All Forum Posts by: Andy V.

Welcome to BP @Aaron L. 

You might try networking with some wholesalers in the Kansas City area or attending a meetup in your area.  I posted a link below to a BP post about one that took place about 2 weeks ago.

Kansas City Meetup

I have been reading, researching & digesting everything that I can get my hands on in preparation for doing my first deal.  Now that I'm getting pretty comfortable with the concepts and thinking more seriously about actively searching for my first deal, I was hoping to start networking with local people to help me out.  I have reached out to a few people so far through BP, and even met 1 or 2 for coffee, but I know that the more people I network with, the better my chances of success will be.

I was hoping to attend one of the local REIA's networking nights, but this month's meeting is being held while I'm out of town. Rather than waiting until next month, I was hoping that I could get referrals to some wholesalers, general contractors, and investor-friendly RE agents who work in the western suburbs of the Chicagoland area. I will also be needing a lawyer that is familiar with real estate investing, but location isn't as critical with that. Any help that you could send my way would be greatly appreciated.

Andy

Welcome to BP @Fran Wilson.

Welcome to BP Maciej Dominski. There is a wealth of information here and another GC in the area is always good to have.

Welcome to BP @William Ferrell!  Like @Timothy Riley said, start by getting a good knowledge of the area you're already in and then expand from there.  There are tons of people on BP with a wealth of knowledge, so once you have a specific location in mind, ask to see who is familiar with it.

@Ben Walhood  may be able to answer that for you Sebastian.

I work for a mechanical contractor in the Chicagoland area as my W-2 job. In over 10 years there, we have never been paid to provide an estimate. Occasionally we will be awarded a paid contract to do engineering & design for the work to be done, but never have we been paid to provide an estimate. That is assumed to be a part of the contractor's operating expenses.

Thank you all for your comments. In a lot of ways, it reinforced what I was already thinking while still giving me some new things to consider.

In a way, this feels like one of those "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" type of questions...which is probably why it's so hard to figure out when just getting started.

I have seen people say that the first thing that you need to do is get your team in place.  Start with finding your RE agents, lenders, contractors, lawyers, etc, etc.

I have also seen people say that, especially when you're just starting out, there's no point talking to most of those people until you've found a property or two you're interested in moving forward on.  That lenders especially will laugh if you want to get pre-qualified for a loan on an "imaginary" property.

So my question is this then...as a new investor who is getting serious about moving forward, do I need to start by interviewing contractors, lenders, and lawyers?  Or, do I start by just working with a RE agent to find decent properties?

April Kalad Welcome to BP! There's a wealth of knowledge here & even more knowledgable people. I'm in the Plainfield area and looking to start doing fix & flips in the area this year too.