DISCLAIMER: I'm not asking for a mentor here but for an advice on how to find one! Hi all, very first post here but a long time reader. Please bear with me... I live in Brooklyn, NY, I'm in my late thirties and I've always stayed away from anything related to finances, investment and money in general because I've felt it was smelling dishonesty, fraud, "stabbing in the back" etc. I'm not saying it does! But this is how I've always felt about it. I'm an electronics technician and a sound engineer (and a musician, of course), and both of these professions are creative and I love them, but they are very stupid from an investor's perspective where numbers rule, because they don't bring a good quality of life and you just work for your boss etc, etc.... But recently I've been hit by a series of tragic events, including death of my dear wife due to a disease, and my own health starting going downhill in spite of my best attempts to live a healthy lifestyle. Loss of my wife, the person I love the most, was especially devastating. And my health going down is a step away from being unable to work and there's no "disability" for my condition whatsoever. As a result of this, I'm looking for a way to invest in real estate so that I can survive without a day job. At first, it looks like a "Mission Impossible" for me. But I'm a die-hard. My financial goals are not terribly high - at least 1k monthly net cash flow. You may say it's quite low... indeed so. But I'm thinking of relocating overseas where life is cheaper, while having a rental property in the US. I've started researching the subject (mostly on BiggerPockets :-) ) and my first reaction was to turn to a TurnKey provider since there's no way for a non-money oriented mind like mine to learn this tricky business myself. But after researching two of TK providers closely, I've learned that with TK providers you can expect either or both: ripped-off-profit or poor quality of service. They have to make their cut not matter what, and they do it by above mentioned means. Period. Therefore, the only solution I see is to get in touch with a seasoned investor with high morals, honesty and ethics for a help with my first property or two. For a fee, of course. We'd need to get to know each other, I'd need to vet the person carefully and, hopefully, become friends. The investor would have his money-making machine in place with all proper connections. So a property acquired and managed for me would not be any different from his normal routine for himself. And hopefully, his true intentions would be to help another fellow human being from the bottom of his heart rather than ripping me off. Do you think my goals of finding such a person (or a group) achievable? If so, were can I actually find such people, ESPECIALLY IF LOOKING FOR A MENTOR IS PROHIBITED ON THIS FORUM?

Stan, I am not an investor but because of my profession. I attend several Real Estate Investors meetings here in CT. I recommend highly the one held in Fairfield at Crave Restaurant the last wed of the month. This month it will be on 1/31/18. Officially starts at 7:30pm but many are there by 7pm to start networking. It is one block from the metro north Fairfield (not Fairfield Metro) station so it should be easy for you to get to if you don't want to drive. There is a similar meeting starting in Norwalk CT. The first meeting is this Wed., 1/24/18 at 7:30pm at Peaches in Norwalk. If you want directions and/or info PM me and I will email the Details. Neither of the above meetings charge anything and there is no attempt to sell you a "program". Other than Introductions the rest of the meeting is networking (including a lot of question answering).

@Stan Chigintsev sorry to hear about the passing of your wife and your declining health. When tragedy strikes it seems like we take a better account of where we are at in life. Let’s talk a little about numbers and risk vs. reward. With 20k to put down you will probably not be able to buy a cash flowing property. You may be able to use the 20k as a down payment for 1 property, probably not 2. If it is a turn key property and you have a loan, and it performs well than you may cash flow maybe $200 a month in that one property. The ROI (return on investment) would be 200 x 12 = 2400. The. Take 2400/20,000 = 12% return on your money. As mentioned before, properties need management and maintenance so you will want to make sure you are budgeting for that also. With property management, property managers will manage the property, however, you will need to manage the property manager. So it isn’t absolutely passive. If the property manager doesn’t do a very good job, you may need to switch property managers which takes more time and effort in researching and interviewing new management companies. People do this from out of state all the time so it’s not a really big deal, you just need to know that it may happen. Note investing can be more passive but you also need to understand the laws in the state in which the property is located in the event that the buyer stops paying and you need to foreclose on them. There are servicing companies that can help you with this and they are kind of like what property managers are for real estate. However, with buying notes 20k seems pretty low for a first position note. You may need to buy a partial note. Still though, the returns are going to be about the same 8-12% minus some fees to the servicing company. The way a lot of people make money in real estate is they get a property with financing that cash flows, then over time the tenant pays the loan down, and the property appreciates in value. They then sell the property and realize a gain on the sale. So let’s say you take your 20k and you buy a property that is already fixed up that costs 80k and you get a 60k mortgage. Let’s say you are able to rent it out for $950 a month, $400 mortgage, $200 taxes and insurance $90 property management, and you save $60 for miscellaneous repairs. You would cash flow about $200 a month. Then in 5 years you sell the property for 100k, minus 7k for commissions etc. the underlying mortgages would be around 50k in 5 years. 93k - 50k. Take away another $3500 for the taxes for the gain on the sale. Now you have $39,500 to work with. Your money almost doubled in 5 years which meant that you got the 12% ROI in cash flow and then another 19.5% per year in gain from the appreciation and mortgage pay down. That is a simple explaination of how Money is made in real estate. As you can see, with only $20,000 the cash flow, if everything goes well, is about 12%. Then when you sell the property in five years, you have twice as much to work with, again if everything goes as planned. Then after another five years, you can double your money again and have about $80,000. This is how you can turn $20,000 and $80,000 in 10 years without having a ton of knowledge in investing. Then your cash flow could be closer to $800 - $1000 a month. Of course most serious investors take the time to gain knowledge and experience to buy better deals and accelerate their profits. I hope this helps you have a better idea of a time frame and what you can realistically expect by investing in the way that you described which is not too active but not fully passive either. Good luck to you.

