All Forum Posts by: Ryan Leonard

Hi Harrison - if I were in your position, I would use part of your $35k in a marketing campaign and another chunk for networking and education. If you can market and find yourself with a great deal on your hands (no matter the price point), you can leverage your network and find people who will want to fund the property for you. Finding and putting a deal together is a lot of work, and people will be willing to give you that money (assuming you know what you're doing) as long as they can expect good returns. 

I agree with Nate. Getting out in front of people who know real estate is a huge advantage to fill in your educational shortcomings. Along with that, I find talking with investors to be motivating as they are living proof that everything you heard/read about is actually possible. 

I agree with the zoom call idea. On top of that I wouldn't necessarily ask for proof of funds right away, but the moment they start asking you to do showings or sending you properties, I would ask for proof of funds so you can get that "checked off the list in case they want to write an offer". Not sure what standard practice is in Seattle, but in Wisconsin, it is common to get proof of funds when you start looking at properties with an all-cash buyer. This should prevent your time from getting wasted as well as not being too forward. Hope this helped!

Hi Marcus - what type of property are you thinking of investing in and do you have an idea of where in Milwaukee? The reason I ask is that certain management companies only cover certain areas and types of property. 

Hi Joseph - that's a great question. I think one of the best pieces of advice for a new agent is to understand that you're up against the odds. 90% of agents (give or take) stop selling real estate in the first few years. I don't mean this to discourage you, but to encourage you and put you in a state of mind that will best prepare you. In order to have success and build the business you want to have, I think it would be beneficial to have an action-based approach and not a result-based approach. By this, I mean to identify a few actions you can do every day/week/month that will inevitably bring you success and then do those actions without fail. Watch other successful agents and absorb a lot of information and use this to determine what your "actions" are. If you do the right actions, results are inevitable. There are a lot of people who fail in real estate, but there are a lot of people who don't go in with reasonable expectations and discipline. 

The last thing I would recommend is to set up your real estate career in a way that puts the least amount of stress on it. What I mean by this is to avoid putting yourself in a position where you need to depend on your real estate sales for living expenses right away. Seeing the results of your actions in real estate normally takes at least 90 days, so don't expect to depend on your commission for living expenses in the near future. I'd recommend having at least 6 months of living expenses accounted for and saved up. That gives you enough time to get acclimated and see the results of your actions but is not such a long timeline where there's no urgency to succeed. 

Hope this helped and good luck!

Hi Ryan - I'm sure you've heard (or will hear) a ton about this book, but my favorite book of all time is Rich Dad Poor Dad. It completely shifted my outlook on money and life. It forces you to think through the lens that most real estate investors do, and it's what gave me the passion for real estate I have today. This book does not contain practical real estate knowledge, but it will give you a strong "why" behind wanting to become an investor. 

For more initial practical knowledge, I really liked the BP Books. Both The Ultimate Beginners Guide and How to Invest With Low or No Money Down set the foundation for all of my real estate investment knowledge. If you're just starting out, those are the books I would recommend. 

Good luck!

Hi Jacob - I love the ambition. The best way to Birddog would be to find properties off-market that other brokers/investors are not aware of. The two main ways to go about this would be networking (going to any real estate-related events in your area) or sending out marketing pieces (commonly direct mail). If you decide to go the direct mail route, you will need a marketing budget, so that's why networking may be a great way to get your foot in the door and see if you want to invest money into marketing. 

Secondly, with regards to analyzing deals, I think going to these networking events and listening to others who have done it all before. On top of that, I think the BP calculators are a great resource. By running a bunch of reports on random properties you find online, you start to get a feel for some of the variables involved in finding a good investment property.  

Hi Alexia - there's no need for me to rehash everything everyone else said as I agree with them. The "house hack" is a very manageable way to get into real estate investing. This first investment will give you momentum for your future investments and this approach has been held in extremely high regard among the BP community. 

I agree with what others are saying. If the property is listed at $600k and your agent won't put in an offer at $50k under asking, then you should have a conversation about your expectations with your agent. 

If you were asking to write $550k on a property currently listed for $1.2M and there was already an offer or two out on the property, then I would understand the agent's point. But, in this circumstance, $550k is a more than reasonable offer and as your agent, they should be acting in your best interest. 

Hi Jim - I agree with Todd. Because you would be living in the home, you should be able to get a primary loan on the purchase. Then, you can take advantage of a lower rate while still renting out your current duplex. If you have a cash-flow-positive property that doesn't give you a big headache, I would definitely recommend keeping it. You could always roll that equity over into an investment property, but I wouldn't suggest rolling it into your home (if you can afford a decent place without it). And if you fix up the home like you're saying, you could be looking to roll quite a bit of capital into a future investment between both your home and duplex, assuming that's something you desire.