All Forum Posts by: Zach Kidd

My great grandmother used to say, "You can get along with anyone so long as you let them have their own way." Both of you have communication issues. As a Realtor myself, I see both sides. If you want an agent to go above and beyond, make it worth their while. Add an extra commission percentage. Throw down a fatter flat fee for chasing random showings for you. Mentor them in investing. And being nice to work with literally costs you nothing. A little sweet talk and compassion will help buy my loyalty. "Dude, I know it's out of the way and you're a busy guy, but can you get me into this property today?" Guess who will get first crack at my upcoming deals? The person who is nice, fun to work with, and technically overpays me? Or the person who tries to negotiate a bulk rate discount, cops an attitude, and fusses about my attitude, and threatens to rat me out to my broker or the ethics board if they don't get their way? Ever work a retail job? Fussy soccer mom that walks up like she's royalty and demands to speak to the owner? Yeah, I'm an independent contractor. I won't tolerate drama. GTFO, and next customer please. My time and energy is too valuable to allow that in my world. On the investor side, yes, you want to keep your expenses as low as possible. You need someone both knowledgeable and responsive & accommodating. Yes, it's frustrating to hear the word "No". Time is always against us. Communicate that up front. Approach this as a partnership. You can easily work together, as long as expectations are clear on both sides. Take awesome care of your contractors, they will take awesome care of you and your business.

Hopefully you already have a preferred lender / mortgage broker. 

My memory is admittedly fuzzy on the details, but the correct term to chase down is "Mortgage Sequencing". Google isn't much help, but your mortgage broker will be.

Ultra short (and probably inaccurate) version, your first four properties should be multifamilies. After that, government backed loans will only allow SFH. If you put the SFHs first, you'll have major headaches later getting MFH financing.

I had a long response typed out, but scouting advice seemed foolish if you've already made your trip.

How did it go? 

What would you like to dig deeper into?

What surprised you about the area?

How does it fit with your expectations and strategies?

Thumbs up on everything so far. 

If you're not inclined to make the drive, use Google Maps Street View to check out neighborhoods. In some areas, three blocks makes a tremendous difference, which is also fair warning against overly optimistic valuations of comps. I've seen it here. D-class properties comped with A-class properties ARV.

There aren't as many small multifamily options here as one would expect in other metro areas. Our geography and real estate history never found a large demand for them.  If that's a dedicated niche that you're focused on, search the big-box sites for any and all 2-4 unit properties.  Those results will point you to the neighborhoods that actually have them.

There are plenty of areas with great opportunities for almost any niche. 

That's part of the frustration and beauty of this area. If you know it and understand it, you can rock it. If you don't, it's horribly confusing and disheartening. 

If you don't have it absolutely wired, find someone who does.  

Firstly, congratulations on a great first deal!

Your question begs a few questions, though. What are your goals? What are your intended strategies?

Let that guide you. 

In the meantime, if you haven't already hired a CPA or Tax Attorney, do it immediately. They can guide you with the tax consequences. 

For example, do you know about 1031 exchange? Perhaps that would be the best immediate strategy. Perhaps not. But understand it's just as important to keep your  money as it is to make your money. 

If you can legally avoid paying taxes on your profit, and make another investment at the same time, you will be much further ahead and sooner than if you pay Uncle Sam 30% or more each time you do a deal. 

You can do it.  I personally like the overall strategy because real estate becomes both my day job and my side gig.

Look at it this way: 

If you're acting as a traditional agent, you are connecting buyers and sellers of RETAIL properties. (Caveat - you're working for them). 

If you're acting as a wholesaler, you are connecting buyers and sellers of DISTRESSED properties. (Caveat - you're working in-between them).

The mechanics of the deals are very similar, closings are similar, with a wholesale usually being a double-close. 

You can do your own property management for buy-and-holds.  You can list your own flips.  You can sell retail properties for someone else.  You have all of the possibilities open to you. 

Drive for dollars, door knock, send out yellow letters. Either a property is distressed or retail. Put 'em in the right bucket and work it.

Obviously, all of this depends on brokerage and the bounds of the law, but it is a sound strategy.

I'm going to suggest a slightly different route.  Call a mortgage loan originator / mortgage broker. They will shop your options for you, and will help you find the best solution. 

I'm a Realtor® in St. Pete Beach, but I'm in Dunedin several days a week. 

You have a lot of local resources, and there's always great information on BP. 

Make sure you hit Meetup.com and find the local REIA's. Attend more than one, until you find a crew you like. Personally, I love the one that meets at John's Pass in Madeira Beach.

With your background, you have a huge part of the equation - access to money! With a little studying, luck, and most importantly, implementation, you'll crush the financial freedom goal a lot sooner than 10 years. 

If you (or any other local following this topic) would like to grab a cup of coffee one day, please let me know - I love to meet other like-minded people in my general area. It's a breath of fresh air to talk to anyone with an investor's mindset.

Hi Jesse, and welcome to BP.

I'm a local Realtor - fair warning!

First major question, do you currently own a home? 

That's the easiest, most sound strategy to begin investing. Find the worst home in the best neighborhood that you can comfortably afford, and spend a few hours every weekend for the next 2 years fixing it up. Then sell it. 

After 2 years, the IRS doesn't want to hear about your capital gains (up to $250k for an individual). (I'm not an attorney, CPA, blah, blah, blah).

Even if it's only $30k net, there's your seed money and some experience in deal flow and rehab.

Then you can up your game. 

If you want to push the boundaries a bit, you can try your hand at wholesaling, or you can buy a multi-plex (up to 4 units, live in one) and work a buy-and-hold strategy. 

If you want to learn, BP is the place to be!  If I can help you in the local market, I'd be happy to hear from you.