All Forum Posts by: Sam Alomari

HAHA, I'm on the same boat. My first name is shortened to Sam so that people can spell it. My last name is not common in the USA so people won't memorize it.

Personally, I believe self branding is superior to business branding! My solution to the hard-to-spell name is to use a business name but still heavily link my name with the business name so that whenever someone reads or hears the business name, it links back to my name.

I am actually starting a new youTube channel in my own language to educate international investors that speak the same language. I use an easy to remember channel name, but I introduce myself in every video. Still working on the video and will publish them soon.

Good luck!

I invest in Indianapolis, so my wholesalers won't benefit you :)

Just curios, what is your current rate? are you sure the spread worth the process and the closing cost? If you just want to pull money to invest, then you can get heloc for a much better rate, and you won't pay closing fee.

@Jesal Shah You can still find properties on the MLS, but you have better chance working with wholesalers. They'll send you off market deals, so you'll have less competition. Just make sure your wholesaler is legit and sends good deals, because unfortunately it's kind of a trend that newbies starts as wholesalers and in my opinion you should work with experience ones. I don't mind giving a newbie a chance, but I've seen some of them try to push deals on me thinking that they can trick me because I'm out of state investor.

Good luck my friend 

Clayton is a legit investor. He is a decent guy and I like him personally. I listen to his podcast regularly and I talked to him personally before, but we couldn't do business together and here is why (personal opinion):

1- Clayton's calculations are a simplified version of the truth. He doesn't count for CapEx because he does a complete gut rehab. He deducts 40% for tax, insurance and maintenance, but that percentage is not always a good estimate. It helps you to make a quick decision if the deal you are looking at is worth the time for deeper analysis, but I wouldn't make a final decision using his simple approach.

2- Clayton is all about getting investors to overcome their fears, and again that makes him simplify the true cost of owning real estate. He doesn't discuss the intricacies. He does that because if you invest with him, he will take care of your headache, but personally I'm hands on, so that didn't work for me. 

3- He sent me couple of deals, and when I asked for photos, he said sure, but never sent any photos. I asked other legit questions about the property but he ignored them. When I said, I like the deal but i would like you to answer my questions, he said "Great, I'll have my assistant send the contract", but never addressed my concerns.

4- Clayton doesn't send deals when they are available, he sends you only one deal that matches your investing strategy. That is not always good because I've seen OTHER investors/wholesalers try to change the facts to make the deal appealing because they know what are you looking for exactly. Clayton is a good guy so I don't expect him to do that, but I don't like the fact that he sends one deal and if you don't take it, he gets upset and never sends you other deals.

5- Clayton doesn't push you to buy the deal, but he says his deals last only 2 hours. If that's true, then he has investors that he wants to make them happy, maybe happier than you, so I don't know what deals he would send you as a newbie.

6- Clayton owns close to 50 rental property, and he has access to lenders, so why would he send you the amazing deals if he can add it to his portfolio? 

7- Clayton invests in high crime areas. I didn't believe that until I started working with a great mentor and we looked together on hundreds of deals.

8- When you invest with Clayton, you are paying a premium price. The sale price is really high and you can get similar properties for $10k less from other wholesalers.

To be fair to the guy, I like Clayton and his wife Natali. They added so much knowledge to my investing career. I like their podcast and I think it's very good source of information to any serious investor (did I say that already?).

If you really want to be HANDS OFF investor, and you don't mind to pay extra for that convenience, Clayton is one of the best out there. If you want to get to your freedom number earlier, save decent money, learn the ins and outs of the business, and be on top of YOUR OWN investments, then find a good mentor, learn the business and do it yourself.

“You give a poor man a fish and you feed him for a day. You teach him to fish and you give him an occupation that will feed him for a lifetime.” (Chinese proverb.)

Good luck!

Of course! I have used heloc for cash offers recently.

Hi Rashard,

I'm not experiences in subject-to but there is always a risk of the due on sale clause, Most likely banks don't care as long as mortgage is paid on time, but it happened before with others where the bank called the balance due because of the sale transaction.

Sam

Great idea, I own a technology real estate startup as well. I built web and mobile platform for real estate agents and brokers.

Do you have a website for people who want to learn more?

If the seller is not offended by your offer, then you are offering too much!

$50k offer on $64k listing price is not ridiculous at all especially for an investment deal. 

