All Forum Posts by: Crystal Smith

@Victor Olowu I have to agree w/ @Nick Patterson regarding not waiting for the perfect GC.  We're  constantly rotating GCs.  

@Victor Olowu I think you can have your cake & eat it too.  ie. Compete w/ @Nick Patterson  & accomplish what @Brie Schmidt  is recommending, building up 2 years of business tax returns.  How- Find a partner or partner(s) & leverage their time & expertise. To back up what @Nick Patterson says there are times investors bid on a hot property sight unseen just to take it off the market.  (We've done it.)  The investor knows the numbers, the area, the profit potential..... & physically seeing the property may be secondary because there's something called a due diligence period after a contract is accepted.  So while the weekend warrior is setting up an appointment the property is gone.  If you had a partner(s) it wouldn't be all about your time to see a property or evaluate a deal, you could leverage your partner(s) time.  You may even consider making folks like @Nick Patterson a partner.  (Just having fun w/ this Nick as you see your name mentioned twice in one post.)  

@Andy V. Here's the bottom line. Throughout your REI career your team will constantly evolve. Your contractors, agents, lenders, lawyers, wholesalers, partners,... W/ that in mind you should be doing it all right now. Interviewing agents, getting your funding resources in place, looking for property w/ agents, interviewing laywers, interviewing contractors,..... When a deal crosses your desk that makes sense you'll need to have it all in place.

@Jelani Tate We're big fans of the Robert Kiyosaki cash flow game.  (We never took any of his training or classes)  It sounds silly, but when we started out years ago we played the game w/ experienced investors & other newbies.  We went from playing the game on a board to playing it for real & it was one of the mechanism's that helped us figure out our strategies.  It also helped us get over analysis paralysis & fear.  It sounds like this is what you're trying to figure out.  We still play the game & even play it w/our kids.  

@Ruthvik B. Cap rate is a quick indicator for comparing investments but @ the end of the day on a deal like this it's irrelevant. You're not putting up $125K to purchase the condo- You're putting up $55K, including renovation & closing costs. My opinion- You should be analyzing if there are other investments that will provide you w/ >10% ROI w/ the same level of risk or less. The analysis should include the potential for appreciation of the investment. And when I say investment I mean any type of investment.

 If you're going to use an attorney then add it to the contract.  See if you can identify a 3rd party, (i.e. a Title Company) to hold the earnest money.  

Find deals- We use the MLS, wholesalers, property finders, other investors, craigs list, backpage... social networks, preservation companies, contractors, periodic mailings; hedge funds, auctions, driving for $.... (Anytime we're in the car we have our eye out).......... You get the picture. Budget ($) & time are allocated for each source. This includes other staff & Virtual Assistants.

Evaluate deals- We use to use spreadsheets.  Now our process is semi-automated.  All our deals go in to a centralized database where we can quickly analyze alternative exit strategies,  Flip, Buy & Hold, Lease Option, Rental.  Similar to the tools available on BP under the analyze tab. 

@Chris C. Try and schedule a trip to Chicago around the meetups hosted by @Brie Schmidt 

@Kyle D. You should remove the previous owners cost of money (I.e. mortgage & interest) from your analysis unless you plan on taking over his payments.  Your cost of money will be different.  You should also consider asking the previous owner to provide you w/ a copy of his Schedule E.  

@Jarrod Willis There's no link.