Important steps to be taken before getting started?

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David Dachtera · Answer

@Chase Hancock,

First Welcome to BP!

To address your questions, ...

Start your business entity as soon as you can, and start building credit in it. That credit will be separate from your personal credit. If anything happens to you to damage your personal credit, you will still have an option to get funding. Another point about having a business is that a lot of stuff becomes deductible where it wouldn't be otherwise. All of your property hunting and market efforts and expenses become business expenses and can be deducted from your business income. In the case of a pass thru entity (LLC, S-Corp), it can help offset your taxable income. Please consult a financial professional (I'm not one). If you choose to invest in paid education, it becomes deductible as a professional development expense.

On your card, ... If you don't have a business yet, at least get a Google Voice phone number so you don't put your personal phone number "out in the wild". Just mention your name and what you do, however you want to word it, your google voice number, maybe a P.O. Box address, if you have one, ...

Get contracts from the attorney you select to be part of your team. Always have an attorney review any contract you sign or ask someone else to sign. The financial life you save may be your own, in all likelihood.

Tax matters - refer to a competent tax accountant. Legal - refer to your selected attorney, preferably someone well versed in REI.

The steps? The REI education to which I am connected has a class dedicated to that. It's part of the "Fix and Flip" curriculum. It's an 8-hour class and it's on-line, you can review it as often as you want.

You're going into business. The sooner you lose the "I don't need to pay someone, I can do it" attitude, the better off you'll be.

Hope this helps ...

David J Dachtera

"Success is not a destination. Failure is not an event. Success is a process, failure is a choice."- DJ Benedict

Franklin Romine · Answer

@Chase Hancock

Starting guzzling information and pinging the guys you see doing deals.  Ramp up your mind quickly otherwise you be a couple years out before you do any deals.  A lot of people talk and have little to tangible evidence of any activity.

Taking real estate advice from a person is similar to dropping your kids off at a daycare.  Would you trust someone more that is watching your kids with a person that has children? Yes, most likely you would.  So... gather your information from someone that is putting deals together and owns property.

Learning is a full time job.  When I started learning real estate I was working OT learning Real Estate, studying, reading, thinking... around 60 hours a week.  Today I backed off on my learning job at around 50 hours per week.

Franklin

Elizabeth Colegrove · Answer

You are very kind. We are heading to Whidbey Island, Washington end of April. I will be in and out of the area since we have 5 houses and than I manage another 4 for family. I will definitely come whenever I am in town.

PS- I am always happy to give a presentation and help in any way. Just let me know how I can. Only thing I am bummed about was I didn't find you guys sooner ;)

Elizabeth Colegrove · Answer

Hey bummer I missed out on the Fresno meet ups. I will have to join up with you next time. What nights do you guys meet up?

Jay Orlauski · Answer

Hi Elizabeth -

The next evening meeting in Fresno will be March 22nd @ 6pm - with the "559 Real Estate Investor & Business Owner Community"  and is hosted by Henry Serrano every 4th Tuesday of the month.

http://www.meetup.com/investing-486/

The weekly meetups that I host are every other Thursday and every other Saturday at 12:30 pm -  Our next meetup is this Thursday March 3rd.  We are called "Fresno Deal Seekers Meetup"

http://www.meetup.com/Fresno-Deal-Seekers-Meetup/

I would love it if you could join us for a daytime meetup  - I had previously read your profile before  and some of your awesome posts. I have also been to your website - very impressive - I would love to have someone of your caliber join us.  We meet every week so there is always an opportunity to make another meeting if you missed a date - I set it up that way so that we could keep up the momentum and also give the members a chance to see each other on a more regular basis to build rapport - leading to stronger relationships and  potential partnerships. There are already members doing business with each other that met at our group. I hope you have the opportunity to come out to Fresno - but be careful  - I might try to recruit you into giving a presentation one of these days...  :)

Tou Vang · Answer

@Chase Hancock

I would say it's best to talk with a lawyer and/or CPA for them to give you advise in this area. Majority of the time the first consultation is usually free. Otherwise, attend some of these meetings and you'll find mentor(s) who can guide you.

I hope this helps.

Jay Orlauski · Answer

There are about 4 REIA meetups in the Fresno area that meet regularly - all of then have some very experienced investors as well as beginners who are still trying to learn the ropes - you can go to Meetup.com to find the ones most convenient for you to attend.  Three of them are at night once a month and one of them meets at the lunch hour once a week so you have your choice of one that works best for you.. or like many of the members attend ALL of them! If your interested in talking to an investment  friendly realtor - I'm about as investor friendly as it gets and I would be more than happy to answer questions or help point you in the right direction.

Richard Balsam · Answer

To learn the local market - I would start at the simple things and work up from there. For example- pull up Zillow - enter Fresno in the search field, and play with it. You will see the town, roads, etc - so you know what you are looking at. There is a feature where you can see what houses have sold for in the past( on a map), the estimated property values, etc. Be careful with the Zestimate- it's computer generated- and a starting point only -with house prices. Click around and you will see much more information. You will even see ads for local real estate agents - if you have questions- find one that is investor friendly.

Once you know the area, and want to dig deeper - visit your local REIA - attend the meetings, you can even watch youtube videos ( with a lot of "views" - not smaller cheap looking stuff) that pertains to your market. You can attend a foreclosure auction to see how it's done and see cash buyers. You can also buy books, and read everything you can online. Good luck!

Jay Orlauski · Answer

Hi Chase - welcome to the forum.  Pretty good advice so far - I would say to  use this time time to learn everything you can by listening to podcasts, talking to other investors , and reading blogs, posts, and questions that other wholesalers  are asking and answering.  Also, try to get to know the area as best you can - it makes a big difference when looking at properties when you are used to the home values in the area  - Another key piece of advice that wish I had when I first started out was to start networking with other investors as soon as possible - not just online - but in real life - sit down and have lunch - maybe offer to take them out for coffee and pick their brain - you would be surprised how much you can pick up on in a casual conversation with someone who does this for a living  - the insight simply unbeatable. Keep looking for deals like you're doing and run an analysis everyday so that you get used it  - after a while , you start to get the feel for deals.... good luck - let me know if I can help with anything at all. There are a lot of investors in the area that you can learn a lot from - I talk to them every week and after 15 years in the business , I am still learning new things all the time. Keep us abreast of your progress .

Important steps to be taken before getting started?

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