All Forum Posts by: Mark Vejnar

Have you checked small, local banks and credit unions, or explored the possibility of a line of credit?

Kevin, Welcome! Hampton Roads is a great market. I served Hampton Roads with appraisal services for nearly 8 years before relocating in 2012. Are you plugged in with the seven cities various planning departments? I know some will say it's not a big deal, but it's pretty clear to see how the plan influences the best use of impacted properties. Edinburgh was farm land when I first started practicing, and as I'm sure you're aware there are more and larger changes to come. Good Luck!

Paulette Midgette agreed. Great insight. Regular luncheons with agents can be quite insightful as they're engaging with the market throughout the day. I've moved a few times and have found demographic websites to be helpful and informative. Also get to know all of the various city, civic, municipal sites and offices. It's always interesting to visit the planning commission and look at past land uses, boundaries, etc., and compare to current uses and the city's plan. Understanding this type of data can help you identify which neighborhoods may be headed for decline and which may be ripe for gentrification. It's also important to understand the economic importance of your city. What does it bring to the [local, national, global] table? What are the predominant industries and why? Who are the largest employers? As you begin to understand this stuff the relevance of each individual locale will jump out at you and market inefficiency a will stick out like a sore thumb. It sounds like a lot of work but you can develop a pretty deep knowledge base within a couple of weeks. Also, it doesn't hurt to develop a relationship with a few reputable SRA or MAI appraisers- Google is your friend. Good luck!

I am currently seeking opportunities to flip properties, but my credit is blasphemous and I sort of feel that no sane persons would partner with me in my ventures. My current marketing plan consists of driving-for-dollars and networking. What would you do in my situation? Here's the rub - Three years ago I made some impossible choices for the right reasons and am now curing my functionally obsolescent financial position. I knew the choices made would snuff out my glowing credit report and plunge me into the pits of collection-calls despair. Now my current household income has nearly quadrupled, and while the monstrosity that is the student loan balance eats up a significant portion of monthly earnings I am nearly at the point where each (three in total) written-off account shall be PAID IN FULL (!!! :-D HELLS YESSS SON!) - which, of course, is the only ethical option. My background is in real estate appraisal, though I'm not currently practicing. I'm committed to investing in real estate. I'm committed to building a portfolio of commercial and residential real estate. How would you proceed in my situation? Thank you for your blunt honesty and tactless but insightfully thoughtful responses.

Hi Megan. Welcome. Upstate CREIA has an 11am at epicurean on woodruff this coming Tuesday. Why don't you come out, meet some people, and start building some relationships. Oh and join Upstate CREIA as soon as possible. See you around town.

There is no recourse if the buyers agent fails to find you a property. All a buyer broker agreement does is (theoretically) obligate the agent to negotiate the best deal for you, the client. This is like asking a casino-paid gambling consultant to help you beat the house - it's a conflict of interest as few buyers agents (who are also paid on commission) are truly motivated to negotiate themselves to a smaller sales commission. Its also unfortunately the case that most buyers agents have zero negotiating skill and even less developed sales skills. Most entry level agents start out as buyers brokers because it's a job no one wants. You'll likely do better negotiating your own deal - in my opinion.

I can't speak about Than Merrill specifically; however, these events often have a progression that begins with a free seminar and goes up from there. It's usually a multi-day free event where the audience receives a crash course in neural-linguistic programming - not how to do NLP, but how it's done. The first course is often set at a price points from $300-$500 depending on what marketing research and demographics has revealed will most likely convert the target. The next step is a $3,00-$5,000 distance learning/mentoring program. This is followed up by a $15,000 -$25,000 practical, and $50,000 - $100,000 mastermind (or whatever this particular group is calling it). Sometimes the information is highly valuable, and other times the show is just to generate revenue for the performers. It's also a proven way for knowledgeable investors to find high net worth individuals who understand the value of knowledge and are willing to pay for it - a sort of quid pro quo scenario. I have known investors who bought in at the $100,000 level and did very well for many years. Most of these things are not scams, but you may find more success connecting with local Knoxville REIA members or like-minded investors until you have the capital to buy into one of the more intensive packages. Your REIA has some excellent resources available - often for free (or the cost of lunch). You may find, after 6 months of REIA meetings, podcasts, biggerpockets, coffees and/or lunch with every local investor you can pin down, that you know as much as the speaker and are blazing your own path.

It's true that investors capitalize on marketplace inefficiencies; however, I don't believe many are acting unethically. How many of the homes purchased by investors have deferred maintenance? To whom is the seller attempting to pass accountability for this deferred maintenance? Structures are like people in that the inner condition is reflected in the outer condition, thus any readily apparent deferred maintenance is a harbinger for more problems waiting beneath the surface. Problem properties are the result of problematic ownership. This is not to condemn owners, life happens, but choices were made that prohibit continued ownership. Caveat emptor. The investor accepts responsibility for curing the property and unburdening the owner. This service has a fee attached, but as the seller is unable or unwilling to pay this fee (or issues would have been addressed) a significantly reduced price is in order. It's unethical to overpay for a property unless you have a very good altruistic reason for doing so, and the funds to back support your charitable act. Of course we all know of a few glaring instances giving investors a bad reputation. Hucksters operate in any and every industry; however, analysis will prove that in most instances a breach of ethical behavior would have been less tempting with a lower purchase price.

It depends on your personality and the level of risk you're willing to accept. 

If you're the "ready, fire, aim" type then it's good you've exercised caution thus far. If your more analytical then perhaps it's time to pull the trigger. 

One investor I knew, a mobile home guru who shall remain nameless, advocated this approach because, while your cash was gone, it gave you flexibility in determining an exit strategy while only risking your own cash - and if you lost it all you at least got an education. Land and mobile homes fit this strategy and can be great proving grounds for trying out various approaches. 

If you're paying less than $750 for an appraisal I would order a second at a higher price point to get a second opinion.  Give yourself an edge and find an MAI or an SRA - maybe even ask for help under standards 4&5 of uspap. It's happened more than once that a client only cares about 1&2 and thus leaves money on the table. 

You get what you pay for and economies of scale applies here. 

The 1025 (and supporting forms) is complex and the temptation to cut corners is strong. Combine that with pricing pressure and time constraints from AMCs and it's easy to see why quality takes a dive on these reports. Better to protect yourself than be penny wise and pound foolish.