All Forum Posts by: Miguel Luna

Miguel Luna has started 13 posts and replied 33 times.

I want to learn, I want an experienced seller to learn under. Hopefully, I can find someone at the meeting in January! Would be a big step for me. I'm open to everything anyone wants to share, even if I've heard it a thousand times, I'll keep my ears open

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Originally posted by @John Casmon:

Originally posted by @Miguel Luna:

Originally posted by @Crystal H.:

If I were 19 again, I would continue my higher education (college) as fast as possible. Work as much as I could part time, weekends and side jobs. Save save save every penny that came my way and every windfall (tax refund, birthday money). Make a plan for purchasing my first rental property instead of a car. Learn as much as I could about RE investing from peers and school. Research properties in my area, talk to a mortgage broker about purchasing a property and check my credit report monthly and increase my credit as much as possible.

That's exactly what I'm doing right now! Raising credit, school, save save save! I bought a car though... so that's $300/month gone

Don't just "pay off" the car, sell it if you can. Are you upside down on it? If so, can you become an uBer or Lyft driver so the car pays for itself? If you're in TX, you should be able to trade that for what we used to call a "whoopty." Seriously, if you're 19, want to invest in real estate and have minimal capital, you shouldn't be spending $300 a month on a car.

If I could do it again, I would do most things the same, but purchase a 2-4-unit with FHA financing near my campus and rent out the other bedroom(s) in my unit. My last two years, I worked a full-time job, a part-time job and went to college full-time. My work ethic was solid and while I missed some parties here and there, I still had plenty of time to enjoy the college life. My sophomore year, I was an RA (free room & board) so I had experience managing "tenants" and I guess this was my precursor to being a landlord.

What I would do differently is savor those moments and not waste so much time laying on the couch watching TV or playing video games. I wouldn't necessarily spend that time investing or working, but just optimizing memories.

Don't be in such a rush to grow up and have the responsibilities that come after being young, but continue to seek out advice and mentors who can help guide you to achieve your goals.

Yeah, I just bought it 4 months ago. I owe $18,000 and I was offered $15,000 for it. I applied for UBER, but I have to be 21. At the time I bought the car, I was still unsure of what I was doing with life. I wasn't aware that REI was even a thing.

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Originally posted by @Toi H.:

Congratulations on taking a big step. There is so much information and tools on this site to help make you successful. I'd suggest read more about making deals and running numbers before calling a prospective buyer. There are other sites you can use besides Zillow; like realtor.com, redfin.com, local county tax assessors office and many others. But keep up the great work.

Good luck and best wishes!

Toi

Thank you so much! And yes, read read read, I have very much more to learn!

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Originally posted by @Jae Cunningham:

I joined the Navy at 19, and was stationed in Japan for my first duty station.

If I could turn back the hands of time I would first NO SPEND SO MUCH DAMN MONEY ON CLOTHES!! When I first got to Japan I was saving about 500.00 a month and by the time I went home I had about 3k in my savings. That was the largest amount of money I had ever had, and I had NO CLUE with that to do with it except.....buy clothes with it :-)

Just in general I would have been a bit more frugal when it came to my finances and learned the power of a budget, and paying bills on time.

I would of also invested in my own dreams instead of funding other peoples.

Dang, I could use $3k right now. Same situation with me, except I never went into the Navy. I wish to have been more frugal in my first years of working. Sure it wasn't much, but if I would have saved all I could, I would be somewhere today. Probably investing, maybe owned a property or two

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Originally posted by @James Lindsey:

I'd love to find a regular REI meet up here or around Austin that meets outside normal working hours or on the weekends. So far I've had to take off work to attend most of the meet ups I have been to and I was definitely the odd one out. Many weren't interested in working with someone who was limited in the time they put into real estate because of a job. Here I was thinking they wouldn't want to work with me because I was new to real estate, lol.

From what I've learned, older people admire us young people wanting to invest! I was afraid no one would want to work with me either (no experience, no portfolio, no money). But just show them you have knowledge and a drive to be successful in the business! If you're ever around Lubbock, I'd definitely like to keep contact. The more relationships, The better!

Good luck

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Okay, funny story for you guys. If any of you have been following any of my posts, you'll know I'm a 19 year old from Lubbock looking to get into REI. For the past 4 days, I've been researching, reading books, watching webinars, and reading all of your posts! You guys were very helpful and informative and you sure gave me a lot of confidence to get into the business.

So today (December 11, 2015) I tried to make my first wholesale deal. It was a $60,000 property and the it was listed for $7,500. So I thought, "here's my chance, this could be my first deal!" I called up the owner trying to make a deal. Offered him $6,000. Pause... pause... and he hangs up. Bummer. Shot down right there. Didn't give up though. I called a couple more times and left a few text messages and we eventually settled for $6,500.

AWESOME. Now if I could just get buyer to close it quick at around $25,000-$30,000. I started looking on Craigslist and I found someone buying houses for cash. Okay, let's try this. Called them up. Made him the offer. Gave him info on the house. "How did you come up with $30,000?"

-Umm, I don't know. I was just wanting to sell the property.

-You're looking to wholesale it?

-Yes...? (Get it together Miguel.)

-How did you come up with $60,000

-Um.. zillow?

-Mistake #1. (I figured that)

We went on to talk about the house and repair costs and how much he could actually offer me.

-$13,000

-$13,000? (Great! I'd still be making $6,500 in profit!)

-Well I'm not going to put it on a contract, but somewhere around there would be where I'm offering

-Great! Umm it's listed at $7,500 and the owner and I made a deal for $6,500

-Oh so you've been in contact with the owner?

