All Forum Posts by: Alton Shady

@Luiny Tavares Living in the NPR area, I would definitely recommend getting an inspection if you are not able to inspect the property yourself just to be sure of any sinkhole indications. As you've built in a contingency on the roof, you should be good there. Good luck and great job finding a good deal!

My business partner and I have finished one flip and we are consulting with a PML and working on two deals with him at the moment. I would like to get my Real Estate licence in order to make sure we can begin property managing legally. Does anyone have any advice as to which course I should take and/or what company to go through so I am prepared for the state exam? I have been trying to research and figured an agent would be the most help. Thank you in advance!

- Alton

Hi Jasmine, welcome to BP! Best advice I've found is to set up keyword alerts for areas you are interested in investing in. Also, definitely start connecting with people who are actively investing as they can give you an idea of what all is going on in your area.

Good luck!

My business partner and I have been looking for a good meetup, so keep us posted when this happens!

Good evening @Monica Evans,

I am investing in the Tampa Bay, Florida market and one of the big things we recommend new investors to stay away from is sink hole properties. They can be an extremely expensive problem to fix, and they affect the retail value by 15% easily. If you and your husband are new to rehab work and/or don't have much construction experience, I would recommend staying away from properties that have foundation issues, and some of the largest rehab costs like extensive termite damage. Otherwise you can probably handle more than you think in terms of some water damage, moving walls, etc.

Good luck to you! Keep us updated on how things go :)

- Alton Shady

Thank you all for your kind comments. just as a quick update, I am currently involved in a deal where my business partner and I have put up the down payment and the significant portion of the rehab cost. Unfortunately our financing partner who would have put up the purchase price and the last part of the rehab has backed out for some family reasons. I'll let you know how things work out once I've secured new financing to finish this deal and move on to the next project. If anyone has any advice, I'd appreciate your thoughts. Thank you!

Good afternoon everyone! My name is Alton Shady and I am a new investor in the Tampa Bay area. I live in Pasco county, and am looking to build my business in the greater Tampa Bay Area.

I have been listening to the BiggerPockets podcast for the last couple months and have already worked my way through over 60 episodes. Josh and Brandon really have a great way of interviewing guests to hear their stories and get a lot of valuable information for us newbies. I have been to a bunch of real estate conferences(you know, the ones with some free info, a lot of hype, and $5,000-$50,000 programs to purchase) and have wanted to get into real estate for years. The timing has never been right, what with being a teenager, going to college, not having money.....all the usual excuses. Finally, my business partner and I decided we could not keep working regular day jobs with little time flexibility, and we started seriously looking into building our business.

After a couple months of conversations, we were able to get an investor to put up some money with a simple interest repayment so we could buy our first investment. My business partner and I have purchased our first full rehab and are now almost finished with the restoration. Within the next two weeks or so we should have the property on the market and we are actively working on getting a contract for another property.

All that to say, I'm actively involved in real estate, but am definitely still a newbie and am learning a ton from the podcast and forums here. I am incredibly grateful for the community here on BiggerPockets and I look forward to getting to know many of you in the next few months and years. Thank you to everyone who regularly interacts with the forums and answers a lot of questions from us newbies!

Thank you!

Alton