All Forum Posts by: Roman Pak

@Ned Rennolds I would try to show her some examples of what you're looking for. Deals that others have done or that you've heard about, or a deal that you found that didn't quite work out. You may just need to get her to think about the deals in the same way as you, or look at properties from a different perspective. If she's used to working with historic homes and larger homes, it may be difficult to shift that perspective into something like fix and flips.

As a side note however, I've tried working with friend real estate agents, and in my experience, it never works out. When you have a personal connection with someone like a realtor, in some ways the pressure is off of them. They don't seem to have the same sense of urgency.

Here's an example. I worked with a real estate agent that was a long time friend of mine. When I contacted him to look at properties I thought it would work out great for both of us. What happened was that he didn't really feel like he was working for me. He must have had the idea that there was no problem with taking his time and handling his other affairs over trying to find a property for me. It would take him days to put a contract together. He would show up late to showings, and would make promises he knew he couldn't keep. As a result of him dragging his feet, I lost out on two deals, which I stood to make approx. 30-40k on.

Bottom line is that before you start working with a friend on real estate deals, especially if they've never done this before/don't do this themselves, be 100% clear as to what your expectations are. Let them know that it's not ok to treat your relationship as an excuse for poor performance.

@Brie Schmidt @Mark Ainley @Trevor K. - The consensus seems to be that HOA fees are the end of the road for a deal. That's kind of how I was leaning, just wasn't sure if that made any sense.

@Mark Ainley - Thanks for the insight. I've thought about areas like Grayslake, just not very familiar with the market up there.

Hi BP!

I'm a noobie investor. I've been looking at starting out with 1/1, 2/1 or 2/2 condos in my area (NW suburbs of Chicago, specifically Buffalo Grove).

The issue I constantly run into is that when I run the numbers on a property, the HOA dues, typically between $250-$400/mo. completely kill any potential cash flow on the property.

The rental ratio for condos in my area is around 1.5% of purchase price. The ratio for SF houses is even lower approx. .8%-1%.

Does anyone have any experience solving this kind of problem? Do the renters take care of the HOA dues every month?

@Kevin Fletcher yes, that's usually per property, unless you can work out a "bulk" deal where they may give you a slight discount to do multiple searches. I haven't had to use a PI yet, however, I do have one that I've worked with before for other things, and he says it's really easy for them to do something like that. I can provide whatever information I have, like address of the property, and they can lookup the rest. They have access to DMV records, court records, etc.

If you really need to get the info and are not having any luck with the county or those methods listed above, you may choose to use a private investigator. In my area they charge between $150-200 to get you the owners info including address phone number etc.

It would be nice to offer a little gift of some sort. Nothing fancy, but something that breaks the ice. I find that people are much more accepting of you and what you have to say, if you give them a reason to be.

@Bobby Beard I know exactly what you mean. I haven't done any real estate deals yet, and I've found that I'm looking at every purchase as if it's money being tossed in the trash.

I just had to buy a car, to replace a brand new car that was totaled. :( and ended up buying a certified used one, because I couldn't bring myself to spend the extra $6K on a new one.

Hi @Simone Withers, welcome! I just joined BP as well. I'm in the NW suburbs. This site is full of resources and a ton of info. I've been hitting the podcasts over the last few days.

Good luck and happy investing!

Hi Brianna, thanks for the welcome and the info. I've got a prior obligation that day, but I really appreciate it.