All Forum Posts by: Sean Brennan

Justin Silverio Yes, I do need need to talk to buyers to figure out who to market to. You were in fact one of those buyers I was hoping to talk to :) I haven't developed a marketing plan yet. That is what the next couple of months will be for!

Brandon Turner I think this is an excellent idea; but, it brings me back to how do I find the deal in the first place?

also, yes Bill Gulley I do need the investigate the potential ethical issues of being an appraiser and an investor. For example, do I need to disclose to sellers that I am also an appraiser? That is a question I will need to find out.

Haha, thanks Bill.

Brandon Turner This is an interesting thought... my initial thoughts are that I need to learn how to find deals above all else... once that happens then I can get more aggressive. I would love to hold a rental property but I am not sure I can make it work at the moment... I have about 10k in savings but it is more of an emergency funds... I also need liquidity in case my appraisal jobs pay late. Also, I have about $75k to $100k in equity in my house based on a value of about $325k. How do you think I could make that work?

Bill Gulley I hear you, but one issue is that I am busy with my commercial appraisal work so I don't want to overwhelm myself.

J Scott thanks, yes I am very numbers oriented so I look forward to developing spreadsheets galore :)

Glenn Espinosa I think you are correct. The more connected you are the more entrenched your business will become.

Bill Gulley Thanks for the thoughtful response. I may need to read it a few more times to fully digest it but to summarize, are you saying that I need to be open minded, flexible, and adaptable to survive long term in this business?

After some in depth study over the past few weeks, including hours of BP produced audio, interaction with the community, reading 123flip.com, and Marty Boardman's book, I think I finally have an understanding of the basics of this business. I'd especially like to thank Ann Bellamy, Joshua Dorkin, J Scott, and Brandon Turner for answering my questions.

My plan for the next two months is to network in my local market, attend local reia meetings, speak to actual investors, and begin to develop my "master mind" group. Of course I will continue to read and interact here.

I hope to find one or two active buyers that I can directly market for. Then, around the first of April, I plan to begin direct marketing in search for deals. I will start very slow at first with a budget of $100 for the first month. Then I will add $100 per month to my marketing budget until I am happy with the results. I know patience and discipline will lead to success here, so I am in no hurry.

My goal is to do two wholesale deals by the end of 2013. Once I have those under my belt I will attempt my first flip. From there I think I can really start pushing the pace. Another goal of mine is to slowly reduce my reliance on my appraisal income through 2014 and become a full-time investor by the end of that year.

So, what do you guys think?

Congrats Josh!

So, I've continued to think about and study this topic and I found this article by Steve Cook that was very interesting: http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2013/01/30/cloudy-understatement/

It seems to me the two biggest risks to a long term flipping business are a lack of deals or a downturn in the market.

@Brandon Turner suggested that you should only get into flip properties that can cashflow. This protects you if there is a downturn in prices and is a very smart risk management strategy.

The other issue is lack of deals. Steve's article about the drying up of REO deals was really interesting. It seems to me if you are trying to enter this business for the long haul you cannot rely on auctions and REO properties. There will be times when there are plenty (past few years) but when the market improves there will be more competition and less foreclosures which equals thin profits.

To me, the solution to this problem is direct marketing. If you have deals coming in due to your own marketing campaigns you don't have to compete at auction and for REO properties.

Hmmmm. What do you guys think?

Yea Brandon, there are patterns in every industry over market cycles. Patterns of greed than fear, rinse, repeat. Some industries are counter cyclical, for example multi-family has been hot because the stagnant housing market, tight lending environment, and poor job market force people to rent. But at some point developers will overbuild multi-family and the housing market will improve, and multifamily will take a hit. I am trying to understand where fix and flip fits in...