Tip Toe or Full Speed Ahead?

[Eric van Dalen]

Hello, I'm just getting started. I'm listening to BP podcasts and webinars, reading books, taking notes so I'm learning all I can to start investing at the turn of the year.

I want to get one property under contract, start the rehab and then repeat the process depending on how much of my time it's taking.

I have my days free though for the most part and I'm pretty confident I can handle more than 1 project at a time. So what should I be cautious about with doing more than 1 project at a time?

I'm 48yrs old so I'm putting pressure on myself to be productive for my future. But I want to do it with wisdom.

My thought is that if I did just 1 deal from start to finish and it didn't go as planned it would be discouraging but if I had another in the pipeline I would have momentum.

[Dennis Pressey Jr]

@Eric van Dalen Great News. *note I did not read every comment I believe it really comes down to financials and the threshold of risk you can withstand. If you can confidently and comfortably carry 2 projects at once, go for it.

[Adam Gollatz]

Hi Eric,

Congrats on finally getting started. If you are hiring a contractor and have a team in place, it really doesn't take much time at all. I would be most concerned about being over leveraged. If your financing and reserves are strong, you should easily be able to take on 2 projects.

[Chris Lemire]

Hello @Eric van Dalen,

With our rehabs, the contractor funnel has been the biggest headache. When just getting started with a new contractor crew, we never give them more than one property at a time until they earn it. We have had great contractors who could handle one job at a time, that choked when trying to keep 2 running smoothly. We've also had contractors who could handle 3-4 at a time. It varies wildly by how mature the contractor crew's business is.

We've also had contractors steal materials, take draws and walk away, use our draw to pay for someone other project, or provide such poor quality work that we had to pay another crew to tear it out and start over.

It's not all gloom and doom. Our business is extremely successful. My point is just that finding a reliable crew that you can count on takes time, so I would take it slow getting started, so you have time to vet your crew and see what they're capable of.

A good crew makes or breaks deals in my experience. Deals are easy to find. Money is easy to find. A good crew is hard to come by, and worth its weight in gold.

[John Webster]

It all comes down to having a good team, you could do several deals at a time and never see the properties. The money side your finances dnt have to be strong to do multiple deals. My friend is doing 14 deals right now, I showed him how to find great deals, his credit is worse then mine and he has less than 11 months of exposure to realestate. Even when I started I did 3 deals at once , was limited on how much I could pay for deals , I was able to roll all costs into loan I barely made anything monthly. I did have have points and high interest but the deals were so good it didnt matter. I would research lenders cause some require reserves etc and some dnt. Most people dnt know how to find great deals why they are stuck coming out of their pocket. I show people in my city and the surrounding cities quite frequently . it is funny I go to networking events etc and the veterans are taking notes when i talk to people afterward lol. I replied on here about how to find deals etc, people pm me with thanks and how much they made. Lastly, I would make sure whoever is showing you is showing you correctly. You look at national avg for take home it is so low shows me many dnt fully understand what they are doing. If you are like my friend 14 deals at once 15k each on avg is pretty nice. Good luck you came to the right place, many amazing people on here!

[Dennis Pressey Jr]

@Eric van Dalen Great News. *note I did not read every comment I believe it really comes down to financials and the threshold of risk you can withstand. If you can confidently and comfortably carry 2 projects at once, go for it.

[Eric van Dalen]

Thanks, I'm encouraged by your responses.

[Shawn Ward]

@Eric van Dalen start your first one...once you get 3/4 through the process and you feel you are comfortable w/ the workload and your crew can take on another project, then get on with your second one. 

You'll find soon that you can do 2-4 at a time as long as you have the funds and the crews in place. 

All the best!

sjw