All Forum Posts by: Tyler Bobo

Tim, if you can afford the time it will take that you're not getting paid to get a commission career going being a Realtor is great for inside knowledge on the market and access to great deals when you're investing more.  If you can't afford the commission thing I'd go work for a rock star Realtor on their team as an admin or something.  Pay is reasonable for starting and gets your foot in the door, and you get paid while you learn as opposed to learning as an agent and not getting paid until you close.  If you work for an awesome Realtor and are a quick learner you'll get so much knowledge there.  Good luck.

No such thing as 100% risk free...
In dry areas trees too close can be a fire risk.  In my area that much shade on the roof promotes moss which shrinks roof life.  If the tree falls on the house that's not fun. Insurance would probably cover some of that after the deductible.  As far as foundation damage I would ask a local home inspector, which you'd want to have take a look in person anyways if you don't want surprises.  If there isn't damage to the house currently I'd call a tree service and have them give you a quote for removal and work that into your offer. Probably not super expensive to have a professional do it and then you wouldn't accidentally drop part of it on the house yourself:)

Listen to lots of Bigger Pockets podcasts, and network with people in your area.  Look at a LOT of properties. A good plan, since you've said you're willing to work for free with someone, is to do the footwork for someone more experienced and share the deal with them somehow.  If you do a ton of door knocking and driving to find 10 "maybe" deals, have an experienced investor vet the deal, then partner with them in a way that works well for you both, you'll get experience that way and the investor will get your hustle out of it. Good luck.

Ask your Realtor for a solid rental agent in the area, and find out for sure what you can rent it for.  Expecting 700-1000 is too far of a spread, a good property manager should be able to tell you much better to help you decide.

Yes "normal" is elusive.  Only thing normal or consistent in a good deal is that it's a win for both lender and borrower, but that can look like anything.  If you go to a hard money lender or some sort of professional investor they'll tell you what they like and want out of the deal to make it a win for them.  If you're approaching private money like friends/family/coworkers that like you (these are my favorite go to lenders) I present them the opportunity how I like to see it, which is a favorable win for me, and let them know that terms are flexible so to not shoot the deal down because of one sticking point.  For a lot of my projects I like to have a longer term loan paid back monthly with interest, just like a more traditional mortgage, but higher interest to make it work for my lenders.  Sometimes I get the payment I want by amortizing it longer, with a shorter call so they know they'll have it back.  Once I wasn't sure if I'd have it sold or back to them in time and didn't want to lose it if I couldn't, so I had a shorter more favorable interest rate, with the intention of paying it off, and if I didn't in x amount of time the interest rate jumped a LOT.  That time has came and went, and I didn't get it paid off, so I'm paying a high interest rate instead of a low one, and the lender is fine with not having his money back because at least now it's earning a solid return instead of a low one, and the property was good enough deal for me that the higher interest is fine.
     On another one I think I could've found the money even if it was hard money for the project, but a private lender I'd borrowed from a couple times wanted to get his feet wet on a rehab after seeing me do several with his money, and I had a good one under contract.  He brought the cash, and is doing all the labor, and we're splitting the profit.  So he's having a good time doing the project, will make a great return in 3-4 months, learn a lot, and I'll make a solid pay day with almost none of my money for sharing the deal.  

     So there's no normal, there's a million ways to structure a deal.

If the property clears $120k a year coming up with $50k should be doable either from a private lender, or a partner.  A few years ago I had sit down meetings with 2 people a month about investing in my deals.  I had a good track record and funding was my hold up. Just 2 a month and I ended up investing over $420k of private peoples money into my local small projects.  I know that's not a ton for some of the folks on here but I was no expert at talking to people either. Some of them were almost strangers and I just sat over coffee and explained what I was doing and why it was a good deal. Do that once a week or once a day and you'll find someone who's got some cash sitting in a shoe box or some low yielding Wall Street garbage that likes what you have to say.

Is the seller financing the purchase and $50k is the down? If so you just need a partner if you can't get a loan for it.. If the deal is good you should be able to pitch it to partners, with you bringing the deal and management, and the partner bringing the $50k.  You can split the ownership and profits in a way that makes since to both (or all) partners, because part of a good deal is a lot better than none of a good deal.  
     If the deal isn't owner finance, then maybe  a little more details on the deal would spur more ideas from people.

If the deal is good even with borrowing the funds, then go for it.

Refinance your house.
Home equity line on your house.
Sell something expensive (even your house if the deal is good enough)
Put it on the Credit Card (works wonders, IF you're sure of your numbers:)
Call everyone in your phone contacts and tell them you have a $50,000 opportunity you'd like to tell them about.
Ask everyone in your contacts who they would be talking to if they had a $50,000 opportunity.
Put a post on facebook or your social sphere of choice that you have a $50,000 opportunity for the right person.
Call several local Realtors, specifically ones that do investments and commercial and ask hem if they're interested in a $50,000 opportunity and ask them who might be.
Borrow against other investments like stock or borrow from your 401k
Borrow from another investors 401k, your Mom's, your neighbors.  Their house equity is a great too. 
Ask for an advance from your boss, or borrow from their 401k, house, boat, etc.
Talk to your kids teacher about it.
Ask a hard money lender.
Ask the seller to carry that much (or that much more.)
Call Grandma. That uncle who has money, or that Aunt that always knew you could do it.
Personal loan from the bank, or the junk credit card offers.
Put your vehicle up for collateral.

Try all those things... after you're sure it's a good deal.

No Ryan, here in AK I could work with both clients by Specific Assistance, not Representation.  So I could help both clients, explain what the contracts meant, line up consumer with lender/inspector/contractors, supply either with comparables and explain market trends, and many more things, but if I was working Neutral I wouldn't be helping with negotiating or be able to disclose any info hurting the position of one.  (other than seller and Realtor always required to disclose deficiencies with the property, like if I knew there was mold, etc)
     These rules are going to be different in every state, I'm in Alaska.

If I were Representing the seller, and Assisting the buyer (not Duel representation as other states have <we do not have duel rep>, and not Neutral, because I'm representing seller and not representing buyer) and I had reason to believe the buyer would pay more, I would be obligated to express that to the Seller, since I'm representing him.  If I was Neutral, I wouldn't be allowed to disclose that.

So if I'm listing a relatives house I couldn't claim legitimately to be Neutral, so it would be the above case or the buyer could get their own Realtor.  

I have them sign that I might work Neutral when I list a buyer or a seller, so that if they happen to want to view a property I have listed I can still show them and not miss out on a commission that I may have been working with that person for a long time.

This doesn't come up a lot in the quick moving price ranges but on cheap land, owner finance, and low dollar properties it's a lot more common.  And, not relevant in other states but it's always good to get different perspectives.  Happy Tuesday.

I was reading an articles from BP about IFTTT.com about setting up craigslist searches to auto email you when an ad posted fits your criteria (like with keywords of fixer or divorce, etc)

The articles gave exact instructions on how to do it at ifttt.com and the article was old, so the info on how to set it up was not valid.  I went to the site and it seems to sync a ton of websites, but I couldn't get it to find craigslist... I know craigslist is dying, but it's still super valid for deals.  Am I not working the site correctly?

Also, I was going to search BP forums for IFTTT and can't find the way to search the forums for key words.  I'm newer here:/

Thanks.