All Forum Posts by: Spence Kal

I invest in areas 10-15 miles outside the city of Cleveland. There may be population decline but I don’t think Cleveland is going away anytime soon, a deal is a deal no matter where it is. From what I’ve heard Cleveland is more towards cash flow, so don’t expect appreciation, and Columbus leans more towards appreciation and lower cash flow. There are some cheap deals around Cleveland, I looked at a decent property for 70k last summer, great condition decent C area. I personally wouldn’t go much lower than that because some places can be old and dumpy, in bad areas. I’ve heard that cash flow here can be eaten up by bad tenants and maintenance headaches, so a lot of things look good on paper, but then don’t turn out so great in reality, so be careful with that. I’ve heard that Capital cities are generally more recession proof so that may be another big reason people like Columbus. If I lived closer I’d probably invest there instead of Cleveland honestly. I love where I live and just want my first investments to be close so I can keep an eye on them before going OOS

Yikes! I wouldn’t buy a house at the “top” of the market that wouldn’t sell for what repairs cost. What happens if you end up in a financial crisis and have to sell because of something unexpected? What if you find a better deal 5 years from now and want to unload the maintenance headache? Personally I wouldn’t, as exciting as finding and buying a property is, I like to think I’m running this business for another investor, and have to keep things tight to not let them down or lose my job. That way it feels more like a calculated business decision instead of me just really wanting a property.

@Giovanna Jeanina Joubert

Now that I think about it, some larger investors do have acquisition specialists or managers, in charge of acquiring deals for them. They’re buying millions in real estate and basically run a business with employees, acquisitions being one of them. Might be cool to look into, you’ve peaked my interest also, Im going to do some searching for that

@Giovanna Jeanina Joubert

That’s basically what wholesalers do. They find properties that match their investors criteria and charge them a fee to acquire or pass them on. I think what your asking is, are there people that work for just ONE investor to find them deals. Maybe somewhere, but not usually. Deal finders or wholesalers have a list of investors they work with, and so when they find a new property they just bring it to their list of people and someone buys it. So you do build personal relationships with those investors, find them deals and make money, but I don’t think any investor has a dedicated assistant who just works for them to find deals. Is that what you were asking?

@Bruce Lynn

Thanks for the input that’s a great idea I’ll ask around and see what some of my friends say! Some people believe brand matters then others say it’s all on you, so it’s been a hard decision. I know exp is growing rapidly so I can see them becoming recognized, but for now it’s 3 major names with all the agents. I don’t mind a challenge, and like the idea of being on the ground floor of a company growing in the area, but don’t want to fight for attention if I don’t have to. I guess I can always switch if I start having issues with brand recognition and nobody wanting to work with me.

Hey everyone, My question is, does it matter if brokers/team leaders have been in the market for 30 years, and is it a risk to join a team that's fairly new? Will my success be hindered by joining a team with less market share, or is it all on me to make it no matter where I go?

For a little back story, I just finished all my classes for my real estate license, and I'm in the process of signing up with a local EXP team in my area. I've interviewed 7 brokerages and multiple teams, and really like the feel of this local team, their office environment and obviously the EXP model. My concern is that the team leader has only been selling for 6 or so years, the last 2 with EXP, they don't have a huge amount of listings, and I don't see a lot of EXP signs in my area. The local century 21 and Berkshire Hathaway brokers/team leaders have been in the area 30 years, and the companies have a larger presence here. Obviously they have far more agents. I'm just concerned that I may not do as well because the local team and EXP don't have as much market share as C21 and BHHS, is that stupid to think I would be more successful under a team leader whos been here 30 years. 

@Jesse Barahona Nathan is right its definitely faster to farm your SOI, it is more efficient to work with something you already have like your current SOI than creating a new one. In my case I dont know that many people and the ones I know aren't buying the kind of houses I want to sell. Social media is a long game it just takes consistency over a period of time. Sometimes its 6 months, most its 12-18 before you'd even see growth or clients from that, if any. The great thing about social is that it does legitimize you, and its evergreen, so people who have posted blogs or videos 3 years ago could still be getting client calls from that. Social is really the place to be now. Agents can do amazing without it but for new agents I think you really have to be on there and accessibly to some point, just like agents 20 years ago were advertising in news papers magazines billboards etc. If you have an SOI go after that first while you build your social, just focus on one platform to start and set a consistent schedule (thats the hardest part) and keep up on it. I really believe video is king in social, and thats not just my opinion its pretty obvious in how the social platforms prioritize video content. So I'm starting a youtube channel now, and shooting some local areas, as well as getting ready to do some interviews with local businesses and such. It engages the local community and you build that SOI at the same time. So we'll see how it goes. My personal plan is youtube, facebook, linkedin with video content and local content, and have a website to direct anyone to who wants to learn more. Social is not a massive ROI but its better than cold calling, and becomes a way to stay in front of your SOI. I also think organic growth is the best, especially starting out because that money is better spent on your current SOI, so free social is the way a lot of people go to start.

Also be careful of the flipped houses up there, I've looked at a few for rentals and a lot are just lipstick on a pig. They just cover over the issues to resell them, and they might even be good enough to pass some inspections. I looked at a SFR, renovated new paint cabinets everything, decent price, but smelled horrible and had a side room in the basement that was covered in mold with water everywhere. So fully renovated could still mean there are issues

@Jim Truman

It depends on how well it’s built and taken care of. Some of that old wood they used is hard as a rock, so can be pretty solid. Structural engineers can check foundations for pretty cheap. I think people avoid them because the electrical and plumbing can be bad, and it’s always one problem after another that eats your cash flow. I had a 1910 house and sold it because I didn’t want to deal with all the old systems and everything. Also lived in a 150 year old house fully renovated and it was fine, but that was 90% new electric and plumbing. I’m not sure how well old houses in Cleveland are built, they’re just kind of a pain in the rear in terms of maintenance. It gets really annoying when people do half *** renovations over the 100 years and you have things patched together here and there, 3 floors on top of each other and chopped together wiring. I had a 60s house and even that had bad wiring, just twisted together and taped. You never know what’s behind a wall, so if you can gut and reno the whole thing I don’t see a problem with them as long as the foundation is good.

@Brixter Pax Rabara

I would say yes absolutely, in some form. You should be able to track your lead sources, marketing, and most importantly relationships. When to follow up with a future seller, their problems and reasons to sell, lead ratings etc. You can’t remember everything about those 12 people that call you when they want to sell. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just start with a spreadsheet like excel or google sheets for now until you can afford/need something complex. There are CRM templates for those programs, they’re rough but free and a decent start.