All Forum Posts by: Matthew John

Hey guys, I just purchased a duplex and I'm trying to rent out the bottom, bigger unit. I have had it listed for about a week and I've done about 5 showings. The first few days I received about 70 messages from people inquiring, but very few meet my criteria. I didn't initially want pets, but it seems everyone has at least 1 dog. Now I'm only getting 3-10 Messages per day. Sometimes people get there and don't like that it's a duplex and they have to share laundry, some don't like that it doesn't have central Air, and some just don't make enough money to qualify or have bad credit. My question is... How long does it usually take you to get a unit rented out after purchasing? I am a new landlord and have the income for the upstairs unit, but it looks like I'm going to have to fork up some $$ for the first month's mortgage. Am I being impatient or does it usually take A month or so to get a qualified tenant in there? Coming up to the winter months I'm nervous it'll only become harder to find someone! Not sure if I should drop the price or hold out a bit longer.

@Ned Carey Thank you Ned for all the info and clearing up some questions I had.

@Ned Carey Ah ok, nice! I guess the good part about working with an agent is that they can find out specifics about the home. The seller's agent usually gives little detail about the house and any issues it might have. 

Besides a small commission and MLS access, are there any benefits an investor could get by becoming an agent?

@Jonas Helbert Good tip! Thank you. 

@Ned Carey How do you get inside the house to look around and estimate renovation costs if you aren't an agent?

Hey guys, 

I am currently enrolled in careerwebschool.com 's real estate agent course. I have taken a few of the sections, but so far it's kind of a pain. If you get 1 question wrong you have to completely restart the module. Sometimes you can get them all correct and still have to completely restart the module from the beginning. It's very frustrating. 

Anyway, I have a question about the course. 

I'm pretty business with my current business and doing REI on the side, but I would like to start scaling up and buying more houses. I originally thought getting my Real Estate Agent license would make it easier for me to invest since by eliminating a Buyer's Agent in the sale.

I also want to start getting into Private Money Lending and I figured I'd need to be able to represent myself as an Agent to be a cash buyer. 

My question is...

If I go ahead and complete this Real Estate Agent licensing class and go ahead and pass the state exam, do I have to work for a broker before I would be able to represent myself in deals?

I don't care to help other people buy/sell (at least right now), I would only go through this for education purposes and to be able to do deals without an agent. 

Is this worth it? I certainly do not have time to go work for a broker if that is what's required. 

Thanks for the answers in advance!

@Theo Hicks That's eventually where I'd like to head, but with only 3 units under my belt I want to scale slowly. 

If you have a Cash Partner/Credit Partner/Managing Partner and you're looking to do long term holds, how do you structure your equity split?

From my understanding, it would be best to negotiate interest only payments with the Cash partner. Let's say 10%. 

So we're paying him monthly until we can get it rehabbed and rented out, but once that's done and we're about to refinance and bring in the credit partner, what do you consider fair equity between the Managing Partner & Credit partner?

For large MF, I'd assume the process is similar with more people. 

@Theo Hicks Thank you for the response. Good news is I was able to find a credit partner in my network that makes roughly 100k/yr and has 800 credit score with a falling DTI.

I think finding a Cash Partner will be a little easier. 

Do you have experience setting up deals both as fix & flips and also long term holds using Cash & Credit partners?

If you do, and don't mind, I'd like to DM you some questions about structure. I'm going to research and learn more for the next couple months before looking for more deals, but I'd love to talk to someone who's at least a couple steps ahead of me!

Again, thanks for the answers!  

@Theo Hicks This might be a stupid question, but does my net worth include the house I just recently purchased even though I still have the entire loan on it?

And to be clear...

You're saying I would need someone outside of the private lender to help me refinance out of the deal?

If so, it might be best to just wait until next tax season where I have some seasoned income and can (hopefully) start to qualify myself. 

@Rick Pozos Would it be best to start out by explaining to a local bank or credit union what I am trying to do to see if I qualify for a refinance prior to even looking for deals?

From my understanding, it seems a lot easier to use private money just to do flips and use profits to fund my own long term holds.