All Forum Posts by: Walther Arias

Dear BP members,

I just wanted to share with you this story because I realize that many of us (newbies) struggle with getting a mentor to help us and guide us during our first deals. 

Well let me tell you what I have done and has worked for me. 

My wife and I have been studying and chatting about real estate. We have always wanted to invest in it and make it our retirement Job. Of course, we had no idea what getting there would entitle and about 2 years ago we made our first bad-ish decision. We paid 25k to a guru to learn about real estate. I said Bad-ish because every mistake is a lesson learned. After finally paying back all the credit cards we used to pay this guru, we also were able to save some cash and recently decided to jump and purchase our first property. 

Of course we were scared and anxious but we decided to take a leap of faith and take action. we are still waiting to close and ever since we continue to prepare for the renovations we will have to make. Since we are short in cash we watch youtube videos and go to the Home Depot classes to learn how to do the work ourselves. 

But let me get to the mentor part...

I work as a Condo building Property Manager and I get to meet many people, including realtors and real estate investors. I have never been the kind of person to ask for help, so instead I started asking them what they do for a living (to break the ice and build rapport) and as any person they love talking about their work. Well, that broke the ice and I got to meet and ask real state investor so many questions and spent some time just picking their brains. 

Finally, in the middle of a conversation, I got my shot! so they asked me "what about you?" and I told them what I was starting to do (not what I do currently) and guess what? They gave me advice without even asking for it, and! offer to help me at any time! they gave their phone numbers and emails and told me "any question you have just call me!"

Now every time I see someone, I ask what do you do and I share what I do. Recently I met this wonderful lady. She bought a Condo in the building I manage and I asked her, what do you do and I repeated what I have done until then. She actually offer to send me pictures of her flips in order to give me ideas on how to stage the property I am purchasing and gave me some tips (all without me asking).

Last week, I called her and told her that I had finished working on a project for her apartment and finally I asked her for a meeting in person. Today we just finished a 2 hour meeting where she gave me tips on how to purchase items in Home Depot, how to analyze properties before purchasing them, where to find deals, she offer to find me a hard money lender that can lend 125% of the property, a contractor, and told me she will allow me to use her discounts to purchase all my supplies and she told me she will drive to the apartment after closing, look at it and tell me what I need, on top of, analyzing exit strategies for me.

WOW! the power of relationships! and the power of asking! 

I hope this story inspires you all to make the move! Tell people what you are doing (don't let the critics discourage you; believe me I went through a lot of them) until you eventually find that one person who will care for you and for whatever reason spend the time to help you.

We are now creating a plan to get this deal moving and we hope to close within the next few days. I will let you guys know how it goes. 

God Bless you all and I wish you the best! 

I have not flipped any properties yet, I am more interested in cashflow properties. 

You can get good deals everywhere, you just have to look very hard and negotiate even harder. I would even suggest you get some wholesalers in your list of contacts since all they do is find awesome deals for investors like you to buy. 

You can also get some deals from the mail person (BP podcast #15) or any other sources that might have info on the houses in the market.

Another good strategy is doing mail outs of yellow letters to the owners of distressed homes in your area and make them an offer than can suit your financial situation.

Also, you can find private money or use hard money lenders in order to finance deals. 

I bet there is a ton of people investing in your area; go to the REI meetings and ask them what they are doing and how they get the deals.

The most important thing is that you do not give up or think of your market as hard to get into; if you make it in NY, you can make it anywhere!

It all depends on what strategy you are looking to use. 

If you want to flip, it all depends on the deal.

For wholesale you don't need much - just marketing dollars

Buying and hold you will need the most money to put for a downpayment - usually 20% down, unless you are buying cash.

Make sure you know how you'd like to enter into the business and then you will be able to figure out how much you will need. 

Thanks Nick. It needs carpet, AC work, new water heater, minor electrical, paint, grout, some drywall. 

Urgently! start going to all the the Local REI meetings and start networking and meeting people that can help you grow your knowledge of the business. It is possible to do it part time is you are willing to give up some free time in order to put it into learning about the business and working on getting a business plan that you will eventually be ale to put in to action.

Hi Wendy, If you can add living square footage, it will definitely add value; just make sure it is all permitted. Good Luck!

Hi BP Community,

I am looking to get a rental property that needs some work. Can you guys recommend a few contractors and handyman in the Broward, FL area?

Thank you.

Welcome! before you start risking your hard earned cash, get all the knowledge you can about the business. Find the strategy that you like the most. Meet investors in your area ad find a mentor. Good luck.

HI guys, I am in the process of buying a new condo to rent out and I know it needs some work done to get it ready. What are some of the questions you ask prospect contractors or handyman in order to determine whether they are not going to rip you off?

Hi. I think it depends on your goals. You don't need one to invest, however, having a real estate license might help you with getting deals from the mls and saving on commissions since you can easily do your own deals.