All Forum Posts by: Joshua Kulzer

Hi Blake! I already had $5000 in it with the wholesaler, which is the non refundable deposit. Then, my HML had the appraisal done, and they looked at the numbers and didn't believe it could be done with the rehab numbers we presented. They asked for another $20k skin in the game! I had to scrap a lot of my plans and slash my rehab budget. Almost lost the deal because of all that. I ended up getting another $15k off the purchase price from the wholesaler and had to put another $8k in the deal. $13k out of pocket from me, to answer your question. The story is a little more complicated than that, but that's the sort version. I'm always looking to get into a deal for no or low money down.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence fix & flip investment in Platte City.

Purchase price: $72,000
Cash invested: $2,000

Single Family House built in 1888.
3 BR
1 BA

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Both my wife and I love old houses and this one was built in 1888.
It had all the original windows, which we had to replace, but will keep and do something artsy with.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Real Estate Agent

How did you finance this deal?

Hard Money - 12% + 2 points and fees.

How did you add value to the deal?

We are re-configuring the kitchen and main level bathroom to flow well. It will be gorgeous. We are also adding a jack and Jill bathroom upstairs, stealing space from the attic/void space to make that work.

What was the outcome?

Still in progress

Lessons learned? Challenges?

I bought my first two deals on the same day, and closed on them about 1 week apart. I think it is important that your agent understand investment properties. Some things that I didn't catch, I would have liked my agent to catch. I did not need a home inspection, but my agent convinced me that I needed one. I bought it in as-is condition, and I was going to rehab it with professionals anyway. I wasted about $500 on unnecessary inspections that could have done to a new feature.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Yes - I have been working with the same GC, but I have been working with 5 different agents. I am down to 4 agents now.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence fix & flip investment in Lenexa.

Purchase price: $174,000
Cash invested: $13,000

I bought this property off of a wholesaler. They originally wanted $189,000. I ended up getting it for $174,000. Rehab started at $80,000, but we had to work it down to $60,000, leaving a lot of great changes by the wayside.
We are planning to have it done this Friday, 1/3/2020, listing at $339,950.00.
Hard Money at 12% +2 points and additional fees
Out of Pocket: $13,000
ARV: $345,000
Rehab: $67K ($7K over budget)

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

I was eager, and I knew the area. Homes in Johnson County, KS typically sell fast.
I had just met my GC and he referred me to my hard money guy.
I had also gotten on a buyers list at a wholesale firm.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Wholesaler

How did you finance this deal?

Hard Money

How did you add value to the deal?

Opened up the wall separating the kitchen from the dining room.
Gutted the entire house
Repaired the foundation
New paint on the interior and exterior
White granite tops in all 4 1/2 baths
White granite in kitchen.
New light fixtures
New hardware throughout... Everything is new.

What was the outcome?

We'll see!

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Have your order of operations scheduled better, prior to starting the work. We needed the roof done first, but the roofer we originally hired flaked. We had to use our backup roofer, which cost us an additional $2300, plus, didn't get done until we were 3 weeks into the project. Same goes for a house with foundation issues. Roof and foundation, you want those done first, if possible.
Know what your money will cost you... at 12%, a smaller house can make you the same profit, except faster.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

My GC is also an agent, so even though he didn't work as an agent on this deal, I will leverage him on future deals (already in the works). My rule, as long as I feel someone is competent, is that if someone brings you a deal, they are entitled to the commission. If you can't trust someone to do their job, do not use them for important tasks. A bad agent will lose you money. Surround yourself with people smarter than you! Thanks David Greene!

Investment Info:

Single-family residence fix & flip investment in Lenexa.

Purchase price: $174,000
Cash invested: $13,000

I bought this property off of a wholesaler. They originally wanted $189,000. I ended up getting it for $174,000. Rehab started at $80,000, but we had to work it down to $60,000, leaving a lot of great changes by the wayside.
We are planning to have it done this Friday, 1/3/2020, listing at $339,950.00.
Hard Money at 12% +2 points and additional fees
Out of Pocket: $13,000
ARV: $345,000
Rehab: $67K ($7K over budget)
I want to make $30K per flip - and at this point, my fingers are crossed!

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

I was eager, and I knew the area. Homes in Johnson County, KS typically sell fast.
I had just met my GC and he referred me to my hard money guy.
I had also gotten on a buyers list at a wholesale firm.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Wholesaler

How did you finance this deal?

Hard Money

How did you add value to the deal?

Opened up the wall separating the kitchen from the dining room.
Gutted the entire house
Repaired the foundation
New paint on the interior and exterior
White granite tops in all 4 1/2 baths
White granite in kitchen.
New light fixtures
New hardware throughout... Everything is new.

What was the outcome?

We'll see!