I personally wouldn't care how much they put in for the rehab, I would look at location, tax assessment, sales history, rent rate, comps, then run the numbers and offer what makes sense to me and what fits into my strategy. 

Actually I thought I was offering too low on a property but I ended up closing at 60% of the asking price!

Another property was listed by the owner for a very high price compared to the actual value. Out of curiosity I called the owner. It turns our that the daughter is listing the house for that price because she doesn't want her Mom to sell! The mother was happy with 40% of the listing price!!!

Good luck  

Here is my 10 steps system that I naturally followed myself. I didn't know that I have a 10 steps system until I finished writing this comment :)

BTW, I am still newbie, so I'm sure you'll find better advice, but I felt it is good to share my thoughts on this.

1- Before educating yourself, you need to figure out your BIG WHY! Why do you want to become a real estate investor? Why real estate? Is it for me? why is it for me? Finding your big why will help you to find your purpose and your goals. Now if you have a strong why, write down your goals, break them down for smaller deliverables, and assign a due date per goal. 

When I started, I didn't write my goals, and I didn't know my big why, so I kept bouncing between books, podcasts, blog posts, etc. without clarity because I didn't have a purpose! As soon as I wrote  my big why, purpose, goals in the form of a 3 years plan, it was like magic!!! I wanted to buy 3 houses in the next 12 months, and I ended up raising the bar to 12 houses because it was easy to achieve! It's much easier than a newbie would think (I'm still a newbie though)

2- Read books, listen to podcasts, watch youtube videos, etc (self education), this will help you learn the basics.

3- Attend as many RE meetup groups as you can (group education), this will help you practice what you have learned in step 1. Talk the RE language with investors until you are comfortable with the terms. Once you stopped looking up terms such as Cap Rate, CapEx, Title, Warranty deed, QuitClaim etc. then you are ready for the next step.

4- Find your market. You don't have to invest in your backyard. I live in VA, but I invest in IN. Find a market that is aligned with your goals. For example I invest in Indianapolis because I'm all about cashflow. However, if I was more interested in appreciation, I would probably invest in my state (VA).

5- Scan the MLS for what you would consider good deals, and train yourself on how to quickly and correctly analyze a deal. You might need an excel sheet at the beginning, and it will take sometime, but eventually you'll be able to sniff deals and know if it's good or not in one glance.

6- This is THE MOST IMPORTANT, find a MENTOR that invests in the same market you are interested in! This isn't place on top because you should be able to know the basics and communicate intelligently with your mentor. A good mentor should be able to guide you and put you on the right track. A mentor is not supposed to baby step you and teach you the basics, he/she is supposed to fill the gaps, explain why this works and why that doesn't, as well as show you what strategy he/she uses, why and some showcases for pervious investments. Basically a good mentor will show you what to do and what not to do. BTW, not every mentor is a good mentor so be careful.

7- Know exactly what kind of RE business you want to get yourself in! Wholesaling? Fix & Flip? Buy and hold? residential? commercial? Mobile houses? Land? Single family? multi-family? etc.

8- Make sure that deals are steadily flowing to you inbox. You don't want to go hunt for deals if you want to become serious investors, sign up with reputable wholesalers and RE agents. Usually your mentor will hock you up. As a beginner, it's alright to spend time on hunting for good deals, that's the hustle you need to go through to find out that it is important t automate this process and rely on other people such as wholesalers to bring you good deals. 

9- Make offers, and this one is really really a HUGE milestone. Once you get to this point, you have acquired good knowledge, you know how to run your numbers, you have an internal built-in "good deals radar/sensor" to help you quickly focus on the good deals and weed out the bad ones, you have a great mentor to push you in the right direction. Now MAKE OFFERS. This is not easy and your heart will stop before making your first offer. Your fingers will freeze before clicking the send button, and you'll doubt your decision a millions time after you send your offer. That's normal, don't worry, and don't back-out of any offer unless something crazy shows up during inspection.

After the first property, I promise you, you will be comfortable submitting offers everyday, you'll feel you are buying/selling used cars :)

10- Stay motivated. How? always immerse yourself with books, podcasts, meetings, mentors and successful people so that you stay. If you are motivated all the time, you will never lose your purpose, and if you roll with a clear purpose in mind and documented goals, you'll get where ever you want.

Good luck!