All Forum Posts by: Marcus Auerbach

@Ryan Dworak welcome to BP and congratulations to your upcomming graduation!

@William S. there is a reason they are cheap - easy to discover, just take a walk. 

@Nate Mckee you also have to practice as a licensed sales person for 2 years before you can take the test to obtain your brokers license. As an agent you have to work for a broker, who is legally responsible for your actions and get's a split of your comission. In order to get your license you need to study quite a bit - most people will need about 6-8 weeks to prepare for the exam. There are also expenses involved to get licensed and then every year to renew your license as well as mandatory continued education, dues and fees. Being a licensed agent gives you access to ressources and information you don't have as an investor. On the other hand part time agents are not being taken very serious in the industry and there is a reason for that - it takes a lot of transactions to become proficient. I have been asking the same question as you did for years until I quit my full time job and became a full time agent. Knowing what I know now I would say it's not worth it just for yourself - it's a little bit like going to law school to write your own contracts and safe some money. Sure, it gives you a lot of knowledge, but unless you practice law 60 hours a week you will not be a good lawyer - you are better off to hire a good one. Same here: find a great agent who sets up a MLS portal for you and focus on becomming an expert flipper (that's already 3 or 4 jobs in one).

It actually works quite well in larger subdivisions with uniform housing stock, the opposite is true in rural areas or homes that are a little different than the comps or areas where the housing stock is very diverse.

@Ulises Becerra welcome at BP! Comps and ARV are a little like golfing - you will never be 100% satisfied. But you wil get better with time and you can learn from mistakes - including other peoples mistakes. One of the best things you can do is track other rehabbers in your focus area. Look up how much they have paid for the property, how long it took them and what they are asking for the finished product. You can do that on Zillow, even the data is not always the greatest. Go to open houses whenever possible and study materials, finishes and the choices they have made on what to leave and what to replace. You will find that some are really good - they bought it for a great price, turned it arround quickly and deliver a quality product. Others.. not so much. Keep track of the listings you have seen and follow them until they close. This will give you a sense of what works and what doesn't.

I understand your pain, but when you forget the "real" part for a moment this game is all about tying up as much money as possible in self eliminating long term debt. So from that point of view, go for the cash out refi. On the other hand the credit line has the huge advantage that you don't pay interest when you don't need it. That ads a lot of pressure when you are shopping for a project. So here is a point for the HELOC.

Kiara, are a agent friendly investor? You can look on BP for members in your area and there are plenty of investors who are also agents and understand the game. Just be mindful of their time and ask how you can best work together. Good luck!

Thanks Shawn. She is a great person and has helped others in the past with the little that she has, so it was time for people to take care of her. It took me a little to put myself mentally in the position to just not being able to take care of my family, because you just don't have $500 for a new appliance, not even on a credit card and you have to explain that to your kids. Everyone would have helped and I'm glad we were able to.

@Robert Kriedermann I think I have received a letter from you a while ago. If you mail to absentee owners you definitley have to scrub the list from names who have multiple income properties - not your typical motivated seller. In my mind the main thing is touch points. Pick one area and like some said before make sure you touch them every month. What happens is that you build trust and recognition over time. The big missunderstanding is that you dont mail to people that are already motivated. You mail to normal people and they get to know you (your letters) - and then they become motivated. My suggestion would be shorten your list and increase your touches.

@Chris Mylan I see where you are stuck - the new fair market value does not happen conviniently. Step by step: find a small bank that will do a cash out refi. Make some calls you will find several. They will order an appraiser to go see your place and establish fair market value. They will then typically give you 75% (not 80%!!!!) of the new and improved value. The proceeds will pay off your original loan and the difference will be given to you as a "cash out". Note that you will have about 2k in closing cost.