All Forum Posts by: Steve Ramer

@Catalina Llanos I think this way makes a lot of sense. My concern would be the National Do Not Call registry. Do we even need to worry about that if we're trying to buy something though? I thought it was more for soliciting, but effectively investors are providing a service, which would fall into the soliciting category.

@Bill S. No offense, but this just sounds like a catch-22, which would explain the stickiness. People say you really need a mentor to get started in real estate and avoid making really big mistakes. But when seeking a mentor, they say you need to get moving in real estate and doing deals. I WANT to get moving. However, I don't want to end up homeless, or worse, land myself in jail because I didn't cross a t or dot an i. Colorado has a lot of rules, as you know. Maybe you're right--it's probably a coach I'm actually looking for, someone who can say "to start, this is EXACTLY what you need to do" and then set a deadline for following that blueprint. It's hard not to be stuck when there's so much conflicting information. 

I do know some local realtors and a local investor that I'm hoping to do some business with in the near future. I'll talk to her a bit more. I'll attend some more meetups when I can, and maybe something will come out of that. If anything I think the divorce has motivated me to get SOMETHING to work. So if this wasn't the right place, sorry, but I had to put it out there.

Hi guys,

You might know that I own a couple of properties in KCMO from previous posts. Those are rentals, and they're doing okay. I've recently been divorced, and even though I have my kids 5 out of 14 days, my maintenance and child support are going to be through the roof since I was the major breadwinner in our household and have 4 kids. I'd like to be able to put them through college (if that's what they want--if my business takes off, I'd be happy with them learning it). Salary was decent, but I'm going to be having very little left over after paying groceries, rent, and utilities. I'd like to, or rather, I NEED to improve this situation.

I'm at the point where I feel that I need someone who's been successful in this business in my neck of the woods to hold me accountable. I've talked to potential leads before, but I've never been great with inbound marketing, and I'm super-nervous about calling sellers (or their representatives) from sites like Zillow, or even county tax sale or foreclosure lists. I'm aware that I need to just get over this, but I haven't been able to figure how to do that. My other concern is making sure that I'm analyzing a deal properly and minimizing any risk. While I wouldn't be able to pay anything upfront, I'd be happy to give most of the profit from a deal to the person who was providing me the assistance, until I get to the point where I'm comfortable in my business.

I live in Aurora, CO, about 15 minutes from Denver, and would like to do a couple of wholesale deals until I can afford to cherry-pick and do some fix and flips. Is there anyone on here who thinks they could give me a hand, and hopefully make some large bills in the process? I'm not completely new to the game in terms of understanding, and I go to meetups when I can. Hasn't been very often lately, but hopefully more now that the divorce is final.

Thanks for your time, and happy investing,

Steve

@Darren Eady Hi Darren, do you lend in Colorado or stick to your local market? Curious as to what your lending parameters are if you do lend in Colorado. Can you shoot me a PM? I'm looking for long- and short-term investments, fix/flips, primarily. There's a somewhat high price to ARV out here, but in terms of absolute numbers, they still look good.

I just ran across this post. I was just looking to see if Tom's methods will work in Denver, but got curious as to how Theo's business has improved. This is from someone (me) who just can't seem to get ahead of the curve on getting started. I've been listening to Tom's podcasts, and I have to say it's some of the best free information I've ever heard, but I keep running into snags with some of the instruction (like title company employees talking about "privacy laws" when I'm looking to simply filter down information that's publicly available anyway. Don't privacy laws only apply to NPI and agent-client relationships?).

@Kenya McCormack I would think that for wholesaling, you're absolutely right--no need to have your license. There is one advantage, in that for a monthly fee you'd have direct access to the MLS to get comps and find expired listings. However, with the right connections and/or websites, you could probably get that (or close to it) anyway.

One option, since there are always advantages and disadvantages whether you're licensed or not, is to talk to your husband and see about one of the two of you getting your license while the other remains unlicensed. That way you'd get the best of both worlds. Just remember the licensed partner would always have to disclose that they're an agent.

HI Xavier, 

Welcome to BP and best of luck on your investing career! I'm also trying to figure out the best way to wholesale properties here in the Denver area. I own a couple of rentals out of state but really want to build up some investing capital. Hopefully (actually I'm pretty sure) you'll get some great tips that will still work in your area.

Shaelyn, your experience sounds just about perfect for a lead generation tool I'm working on. I'm more techy than sales-y, which might be part of the reason for my lack of any wholesale deals. I'll send you a connection request and describe in a little more detail.

@Arnauld Nakaha, thanks for the info. I just sent you a colleague request. Time to make some phone calls.

Thanks Andrew! I'll email your office right now.

I'm sure it's been asked a million times on this forum, but hopefully not about Kansas City. I figure this is a good way to get started on my forum participation here at BiggerPockets anyway! Looking forward to meeting some of you. I live around Denver, but somehow ended up starting my buy and hold investment career in Missouri.

I've got a couple of properties in Kansas City, one owned free and clear, and the other seller financed with a 25% down payment with a 5-year balloon. One is rented, and the financed one is on the rental market. Both properties were purchased for a total amount around $60K. Does anyone know of or have experience with any lenders in Kansas City, Missouri, that will do cash-out refinance on properties owned by LLCs? Admittedly, I have not done a whole lot of research on this topic other than reading a few somewhat related posts here, but I'm not really sure where to start looking from my current location.

I don't think I could use a portfolio lender, because all I have are these two properties. I'd like to purchase more, but need to free up some extra funds in order to purchase some good solid deals. I can find lenders that will do this on one property if I take it out of my LLC, but I'd rather keep them in. I have no problems with personally guaranteeing the loan, just don't want to re-title.

Currently the financing I have on the one property is at a fairly high rate but when rented the cash flow is still excellent. If I could do a cash-out refinance at even around $50K on it, I'd be making payments just a few dollars higher than what I'm paying now. Between that and my savings, I'd have enough to invest in another solid property with good cash flow.

Thanks for taking your time to read it, and looking I'm forward to hearing from you with suggestions, advice, insults, snide remarks, pretty much whatever!

Thanks,

Steve