All Forum Posts by: Amiris Brown

@Justin Howe, Wholesaling is not a get-rich-quick scheme that's for sure (because it's a job and/or a business). If someone builds-up enough rental properties, especially in the commercial sector, that is a road to riches as well as being just a plain old hands-off investor. Unlike Wholesaling, the other entry points into Real Estate take much more capital.

I'm not afraid of work, I'm just tired of having to settle for minimum wage even after I've obtained two A.S. degrees and halfway completed a B.F.A. degree.

To tell you the truth, other than combing over the legalities of the contract, Wholesaling seems to be the simplest and least work effort involved within Real Estate. I only say this because what Wholesaling involves, outside of the contract write-up, does not exactly feel like work to me. Whereas, flipping or rehabbing and/or holding a property as a rental is actual work imho. Ironically enough, I'm interested in buy and hold properties and obtaining land to lease out in the future once I get enough capital and/or credit.

As for now, you and previous Real Estate professionals seem to be echoing the same thing. I should just start out in Wholesaling. My problem is I hear Maryland is strict when it comes to laws that govern Wholesale deals, and I really need to find a Wholesale mentor to teach me how to avoid breaking any laws and/or ethical codes. Not that I would be oblivious, but having an eye for details in the form of paperwork is not my strong suit (I am well aware of this). This is the only thing keeping me back from starting when it comes to Wholesaling. Whereas, if I had enough capital for a buy and hold I would jump right in (it's in my comfort area after all). I'm already pretty well versed in the legalities and ethical codes of being a landlord. At this point, I wish I could start there but I guess I cannot considering all the advice pouring in that keeps directing me back to starting out Wholesaling.

Thanks so much for the advice. I guess I'm going to have to step it up in finding a local mentor here in the DMV area that does DC and Maryland Wholesales, so I can learn from them. Certainly, I do not plan on making a career as a Wholesaler though. I want to move on up to investor status after all.

@Wendell De Guzman, great advice on direction. Thanks! True, focus is a problem for me, as any of the three options will do for a mid-term length success. Short-term, I just need to start making money towards my Real Estate endeavors. Long term success will be to have an extensive buy-and-hold portfolio.

I know for sure my boyfriend wants to live in a decent area with a home of our own in the next year, as we just cannot deal with slum lords knowing we could be paying $500 less each month for better quality control in owning our own property in this area.

Yet, considering I would like to pay for my own medical bills and pay off my student debt which is wrecking my credit right now, I prefer to start making some kind of money asap. Which makes Wholesaling and/or Flipping appealing for me to build up cash now so that when my boyfriend and I get ready to buy in 6 to 12 months from now we'll have more than a $20K to $40K as the downpayment (that is our current range of downpayment btw, between $20K - $40K, but the less the better without needing to resort to having a PRI added on).

I'm worried that if I choose to do a flip in-State it will then disqualify us for the First Time Home Buyer programs. I really need that as an option for us in Maryland. Which makes me tempted to learn how to do out-of-State investing, so we can still get a house for ourselves here in Maryland. Then again, I could just do Wholesaling for now, and use that knowledge to get a deal on our first home here in Maryland. I'm brand new to Real Estate, and I have only been in the DMV area for 2 years ~ so I am not familiar with the market trends. Depending on what I find out, will lead me to choose to flip or not and wether or not buying a property for ourselves will pay off after 5 years as we do not want to be living here forever as our primary residence. It would be nice if both my boyfriend and I could not have to work in 5 to 8 years due to our Real Estate ventures. As you can tell I'm trying to figure out what is the fastest way to make that happen. We're both pretty cheap, we can live off a little bit but we'd have to move out of the DMV area as everything from houses to food is overpriced here. Like back in NC I could live a carefree life on just $1,200/m, whereas in the DMV area here that can't even pay for a month's rent in a 2 bedroom single family house let alone the monthly grocery bill. So in  5 to 8 years it would be nice to live somewhere else than here, because even though we want to retire early we have no aspirations to waste money on frivolous luxury items other than a vacation or two per year and eating all-organic vegan food and one day returning to college. Thus, even though I plan to become rich eventually in 20 to 30 years we'll just stay living with low to mid-Middle Class accommodations. After all, neither him nor I are materialistic lol! We're just tired of the 9 to 5 as well as tired of the looming threat of unemployment or government disability programs. Plus, we're both interested in helping and giving to communities and causes, which is why I plan to build an empire eventually.

