All Forum Posts by: Mike Marko

I am assuming your team meaning real estate agent, handyman, accountant, etc? I would start developing them right away. there are sources everywhere on how to do that.

You *can* do an LLC yourself. I know the forms are not that complicated in Ohio but I can't speak to your area. Even if you had a lawyer help you with the first one, you can use that a template for any future LLC's you need to create.

Yes, you definitely would setup a legal entity as quickly as possible for the reasons Wade mentioned. I wouldn't worry about the trademarking.

Some of my best deals were purchased between November to February time frame because there is a lot less competition.

There are a LOT of things that can be done to convert leads, but it is way too much to go into here. But to really summarize you need to warm up your leads to you. I suspect that a lot of traffic you get probably bounce off pretty fast.

Try adding giving obvious value to your audience so they want to stay on the page longer. Not only will that *help* with the leads, but it will also help with your website ranking.

How is it going? I wish you all the best! Remember my first flip.

When I first started, I came up with a plan, etc. But the most important thing I did was come up with an exit plan. Too many people dive into things without a firm exit plan, whether it be an individual investor or a large company. You must ALWAYS have an exit plan in case something happens and you have to get out. My exit plan (boiled down to its simplest form) when I started was buying single family homes to rent that I could price 20% below market value and sell quickly.

I agree with others that this is not an easy question. I think if it were me personally, how comfortable (and safe) my wife would feel in a neighborhood is the primary consideration if I were living there.

That said, picking a home out you need to consider your long term goal with that home. Maybe this article I wrote may help as well:

http://www.intendhomes.com/blog/make-money-from-real-estate-top-8-features-of-a-profitable-rental-property

I recommend a similar strategy with someone new to rental property investing. Another option would even to do that with a single family home, and then move after a year or two and buy the next one. If you can pay 80% or less than market value when you factor in purchase price and repairs, you may have enough equity built up for a HELOC for your next rental when you are ready to buy.

There are lots of strategies for getting started even when you don't have the initial cash. I was told countless times that it was impossible to get a mortgage... and then I found another way to get one. It all came down to my ability to network and not be afraid to ask for another contact or two if someone couldn't help me.

Keep in touch, then.

I also have stuff you can check out in my blog about investing in single family rentals: www.intendhomes.com

My bank allows the tenant to put their address into the notes field. Makes tracking the rent deposit very easy.

The only risk to doing this is the tenant could do a partial rent payment. In that case I recommend sending the money back to the tenant right away and remind them you do not accept partial payment.