All Forum Posts by: Wendell De Guzman

Welcome Derek, I am familiar with the Cincinnati market. I lived there for 10 years. It's great for cashflow since there are a lot of properties that can be bought cheap but it's NOT too great for appreciation. If you're after cashflow, go for it.

Tony, I've done some deals and have done wholesaling, buy-fix-flip, lease options, straight rental properties, & land acquisition. I have not bought a commercial property yet (like strip mall or warehouse). If I have to start over and have $7K to spend, here's how I will invest it:

1. Invest it in good books, audio CDs and a real estate seminar on quick turn real estate ( I made $10K on my first deal after reading Ron Legrand's $19 book) and MARKETING. Investing in yourself is where you will get the highest return on investment. However, do NOT go crazy on this and make the gurus rich. Spend a few hundred bucks or at the most $1K because a lot of the information I got from the gurus 10 years ago are information you can now get for free here in BP or in other websites (even Youtube videos). So you're luckier than me because you can get yourself educated at a fraction of what I spent. Nevertheless, invest in yourself.

2. If you have done #1 above, you will learn how to buy properties with no money down and make money from them in a matter of a few months, even a few weeks. I would then spend $300-$1000 on marketing so you can get sellers to call you with houses they need to sell.

3. Since you don't have a lot of cash sitting around, focus on wholesaling first. You need to build your buyers' database so spend a few bucks on gas and network with real estate people in your area. Talk to other wholesalers, rehabbers, landlords, real estate agents, mortgage brokers, title companies, etc. Learn your market and find out who the players are in your market.

4. Work with a good agent and make offers on houses. Now that you know what your buyers are looking for, then focus on acquiring those properties. You can also focus your marketing to acquire properties your buyers are looking for.

Then wholesale houses and make that quick $3K, $5K or $10K. My smallest wholesale deal, I made $3K. My biggest wholesale deal, I made $20K. But if you can focus on wholesaling and really make it into a business, you can buy and sell 1-2 houses a month or even 1-2 houses a week.

But, do NOT buy fancy cars with the money your wholesaling business will generate. Instead, buy some rental properties with it. Bottomline, you do not have to spend your $7K in any real estate deal. Instead, invest in yourself (to learn) and in a real estate wholesaling business which in turn will help you generate the money to invest in real estate.

I lived in Cincinnati for 10 years so I am familiar with the area. There are parts of Cincy that should be avoided but generally, the good thing about it is you get GOOD cashflow from rentals and LOW appreciation (but no BIG up and down swings).

I agree with @Dion DePaoli. In layman's terms filing bankruptcy only temporarily delays the foreclosure - it does not really stop it. In judicial states, the foreclosure case can be defended in court while simultaneously negotiating a loan modification with the bank.

Since there is equity in the property, I agree with @Jon Holdman : just sell the property. This assumes of course the property is NOT too late in the foreclosure process.

Unfortunately, Virginia is a non-judicial state so the foreclosure (generally) will proceed quickly. You need to get a buyer (investor or cash buyer) to offer to buy the property asap.

I love 100+ unit apartment complexes (based on experience). It is big enough to afford a full time property manager and maintenance person. Hence, I actually spend less time on my 100+ unit apartment complex vs my SFRs.

Congrats! I started investing when I was 30...I wished I started earlier.

What helped me is learning to acquire properties with no money down (subject to, wholesaling, using OPM). I suggest you do the same so you can acquire more properties and generate more cashflow.

On your question:

"2. But my main question is, with a large bank like Citifinancial, how can I go about finding out what the "payout amount" for the 1st position loan is...when my name is not on the title and I do not have short sale proceedings going on, etc. I have no idea about this and a search didn't turn up anything."

Here's my experience: YOU CANNOT find out since you are NOT the one on the loan. The only way for you to find out is by talking with the owner of the house and getting an Authorization to Release information.

Congratulations!

You got an awesome wholesale deal there.

I suggest you FOCUS. Do NOT give in to the temptation of trying another strategy like flipping (buy-fix-resell). Wholesale, wholesale and wholesale some more until you are consistently wholesaling 1 house a month.

Then build a team that will wholesale for you. Once your income from having a wholesaling business is more than what you can do yourself (say your wholesaling team is doing 1 wholesale deal a week), then maybe that's the time you can do a retail deal. (By this point, other people are doing the work for you so you can do something else)

A lot of intermediate investors do not make a lot of money because they lose focus. They want to jump and try all the real estate investing strategies out there. Instead, focus so you will be one of the top 3 wholesalers in your area/city. If you do that, you will make a lot more money than trying different strategies and not being a master of any of them.

Since you are just starting out and have no experience or track record, you should NOT get an investor yet to invest in your real estate business.

Learn how to wholesale a couple of deals first so you will know what a good deal is like in your market.

On marketing, I suggest you send out letters to absentee owners (out of state).

Chris, 16-18% per year in IL tax liens is not too good to be true. The returns are good and they are true (verified from experience..in fact, the actual returns is HIGHER than 18%). It takes work though to find & acquire the right tax liens.