All Forum Posts by: Quentin Mitchell

The first deal that I ever bought was the furthest thing from a real state investor in my opinion but I was hungry to get into the game, that was a good thing. The bad thing is a did zero due diligence and I outsourced all the work and therefore had no idea of what was going on. Long story short I overpaid for a property right before the crash, did not pick my own tenant or pick the rental price (even with rent I was at a negative cash flow) the property had zero appreciation and I didn't calculate anything into my figures. For lack of better words I fu*@ked up big time I ended up losing the house the tenant only paid 3 months, I was an out of state investor so it was hard to even try to evict from afar. 

Those are the bad things that happened, but the good things that happened are it made me learn more about real estate so that I didn't make the same mistakes, it made me create criteria to look for when searching for tenants, it made me be more hands-on with the business, it made me look at the numbers for adequate cash flow, it made me be a better investor actually it made me an investor because that first deal I was not an investor I was just a guy that bought a house. Now I am up to 15 doors and counting and have been able to manage all properties myself without any evictions and everyone pays their rent, but I feel if the very first house had not happened like that then I wouldn't have learned or been motivated to want to learn. It is not how you start but how you bounce back from adversity so if your deals aren't working out there is light at the end of the tunnel just stick with it.

Since you are going to be the new landlord and you need to approach it as such, you cannot be afraid to tell the tenant what you want because you have to remember that you are training them on how you want things to be. Also, must tenants do not want to move anyway so they will more than likely comply. Just go in letting them know you will continue to fix things and take care of the property as the previous regime but you prefer a 12-month lease and that is how it will be going forth.

You can even give them a month or 2 grace period of a month to month and then add the 12-month lease, which would also give you some time to find a tenant for the other unit. But do not be afraid to enforce your rules.

How are some ways that you were able to grow your portfolio to where it is now and how you will you continue to grow your portfolio in the future?

So once everyone starts no matter how much education you have done and how much you think you prepared yourself it is very different when you actually step out and do a deal in the real world, but after you get something under your belt then when do you think is a good time to try to expand what you have done already. I'm asking when do you kick in overdrive to buy more properties than you previously have done in the past.

I say when you have somewhat of proof of concept it doesn't need to be perfect just needs to be up and functioning a decent level, and the second part is when you have some way to fund deals, whether it be private, hard money or your own cash.

I like the put money in your pocket part.

@Timothy Lewis I agree the more you do anything the better you get at it, so consistency is definitely a needed trait.

@Jim K. That was very well put I agree 100% with all that you said the ones that don't get it are the ones that are afraid to make a mistake or be wrong it can happen but it also can not happen.

They are a lot of reasons some people have success in real estate while other's don't have as much or any at all, what are some things you think make some investors successful?

Here are my few feel free to add more.

Flexible (this game is unpredictable so you have to be willing to adjust accordingly).

Patience (Especially in the beginning it takes time to get systems in place and people in place). 

Risk-taker (You got to be willing to take chances when opportunities present themselves).

Personality (in less you have a ton of money already, people will not enjoy working with an a**hole)

Outside the box thinker (got to be able to see things that others don't see or not willing to try)

Willing to learn (the ability to take good advice as well as seek information to advance your business)

Committed (everything isn't going to work as planned so you got to be willing to continue to try)

Know when you say no (you got to say no to bad deals and/or partnerships)

Please fill free to add or critic my list as you see fit.

@Amber Knoth Great job having those things in place helps see it when you find it, also I am a huge fan of smaller multi-family.

This could mean different things to different people and I think certain factors affect whether or not something is a good deal or not, experience (a good deal for a newbie is different to seasoned investor), location ( a good deal in California could be a horrible deal in Indiana), strategy ( a deal could be bad for a flip, but really good for a rental), skillset ( someone who is handy can save more money on labor opposed to someone that doesn't know anything about handy work, also someone that can manage properties opposed to someone who isn't cut out for it, etc). Funds ( who you can afford a down payment or have the cash to offer to lower to price or a good reserves for the repairs opposed to someone with no capital or access to capital.

With that being said what makes a good deal for you?