All Forum Posts by: Tim Shin

 I don't know the answer but it still seems like cutting off your nose in spite of your face. $800/yr on multiple properties when just about anything can happen to one to make it uninhabitable, I mean the insurance would pay for itself in line a month or two. 

Why don't you just list them as something general like "property #1 is a 3/2/2 asking $100k, repair cost is $50,000, ARV is $250,000, sign ncnd if you would like more information"? I think otherwise you're doomed to fail with this tactic and will just sketch out buyers here. In my experience, you only use the ncnd if you don't actually have the property locked down yet and it's some other wholesalers deal or you're trying to sell something that's not yours to sell yet... If you were JV'ing this wouldn't be required.

While I'm not familiar with Grand Rapids as a market, I do know that it was one of the top growing cities in America last year. Have you tried working with wholesalers or direct mail? Driving for dollars? This might help you find your first deal at a discount. There's probably still deals to be found but they may not fall off trees. The real question is: are rehabbed properties selling rapidly or has the market slowed?

This is something an agent can answer or you may be able to analyze from sold data over the last 12-24 months. If buyers agent buying, that would be the indicator for not doing flips. 

If buyers are buying, then game on. Buy right, make sure your math is correct, and figure out how to get good deals. You make your money when you buy. Use the BiggerPockets calculator, get J Scott's book on rehabs and the one on estimating repair costs and while you're at it, get @Brandon Turner's book on Investing with low and no money down. 

 Hi Brandon, welcome to not lurking! Let us know how we can help. Do you invest also?

 He doesn't have this issue because he paid cash for these properties. I guess if you think you can sock away that $800/yr to cover the lost income for 12 months...

Like I said last year, I think it's going to be a great time to buy and hold Ben Leybovich style. Only worry is that the stock market is following the oil prices trend so it might be harder to gain financing of properties when you're at the lowest price point in the market. 

there's even a BP meetup Charles Nguyen hosted. Not sure if it's still BP

Hi Diana welcome! I'm based in Houston too. You might look into the J Scott book others have mentioned and also Brandon Turner's book on Investing With Low and No Money Down! Best of luck. Let me know if you need any help. I'll try my best.  

Congratulations! That's awesome. You're my wife's inspiration for getting the mindset into real estate investing. 

 Agreed. Some people will just have a stuck mindset when it comes to certain things like this. I personally am not as interested in the increased risk brought on by needing to close first then closing with the end buyer. A wholesaler is always a middleman with equity gained only by negotiation and solving the seller's problem. This is similar to a real estate agent who makes a commission. A real estate agent's commission increases the higher the deal sells for and so it is in their best interest to encourage the seller to sell over priced and the buyer to buy over priced. If you ask me, that really opens the doors to scammy middlemen. How many houses have you seen sit on market, costing the seller money to hold when they could have sold immediately if priced at what the market actually wants? And yet this is perfectly legal in states and regulated.