All Forum Posts by: Michael Mazzella

Aloha @Michael Gayer Jr ,

Matt Matsunaga, esq, is very good. Former state senator, his dad was a US congressman. There are other good ones. I've used Matt for many years and am pretty happy with him. Among other things, he does all my contracts. He really excels at complicated transactions.

He's google-able. (is that a word?, hahaha!)

Aloha @Chad H.! 

Hey brother, its been a long time - I hope things are going great for you! I just wanted to thank you for the nice compliment - Feel free to message me if I can do anything to help you. 

Create an Awesome day!
~Michael

Aloha from Hawaii Kai, @Nelson Sanchez, 

Nelson, you don't need to get your realtor's license to access the MLS here. You can get MLS access for free at www.OahuRE.com. 

Seize the day!
~Michael

Aloha from Hawaii Kai, @Micah A.!

Welcome to the site, and to the exciting world of Hawaii real estate investing! There's potentially big money in this business and the work is fun... (most of the time, hahaha!)

To answer your question, the Oahu / Honolulu metro is ideally suited for wealth creation - appreciation plays, as in combining forced, instant, and market appreciation (i.e., house flipping), as these are mostly all 6-figure deals. That means most people can replace their w-2 income with just one house flip a year. By the time you're flipping 4-5+ houses a year, you're in the top income bracket making $400k - $600k a year, and it truly becomes life changing. I've got 22 projects with 39 house-flips in progress at the moment here on Oahu, which shows that there are plenty of deals to be had here. Obviously getting funded is essential, also totally do-able. 

Its possible to cash-flow stuff here too, (I've got a few rentals here) but the cash-on-cash return is typically lower than what you can find elsewhere, because of the high price-points here. As an example, for some of my passive income, a few years ago I took $1.5m and bought 48 houses in Jacksonville, FL, which provide a NOI of $20k to $22k per month.

Seize the day, Micah - now get out there and kick some okole! ;-)

What is your budget, @Mark Hewitt? 

I flip houses, and have a house for sale in Haleiwa for $850k, and another in Hauula for $625k. In a couple of weeks, I'll have 2 houses in Waialua hitting the market at around $725k each.

Good luck in your search!

Aloha @Jasmine C.! 

I've done a bunch of joint ventures like this before. @Joe Sillaman and @Michael Borger gave you some good advice. Before anything, drill down on your numbers and make sure there is a deal here, profitable enough to make it worthwhile. Otherwise, you're just doing charity work. 

If the numbers make sense, and you decide the a JV is the way to go.... here are the documents you should have:

• A detailed Joint Venture agreement, that outlines everything, including the profit split. I've always arranged them so that the owner gets most of the equity, such as 60/40 or 70/30. This assumes that there is substantial equity.
• A limited Power of Attorney, putting you in charge of the renovation and sale (and very importantly, putting the owner not in charge!)
  
• A lien against the property, to cover the amount you are investing.
• Add yourself to the deed, as a partial owner, until the property sells.

Advantages of a JV strategy like this are that you only have to bring limited funds to the table. Enough to handle renovation and other associated costs.

Disadvantages are is primarily WHO you are making your partner: a distressed homeowner. Usually if you ever take a partner, you always want savvy partners. In this case though, you are usually getting the opposite. Most people whom are distressed sellers are usually in that position because they've made a pattern of bad decisions over time. 

Jasmine, feel free to call me if you'd like me to answer more questions about this.

Seize the day!
~Michael

Excellent article, @Mark Guagliardo! Thanks for sharing.

CPRs provide tons of opportunity for savvy investors. I've got several CPRs in progress over here on Oahu. Its definitely worth learning how they work!

~Michael

Aloha from Hawaii Kai, @Jennifer Griffin!

Check out Dan over at New Direction IRA in Honolulu. Probably the most popular in Hawaii, at least within REI circles. If you message me, I'll send you his contact info. I've known Dan for many years, and quite a few of my private lenders use his services.

Seize the day!
~Michael

Aloha from Hawaii Kai, @Lynn Hann, and Welcome!

In my experience (187 deals & 13 years of house flipping on Oahu), realtors are generally not good at finding investor deals only because they're not trained to do so. We are not a typical client, as Michael B. states. Many don't want to work with us anyway because we're.. you know, weird to them - we're not emotional buyers, we buy on the numbers only. Currently, I have 3 realtors I've trained to find deals and they've all brought me multiple deals. That said, they are certainly not my main source of deals, and they never will be. 

RE Investing is the money side of the business! Its not being an agent. You're gonna love that part, Lynn. 

@Joe Sillaman gave you good advice! Use the analysis tools first, so you always present pre-screened deals to your investors. All my realtors are trained to use my flip analysis spreadsheet. This way, we're not wasting each other's time. 

All the best to you, Lynn!
~Michael

I hear you. Flipping houses in Hawaii is not for everyone. It can be intimidating. There are very few big players in this local market. Even some of the local REIA clubs steer people away from investing here locally. Which means less competition for those of us who do invest here. I've got a portfolio of cash-flowing rental properties in FL, which balances out my holdings with strong wealth creation thru flips/appreciation deals, and the sweet passive income from the rentals. Why should we limit ourselves to backyard investing?

If you're setting the bar to become a property manager, however, you should encounter little difficulties achieving that. There's lots of advice here on BP, and once you're able to discern the good advice from the rest of it, you're in a really good space in any niche that you choose. Feel free to reach out to me if you have questions in my areas of expertise. And thank you for your service to our children as a math teacher - there are not enough of you!

All the best to you in your REI endeavors, @Lilia Andrew!

Carpe diem!
~Michael