All Forum Posts by: Anthony Micklus

I like Wix.com you get a whole bunch of back end tools to easily make forms and the like. They also have a free (ad supported) plan as well as pay for plans. 

That said I don't recommend any free hosting plans. I suggest you get a domain and buy a plan that doesn't have ads. I say this because how you make your website says alot about your business. When I go to a site and see www.ihostfreesites.com/cheaphousebuyer it tells me you are not serious about your business. Likewise when I see ads on your site unrelated to what you sell I think the same thing.

Cap rate and cash flow are terms to help you evaluate your deals. Cap rate stands for Capitalization Rate it can be calculated by taking the net operating income of your property (income - expenses) and dividing it by the purchase price. Typically for investors a Cap rate of 10% or higher is preferred however this may be really high in some areas and really low in others. Cash flow is how much money you keep after your collect your rent and pay our expenses. It is a dollar value vs a percent and is usually a monthly rate. Both are good numbers to know if you plan to use Buy and Hold as an exit strategy. 

As far as advice it depends on your personal financial picture and your goals. If you have a decent amount of money and good credit you could invest in some rental properties and collect passive income. You could also buy distressed properties fix them up and sell them at a profit. If you don't have a lot of money Wholesaling is a good way to start but it is a lot of hard work. All you need is a little bit of cash to do marketing and some good education on the concept and you are good to go.

Before you do anything I would suggest you read the Ultimate Beginners Guide in the learn section of the site. If you don't know what you are doing you can get in to a lot of trouble with this stuff.

Welcome to BP Oliva! I would recommend you start with listening to the Podcasts start with the first one and go from there. 

 An 800 number will allow you to use 1 number everywhere but the perception of your clientele may be that you are not local or that you are a huge conglomerate that doesn't really care about the local people. Having a local number I think is more personal. People may trust you more and be more willing to talk to you because you are local. If there are 4 area codes within 10 minutes of you I would imagine that it is fairly common for people to see a phone number with a mismatched area code. If I were you I would opt for the local number. But to be fair I live in a low population state where we only have 1 area code so it has never really been an issue for me. 

@Lian Chavda I would echo what everyone else has said and add be yourself. Don't try to come of as being experienced when you are not. Most people will see right through it. A wise person once told me that we all have gifts meant to handed out to others. That gift may not have anything to do with Real Estate or Investing. Sometimes its as simple as a friendly word or a smile. Whenever I enter an environment with strangers I ask myself is there something I can do to help this person. If you bear that in mind that will also show through and people will appreciate you because of it.

I have heard that some banks will give you a loan on the LLC as long as you are willing to personally Guarantee the loan. You might want to tackle it from that angle.

@Lenny Wilbourn not to sound redundant but given your current financial situation it is unlikely that you will get a loan anytime in the near future.  I have a similar problem as you I have 55K in student loan debt because I co-signed my son's loans. I also have about 27K in credit card debt because I thought a Guru was going to give me all the answers and I would buy my first property 6 months later. It didn't happen. All hope is not lost though. I think you are the perfect candidate for doing some Wholesaling. Wholesaling is the business of getting a property under contract and selling that contract to an investor for an assignment fee. