All Forum Posts by: Nick Calamia

I personally haven't but one of my mentors does a lot. He said there are a lot of deals on there but warns that sometimes the auctions have automated bids that bid higher than you if there isn't much action on the property, so the bank can squeeze as much money as possible out of the property, so you really have to take the emotional side of "winning" out of your bid and to really know your maximum best offer!

Scott, I too had exactly those same problems when I first was starting out investing out of state. I think your first best bet is to define what avenue of real estate investing you want to take up. Do you want to do flips? Buy and holds? What do you have more of a interest in residential or commercial? These are questions you should start to ask yourself first. Then from there critique more and more. For example I know exactly what I want in terms of real estate investing. I like multi families, for buy and holds, and tenant occupied that need work but are habitable. My usual rules of thumb are, if you are looking to flip stay more towards either coast line or big cities since they have higher appreciation rates and there ROI for cashflow on average tends to be lower then the central part of the country. If you are looking for buy and holds look towards the middle of the country or FOC (fly over country). A lot of these areas hardly appreciate at all and population growths are smaller, so the amount you put into a property will be mostly what you get out of it if you sell. As for trying to find a market, I know the struggle you are going through, being a resident on Long Island it almost makes no sense to try and buy and hold by me since property taxes and values are so high, its a very high risk low reward investment unless I found a killer lead. I have spent many many hours pulling my hair out trying to find deals online like you have going from market to market to market! Best choice is to pick only a handful and learn the areas and research the neighborhoods. Then come here to Biggerpockets and look to find an accredited agent,property manager, etc. in the area to be your guide on the area over there. Even looking here in the Biggerpockets marketplace, pick out some properties and practice analyzing them, so down the road YOU KNOW what a deal looks like.(Even though most are on there, but some not so much). This will also help you to start to notice areas where more and more deals are happening too. Hopefully this helps! If you ever need more help direct message me I can go on for hours here lol!

Justin, a powerful too I like using, and is especially useful in the situation where you are at since it will be your primary, is approach with owner financing. You may be able to get in with little or NO money down. However you might need to sweeten the deal for the homeowner if they aren't interested at first by giving them favorable interest rates. This shouldn't matter much since you plan on refinancing the property anyways once you have possession. 

Hey Harley! As an agent that works a lot with investors out here on Long Island, there are actually many ways both parties can benefit each other. As an agent working with a an investor who I know is looking for 1 or more properties, finding these investments I would make the commission off the sale of the house or, vice versa if the investor wants to sell the property. I recently worked with an investor who was a developer that was looking for land, which I found him a great location. The sale of the land didn't pay off that much commission wise, but since I found the subplot for the investor, he assigned me the 4 houses in the end that he ended up building. So building a solid and trusting connection between the realtor and investor can benefit the agent by repeat business with a known and qualified buyer/seller, and for the investor, gives you an inside source for deals and a trustworthy "eyes and ears" for what type of deals the investor is looking for!

Spencer, I know exactly how you feel! Starting off can be really overwhelming especially since there are so many avenues to venture off to in Real Estate Investing. I was in the same boat but once I figured out what I exactly wanted to start with (buy and holds) I made a plan of action to get started. I acquired my first property on my own without telling any of my friends or family members thinking I would get criticized. Once I finally revealed to them I have been slowly starting my portfolio I actually got the complete opposite reaction. I received a bunch of support but more surprisingly INTEREST in joining me and asking me how I did it. Find people that are like minded and/or support you no matter good or bad. Like many other members have said on here, once you start its hard to stop! You will always have doubts starting off and even when succeeding, but no other feeling is worse than the feeling of regret from not even trying! 

I would advise against this strongly! In the short term it might look attractive to make the quick buck by "pulling a fast one", but for the long term you don't want to set your reputation in your local real estate investing community as the guy who is screwing people over by lying to them to get what you want. Word of mouth spreads faster than you think!

Great thread! Logan Turner I am interested how this one turned out for you! As I am getting into note investing as well. 

Bob Malecki great info!