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Have your order of operations scheduled better, prior to starting the work. We needed the roof done first, but the roofer we originally hired flaked. We had to use our backup roofer, which cost us an additional $2300, plus, didn't get done until we were 3 weeks into the project. Same goes for a house with foundation issues. Roof and foundation, you want those done first, if possible.
Know what your money will cost you... at 12%, a smaller house can make you the same profit, except faster.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

My GC is also an agent, so even though he didn't work as an agent on this deal, I will leverage him on future deals (already in the works). My rule, as long as I feel someone is competent, is that if someone brings you a deal, they are entitled to the commission. If you can't trust someone to do their job, do not use them for important tasks. A bad agent will lose you money. Surround yourself with people smarter than you! Thanks David Greene!

I am wondering the same thing, but for Kansas and Missouri.  Is there a good, free resource for these documents?  I am researching, but if there is an expert on the matter available to share, that would be most excellent!

Thank you!

Josh

Hi Nicholas - I am going to be hiring out the management side of my portfolio to a property management firm.  They specialize in tenant screenings, and even though I have been doing this for a while, I am not good at it.  find a good property manager.  They DO exist.

Hey all - this is probably a bad first impression because what I am posting is mostly negative.  I am actually a very positive person and very excited about real estate investing.  I decided to give PiN a try.  I was SO wary, that instead of giving me a 3 day trial, they gave me a 7 day trial and the added another 3 months to my option for no payments.  This is all very enticing, but dropping $1497 ($1500) on an unproven product has proven to not be worth it.  Needless to say, I just cancelled my PiN membership.  

I have found that the data is highly inaccurate, the site is slow, and thus, it's a huge waste of time.   When you can't trust the data, you have to go back to the manual way of doing things anyway.  

Here's my email to my representative over at Connected Investors:

It's not looking good for PiN. MOST of the data on properties in there is inaccurate. Properties that should be in there are NOT. There was even a property listed as vacant with a street view picture, but the property had actually been torn down. PiN is not worth the extra work that I have to do following up on every lead, because I can't trust any of them I have to manually verify every piece of data. That's a waste of my time, and time is money. Not to mention, the site is extremely slow and cumbersome. I understand that it is pulling a lot of data, but most of the data is garbage, so you guys need to work on a way to pull in good current data. Nobody believes that you are using drone technology to scope out deals, and if you were using the same sources for your information that I was using prior to taking the leap to your platform, your data would be accurate. Please issue me a full refund for PiN. When you guys improve it, let me know.

SO - that's it for now.  Has anyone else had a better experience?  All of their demos show properties in FL and NC.  I'm in the Kansas City market.  Not sure if that would have anything to do with the data being bad or not.  

One of the tools that I have been using is Deal Machine. I use it all the time in conjunction with the MLS Portal and even Zillow to look for deals when I'm not driving for dollars.

I would LOVE to hear about anyone who IS using technology in a creative way to generate leads.  I've listened to a good number of the podcasts and there have been some interesting systems that folks have put together by blending different platforms and strategies to help streamline their businesses.  

If you read this, I appreciate it!  If you have a PiN experience that you can share, I would love to hear/read it!  If you would like to connect with me, please feel free!  I am always open to cultivating new relationships.

Thank you,

Josh

I am trying to work out a deal with them right now.  I am very wary of the data being current or even valid.  They have had a lot of bad reviews in the past on the BBB site.  Can anyone attest to CIX PiN being a reliable source of current, valid information???

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in Shawnee.

Purchase price: $275,000
Cash invested: $15,000

Whole duplex purchased with an FHA loan as a house hack.
1/2 acre
Fully leased
$2700 in rents
$2200 in expenses
$500 cash flow

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Multi-Family homes are an insurance policy against vacancies. Two units side by side in a nice area, does not stay vacant for long. Has only had a 6 week vacancy due to ****** tenants trashing the place, needing repairs completed before filling.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

We found the deal through my real estate agent. He was looking for multi-family properties for us that we could live in and fit a family of 6! This was a very nice property needing very little work. We had the seller replace the roof and touch up paint. Roof was replaced, but cosmetics were not done, even though they were agreed to. Seller was going through a divorce, selling 2 properties in this sub-division. Took a lot longer to get the security deposits and prorated than anticipated.

How did you finance this deal?

FHA
Down Payment from my 401K - 3.5%

How did you add value to the deal?

We fenced in the back yard, changed out the builder grade faucets with higher-end, brushed nickle fixtures. Everything else was really nicely done.

What was the outcome?

We bought it, moved into the 1-car garage side and lived there for about 2 months. In that 2 months, my wife and I got married, went on our honeymoon, returned to reality, and moved to the other side with the 2 car garage when the tenants moved out. We lived in that property for about 1.5 years before moving into a 4 bed 4 bath house that we already owned, but had renters. We ended the leases of those tenants and moved in! Kind of a crazy story, actually.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

SCREEN TENANTS MUCH MORE CAREFULLY!!! THE FIRST TENANTS I APPROVED FOR THE BIG SIDE WERE HORRIBLE!!!
I actually don't know how I could have done better. I called references, and they were great. They had a bit of a credit issue, but they made decent money. I should have dug deeper.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Yes! Rich Steffen! I recommend Rich all the time. Very knowledgeable and loves to teach. Rich and I have become good friends over the years. I really should give him a call...