Hello Everybody, I am New member from NJ.

[Al Stuart]

Hi Everybody!!!

I am a new member from Central, NJ.

First of all – to site administrators and owners – it is a great community you have here… Hat’s off to you…

I would not even call myself an Investor… I am somewhat more like an Interested Person.

A bit about where am I in my life:

I have tons of education (science), work in my field, have good job which I like a lot. Good salary. (for NJ nothing special – those who live in NJ will understand, if you don’t live in NJ – you will not). I am not planning on quitting my job anytime soon. I have free time on weekends and evenings.
Now that brings me to 'Why are you here question?”

I guess I do not like insecurity of working “for the man” – CEO in other country decides to cut costs – and you are out. It is ok when you are young like me – once you are in your 50th it is a lot harder to get professional job.

So for me it is in part an exit strategy – planning for the future in part – desire to be independent.

My plan is to go to few local REIA meeting, meet with members and talk to them. Short term goal – would be to find a Mentor. I am interested in any kind of investing – wholesale, rehab, REO, rental. Eventually I would like to build my own RE portfolio - mainly rental.

I would like to find someone who is a successful investor – and offer to work with him/for him. I am ready to do any work – such as painting, small repairs, legwork – searching and calling contractors negotiating price, setting appointments, searching internet/county offices for Tax records and such.
Right now I am looking for experience on how to look for deals, what is the best way to negotiate prices, what risks are ok to take and what are not, and making contacts with people, learning true costs of materials and labor and other tricks of a trade.
I would be willing to put few thousands of my own money but that is depending on situation.

SO QUESTIONS For some successful investors (just hypothetical):

1. Would you be interested in somebody like that?

2. Why would you mentor somebody like this: – in the long term you are training your own competitor in already crowded field?

3. Would you pay this person salary or offer profit sharing?

4. Would you share you secrets or tricks of the trade or just try to take advantage labor available?

5. Can anybody comment on RE investing in NJ – Entry barrier here is ridiculous – lots are going for 200K+… Only rental properties which have even a remote possibility to be cash flow positive are in places like Newark and Orange – not a happy places for those who are not familiar with NJ.

Thanks in Advance for answering any of my questions, and any comments are welcome as well.