Santa Clara county

[Leo Furagganan]

Hello,

I just finished attending this 3 days seminar from Than Merrill - http://www.fortunebuilders.com/real-estate-investing-courses/ . As starting out in this business, I have found good information in these 3 days but charging around $25K to sign up with their Mastery Program is a bit overwhelming.

I like to get started in this Real Estate Investing (either Wholesale, Rehabbing, etc) but not enough experience in doing so. If there's anyone in the Santa Clara county wants to educate or give me pointers on starting in Real Estae, I would really appreciate it. I would also like to see if I can invest (not really that much money) with you guys.

Thanks.

Leo

[David Beard]

@Leo Furagganan - I know your market is very competitive. That said, a reasonable place to start is to do a couple of action items (beyond just sitting on the couch reading stuff!).

* Go to the REIA meetings and network with rehabbers and wholesalers.

* Locate the wholesale companies in your area that move properties to rehabbers. Do your due diligence (ask for client references, ask for some property references) and determine a couple of them that you will work with. These companies will sell you a property, will provide or line up the hard money financing, will advise you on lining up contractors (however, get J Scott's books and read them first), and will advise you on the rehab and marketing of the property. They do all this because they want to be paid, and you need to be successful for them to get paid. Also, if you're successful, that means more businesss from you, as well as favorable referrals from you.

Sometimes these companies provide a financial incentive if you both purchase a property and utilize their lending services.

Identify a good listing agent that will sell your property, and ask them to help validate the ARV of the properties from the wholesale company that you are considering, so that you have an expert second opinion.

If you've got the money to pay $25k to FB, then you should have enough cash (I'd think) to do a rehab deal with HM financing.

Now you may not make much on your first deal due to your inexperience, but lean on the wholesale company. If they're reputable, they want (and need for) you to be successful just as much as you do. It'll be a college education in the business.