@Rick Wang Thank you for your advice as well! Very helpful.

I missed stating a few things that aren't apparent, my apologies.

I have been told I can start Wholesaling and/or obtain a Tax Lien or Deed for $1,000 or less if I spend time searching.

Regarding my boyfriend partnering with either $30K or with his credit access of $400K, I will be doing everything. Basically he will be a silent business partner, except for when I need him to proof read anything including the numbers. He is a math and English Lit wiz, while I'm not. So that is the only work he will be doing. I will be providing sweat equity basically, as I have nothing else of my own but my labor until I'm able to make these deals bring a profit to pay him back and leave me with money to re-invest in my Real Estate aspirations.

While he qualifies for a $400K loan, we are only comfortable with taking out a $300K or less loan. That's assuming we take this route, be it for investing or for buying a home for ourselves.

Thank you @Elia S. for your advice.

I understand the need for education, which is why after an entire month of soaking up online information (including endlessly watching and listening to BP, J Massey, and more) I want to get hands-on training with a mentor. A month prior to that I spent researching Tax Sales in every county of Maryland and Texas (I have family in Texas I can visit if I need to travel for properties there). I stumbled upon the idea of Tax Sales when dealing with my current slum lord (I'm a tenant right now). I'm not 100% versed in buy-and-hold properties yet, but I have done an unofficial House Hack twice before with roommates years back to cover my living expenses. So I'm pretty confidant I could handle a buy-and-hold, especially pertaining to a single family house.

I'm supplementing my weaknesses by 1) Seeking mentorship to gain knowledge 2) I joined Bigger Pockets as well as just paid half price for an upcoming 3 day seminar on Real Estate investing through Fortune Builders program so to gain access to crunching numbers as I do not know that info and frankly am horrible at math but my boyfriend is a math wiz so he's going to be my math editor haha 3) I'm asking where to start regarding investment strategy because I don't think I'm aware of all my possible options especially when it comes to financing.

I'm serious about getting started asap, on this as well as my website and hope to possibly partner with BP in some way (more on that later). I attended the "[90 days to become a landlord]" BP webinar where I got 20% off my Pro membership for a year, and like I said I split the Fortune Builder's 3 day seminar ticket where I paid $99 instead of the full $197 (since they give out two tickets for the $197 price). I have strong networking skills, so during the 2 hour lecture I was able to partner up with a stranger to gain access the seminar for half the price which made it accessible to me considering my limited budget. I plan to network at that event, as well as start attending local REIA meetings. Though, I'm currently still working from home and on an appointment by appointment bases due to ongoing health issues. I don't want to start going to REIA meetings unless I'm able to know I can attend upcoming meetings consecutively over the next 6 to 8 months. Anyways, I started building a team locally here in the DMV (DC/Maryland/VA) area, but may end up having to repeat this foundation setting process out-of-State if I end up going that route.

Hope that brings a bit more clarity, regarding my weaknesses. I feel I have many more strengths than I do weaknesses, though I acknowledge that my weaknesses are in critically key areas that need adequate addressing which is why I had to spend money to compensate for such weaknesses as it would take years to gain it otherwise for free. As you may notice, I'm trying to make up for lost time here by fast-tracking myself since I'm 34 years old. Had I know there were more than the typical ways to get into Real Estate, I would have started when I was 18 years old and been a billionaire by now.

Maybe posting this in the newbie area was a bad call, but I used my question as my official introduction:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/55-new-member-introductions

@Michael Rosado

My boyfriend and I face the exact same problem and oddly enough my boyfriend was setting his eyes on investing in Pittsburgh PA due to this. We too live in the DMV area, in Maryland just a mile from the north east DC border. Rent here is crazy, to the point where we would be saving $500 per month if we owned our own home here rather than pay rent for a 3 bedroom 1.5 or 2 bathroom single family detached house. Furthermore, this area is rife with slum lords renting out 2 to 5 bedroom single family houses at $1,700 to $3,500 per month rental units. We're tired of paying $2,100+ just to put up with slum lords. Which brought us into looking for our own home recently. However, I want to get into Real Estate investing. Having our own home will be nice and all, but it is still a liability rather than an investment. If there was some way to get two or three properties with the funds and credit we currently have right now, then it would work out.

