Originally posted by @Bill Gulley:
@Troy Whitney
Everyone needs to first understand clearly what I was saying in speaking for myself.
Not to toot my horn or pat myself on the back, but my skill set, knowledge, education and experience probably goes above and beyond our average investor, not bragging, please, it's simply unfair to compare.
What I did is not easily replicated by anyone now because of mortgage brokerage laws changing, so I was in a lucky time and place. Many notes were sent to me by the State of Missouri for asset determinations and I had the full blessing of the State to act for myself in purchasing notes. I doubt anyone in the country, much less on BP is in that position, it was very unique. You'd also have to have a sevicing company and a mortgage company originating new loans.
So, you can see, it's not a fair comparison to someone starting out in notes.While much of what I was doing can be duplicated, we can't duplicate that entire system.
What I was saying is that I'd rather deal in paper than dirt, not that dirt is not a good avenue to take. I certainly did that as well! However, I do think setting up the right frame work for note investing would or could be quicker and more profitable in the long run than rehabbing houses. But, you need to take advantage of the opportunities that exist for you, not try to replicate what others may do. Good luck at what you do, keep doing it and do it well! :)
Bill - I appreciate your response, so thank you. You helped make my point. I think people with highly specialized knowledge or circumstances can do amazing things. Someone else might find a particular piece of land, buy it and plat it out to build 50 townhouses or a shopping mall, and turn a $100,000 investment into $1,000,000 or more. I don't have the skillset nor the inclination to do that right now. I like to find simple ways to make high "alpha" money, which is what I'm doing. My third property I bought in Philly took 9 months to rehab and flunked 4 Section 8 inspections, but we then passed, and I just got word that I'm approved for $2,100/month in rent, 2 year contract. That's on a total investment of $80,000. The next one is a duplex I bought for $61,000, and it needs $65,000 in work, but when finished it should rent for $2,000 easily. Not as good as your returns, but if that's something I can do over and over, I'll take it over a lot of other options. My plan is to load up on as many heavy cash-flow properties as possible. This is a system that works for me and I know how to do it. I now have access to capital and soon with enough cash flow, I'll be able to do what I'm doing many times per year and want to buy a LOT of properties. Over time that stream of cash will be quite large. And I'll have people in place to manage the problems that come up while I collect the checks. My strategy is a lot of work up front, but I love it so it's all good.
All that said - I respect people like you that can specialize in something really cool, albeit a little more complicated. At some point I would like to learn about notes. Maybe I'll come knocking on your door when I do.
