All Forum Posts by: Shannon M.

I would think your best bet for trading labor for experience would be a local handyman/ contractor that works by himself or with a very small crew. He will most likely get into a wide variety of small jobs that would give you an overall view.

Alternate idea: If you know how to do your own rehab work you will constantly be tempted to turn your investing into a job. Believe me I know what I am talking about. I usually start by saying "I will just swing by on Saturday and fix it myself" I usually end up sometime the next week after spending Sat and two additional evenings working on a project wondering why I have tools.

It may be better to get good at working with contractors. I find my iPhone almost never throws splinters into my eyes.

Ouch. This is going to smart a bit. With the information provided it looks to me like you need a different agent.

Other Ideas:

1. You could pay for an appraiser to do a full appraisal on the properties. This will cost a few hundred dollars each but it will give you a clear picture of the value.

2. What would theses houses rent for? Would it make sense to rent them out and then sell them to a investor as a turn key deal?

I wish you the best.

I actually think the average residential agent is so unaware of the investment side of the business that they think it must be against some law. When I submit a somewhat outside the box offer, whether representing myself or another investor, listing agents tend to think I am completely crazy. If its not a cash or residential mortgage deal many agents have never heard of it.

I understand what you are sating that it could be self interest but in many cases I would propose it is just ignorance.

My .02

I find that Realtors often are unclear on what is illegal for the public and what is illegal for the agent. I have heard agents at my office that thought something was illegal when it was actually just our brokers guideline not a law issue.

Good time of year for us. Austin is a great location. I will be looking forward to more details.

We have been useing PrintPlace.com for years. Good prices. Good quality. Easy to use.

Buy and hold vs flip... I look at these two vehicles as being very different. With the one (flipping) the goal is to generate short term income. The other (buy and hold) is investing. Either can be a great vehicle depending in your goals.
In my opinion flipping is seldom the answer by itself because the day you stop actively flipping houses the income stops.

If you are thinking about the Surface, which I am, make sure you research the difference between the Surface RT and the Surface Pro. RT is a striped down operating system that does not run your existing software. Pro, which is supposed to come out in January, runs a full Windows 8 OS. I am leaning toward the Surface Pro.

Like others have said, you certainly do not need to be at KW to build a team based business. However, make sure that whatever broker you go with is very supportive of the business within a business team model. Some small brokers feel threatened by a power agent that could end up being a large percentage of the business in an office.
One of the advantages with KW is that they understand and support the business model you are trying to build.
In any event I would recommend interviewing 4 or 5 brokers. Even the ones you do not end up going with will help you because you will have a better idea how they work.

This is fairly normal for a Realtor. You would be surprised at the amount of “buyers” that will look at 6 or 8 houses just to dream when there is no way could buy. The Realtor has no obligation to show properties to a unqualified buyer.

Normally the agent that will just jump in the car and go show anybody houses for fun is not the agent you want to work with.

Why not just have your bank write a proof of funds letter?