All Forum Posts by: Andrew Syrios

I would be careful with the 50% rule, like the 70% rule for making offers, it's a rule of thumb (but even more so). On new construction it should be less. And if it's in a war zone or managed with a bad property management company it will be much more than 50%.

That link didn't work for whatever reason: http://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/4837/blog_posts/35034-10-real-estate-books-you-should-read

I wrote a blog post about the books I most recommend: http://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/4837/blog_posts/35034-10-real-estate-books-you-should-read. It really depends on whether you want to flip or hold, but either way, I would start with The Millionaire Real Estate Investor by Gary Keller.

Jim Collins wrote a book called How the Mighty Fall, which isn't about real estate companies in particular, but I think the same points apply. Generally, I think it has to do with making a big purchase (or lots of purchases) without the proper due diligence. Basically, getting overconfident and reading your own press clippings to much and forgetting how you go there. Then once that mistake happens, they make more trying to hit a home run to make up for the last mistake instead of simply getting back on the horse.

Poor quality tenants rarely stay long. You will probably have to evict them and repair the house in a few months. You should anticipate these costs as your rehab, or in other words what your all in price will be. Given that, it sounds too thin to purchase.

Bad property management is a killer and unfortunately, not uncommon. We set up our own management company so we could control everything and do it right (we only manage our own stuff). If you're really going for buy and hold and have enough units to make it make sense, that may be something you want to consider.

It's very unique and I like the creativity, although I would have two concerns: 1) it requires two steps and most people don't follow through on that from solicitations and 2) a lot of people might think the website on the postcard is loaded with viruses.

That being said, it wouldn't be a bad system to test and see if you get good results.

Of course I did say my opinion was "very biased." Adrian is right, it comes down to what you're passionate about. I do think that real estate, generally speaking, has a higher upside and has much lower barriers to entry.

Real estate is better than law in my (very biased) opinion. But I guess I would say it depends on how sure you are that you want to do real estate. I am really against investing on the side. You have to treat it as a full time job or more aptly as your vocation for it to really work. I have met a lot of real estate attorney's but never an active real estate investor who was also an active attorney.

How familiar are you with the area? Rentals in bad areas can look good on paper but be a nightmare in reality. You can check crime statistics here: clrsearch.com or at homefair.com by zip code. But I would also ask around unless you know the area really well. Best of luck!