Who do you use for your 'Team'?

Question

Before I jump into anything, I want to have most or all of my team in place. And what better place to ask for suggestions than BP?! I know some of these questions have been asked in the past, but I can't figure out how to search the BP forums for Minnesota-specific posts. Also, I thought it'd be nice to have a solid list of recommended people in a single thread.

So, investors of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, who in particular would you recommend in the Twin Cities for the following:

- Lead generation: agents, brokers, wholesalers?

- Banks/Bankers?

- Inspectors?

- Contractors?

- Property managers?

- Handyman?

- Attorney?

- CPA?

- Anything else?

David Barnett · Answer

@Tom Hertel The two parts of my team that I use most heavily are the property management/repair team and the financing team.  For the property management team, I use VSM real estate, who also work with KPS property services to rehab, renovate, repair any property issues.  I'm very happy with their level of service, and I've bought two properties with @Daniel Kurkowski at VSM.  Both properties have worked out very well, and he was able to find good deals.  He's an investor himself and knows how to analyze deals and has a good network for off-market deals.  On the financing side, I've had a really experiences with Peter Pluimer at Alerus Financial.  The only drawback to Alerus is that they require the full 25% down payment.  I have a relationship with another bank in the Twin Cities area that only requires 20%.  Peter's level of service in particular is fantastic.  He's gone above and beyond the call of duty, and I highly recommend him.  Please feel free to reach out if I can make an introduction or forward along their contact information.

Todd Dexheimer · Answer

For wholesalers - go to MNREIA, MREC and post on BP that you are looking for properties (give the specifics). For Realtors, I use my self. There are some decent investment type agents. VSM is geared toward that, Ryan ONeils group also has some good agents.

Banks - Sunrise Banks (Kevin Sevcik), Firefly Credit union (Tom Ries), Drake Bank, Highland Banks(Mike Bruneau), Bridgewater bank, First American Bank

Inspectors - Steve Gfrerer

Contractors - Good Luck, I built my own company because this is the toughest to find

Attorney - GDO law (Geck, Dewey and Olson)

CPA - Caylor, LTD

Tim Swierczek · Answer

Lead generation: agents, brokers, wholesalers? @Ryan Luthi

- Banks/Bankers? myself

- Inspectors? Bruce Blumenthal (it won't let me post contact info so you're going to have to PM me for that.)

- Contractors? Too many to list depends on what is needed, quality of work, time frame needed, budget, and more

- Property managers? Self-manage with my wife

- Handyman? Wayne O'Hern is my primary but see contractors above I would give you a similar response.  Wayne does not do everything and he is not into finishing work. (it won't let me post contact info so you're going to have to PM me for that.)

- Attorney? Ben Warpeha (it won't let me post contact info so you're going to have to PM me for that.)

- CPA?  My CPA no longer accepts new clients, You can try @John Woodrich   He is a CPA that is very active on BP.  I do not know if he works with individuals or is a public company CPA, but he knows his stuff.

- Anything else?  get 3-4 handymen, 3-5 contractors, and individual trades like electric, plumbing, HVAC

Jay Scribner · Answer

Add Home Stager to the list.  ;)

Daniel Kurkowski · Answer

Thanks for the shout out @David Barnett!  When putting a team together I think it is best to meet with different people and see who you fit best with.  I personally believe that when you are just starting out, you want to work with someone who will provide you with detailed education about the markets in which you hope to invest and give you some more insight on the differences between what is taught in seminars and where the rubber meets the road.

@todd dexheimer is a great resource as well and very knowledgeable guy.

John Woodrich · Answer

@Tom Hertel

- Lead generation: agents, brokers, wholesalers? - I have  a couple realtors looking to find deals for me but we find most everything on our own.  My experience in looking at wholesale listings is that they are properties that are already listed on the MLS or their estimates are way off.  Every property seems to only need $5k in repairs and the ARV is $50k higher....  Not really.

- Banks/Bankers? - I used a small credit union in the past but them moved to only investing with cash/equity.  When we moved to more flips again this created a back and forth with having cash, not having cash, etc.  Plan to mix in some HML soon to keep more things going at the same time and we plan on using debt to get more rental units.  We plan to use @Tim Swierczek because he can offer the loans most other banks can but he also can get access to business loans if you are looking to keep things off your personal income.  Plain and simple, very knowledgeable about the business and has more to offer than other vendors.

- Inspectors? - I am the inspector.  Seller's like this especially on a major rehab project so it is a competitive advantage we have.  I wouldn't recommend this without some construction and systems knowledge (plumbing, electrical, etc).  I only inspect when it is part of a purchase strategy.

- Contractors? - This is a tough one.  You have to find them in your area and you have to find people who want a working relationship with you or you are going to get homeowner pricing.  This is a limiting factor on our business model right now, would like to find a general we can trust but right now I have 2.75 people working full time for us and we hire out the subs as needed.

- Property managers? - Self-manage now but hopefully we will get too busy for it soon and then I would be talking to @Amber Gonion

- Handyman? - My workers can do anything like this.

- Attorney? - Nelson Berg in Hopkins.  I have enough of a background where I cover most of this on my own though (setup LLCs, file quit claim deeds, etc)

- CPA? - Myself :)

Todd Dexheimer · Answer

@Tom Hertel  are used to use Scott Ficek  before I got my real estate license. Scott would be a fantastic resource. I potentially would be able to help you out as well. I'm located in the East Metro myself

Tom Hertel · Answer

@Todd Dexheimer

Thanks Todd. I recently went to a couple of the seminars from Ryan O'Neil's group. Who specifically within his team do you think is the best for REI investors, specifically SFR in the east metro?

Tim Swierczek · Answer

@Tom Hertel I offer a few different loans.  my main business is your typical residential lending with Conventional, FHA, VA, and USDA loan types.  I am an investor myself and feel I have a value-add with my 13+ years of LL experience to go along with 15+ years of lending.  I do offer some unique lending products that @John Woodrich mentioned.  The short version is they allow you to qualify off the rental cash flow and not your personal income, and you can purchase in an LLC which is strictly prohibited by all the loan types listed above.  There is also a loan that allows you to qualify using your bank statements if your self-employed which can be valuable to S/E folks.

Ray Lai · Answer

@Tom Hertel

Saw you asked John about how he found deals. If you want a game plan for finding deals through DM, let me know and I'll send you a game plan. Good luck putting together that team.

Regards,

Ray

Who do you use for your 'Team'?

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