FULL TIME INVESTING?? - New Member

[Carey Brown]

Hello! I'm new to this site and have a couple questions. I'm 23, work full time as a magazine designer and have purchsed 3 properties in the past three years in my spare time. I live in Atlanta, GA. I LOVE everything about real estate including searching, buying, rehabing, marketing, etc. and I would like to enter into it full time in the next 2-3 years. I will have between $100-$125k in liquid funds to supplement bank financing. I'm trying to learn as much as I can before I take the full time plunge and some of my questions are as follows: Starting out, (and I know some of this is based on market) is it best to invest in, single family, multi-family, or commercial? I'm not looking to rent out. Is $100-$125k enough of a cushion to invest full time if things get a little slow? Is it best to hire out most of the work, or do it yourself? When selling, should you use an agent or sell it yourself? Where is the best place to buy (courthouse forclosure auctions, banks, normal market, etc)? Any advice will be greatly appreciated... Thanks!

[N/A N/A]

Hi There and Welcome to the Bigger Pockets forum.

Yeah me too, I love RE investing also. Sounds like you have a lot of the same ?'s I had when I was bitten by the bug a number of years ago. I floundered a lot until I got some good direction on what to do. "You choose wisely grasshopper" in seeking guidance before taking the plunge.

I personally like SFH including duplex to fourplex for my purposes. I do know many that have done very well in any of the categories that you listed. So, pick one and learn all you can about it; there will be plenty of time to expand into other areas after you get started. They are all very different.

100-125k should be a good cushion to have; but the object is not to use it.

The old addage is you make money when you purchase the home not when you sell it. So the question arrises why would lock up your looking time doing the rehab work yourself? There are other considerations such as doing the job right i.e. up to code, necessary permits etc.etc.etc. There is another benefit to using contractors it is the relationships you develope. These people can be a wealth of seller referals. They hear about good deals all of the time. Do you think they might point some in your direction if they know they will get some work out of it?

Unless I flip a property, I use an agent to sell. You get the greater exposure for your property; you're not being taken from the task for which you make your money at (buying) by answering the phone and showing the property to look-e-loos. And again you're developing a relationship with another wealth of referals. Do you think an agent might toss you a pocket listing (this is a good deal he puts in his pocket for special friends) if he knows he will get another commission on the property when you sell?

Courthouse foreclosure auctions-nice place to visit (for the experience) wouldn't want to try to make a living there. Chances are if it made it to the courthouse steps its not a great deal, the competition will be tough, you don't know who you are bidding against (is it the lender trying to drive the price up), and they usually require all cash.

Banks can be a good place. Again another relationship for good deal referals. Banks know what goes into default before the public notice. If you have a track record the bank might put you onto the deal before having to go through all of the expenses they will incur in foreclosure; banks don't want to own houses.

Normal market, obviously but you will have to sift through a lot of properties to get one at a real good price. Most places on the market are simply priced too high with very little flexability; hey aren't we selling the Tajh Majhal (or however you spell it)?

I prefer to look where other investors aren't; less competition and more good deals. For me flips and rehabs are the properties du joir. I don't intend to hold on to anymore until I see where the market will end up.

As I said I floundered a lot in the begining but once I found a mentor my success got on track.

My mentor was a RE investment course that I took and learned all of the strategies I just mentioned. E-mail me and I'll send you a free report with excerpts from the course. You can evaluate it and see if it might answer all of your questions and more.

To Your Success

RE FINDIT

[Michael Mulrooney]

NSXvette,

I like single fanily homes myself and have bene buying for 13 years. I am just now working towards selling a few in hopes of having the same amount of capital or more to buy with cash, rehab and then sell. I am not sure where you are located, but $100-$125,000 in KY would probably buy 2 homes that could be rehabbed and you could pass your contractorsr between the 2 to keep them working for you.

I have found that I typically have to do some of the work myself, whether it is painting or cleaning up. I agree with the RE Findit but I haven't been successful in finding people that do COMPLETE work. Always loose ends to tie up.