All Forum Posts by: Sam Lin

@Wendy McLean Welcome to BP! If you have access to mentors (friends, colleagues, etc) in the real estate industry, I'd prefer that. There are also people you can shadow in the 100% commission brokerage, as well as access to online learning classes. These are the questions to ask, big or small brokerage firm.

All depends on how you learn best and fastest.

@Aaron GoffBP podcasts, articles and forums are good. I'd also build relationships and ask lots of questions to the flippers that you've dealt with as an electrician. As others have mentioned, start planning your source of fund for investing.

@Chris SussermanIf you're still thinking about financing, loan officers that work in mortgage brokers may work out better for you, since they work with a number of banks at the same time, often at a competitive rate than the smaller banks.

@Brendan Lawrence Welcome to BP! Having a mature business that helps pay bills and contribute to real estate invest is gold. I look at $ to justify the license, because 1 transaction per year at $800k more than pays for the fees, hassle, continuing education, E&O, etc.

@Steve ZubrowskiWelcome to BP! Your experience in the financial industry will definitely come in handy in risk assessment, so you're making a great choice to learn and participate in real estate. If only I thought about this when I was 24..!

@Nick L. Good to know! The only one auction.com-type property I was involved in made a mistake in their contract, so once they mentioned it'll be another 4-6 months to close, my client was able to get out and get her deposit back. Sounds like she got lucky.

@Nathan Ngindu Sometimes you can get better deals on older homes anyway - as long as you have a good contractor and know how to estimate renovation cost, it shouldn't be a deterrent. 

REO's can sometimes take months (longest I've seen personally is 1 year 3 months) to close. I've always constructed the contract so I can get out with minimal damage, if a better deal comes along and/or it takes too long. That may or may not apply for auction.com however.

@Geoffrey K.Welcome to BP! My wife was the one that pushed me to investing, so I'm sure you can be the driving force as well. Soak up all the information and find a niche area to concentrate. BP is a great community to ask questions and share ideas.

A top-tier agent near where I live recently got a townhouse $30k more than the townhouse 2 doors down, with same floor plan, similar upgrades, sq ft and age. Even though realtors are slowly getting the rep like creative artists where people are expecting them to do more for less, it's a good way to separate the good and the bad ones.