All Forum Posts by: Mitch Ferraro

@Lauren Hogan, hi there! I know a very active investor up in Green Bay. His name is Jason Lund and he'll be at the GB WiscoREIA meeting. Try and connect with him while you are up there. He's also very active on Facebook. So you can friend request him if you'd like. I did let him know that you'd be at the meeting and gave him your name. I know @Corey Reyment may be able to help you as well. Good luck! :) 

@Valerie Cowden Durante & Rich is a great PM company and manages units in Kenosha. I highly recommend.

@Corbin Jones & @Brent Watanabe finding, good, quality contractors can be extremely tough. I agree with @Matt Maurice that a lot of the "good" contractors are very busy right now and trying to start a relationship could be challenging. 

In either case I highly recommend pulling your own due diligence on any contractor that you decide to work with. Call references, do background checks, and, if you can, set up a call with the contractor before work will be done to make sure they are a good fit for you. I would also recommend to be sure they are licensed and insured and if they have employees that they have workman's comp insurance. Also, be sure to collect lien waivers once work is completed and payment has been made. 

For bigger projects it also helps to have a clear scope of work and payment schedule that is agreed upon by you and your contractor that you are working with. Being on the same page from the beginning is crucial to success no matter what size the project is. 

Hey @Zachary Schimenz! Congratulations! Glad to see you are utilizing a property manager right from the get go. I think that's a great decision. Depending on where the property is located and what type of property it is you will find different PM companies to service you. From our experience, Rich Durante of D&R Property Management and Joe Mundo of World Property Management are two companies we'd recommend. Congrats again and good luck! 

Hey @Jeff Milas! I'd say costs are going to be you biggest determining factor on this one. Right now in our area of Wisconsin we are finding it's about $15 sq/ft for material and labor to build a deck. About $7 sq/ft to pour concrete. Add about another $2 sq/ft for any demo work for existing deck. Now, since you are able to do the work yourself you can almost cut those numbers in half since you will just be paying for material, unless you pay yourself for labor on your own properties. 

I don't know exactly what part of Wisconsin you are in but if it's a more woodsy area I'd say a deck would be the way to go and would mostly likely get more value for you in the long run. If more of a suburban area I'd say concrete slab. Hope this helped. :) 

@Damon James, I can understand where you are coming from. In my experience there is no right or wrong time to hop into real estate. Love @Marcus Auerbach's proverb...the best time to invest in real estate was 30 years ago and the second best time is today. I think there is a huge mindset block with a lot of new investors about not having capital to invest in real estate. Even when you are starting out there is a lot of opportunity to start raising private money for your first deal. 

Private money (or also know as Other People's Money - OPM) is different than hard money and different from working with banks. In my opinion, it's the best way to fund your deals and can be done with using little to none of your own capital. I think a lot of newer investors struggle with this because they don't know the best way to approach individuals that could lend to them. If you are finding true deals and you are able to present, correctly, that you have a true deal you can raise the money to fund it. Even if it's your first deal.

There's actually a good Bigger Pockets webinar from 2018 that Matt Faircloth did about raising private money. Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/BiggerPockets/videos/raising-private-money-to-fund-your-real-estate-deals-live-qa/10155953695419833/

There's a lot that goes into starting out in real estate but one of the biggest things you can do Damon is write out some actionable tasks that you can do on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly basis. For example, a weekly goal could be calling 5 sellers that you find on FSBO.com. A monthly goal could be to put out 20 offers. A quarterly goal could be to get one deal under contract. A yearly goal could be to make "X" amount of dollars from real estate deals. These are all very basic examples but you should be doing something like this. You should have these goals visible to you on daily basis so you are seeing them and striving for them, every day. Best of luck to you Damon! :)

@Jorden Glasco, I'd recommend getting a proper legal partnership in place before moving forward on anything.  You'd want to find a real estate attorney in your area that can advise and draft this up for you. Even though you are friends and I'm sure you trust each other you want things in writing before you start purchasing any properties. In our business, we have 4 equal partners and everything is divided up in quarters. Once the business starts generating money you then can decide how much goes to each partner, what goes back into the business, what gets set aside for taxes, what gets set aside for expense, etc. Hope that helped. :) 

First-time flippers: House Flip Tour (FREE)

First time house-flippers and Real Deal students, Andy and Alyssa open the doors on their renovation and share their story! Come and see their renovation project nearing completion as they reveal the strategies they implemented to get things done! Join us for this FREE house flip tour on Saturday, June 1st at 1pm in Kenosha. Get ready for a candid, open and honest discussion and a wealth of information on house flipping! Look forward to learning about:

- Property Analyzation & Comps
- Process and Documentation
- Project Timelines and Management
- What to Look for and Common Pitfalls
- Finish Selections & How to Determine

We look forward to seeing you all! Come ready to learn, take notes and ask questions! You really don't want to miss this first-hand opportunity to learn!

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Milwaukee.

Purchase price: $45,000
Cash invested: $24,800

Contributors:
Adam Slipher

This was a rental that was obtained by the BRRR strategy. Fully renovated and now producing cash flow each month.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Purchase price and renovation costs that could produced a positive monthly cash flow.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Purchased from a wholesaler and they negotiated directly with the seller.

How did you finance this deal?

Private money then refinanced with commercial lender.

How did you add value to the deal?

Renovated the kitchen, bathroom, flooring throughout, paint throughout, fixtures, and landscaping. Turned into a great single family rental.

What was the outcome?

Single family rental with positive monthly cash flow.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

This was a pretty smooth project. Good time frame, stayed within budget, and quality rental product put on the market.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

As always, Summit LDS was a great title company to work with on buying side and refinancing side of the transaction.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $45,000
Cash invested: $24,800
Sale price: $125,000

Contributors:
Adam Slipher

This was a rental that was obtained by the BRRR strategy. The sales price on this one was what it was appraised out for when we refinanced. Great rental, great cashflow.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Purchase price and renovation costs to get this to a great positive cash flowing rental.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

We purchased this from a wholesaler and they negotiated directly with the seller.

How did you finance this deal?

Private money and then refinanced with commercial lender.

How did you add value to the deal?

Renovated the kitchen, bathroom, flooring, paint, landscaping, and basement. Now it's a great 3 bed, 1 bath single family rental.

What was the outcome?

We turned this into a rental property that generates $1,200/month

Lessons learned? Challenges?

This was a pretty smooth project. Low budget, quick turn, and contractors did a good job on this one.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

As always, Summit LDS was a great title company to work with on this refinance. They are always a super investor friendly title company.