All Forum Posts by: Sharika L.

@Nathan Hood, I've had 2 good deals and the hard money lenders wanted my business. That's probably the most challenging part in Hawaii is finding really good deals, because I'm sure even a place with only 4 walls a hole to pee in would be a over 400,000! Network, network, network, and it also helps if you have income to back you up as well. I wish I had better advice, but Hawaii is a great market if you have cash or a partner.

I've acquired multifamily units with tenants that mostly speak Spanish, which I don't. I'm currently doing my own property management and wondering if anyone has experience or knowledge about services that translate. For example I use google voice and plan to arrange repairs, but now that I have 12 units with mostly Spanish speaking tenants I would like to systematize the process of them calling or emailing a 3rd party that will send me maintenance request, which may eliminate the communication barrier??? Any ideas on dealing with non-English speaking tenants in regards to maintenance requests, lease agreements, etc...

@Lee Greene good luck on your real estate in EP. We are building up to apartment buildings, so if you ever interested in that arena lets work something out!

@Noel Walton we lived in Ewa Beach and bought a house there in 2011. Actually, that is how we are able to put down payments on the other investments because getting a Home Equity Line of Credit is so easy in Hawaii and of course the homes appreciate like crazy. To give folks an idea, we got a HELOC for 600,000 paid off our compound mortgage of 3000 a month to now paying the 1.8% simple interest HELOC 800 dollars a month and we get 3600 for rent. So Noel if you haven't done so already, look into a HELOC. We attended a "sweep" class in Hawaii that helped open our eyes. If you have any questions please let me know.

If you read my background my husband and I started seriously looking into investing back in March, and since then things have taken off. I'm overly excited & nervous about the entire process, but after listening to the first 102 podcast I thought I should write about my experience:

#Deal 1: Owner financed 5 unit buy and hold, 100% occupied

#Deal 2: Duplex (I thought it was a foreclosure due to outdated zillow and proceeded with knocking on the door only to find out the owner was indeed selling). Renters moved out in June and I proceeded to find contractors to upgrade the entire 1920's stone building. Currently being rehabbed with plans to "house hack" and rent out our current house.  We got a commercial loan, expecting a construction loan to be implemented once we got to that part, but low and behold things happen and now we are funding the rehab 100%.

#Deal 3: Put an offer on a 7 unit buy and hold, and was told a cash-buyer put in an offer as well. I told the agent to call me if it doesn't work out, because I was sticking to my numbers. Agent called the next day and we got it for exactly what we wanted to pay for it. Commercial loan again with the same bank as #2, but he went on vacation and we need to close this Friday (I think he was uncomfortable with the fact we use or HELOC & PLOC as bank accounts due to the very low interest from Bank of Hawaii and Hawaii State Fed). So went to 2 different hard money lenders who are ping-ponging some decent rates, but both are very interested in the property. Like I often hear, "good deals will find money". Hopefully all goes well and the place will be ours on Friday. 6/7 units are currently rented.

#Deal 4: I have been dying to do a fix and flip to get the experience and start building that portfolio as well as make some cash to pay our HELOC, since we have been putting in 20-30% down on our properties. I put in another offer to a HUD home I had placed a bid on a month before and didn't win. Well I won this time around. Currently in the paper phase, waiting on the seller to accept the contract. I originally went to the hard money lender for this deal since we have depleted our liquid cash for now, and again they were interested with 11% and no down payment or prepayment penalties.

The plan is once the contractor starts the rehab on the HUD if the inspection doesn't come back to crazy, than we will start the process for looking for another fix and flip.

People like that give real estate investors a bad name, taking advantage of desperate people. I'm happy they are off the streets of El Paso, and that makes more business for honest investors.

Hello all, I have been a BP for 3 months actively listening to podcast (started from podcast 1) to posting a few questions, but this is my first time introducing myself. My name is Sharika and my husband Jason (who just joined BP yesterday) have decided to fully commit to real estate investing! Being in the military we already had 3 properties in 3 different states and knew that real estate would provide us with passive income, but it wasn't until I went to a 3 day Fortune builder conference that got me fired up! I actually had just heard of BP and went to the forums talking about gurus and mostly because of my husband we didn't pay the big money for education. However, my husband who didn't attend the conference was soon on board with my motivation to get serious about real estate especially since he is coming up on retirement. So since March we have added a 5 unit house and a duplex to our portfolio using or Heloc and PLOC. Our goal is to get buy and hold properties to replace our current paychecks and don't flips to pay off the loans. This is not a get rich quick job but the sooner we can achieve our goal and establish systems the sooner we can move our family overseas! I love to network and not reinvent the wheel. I love to share things I have learned and be transparent with information. BP has been a fantastic resource with the books, podcast, blogs, and forums(I use them all). I do hope I can meet partners, lenders, and get some properties on this site as well😏

All, My husband and I are currently closing on 2 different multi homes. We plan to move the homes under out LLC. My question is what excel or system are owners using who don't have property managers to keep rent and expenses organized for each property. Currently we have a line of credit, heloc and then the new LLC bank account. It is a little overwhelming moving money to all 3 different locations. Anyone has something that is working for them?

Besides calling the city and speaking to neighbors about empty houses, are there any other avenues to find owners?