All Forum Posts by: Ryan Spearman

Let us know how it goes

I have always got the place under contract, then got the professionals in. 

It does mean you need to come up with a figure that the vendor accepts and signs, but the flip side is you have a lot more time to do your due diligence.

It is entirely possible to arrange to have inspectors go through before you have it under contract, you just run the risk of someone else swooping in and pulling it out from under you, after you have committed to pay your inspectors.

If you can find a price which is an approximation of what you think it might cost to make the deal work, and the vendor is happy with it you might as well get the contract signed and lock up the deal. As long as you have all your due diligence clauses in place, you can always pull out if the renovation costs are going to run too high, or better yet, you now have a document to back up why the vendor should drop the price for you.

Don't be afraid of getting the place under contract. As long as you have plenty of conditions in there you can always get out, but if you don't have it under contract, you won't be able to buy it.

Just remember, no matter what your quotes are, your renovations will run over massively. Double isn't unusual

I'm no pro but if you can make it work then do it.

I saw Tom Panos speak last year and my key thing I took away from him was the best time to buy a property, assuming it works as a deal, is whenever you can. 

Maybe you should make your criteria more conservative than normal to make yourself feel more comfortable, but if it works then that's a good thing

Hi Dale,

I bought a block of flats recently where one of the flats was partially renovated, and the rest completely unrenovated.

The partially renovated flat definitely came in a lot cheaper to bring to finish, so you might be onto something.

If you do like Dean said though and get a lot of thorough quotes you will know for sure and can't go wrong. The more professionals you can get involved before you part with your money the better

Hi, I'm a buy and hold investor in New Zealand.

I've had some success using direct mail marketing, and want to expand on that, making it more systematic.

What should I use as my CRM?

My mailouts are very small, only about 150 letters in one campaign.

I'd like to be able to record what I send and who I send it to, then record what response I had from whom.

I'd then like to follow up to non-responders with another letter and start the cycle again.

I have just been using a spreadsheet, but it's a total mess and barely worth doing.

I really want something systematic and repeatable.

Thanks heaps

Ryan

Cashflow always seems to get left out of the Brrrr explanations. 

I got extremely hyped about David Green’s story and examples, I’m determined to model my growth on his, but what is holding me back on a lot of my deals is the cashflow. 

I can buy the equity easy enough, but the rents are so low I can’t afford to hold them. 

In the most recent podcast (327) on the Brrrr method Brandon said, find me a city where a house can be flipped and I will show you a house that can be brrrred.

First off, I’m not a flipper trying to pick holes. I’m definitely a buy and holder trying to kick start my portfolio.

While I understand what he says, in that more equity can be realised by refinancing than what a flipper can extract as profit, an important part of the equation that is often overlooked is that it absolutely has to be cash flow positive.

It is for this reason my home market is more suited to flipping than brrrring and I am searching in a different town, as the rents in my market are really low compared to the purchase price of a house.

Hi @Tony Chang. They charge 7.5% on all gross rents and then 7.5% on top of any maintenance work/bills they facilitate

I currently have 5 units all with the same property management company, they are all in a different city from where I live. 

I would like to scale up and buy more units and was wondering if anyone ever used two different management companies within the same town. 

The first one is ok, but I feel like there’s a few holes in their systems. I figured if I use a different company for several properties it will be a great way of comparing them. 

We do it all the time with contractors to increase the competition so why not with property management? 

Go hard on all the books, there is amazing info out there- Rich Dad Poor Dad, Millionaire real estate investor, search them all out and use the library, it gets pricey if you buy them. 

Graham Fowler writes some great stuff about nz real estate investing, haven’t found them at the library but they are pretty cheap on the kindle. 

Good luck with the learning