Newbie in Connecticut

[Kevin Keene]

Hello, everyone!  My name is Kevin and I am very interested in flipping houses.

To start, I should probably say I am in the military and not really in the position to start flipping immediately, but my wife and I are very interested in making it our career when I retire in a few years.  We want to flip one or two houses within the next 5 years (not at the same time) as a "dry run" to see how well it works for us.  I have always been interested in owning property.  We currently own two houses and I was looking at buying rental property a few years ago, but then I deployed, so we never put that into action.

I have been reading a lot on this site and have taken the 70% rule to heart, among other tips and rules. I am very good at spreadsheets and I have already begun making some, using math to best guess whether or not a property would be worth investing. I use websites to estimate ARV based on recent sales, but I am still learning comps. I'm not looking at buying now, but I did want to start wrapping my mind around the ins and outs of buying, fixing, and selling in short durations.

I know market influence on income is a difficult way to make a living, so my goal is to make a bankroll to be able to fund my first flip with straight cash.  That way, I won't be using any of my paycheck to rehab, taking some of the stress off my shoulders.  I am aware that even with a contractor team, unexpected costs, and holding costs associated with it, will add up.

After reading this site more and more, I am also learning about wholesaling and Tax Deed Sales.  My mother tried to quit deed her house to me, but after a lot of research on the process and learning her motives, I avoided that like the plague.  The good news is that I learned a lot about that, too.  Anyway, wholesaling and foreclosures seem to be up my alley.  That tax deed stuff seems like more of a headache than I am willing to put in to this career, but still, I am sure there are some gems out there for people interested in that.  We also participate in storage auctions, but that's for another forum :)

Whew, I'm going on pretty long... sorry!

So, my wife and I have decided to look in to getting real estate sales licenses.  I have looked in to classes, but we ran into a snag.  There are different rules for different states, classes, hours, etc. and I don't know in what state I will retire.  Is any one state easier than another?  Can I take classes for one state and get licensed (before I retire) and then transfer that to another state?  I also know that being a real estate agent (I have learned the difference between REA and Realtor here!) instead of being an investor creates different rules of ethical disclosure to potential buyers, and I have a pre-legal degree, too.  We were thinking maybe I could go to law school and my wife become the real estate agent.

Regardless, I signed up for this site to network and learn more.  When I talk, I want to know the appropriate lingo of the business so I am clearly stating my desires to contractors and real estate investors/agents.  I want to make sure I know what to look for and how to get it.  That's really why I am here.

Please don't feel like I am wasting your time just because I plan on taking it very slow.  My wife and I are very serious about doing this type of work and I love learning everything I can about any topic I pursue.  Thank you for reading all of this and I look forward to talking with all of you!

-Kevin

[Jim Lally]

@Kevin Keene 

 Welcome to BP!  It's always nice to see someone new from CT on the site (and close too!) Thanks for your service as well.  I'm a navy veteran myself.  Retired a few years back.

I recently decided to get my RE license a few months back and I don't regret it. While disclosure is important like you mentioned, I think the pros outweigh the cons. You have access to the MLS, commission savings and a network of other agents you can use to send investors your way. The reciprocity issue for licensing varies by state. Check out this link for reciprocity agreements with CT http://www.ct.gov/dcp/cwp/view.asp?q=381860 So it depends on where you ultimately end up.

In my opinion investing in real estate is not a  race.  It's important to do your due diligence and understand the market your looking to invest in.   I've been looking at properties in the New London county area for almost a year now and still haven't purchased anything yet. My initial approach was to flip but I've now shifted into a buy and hold strategy.  You'll find quite few properties out there that are well over 100 years old and in very poor condition. Lots of structural damage too which is extremely expensive to fix.  This drove me to the buy and hold approach.  The key is to stay focused on one strategy and avoid the shiny objects!

You might want to consider attending a REIA meeting to network. Unfortunately the closest one is in the Hartford area. I've thought about trying to get a meet up started in this area but have not been able to get enough interest. Maybe I should try it again though.

Anyway please feel free to reach out anytime.  

Jim