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All Forum Posts by: Scott Ficek

Scott Ficek has started 13 posts and replied 176 times.

Post: advice needed on putting team together

Scott FicekPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • Posts 193
  • Votes 7

Funding will kill you everytime! And with all the mortgage issues going on right now, most smart Realtors are being more strict about seeing pre-approvals or verification of funds up front.

Post: Are you Puking Your Business Identity onto the Internet?

Scott FicekPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • Posts 193
  • Votes 7

Thanks. I am doing that with "Minnesota Investment Properties" and a few other keywords.

My question was actually about how much are Realtors "puking" themself on the internet? Is everyone like me spending 3-4 hours in forums, Blogging, commenting on other Blogs every day?

Post: First Flip - do you provide appliances? Where to buy?

Scott FicekPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • Posts 193
  • Votes 7

Seems like stainless steel is an overkill for a $125k house. Think about saving the money. Also, depending upon the kitchen materials and layout, they may look out of place.

Post: Refinance question

Scott FicekPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • Posts 193
  • Votes 7

Ben-
Great info. In keeping with the thoughts of this thread.....

We were buying single family houses at $35k, spending $20k to rehab them (all on construction loans-all legit) and they would appraise for $100-$125k. We would get a 80% LTV for this new value (we were documenting with receipts and photos all our work to quickly season the property) and take the $30-50k out of the new mortgage and go out and do it again.

This was all legal and above board. Nothing funny going on (and I have seen funny!). Unfortunately with this new mortgage crisis, we can get the construction financing all day long, but the end loan financing has dried up. We are all self-employed, stated income, but have dozens of rental properties.

We can't keep the rehab machine running and are very sad. We have a very seasoned mortgage guy and he has been unable to come up with a solution including even trying to get into large commercial lines of credit.

I think all my comments are in line with the thread of this earlier post. Any thoughts?

Post: advice needed on putting team together

Scott FicekPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • Posts 193
  • Votes 7

I agree that you only need to find the team members once you need them, but with one exception....

I believe you need to find a great mortgage guy that specializes in investment property. This is the expert that will make or break the deal most of the time. Plus if you don't have your financing in place when you are making offers, you are running the risk of losing the property or even worse, losing your earnest money.

Once you find the mortgage guy, have him lead you to other team members.

Post: First Flip - do you provide appliances? Where to buy?

Scott FicekPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • Posts 193
  • Votes 7

Hey John-
I wish my tenants brought their refrigs!

I agree it depends upon your market and the price of the flip. A starter home buyer is going to expect all the appliances. An upper end buyer will want to buy them (and has cash to do so) themselves.

The dishwasher and built in microwave is an absolute in all properties. Washer and dryer is almost never.

Post: Self Employed Certification

Scott FicekPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • Posts 193
  • Votes 7

I am still a little confused by the question, but let me take a swing at it:

I am not sure why getting a license or incorporating has anything to do with getting a 2nd mortgage. The mortgage company just cares that you have the money to repay the 2nd mortgage AND that their is equity in the house to secure the 2nd mortgage.

If he is recommending that so you can document your self-employment income, that is a different story. I would say, "Yes" you should set up a company and file taxes so the mortgage company can validate the income.

Post: Are you Puking Your Business Identity onto the Internet?

Scott FicekPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • Posts 193
  • Votes 7

Most of my other customers have come from referrals from my mortgage broker. I would say I am an experty at Investment Property in Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Post: cast iron water closet flanges

Scott FicekPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • Posts 193
  • Votes 7

I think they are fine. That is all we see here in Minneapolis as most of the houses are 75+ years old.

Only issue is if they break the bolts or part of the flange, you will need to go to Home Depot and get an insert that wedges itself inside the pipe and has a new flange attached.

Replacing the cast iron flange/elbow is typically a nightmare of a project.

Post: Are you Puking Your Business Identity onto the Internet?

Scott FicekPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • Posts 193
  • Votes 7

Forgive the title, but it was the title of a fantastic Real Estate Blog entry: http://hismove.com/blog/the-art-of-puking-your-business-identity-onto-the-internet/ that I came across a couple months ago. It was written by a real estate agent that said he would post everywhere he could for hours on end to drive traffic to his website.

I find that after I put my kids to bed, I head up to my computer (around 9pm) and I don't get off it until after midnight (in fact, this post is at 12:11am). I spend about 3-4 hours every day "puking" myself all over the internet on my own blogs, various investing Forums, commenting on other peoples Blogs, Active Rain, etc. I find that I am getting small doses of success. I have seen my website traffic increase, but it is still only a couple dozen "unique" visitors per day with 0 usable leads. I am on the first page of Google for some long-tail keywords.

I am curious to hear from other Agents that use the internet for lead generation to see if I am just the spinning my wheels, investing time in the wrong places, or if this is what it takes to generate internet leads.

Is everyone "puking" themselves all over the internet?