All Forum Posts by: Spencer Cornelia

It's hilarious to me how many people judge the concept of social media influencer as if their career is any better.  People who can earn $100k+ per year on social media aren't going anywhere anytime soon.  In the social media landscape we find ourselves in, having a social media following is worth way more than some w2 job.

This women is a media company not an influencer.  She earns that much because brands value her that much to advertise/affiliate with/etc.  Or even better, she has her own products and is making that much.  That's a six figure profitable business.

What's funny to me is if she slightly altered her renter resume to say she's running a small business that has a net profit of $100k per year, you'd jump for joy at finding a great tenant, but because her "job title" is Instagram influencer, she all of a sudden has a high probability of not paying?  Lmao, it's the same career.

Fake gurus are everywhere because of how much easier it is to make money selling courses than it is to run a business in whatever industry you claim to be an expert in.  The downside is that many awesome and real gurus are getting washed out because the marketing for online courses is in a race to the bottom.

A couple years ago: "Here's a course that can help you buy your first rental property"
A year or two later: "Here's a course that can help you become a millionaire FAST"
More recently: "HOW TO BUY REAL ESTATE WITH NO SKILLS, NO MONEY, NO EXPERIENCE, AND SOOOO EASY A MONKEY COULD DO IT"

De*n Graz*osi is one of the worst for this race.  Gurus can run a more profitable business being a guru than being a real estate investor which is why you see so many go that route.  The marketing has been around for decades, it's only the medium that changes.

Thankfully, we now have so much access to information and people that you can legitimately learn how to become a billionaire for free from YouTube, forums, direct messages, etc.

As with anything, the application of practical advice is the only thing that matters.  That's the hard part.  Gurus won't mention that in their sales pitch.

@Tyler Cobb from what I've seen, none of the small multi families in Las Vegas are anywhere close to a B neighborhood.  Condo's can be tricky with owner occupied rules and how many people can live in each unit.  If the goal is living for free, then I think buying a single family and renting by the room is the only option to achieve that goal.  Assuming she doesn't want to manage roommates, maybe look at housing options where she could rent the main house and live in a casita...??

I'm not exactly an expert in this market, but the multi family market seems to be overpriced to the point where I'm not even sure someone could live for free from the other 3 units.

I owned a condo from 2016-2019 (Las Vegas Country Club) and had an A+ experience. But I will never own another condo given the rules that typically accompany ownership and potential HOA hassles.

@Brian M. we hold ours on the second Sunday of the month which looks like we'll miss you.  Las Vegas is pretty deprived of real estate meetups

@Kevin Wyn It will be more than a few months because I don't have any money.  I'm putting all of the cash I do have into my house right now.  It needs cosmetic upgrades and I'm going to try pushing the appraisal for when I am able to buy (on lease purchase right now).  I closed my second flip in May and probably won't have the ability to take on my next deal until later this year.

@Kevin Wyn it's a brutal experience to take on a flip for that long.  Yours turned out amazing (based on those pictures) at least.  We both got lucky that the market stayed hot and allowed us to exit.  The losses would have spiraled out of control for me had I not been able to sell my second house immediately.

I don't look back on my experience with any regrets since I know the risks we take playing this game.  It's just an unfortunate side of house flipping when you're first starting out - you typically don't have your downside covered.  MOST INVESTORS don't understand this and are fortunate to not get stuck in a position similar to the ones we faced.

People don't seem to comprehend just how much "luck" has to do with success.  I don't doubt that guys like me and you will succeed over a long enough time frame due to drive, ability to go do it, and determination, but the timeline shifts drastically due to the momentum killing L's we took early in our career.

This is why it's hard to compare yourselves to the real estate winners of the past decade.  If you nail your first 1-3 flips, your trajectory is SIGNIFICANTLY different than someone who stumbles on one or more of their first 1-3, like us.

This is certainly not meant to take anything away from those who succeed.  I've just been reading Nassim Taleb lately and he talks about this kind of situation all the time.  Many investors are playing a coin flip game with risk and MANY come up heads, and they make money.  While a small handful comes up tails and lose a bunch of money.  Both investors made the same decisions and bought similar deals.  One wins, the other loses.  That's the game sometimes.

Best of luck to you.  I have a feeling our next flips will go a lot smoother than the previous haha.

@Brad Hayes-Raugh We're having our next meeting on Sunday August 9th @ 9am. Message me if interested. We usually have a good 14-18 people show up.

I would message the crazy lazy who tried to ruin you thanking her for incessant attempts to bring you down only for you to find a new job that is better for you and the boss may help you buy MORE RENTALS so you can become even RICHER.  And with the extra money you'll be able to afford the BEST lawyer in town to give her a civil suit.  Your last sentence should be ... "What is your lawyer's name so I can send the civil suit directly to them?"

I house hack a 7 bed / 5 bath in Las Vegas.  Rent out to roommates so I employ the "rent by the room" essentially.

Pros:
insane cash flow
if your room offer is much better value than other places to live, tenants will stay awhile
a small community can be built when your tenants become friends with eachother
never ending supply of tenants (at least in my area)

Cons:
CAN BE management intensive
WILL BE management intensive until you gain experience and know how to manage

If you employ this strategy, the BIGGEST risk/liability mitigator is being VERY clear from the start about your expectations and that you will evict if new tenant doesn't follow your rules.

With my setup - I furnish the rooms and have all utilities covered.  I don't charge security deposit or move in fee nor do I care about credit.  Send me first month's rent and that's it.  They pay me a flat monthly rate that is much less than if they were to live on their own.  What a deal right?

Giving them a deal is great because you have leverage.  They don't want to leave because leaving would mean they would be paying more elsewhere.  And someone living with 6 others is in a financially difficult position so money really matters.

Here's what's crazy when you can get this strategy to work....

A lot of 4 bed single families could cash flow $500+/mo with this strategy.  If you only grab one a year...it won't take you long to have your moderate living expenses covered fully.  Takes A LOT longer if you're grabbing $100/mo cash flow deals.

@Steven Silman I wrote about them both here and here.

TLDR; I lost about $55k between the two.  Wiped me out.  Still have about $5k debt to pay down before I'm back to $0.  Slowly but surely making my way back.