Rick forgive me I forgot his first name. he did a lot of posts on how to do probate.. but when you went to his website he had a price list.... buy rick a cup of coffee 500.00 3 hour consult 1500 .00 so on and so forth. I did a little of the hey I would like to buy you lunch when I first got on BP .. guess who ended up paying ( that's right me I would see the puppy dog look so I would pick up the tab) now I might do it once a month or less but I meet at whole foods buy my own coffee and make sure its in my daily routine between my bank and home.. and I am buying what I am going to eat for dinner.. But on the flip side I have met many VERY VERY capable investors on BP so its not all beginners.. but the bigger players you can tell right off the bat.. and that meeting or talk is much different than the hey I need a mentor.. those talks are hey I am a very successful business man/ women with capacity looking to invest..

trying to find a mentor on BP is just like trying to find a mate on line.. :) some good some train wrecks.. never know who is hiding behind a key board.. real estate my daddy taught me is belly to belly..

What would be more enticing is you paying money to someone up front. Someone taking a flyer on you is a loooooong shot at best. Successful people have more efficient uses for their time than a loooooong shot on a person who is green to the space.

How can I find an honest and moral adviser/mentor?

Stan C.

OP

New York, NY · Member since 2018 · 100 posts · 20 votes

8y

I must add that I'm looking to invest out of state.

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Basit SiddiqiBusiness Member

Accountant · New York, NY · Member since 2015 · 8k+ posts · 3k+ votes

8y

@Stan C.

Sorry to hear about your loss...

I am not a turnkey provider and I never worked with a turnkey provider...however, I would have to suspect that not all of them are there to rip you off or provide a poor quality of service.

You have to be realistic with your rate of return when working with a turnkey provider.
You should expect a higher rate of return than investing in treasuries
however you should expect a lower rate of return than if you were to invest in real estate yourself.

Onto tips for finding a mentor - You may want to attend a couple local real estate networking events. There are a lot here in NYC. At these events you will find investors of all levels(those who have decades of experience and some who never did a deal).
You can find local real estate networking events through the events section here at BP or on meetup.com

While you can find a mentor who would teach for free - you should find a mentor who charges a fee or asks you to do something in return(ultimately time is money...)

[email protected]917-280-8544

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Stan C.

OP

New York, NY · Member since 2018 · 100 posts · 20 votes

8y

@Basit Siddiqi

I was unable to find a good TK provider. They either add 30-40% to the cost of property they sell, or promise to squeeze rehab into unrealistically low total cost where they take their cuts by doing very poor quality renovations or management or providing questionable location. My BS alarm went off big time. If you know a good TK provider that you've dealt with yourself - please share it.

I'm looking at at least 10-12% net return, taking into account lots of hidden costs.

Thanks for an advice on local networking events. I will try to look for those. However, since most likely I will be investing in out of state (nearby states: CT or PA) or Mid-West, i doubt the local investors would discuss out-of-state properties, would they?

How can I find an honest and moral adviser/mentor?

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