-Yeah, he's listed 3 properties up for sale so I assume he's also a local investor

-Let me check this out real quick... Yeah Oscar. He's actually sent an email to all the investors in the local area trying to get rid of the property. He's a seasoned investor and if he's having trouble getting rid of it, that should tell you something. (Damn it!)

-Dang.. so? It's not a good investment

-I wouldn't invest in it.

Not sure how I did. Bad, I'm assuming, but the success here is that I learned something. I also got in touch with the President of the Lubbock REIA and was invited to the meeting in January! Not all successes come in the form of money!

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Originally posted by @Austin Hughes:

I'm 22 years old and I'm envious of how young you are hahaha. I know some great guys here in Lubbock. The Lubbock REI A is a great group. I'd love to connect. I'm out of town right now, but feel free to get in touch with me.

I would love to meet up sometime! I've contacted the local REIA group that meets up on the last Tuesday of every month, I was hoping to get more information from them. Feel free to call me, I'd like to connect with a local

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Originally posted by @Crystal H.:

That's exactly what I'm doing right now! Raising credit, school, save save save! I bought a car though... so that's $300/month gone

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Hello BP!

I'm a 19 year old from Lubbock, Texas and I've just recently discovered Real Estate Investing. I've always been interested in investing, but it wasn't until just a couple of weeks ago that I started hitting the books about REI. I've done a lot of research on how to get started and what properties to buy whether it be single family homes or multi-family and I'm just so ready to get started! I've looked into wholesaling, to gain some funds, but idk how to go about it. It would definitely be a good start for me having no funds. I do have good credit though at 706, and I hope to keep raising it.

I know I have a lot to learn and I've been looking into attending the REIA groups in my area in hopes of finding someone I could shadow. I also went and visited my local realtor to talk to some agents. I learned a lot from that one visit and I was able to establish a solid "Step 1." (https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/12/topics/255...) my initial plan was to get an FHA loan for a duplex, but I was short on work experience and I would either have to wait another year to get the loan, or find a cosigner (along with proper funds) if I wanted it then and there. I didn't want to wait. I turn 20 next month (January) and I wanted to get started ASAP. So I went out in search for a cosigner and I was able to get a few people to think about it (which is enough for me, I can convince them later). I have the cosigner issue covered, now all I have to worry about is acquiring the necessary funds. I've been thinking about wholesaling. There's not much I could say about it other than "buy low sell high." I get the concept and I've been looking at the properties in my area while also looking on craigslist for potential buyers. "We'll pay cash for your home!"

So cosigner, check. Funds, check (kinda). I want to know, should I wait a year before jumping in. or should I find a seasoned investor to partner with and learn everything while I still have the time?

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Originally posted by @Leigh C:

I've had several events in my life I thought i wanted help. I thought i needed it.

I mentioned starting on EBay....I pushed my mom to invest in my inventory hard...she denied me the opportunity to really buy into the Ebay model back then. She didn't understand it. (flipping inventory or houses...same in my head really). I could of doubled my 60k or so a year income if she would of helped me. I stayed selling online for years, never really making much more than a very good income since I really wasn't buying the inventory correctly. Eventually the ebay business model for me didn't make sense so i switched to another path (real estate). Had she helped me I would of dropped from the 120k range to maybe 60-70k, something i would of kept doing "forever?" Years later, similar stories continued to repeat the previous but in larger scales. I thought i needed help to push myself to the next level. I've had 3-4 strong chances to make REALLY strong money. If anyone had helped me on these I never would be where i am today.

I had the advantage of the real estate crash to really get where i am. If you start stacking up properties now it may not be in your best interest, even more so if you tap all possible resources and keep doubling down. If the house of cards should start to fall, you have nothing to catch you.

You have a lot to learn and you are WAY too eager to go full speed. I made these mistakes....I dropped out my senior year in college because the last year didn't make sense based on the choices I made in my own business. Just because my income is high doesn't mean i made the right choices. Your life isn't on hold, just your ambition needs to learn to relax a bit. I've doubled down on myself way too many times and I got lucky each and every time. It's obviously not 100% luck, but some of my wagers could of zeroed me out with nothing for me to fall back on. I was too driven on success to appreciate the risk of what i was doing.

I realize this is all falling on deaf ears...I had someone tell this to me when i was your age and I thought they were talking crazy too.

I am listening to everything you are saying, no deaf ears here. Yes, I agree I am eager, overconfident, too ready to start. That's why I'm trying to hold back, I'm trying to learn and gain knowledge (currently on the lookout for someone to shadow). I am gonna go through college now that I know what direction I'm going to go, and I'm considering grad school. Before I make any leaps of faith, I'm learning, I'm playing it safe. I haven't told any family or friends about my future plans, in fear I might jinx myself.

Slow and steady wins the race, I've heard. But once I gain the knowledge, once I get the hang of everything, there is nothing stopping me.

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All Forum Posts by: Miguel Luna

Miguel Luna has started 13 posts and replied 33 times.

Post: Slow and Steady Wins the Race?

Post: What would you do if you were 19 again?

Post: First Wholesale in just 5 days into Real Estate Investing

Post: What would you do if you were 19 again?

Post: Slow and Steady Wins the Race?

Post: First Wholesale in just 5 days into Real Estate Investing

Post: Slow and Steady Wins the Race?

Post: What would you do if you were 19 again?

Post: Slow and Steady Wins the Race?

Post: What would you do if you were 19 again?