All Forum Posts by: Tyler Fontaine

The books that Bigger Pockets offers are a great start. So is their Rookies Podcast. Great place to start. 

Check online and see where your closet Real Estate Investors Group is. Attend one of their meetings, get a membership, and start to meet new people. Build relationships. 

Your network is your net worth. 

At the same time, start to learn the real estate world. Stop scrolling social media and start checking houses that just sold on Zillow (MLS, propstream, and others if you can) and get familiar with the pricing; quality of properties/units; time spent on market; etc. Check out the data on NAR and FreddieMac. Get familiar with looking at the market in general.

Your next thing is to decide what you want to buy first. Then talk to a mortgage lender to find out what products you can use and what you need to get a pre-approval. Get a pre-approval. Or get someone who has private money and partner with them for capital.

Start hunting for what you want to buy. Run the numbers on all your considerations. Then pull the trigger when ever it makes sense.

You probably have already checked this but is there any fire specialist type of contractor that does this regularly in you area? 

Having someone who has dealt with a scope of work like that and has already worked with insurance companies on things like this they may be your best bet. You should definitely get the details from Allstate to see what it looks like going through them. It could create less headaches with them if they do it all.

 Ahh, not wanting to waste their time... You already have the right mindset. It's about value exchange. Being honest, some of the sharks in the game simply wont make time for you right away. But, the industry is filled with tins of people who want to lend a hand-up to those just getting into it. 

You can provide value in little ways. Giving someone your full attention and asking good questions when they give you time of day is crucial. 

Simply showing up to networking events and engaging with people -- starting to build REAL relationships goes a long way. Following up with people based on previous convos is also valuable. How did their last project finish? Did they lock up that deal they mentioned to you? What's going on with the wife and kids? Did the daughters recital go well?

Then you can get creative. So my current boss I was introduced to via listening to his podcast CashFlowKings. Over time he had speaking engagements with investor meet ups or he would do property walkthroughs, offering to explain to peers what the deal was. I attended all of these that I could. One day he needed help demoing a unit... I showed up and worked for free. My man loves cigars and the gym. So a couple times a month I'd call him and ask to catch a work out or go light a fat one. 

Fast forward. We talked business, the relationship grew personally, and now we work together. There are many ways you can contribute :)

 A good realtor is worth the price. They look out for you in terms of making sure things are done legally, nothing is done out of line with paperwork, they negotiate for you, etc.

That said a deal shouldn't blow up from requesting the 1%... just prepare to find a new realtor now. A good realtor who knows his value will walk away and get the deal to another investor next time.

Also, as a realtor I would take the reduced commission. The client would also receive a reduced service. Im at 3%, they want 2%, i'd do it for 1% and simply be a transaction facilitator - filling out paper work. I wouldn't do extra due diligence, negotiate for the buyer, etc.

Honestly, if you're that concerned I would just spend the 90 days and $2k to get licensed yourself and broker your own deals.

Honestly pretty thorough here. Could be worth breaking them all down.

I'll do my best to keep this brief for you.

Currently you are in what I call the prep phase. This is where you're planning, gaining knowledge, establishing relationships, and getting ready to dive into the game.

These are the things I would be focusing on in the meantime;

1. Build your network. Get in touch with investor friendly realtors, speak with mortgage lenders who can guide you through what needs to be done to get an approval, familiarize yourself with the local Property Managers/Flippers/Wholesalers, and start talking to other investors in your area. Attend the local REIA, get in the FB groups, meet for coffee etc.

2. Learn how to analyze a deal. Understand purchase prices, scopes of work, getting comps for ARVs. Get to know the terms cashflow, cap rate, cap ex, noi, dti... Basically get familiar with how you can run numbers on a house to get to what your best possible offer could be. 

3. Check NAR and FreddieMac at least weekly and go over some of their blogs to get a sense of where the market is, where it's going, and so on.

In regards to your last questions, you may as well call a local lender and ask them. Good ones will tell you and help you prepare for when you're ready to buy.

Focus. Focus on the mission at hand. You can do anything you want to in life, but you cannot do everything.

Go all in. Don't treat REI as a casual thing. Seriously pursue it. Commit to the going down that path and never look back.

Set goals. Write down goals down and review them. Only choose from 3-5 of your most important goals. Make them this years mission. Break them down into chunks. Take small steps everyday towards the achievement of them.

Look up the Power List in Ep. 16 from the RealAF Podcast with Andy Frisella. Implement this tool daily. 

Get into a deal as fast as you can. Don't make a bad decision or anything, but you need to get a taste of the game. A piece of the action. Then just try to get another one.

So the lender os going to use their own appraiser to gauge what the fair market rent is. A good realtor and lender should make sure that the appraiser is accurate but still.

You can get an idea of it by calling a local Property Manager and asking them what you think your condo will rent for. Bigger Pockets has a rental calculator. I also really like Rentometer.com.

That's awesome. We are seeing a lot more people in our area rent out their single families as they buy, move for work, or what have you. I hope this works out well for you and you get great tenants.

Are you doing it yourself or do you have a PM?

Andy Frisella on Ep. 16 of the RealAF Podcast. He talks about the Power List and explains how to use it. Very simple tool. Life changing results.