All Forum Posts by: Scot Howat

Lottery = making low ball offers.

If you're looking for deals in the city, then I'd 2nd what @John Warren said.  That's a good place to start.

Ah good point, I assumed it was a house hack.  My bad.

Did anyone else notice that they're putting 20% down?  Why don't you put down 3.5% and use the remaining 16.5% for the renovations?

And hard money won't work.  They don't lend on owner occupied properties.

I've bought 2 deals with no down payment this year, and I'm looking into a 3rd (this time with seller financing).  So don't let money be the excuse that holds you back.  Start raising private money, right now!  You'll need it at some point. 

I'd suggest investing somewhere within an hour of where you live, and make sure you know the market first.  If you are familiar with an out of state market AND have boots on the ground, then that might be a place to look too.  But I prefer to stay near home.

If you're holding real estate for the long haul, then price doesn't matter.

I'll try to go easy on you, but sometimes tough love is the right approach.

Even if you didn't say it, I can tell by your post that you've been doing "research" for a long time.  Personally, I think you'd be better off just buying something ASAP and learning how this business works first hand.  You'll learn 10x as much from deal #1 than all the homework you've done.  

Here's my wealth formula:  Spend less than you make, and invest the difference in something you understand and control.  That's it.

With that said, I'd suggest buying something relatively close to where you live so that you can learn how to manage it.

I've talked to hundreds of people (in my market) that want to wholesale.  99% of the time the reason they want to do it is because they want to use the profits to buy rentals or to buy flips.  If that's you, then my advice is to focus on what your ultimate goal is (owning rentals or owning a flipping business).  It's way harder to start out with one strategy (i.e. wholesaling) and then try to master a 2nd strategy (flip or rentals).  It's like going to law school to become a doctor.

Don't fall into the wholesaling trap!!!  DON'T DO IT!!!!  I've seen too many good people try this and give up.  Buy some rentals.

Oh, and welcome to BP!

You're artificially inflating the value of your property.  As a mortgage underwriter we were always on the lookout for that sort of thing.  

It's illegal.  There's plenty of other ways to make money.