All Forum Posts by: Spence Kal

Hello Sidharta and welcome to the forums! Pardon me if this is rude but that's an interesting name what nationality is that? I love meeting out of state people in Ohio, it seems like more and more are coming from CA either to move or invest here. I just bought my first rental in Mayfield Heights, and I know a couple realtors who work with investors if you're interested, but it sounds like @Jad Boudiab really knows what's up with Cleveland. The taxes are definitely something to watch for here, and I didn't know about the RITA tax as well, which is higher in Cuyahoga county. Some people have major water issues where my rental is, so watch for that with inspectors as well, I know of a couple people waterproofing flooded basements and that's a surprise $5k that nobody wants. 

Just wanted to welcome you, there are tons of great people here,  and if I run across great contractors/manager/whatever you need I'll send them your way. I have some trusted friends who do a lot in the Cleveland area, mostly larger jobs, full remodels and new construction, as well as painting, but they are booked for 3 months solid now. Id trust them with any job though, so for me its worth the wait. What else are you looking for besides light rehab contractors? 

@Kiara Conde

Would you consider “house hacking”? It could be a great introduction into being a landlord and real estate, if you don’t mind living close to a tenant. It’s also not as risky as a flip or straight rental. A duplex is perfect for it if you can get prequalified and find one cheap enough, live in half and use the other to pay your mortgage. That’s generally seems to be the safest bet here for how to learn and build some wealth at the same time. What are your goals with real estate? Why do you want to get involved with it?

@Irene Nash

Irene I was really hoping you would give your opinion on this I’m thrilled that you posted on my thread, thank you! I saw your comments on Aaron’s post about realtors becoming task rabbits and was really impressed with your straight answer and commitment to quality work, as well as active blogging.

I like video but it is uncomfortable and hard to find time to create and edit, but I’m not giving up. I love teaching what I learn so it’s an avenue for that. I also understand the struggle people have with it, Id love help others become more comfortable with posting themselves because I think it really builds a brand and people get to know and trust you through it. I’m hoping it will give me a head start as a new agent and investor.

I do wonder if anyone in here has had great success as agents and investors with it and can say that their business actually grows from it. I have a few friends who have seen their business grow because of content marketing and I know it works, maybe realtors just have so many clients from elsewhere it’s not that high of a priority. Or maybe they aren’t willing to commit time learning it as you said. It sounds like you have so many clients just from being a great realtor, do you think it would it even make a difference in your business if you did or didn’t do content marketing regularly?

What’s up everybody, I’m really curious to know if any realtors or investors use content marketing to bring in deals? By content marketing I mean things like blogs, videos, podcasts, or forms of social media created to bring some kind of value to your consumers. I only know of a few realtors who do this and it seems like 90% don’t, and neither do investors. Is it because it doesn’t work? Is it not worth the time, or is it just something you’ve never done before? I follow a lot of Gary Vee and I know some people have had great success with content marketing so why are so few doing it? What are your thoughts?

I can’t throw a rock without hitting a wholesaler these days, between them and all the realtors plaguing the streets (no offense to anyone they can both be great) it might be tough competition. Also every contractor I know is booked out 3 months, so unless you can do work fast yourself, flips might be scary with a hard money loan. I’m working on my first rental renovation and I’m already a month over schedule because little surprises keep popping up. The taxes insurance and utilities are $500 alone, add in mortgage and interest, i could lose thousands if I didn’t have the time to spend 5 days a week working there now. Fortunately I can work on it full time, but you guys are both working, are you willing to put 4 hours each after work every day into a separate flip? I’m not saying this to discourage, just to give reasons why house hacking is such an incredibly great strategy

Everyone is gonna give you slightly different advice and it’s all great, but I’m 28 now and wish I had gotten more involved at your age. Just working for someone for free for 6 months, in construction, property management, a realtor, anything real estate related. I just heard the quote again yesterday “if information were the answer we’d all be millionaires”. Learn information while you hustle and work somewhere, why wait? Just make a quick phone call to three friends or people you know in the real estate field this week and see if you can help, it’s that easy to get in

@Mason Barnard

you could always join a local real estate meetup to learn first before spending money on education. REIA has a few groups in my area, possibly yours, there's one group run by a bigger pockets member by me also. Search on nationalreia.org. I like in person but with covid lots are online, even so there are some incredibly knowledgeable speakers at some, and lots of people who know far more than me, it's humbling and informative, the few I've attended are awesome and cheap if not free.

Nothing beats experience, I jumped right in but my first deal there was basically no way I could lose money. If you know a trustworthy flipper/landlord offer to work for them for free for a month, who doesn’t love free work and you’ll learn a ton behind the scenes. Just my thoughts

Congrats on the flip!! I sold two through flat fee services. Just google (your state or county) flat fee mls and a bunch should come up anywhere from $99-1000 depending on what you want them to do. I paid $300 and gave a 3% commission and the buyers agent did most of the work. First one I listed for sale by owner on Zillow and it sat for a while, maybe 1-2 showings a week, even when I said I’d give commission to agents. As soon as I went through flat fee service and it hit realtor.com, 5-10 showings a week! Second flip was sold in a week using flat fee, great option if you know how to price and take photos

@Cam Harris

@Cam Harris

Hi Cam and welcome to the community. Glad you joined in, seriously, so glad! I think a lot of people would benefit from your knowledge of marketing, especially conversion rate optimization. I’d love to chat about marketing and real estate sometime, I have a deep passion for both and am trying to combine them while getting started. Do you invest in real estate now or looking to invest? Or just full on marketing specialist for now?

Hey Kyle, I know Real Estate License Wizard has some great videos on YouTube, and has an affordable course with updated prep questions, the website is https://realestatelicensewizard.com