark .. I have to split profits with my financial backing partner so anything under that just wouldn't make sense ..

I hope to start investing in buy and hold mfp by Dec also .. and although Orlando is near enough to me ( only 1hr ) I tend to look at things a bit closer to me for now .. 

If I was in the position to invest where i wanted to though .. I would check out Daytona area right now. They say Jacksonville is also a area to to invest .. Jacksonville can have some oretty bad areas but I have a friend that knows Jacksonville and surrounding areas very well .. He own a insurance agency there so he needs to know what areas are good and bad , crime wise .. 

Hope I helped a little .. I wish you the very best ..

God Soeed, 

Michael Short  

@Jonathan Miller hello, I am from detroit originally and its just like any big city .. there are decent areas and bad areas and areas that I would not go to after dark .. and I worked all over Detroit back some 25 yrs ago .. I still have family there but not in Det anymore ..they have long moved north to the middle of the state .. Hazel Park is a good area .. Anything you can find in Royal Oak or Berkley is a great rental area and full of yuppies types that have extra income to spend .. i doubt you can fund anything in those areas for $65 or under .. I would guess that east Detrot is where you want to focus .. over by East Point and Gross Point areas Centerline ..  Hamtramck is a great place .. most units are duplexes with a top unit and a bottom unit .. I actually lived there for a yr and loved it then .. like I said though .. this was 25 yrs ago .. but not much has changed .. there is a wholesaler I was talking with that deals with Mich / Det properties .. Ill see if I can find his email and give you his contact info .. I wish you the best ..

God Speed, 

Michael 

I know a wholesaler who works Tampa , Spring hill , Brooksville , Inverness, Hudson ..

What kind of properties are you looking for ? Flips, BnH ( buy and holds ) , multi family , commercial .. price range ? 

I know he has a property in 6/4/2 in Hudson on 5 acres with a enclosed pole barn and a caged pool .. its in rentable condition now but needs about $25k for flip .. I think he was asking $250k but If you tell him I sent you to him he will accept $240k .. the Arv is $350k+ could be as high as $375k with improvments mentioned about rehab .. those are my numbers that I came up with when 

I looked at the property .. send me a colleague request if you want a link to the video I took and his number .. I am not a wholesaler and I will make nothing off this .. only reason I passed was that my partner ( financial investor is out of state and is not comfortable investing that amount on one flip ) 

If I had the funds myself .. I would seriously consider it .. heck, Id like to live there .. One bed and one bath is a  Apt with living room and kitchen with seperate entrance .. its easy access to main road and only a mile or so from the turnpike .. 

it may be further north than you may be looking for .. but i thought 

I would mention it .. 

I wish you the very best ..

God Speed, 

Michael Short  

@Mhamed Channaj no problem .. I love giving encouraging words or thoughts .. if you ever get up my way look me up and we can meet for coffee or go dutch at a lunch .. we can talk real estate and I would be happy to dole out more advice and kind words or encouragement ..  I would offer you to Shadow me but Im afraid you would not only get bored but Im Hr away from Orlando .. I know its a bit scary but fear is just because of the unknowns .. educate yourself and learn from others mistakes .. then jump into the deep end of the pool and start doing the doggie paddle .. another great way to start is learning how to wholesale properly.. Dont get to greedy and you can do quite well with it .. I wish I woukd have learned it first .. especially in a bull ( sellers ) market .. that way you can cherry pick what deals you want to flip and what deals you want to let someone else flip .. plus it forces you to know your target market and even rehad estimates ( although i have yet to find a wholesaler who's numbers are actually right on ) strive to become different and be that wholesaler who's numbers are spot on .. you will have more buyers than you know what to do with .. 

Find the deal and the money will come .. matter of fact if you can find deals that are close to the numbers and Roi that 

I do .. I will help you find the money .. 

I wish you the best .. 

God Speed, 

Michael