All Forum Posts by: Trevor Ewen

@Jon Quigley

I bet Glenn McCrorey could give a few good thoughts on this topic, based on his recent podcast.

@Sergio Altomare

I am definitely not running at the same scale of business that you are. I can tell you for my technology company, we are now using a product called PipeDrive for lead management, could be a good fit for your needs.

Account is always a pain, although Xero seems promising. Less targeted at REI and more at small business though.

@Sergio Altomare

What would you say is the largest gap in your infrastructure? What is the worst/most manual part of your process?

@Andrew Ginsburg

My worst negotiation was a deal I was never able to take (although I was really close to making a mistake). It's key to project potentially 'small' issues out into the future and see what they will be like. In this case, I dodged a major bullet with a seemingly nice but questionable tenant who turned out to be a real problem for the owner. I walked away from the deal and the problem tenant they had hoped to unload. 

I could have still made lemonade with lemons, but I certainly would have sacrificed a full year and a half of cash-flow with the eviction process, in a major urban area that is not too landlord friendly.

@Phillip Gonzales has the right idea. It's easily my favorite strategy, and it's the way I grew up. There are some areas where that does not work.

I do not own my primary, and I do not plan to. New York, with it's veritable transience, landlord unfriendliness, and strong buyer demand (both non-occupied and occupant) is a terrible place for rent/value. I would warn the same for my friends in California, Seattle, Boston, and DC.

I would rather my money in a place where the numbers make sense, and the floor is a little lower ($800,000 vs. $50,000, you can lose a lot more on the first deal). I also just heard a great interview with John Schaub, and he actively promoted this strategy early on in his single family investing.

@Olivia Tallchief

I can't comment on your exact area, but I think this happens when sellers are convinced they are sitting on something great. There is definitely an emotional component to their sale of a home. They may have even been burned bad during the crisis, so they are sitting on artificially high prices, and they aren't getting the demand, because the numbers don't work.

If the numbers work, then you know something everyone else doesn't, or the areas may be rougher than you think. Either way, some wholesalers can build an entire business convincing these sellers that their prices are a little high.

@Curtis Bidwell

I own shares in two oil royalty trusts. All in all, they are some of the best dividends you can get in anything traded on an exchange. I also believe that now is an incredible time to get into them, given the recent drops in oil. I have seen the value of one of my Royalties take a 60% drop from where I bought it. I would be more annoyed if I hadn't already made most of it back on the dividend.

I take the Buffet stance on this one. When it goes down, if the intrinsic value is good, double down and stick around to see it go up again. Just because Opec opened the oil faucet recently does not mean that domestic oil will not be popular again. Despite his green energy interests, I think Fred Olsen agrees as well.

@Dawn Vacek

In my experience, some of the best contractors are the ones who don't do it for a (primary) living. My dad was a firefighter in the Chicago area for 30 years. All of his colleagues were contractors on the side. These guys could work fast, professionally, and they weren't even dependent on the income. When your angle is make a little extra money and learn new skills, you want to deliver fast results so your customers don't call you while you're at your 'real' job. 

My dad lives in Virginia now, I still think he is the best contractor deal on the planet. He just lives in an area where I can't quite see the investment prospect(s).

@Andrew Mohr

Welcome. Since you're in the market for an owner occupied home, why not make it an investment grade home as well? If the numbers work, live in it. Then when you want to rent it and move on, you can. Jay Papasan has some great thoughts about this in the latest podcast:

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2015/03/12/bp-podcast-113-becoming-millionaire-real-estate-investor-using-one-thing-with-jay-papasan/

Always interested to meet Omaha folks. It's an interesting area to me, not sure why it's not more popular with the REI crowd.

Welcome @Anna Hamann & @Jillian Johnson

I am in Queens. The more time you spend on Bigger Pockets, the more time you will be depressed about the market in NYC. Granted, there are good deals everywhere, and there are great investors in NYC doing a ton of deals out of state or even nearby. 

Feel free to reach out should you need anything.