All Forum Posts by: Salvatore Lentini

@Tracy Day - I forgot to answer your other question.  Private lenders are not as mystical as they sound.  They are friends, family, coworkers etc.  They are people with money that are looking to invest and getting a return.  They can be structured as interest only or equity.  You find them wherever you find..... people :)

Not kidding.  You'd be surprised how many people you come across that have a lot of money available to loan.  The great thing is, with all the home reno shows on tv, tons of people out there are enamored with real estate and will be intrigued when you approach them.

Hi Tracy-

I've developed enough relationships where I mostly use private lender money and asset based lenders.  I bring in money partners and share the equity.  I'm actually working on a $3M deal as we speak (fingers crossed) using a seller 2nd and an equity partner so that I have to come up with very little out of pocket.  The more deals you do the more creative you get :)

@Alexander Szikla - not sure I understand.  After building 2 different companies (unrelated to real estate) up to 12 employees I decided I was not going to build a company with employees again for my real estate portfolio.  Too much of a headache.  Instead I work with brokers, property managers, lawyer, accountant, bookkeeper, title companies, sub contractors etc.  All get paid by the job, the hour or by commission.  None are employees and I plan to keep it that way for as long as I can :)

Hi @John Tobin - message me and I can give you a resource to find a local real estate group.  There are tons of great places to invest in PA, NJ, NY, CT.  Depends on what you're looking for, what your goals are, how much money and time you have.  I think the closer the better.  Sometimes it's not possible but in most places it is.

Hi @Jaren Smith - bird dogging is usually a very temporary, informal side hustle.  I don't know of any contracts specific to it.  You'll need to just trust the wholesaler or rehabber you are bird dogging for.

@Jim Piety - I wouldn't buy a property like that unless I had hard numbers.  I bought a property early on where my eyes were bigger than my wallet.  I "guess-timated" $125K in repairs and it came in at around $200K. (long story which involved a lot of holding costs and a bad contractor)  That was painful.  Luckily I had a few other deals around then that were profitable so I was able to absorb the hit and none of my private lenders received even a minor scrape but if it was my first deal or my only deal it would've sunk me.

@Diana Garza Sena - it all depends on you.  There's no "one" right niche or strategy.  There are successful investors that only do fix & flips, or only do single family rentals, or only multi family, or only triple net.  None of them are right, they're just doing what works for them.  In my online course I teach investors how to find their niche and find their strategy.

@Nicholas Liebig - there's no one right way to go about it.  You need to try multiple methods and see which works best for you.  A lot of aspiring investors are looking for 1 suggestion or 1 tip that will get them started in their investing career.  There isn't "1".  Real estate investing is a lot of "learn as you go".  I've bought hundreds of properties and am always learning.... still!

@James Ma - it's funny you should mention that.  I do think there is potential to invest in commercial retail depending on the location and demographics.  The weird thing is, I haven't really seen much discounting.  I think a lot of owners are hanging on for when the pandemic ends but that's probably wishful thinking.  It may take longer than expected for retail to recover and the reality is, retail was hurting pre-covid.  That's the part I think a lot of investors are ignoring.  You'd have to have a plan though.  Finding new types of retailer tenants or breaking up the space differently.  Think take out food tenants vs in restaurant dining tenants.  Or breaking up a space into a bunch of smaller pop up shop tenants as vs 1 big single tenant. Or a tenant that has a strong mix of online and offline sales.  I know some that are buying hotels and converting them to multi family.  You need to think of the equivalent in the retail space.  If you think of anything message me.  Would love to brainstorm.

Hi @Alancha Thompson - it is definitely harder to invest in the US as a non-US citizen.  There are lenders that do it but you will pay a higher rate.  You also run into the same problem as US citizens do when they invest out of state but to a much larger degree because you're in a different country.  Maybe you can find a US partner?  Or invest passively through private lending or syndication.