Thus, I recently posted this.

If you want to team up in any way, I'm willing to meet over lunch sometime since we share similar problems in the same region.

I’m new to all things Real Estate related, and I need some serious advice!

The following is my question, or dilemma rather, on where to start within the world of Real Estate.

This is my short and long term plans for myself, my boyfriend, and our Real Estate ventures together and/or with additional business partners:

Within a year my boyfriend and I want to be able to buy a single family home of our own (not a dream home, just a basic 3 bedroom 1.5 bath home). It must be a single family home, because my boyfriend has serious major issues with bass-like noises which prevents him from living any place other than in a detached single family house. Anyways, we would like to pay off that home within 3 to 10 years, but given the prices it may take us 8 to 10 years to pay it off based on work income alone. This presents a bit of a snag for us, as we would like to move out-of-State within the next 5 years. At the same time, I would like to get into Real Estate investing, though I'm not sure how this will mesh with our need to buy a detached single family house for ourselves within the next year. Regardless, my ultimate goal is to one day have a buy-and-hold portfolio of rental properties and leased land.

Currently these are my starting options:

• Option one, my boyfriend is willing to loan me $1,000 with no interest to start in Real Estate.
• Option two, my boyfriend is willing to partner with me in a $30,000 or less cash investment.
• Option three, my boyfriend is willing to partner with me using $20,000 of his own money while also obtaining a $400,000 loan amortized over 20 years at a 4% APR (now I have been informed that this loan may only apply to one owner occupied house, and not a loan to buy three houses so I need to talk to the broker and see what our options are if we want to use leverage in obtaining more than one property with a consolidated loan).

My question / dilemma:

Given this frame of reference, should I start out in Real Estate by becoming a Wholesaler? Should I start by doing a flip? Should I start by doing a renovation to buy-and-hold if I get access to a dirt cheap deal (possibly obtaining it while it is either off market through a motived seller or by obtaining it through a government auction)? Should I risk doing an out-of-state flip or buy-and-hold (since the area we live in is overpriced)? Either way, whatever I choose it will be my first deal. Keep in mind, I must not fail at my first deal. Which is why I am seeking a mentorship (even willing to possibly do a partnership) as well, but I need to know exactly where I should start? The reason why I must not fail is, I want to marry my boyfriend so messing up his savings would not be wise for our relationship longevity and stability.

So where should I start on this path given my current limitations? A path that one day I hope will end up leading me to a Real Estate empire larger than Trump’s.

*NOTE: According to three seasoned investors, plus the this BP YouTube $30,000 starting advice, https://youtu.be/F93TODuMBoM, they all suggest to start out with Wholesaling. I’m a bit apprehensive about that, due to the legal and ethical issues I must learn to navigate upon taking up Wholesaling. Thus, I am trying to see if there is any other advice than “become a Wholesaler” type of advice that has already been given to me. Frankly, I think Wholesaling in the State of Maryland is complicated compared to all other residential investment options.

I have a boyfriend who is lending me $1,000 and/or can obtain property/properties for a total of $30,000 in cash or through a $400,000 loan. What is holding me back is the fact that I need to partner with someone to learn from as a mentor. I spoke with professionals and they suggest I start out in Wholesaling, but my first interest was to find properties to invest in through tax deed auctions or over-the-counter sales. I was almost confidant in pursing that until I had three different experts suggest I start out in Wholesaling instead. Ever since I changed course, I have had no luck in learning what I need to learn to start in the Wholesale Maryland market. My worry rests in the details of legalities, as Maryland is strict in Wholesaling I heard. Thus, I need a mentor. If I do not get a mentor, I will make one for myself and return to tax deed sale options as I build up a business to teach myself Wholesling and other Real Estate topics.

I'd like to start by partnering up with a mentor, as I learn by doing. I have plenty of time on my hands currently, and can provide technological expertise as a techie. This is how I would prefer to start, as I am not gaining much of what I need in value from vlogs, blogs, podcasts, and books — particularly in the niches of Maryland or DC wholesale market.