Hello, Fellow Investors! I'm Ready to Make Some Money!

[Johanna Anderson]

My name is Johanna Anderson, and I live in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC. I am excited about getting involved in real estate investing, because I have always enjoyed negotiation, and I think that investing is a good fit for my personality.

My goal is to do some wholesale deals first to generate cash, then consider doing a "buy and hold" rental property that doesn't need tons of rehab. When I start to accumulate rental homes, I will definitely want to employ a property manager, lol! 

I am interested in buying properties anywhere in Maryland and possibly elsewhere, and I'll consider any property with a potential for profit.

I see real estate investing as a level playing field for anyone who wants to make money. I'm a hard worker, I'm thorough and conscientious, and I want to help create win-win situations every day! I love the idea that I can help other people and earn great money, too!

I'll be upgrading to Pro membership soon, and I will definitely be posting deals to look for CASH BUYERS.

All the best to everyone,

Johanna Anderson

[Mike H.]

I think your business model is right where it should be. Wholesale to build some capital and then do buy and hold when you can.

The true value in investing in real estate is thru buy and hold versus flipping.

If you compare the ways you make money and the risks, here is how the two options play out. And technically some people will point out that there are more than those two ways to make money in investing but those are the two that tend to be done the most.

1) Flipping. Quicker way to get bigger profits. Taxed at a higher rate. And when you stop flipping, you have zero income coming in. The only way you make money is if you keep flipping. There are no other long term income gains from flipping. Whatever you make off the sale is it. And the risk is that you can lose money flipping a house.

2) Buy and hold. Takes longer to get large profits. You're adding 200 to 400 a month in net profit per months for every house you buy. But that income is typically completely tax free for most of the first 10 or so years.

The real value in buy and hold though is the combination of benefits. i.e:
1) Rental Profits

2) Principal paydown. You might only be making 200 to 300 a month in rental profits, but you are likely paying down a mortgage at 100 to 200 a month as well. 

3) Appreciation. Whats nice about appreciation is that it hits against the entire value of the home and not your investment portion. So if you get a 150k house for 120k and put down 24k, the appreciation (typically 2 to 3% in most areas), you're appreciation is not occurring on 3% of 24k. You're gaining 2 to 3% of 150k - or another 3 to 4k a year in appreciation.

4) Equity capture. Yet another one that gets left off. But when you're really investing, you're buying a 150k for a discount. So you're walking in to 30 to 40k in equity right off the bat. Now, that doesn't really equate to a profit as the only way to get that money out completely would be to sell and a sale incurs expenses (i.e. realtor fees, etc). But from a net worth standpoint, you made 30 to 40k.

Imagine going to your stock broker and asking to buy 100k of Google stock but that you wanted to get that for 75k. That just isn't happening. You're paying 100k plus the fees. 

So stick with your plan and I would definitely recommend buy and hold as a strategy. For me, it'll always come back to the one absolute fact - buy and hold investing is one of the few opportunities out there where us regular people can build some real wealth.