What makes the Pro Membership worth it?

Question

I almost bought it a couple months ago, but my brother talked me out of it because I couldn't articulate the value to him. Is it just access to the calculators and webinar replays?

Are there people here who don't have pro membership and are glad?

Mitch Messer · Answer

Hi @Stephen McDonald. I've been active here on BiggerPockets for 6 years and didn't upgrade to PRO until about two years ago.

My advice: Don't pay for PRO until you've squeezed every bit of juice out of your existing membership!

If you're like me, you joined this community to learn more about real estate and connect with others from around the world doing great and innovative deals. If that's so, then there's plenty you should be doing right now that will turbocharge your efforts and won't cost you a penny!

Paying for PRO won't help you if you don't at least do the following:

• Add a recent photo of yourself to your profile. Not having one is like walking into a networking event with a paper bag over your head!
• Complete your profile introduction, stating your investment and learning goals.

There's nothing more tragic here on BP than seeing someone who has paid for PRO but hasn't even performed the basics of business networking.

Mitch Messer · Answer

@Stephen McDonald Very nice job on the photo and the profile! You've already increased your credibility and reputation here on BiggerPockets, because you:

• listened to helpful advice; and,
• took swift and meaningful action.

I actually recommend folks start out by building their own spreadsheet, so they intimately understand the complete ins and outs of all the numbers. When you are done, by all means take the good advice of @Demarcus Crump and use the calculators here to perform a sanity check to ensure your math is correct.

Lastly, talking to agents is not nearly as helpful (or satisfying) as talking to actual sellers. In fact, you really want every single living person who knows you to send you anyone with a problem involving real estate! I'm not kidding:

• Got a house that won't sell? Call Stephen.
• Tenant stopped paying you rent? Call Stephen.
• Can't pay for repairs to your home? Call Stephen.

You get the idea.

Then -- and here's the crazy part -- talk to these people and sincerely try to help solve their problems. (This might help: https://www.biggerpockets.com/...) Do it long and well enough for enough people and I guarantee a deal will present itself.

Real estate investors are in the problem-solving business: The better you get at that, the more success you will have!

Loren Jacobs · Answer

Hey Stephen, there has been some excellent advice presented here already. You will thank yourself for following it diligently.

I agree with @Mitch Messer, you definitely do not need a Pro membership to start and your capital will be better allocated elsewhere initially. In my opinion your focus should be on:

1. Learning as much as you possibly can about real estate investing.

2. Find a niche you are interested in and become an expert.

3. Utilize every morsel of free education out there, and there’s a lot.

Once you are an educated investor you will be much more effective at communicating with others in the industry and adding value. You will find other investors will take your more seriously and, perhaps, even want to work with you if you prove you can bring a lot to the table.

Last, most of the information presented here, including the BP calculators, are geared toward residential (1-4 units) investing. You mentioned looking at a small multifamily deal you found on Loopnet. Using a calculator designed for single family acquisitions to underwrite a multifamily property is like trying to pound a nail into the wall with a screwdriver. Is it possible to turn the screwdriver around and use the handle to drive the nail? Yes. Is it as efficient, effective and accurate as using the right tool for the job, a hammer? No, of course not.  If your goal is to acquire multifamily properties find educational materials and deal analyzers specific to that niche. You will find 12% CoC return in multifamily is incredibly difficult to find in assets worth investing in. Most investors are happy with 8-9% at the moment, which is still difficult to find.

If you have any other questions I am happy to help.

Joe Splitrock · Answer

@Stephen McDonald in my opinion, the greatest value in PRO comes from these things:

1. Access to calculators

2. Access to view all older webinars

3. Access to download state specific attorney reviewed forms (lease and other documents)

4. Access to put ads on Marketplace. These can be for sale or wanted ads or self promotional

5. Advance access to things like BPCON

6. Keyword search

7. Track more key phrases, so you get alerts to posts in the forums under your preferred criteria

I am always amazed that people decide to get into this business, but are too cheap to spend a few bucks for quality resources. The value of these items saves time more than anything. Can you do it all yourself scouring the internet for free? Probably, but it takes longer and requires more time. Does your time have value? No question there is value in a PRO membership and I know there are more good things planned in the future. And just to clarify, although I am a moderator, it is a volunteer position.

Mitch Messer · Answer

@Demarcus Crump You'll just need a spreadsheet program (or service), like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets. If you're a buy-and-hold investor, you'll want to have inputs like @Stephen McDonald does in his example above. Then, you'll need to look up and learn how to calculate things like Net Operating Income and Annual Operating Expenses, to ultimately get to the numbers you really want, such as Cash-on-Cash Return and Cap Rate. You can search right here on BiggerPockets for any of these terms to find a multitude of blog posts explaining what they each mean and how to calculate them.

Stephen McDonald · Answer

Thank you very much for answering my question. Clearly you are one of the superstars and it means a lot. I hadn't touched my profile in months. That was a good analogy with the paper bag. Well I added a photo now and added more to my description. It's not nearly as awesome as yours is.

You mentioned that there is plenty I should be doing right now that won't cost a penny. I figure I should be finding deals through Loopnet and Realtor and contacting Agents, and then analyzing those to find out how much I could pay for them.

I'm tempted to buy pro so I can use the calculator. I have a calculator of my own in a Google Spreadsheet, which I like because I know how the numbers are interacting to form the results. I have a concern that the number isn't realistic.

I just found a 7 unit apartment building in Columbus on Loopnet. I put the numbers into my calculator. They ask $3,550,000. That's too much.

I watch the Bigger Pockets Webinars. Brandon Turner reccomends 12% return and $100 Cashflow per unit per month. The value that would get me to 12% cash-on-cash, according to this calculator, is approximately $1,250,000, and would make a Cashflow of $31,337. That sounds unrealistic because it's way more than $8,400, which is $700 x 12.

Are there more professional calculators out there that don't cost much, or is mine okay?

John Miller · Answer

@mitch messer love that you said squeeze every drop before purchasing pro or premium. I was about to upgrade (and will) just not yet.

Remington Lyman · Answer

I like that you can set up a keyword search. Being a premium member also gets me to the top of the list for real estate agents.

Demarcus Crump · Answer

@Mitch Messer how could I make my own template? I’m in the middle of learning all the ins and outs.

Robert Ellis · Answer

Worth every penny, i'm on premium now and even more benefits. I like that I can post in the marketplace for ads for what i'm looking for, post deals I have, etc. Plus i think it's great for the calculators. a lot of our clients and us can share the links and edit them and analyze them going in to see what the returns will be.

What makes the Pro Membership worth it?

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