All Forum Posts by: Ryan Evans

I would tell him that either he lets them in to do the install or he will have a very sweaty summer ahead of him. 

You already answered your own question. Yes, the best way to learn is to simply go out in the real world and do it. Buy a property and make it work. You're going to do a lot of things wrong as we all do, so might as well get started. 

If you want a mentor, you have to give more to them then they are giving to you. If they spent years of time and money acquiring skills and you want to learn those skills and take up more of their time for free, you'd better be bringing something to the table. 

You can buy properties without being a citizen, plain and simple. As far as citizenship and visas, you should be talking to an immigration specialist, not a bunch of random real estate investors. But there's no reason to wait and see properties in person, you just have to run things differently. People buy properties every day that they've never seen in person. 

Most people are going to be biased towards the city they invest in because we all like to think we're outsmarting everyone haha. 

The truth is they're just entirely different cities. They get compared a lot because they are only a couple of hours away and in the same state, but if that weren't the case I'm not sure they wouldn't be associated with one another. I mean, Baltimore and DC are just an hour apart but they are VERY different places. 

@Sabrina Hill Hondros was easy enough to use. I would just get the most basic course without all the additional materials since like most formal education, you won't ever use most of it in practice. I think there are a couple of other options but Hondros seems like the go-to for most. 

It's all going to come down to how many hours you put into it and those hours at first will largely involve cold calling. You can make plenty of money here as an agent if you go all at it, but your first year will be slow as you build things up so you should have the right expectations. Make no mistake about it, being a full-time agent is a commission-only sales job that most people aren't cut out for. 

When I moved to Cleveland I got my license and joined my friend's KW team, but only because I could take over a big piece of their buyer business and take back all the clients I had referred them over the years so it was an easy transition. And it makes my investing easier having access to properties and the MSL.  It's always just been supplemental income, though. I've since left KW because their fees and caps are terrible. Though, apparently they have good resources for newbies. I didn't go to the office a single time so the "perks" didn't have any value to me whatsoever. 

As for courses, just do Hondros online and try to find a broker that will cover some of your startup/exam fees

Funding is going to be tough unless one of your partners signs on the loan. I've been in a similar situation over the past few years - the moving and unstable work history and I've just been using private money. 

I'm guessing you're going for cash flow if looking at the low priced markets. The reason they are under 100k is because they didn't appreciate like other markets, so appreciation shouldn't weigh as heavily on your numbers in the first place. 

If you're going for cash flow then you should be in it for at least a few years, in which case any downturn that happens won't affect you unless you sell. At the end of the day that's just the risk of real estate. 

Just be careful when running numbers on condos. A lot of investors shy away from them because there are factors outside of your control and the HOA fees can kill a lot of deals. $500 in HOA fees is usually better spent on paying down a mortgage and saving for your own CapEx.

And why pay down the mortgage in just a few years? Paying it down just to take the money back out doesn't make any sense. You could save/reinvest that money in something else in the meantime and not get hit with fees. 

You can make money in any market with the right strategy so keep doing your due diligence! 

Don't worry too much about strategy. There's no reason to think about what deals you'll be doing in two years if you haven't done one yet. If you can't afford a duplex in your area maybe you can buy a house with a bunch of bedrooms and rent those out. Deal with roommates for a year on your FHA and then move onto the next. Figure out your strategy for the next deal once you've got that experience under your belt!

Hard money is for flipping by the way. If you're not doing a major renovation or just using it to bridge two other loans then it's not the right thing for you in this case. 

Love to move to Ohio? Now that's not something you hear every day!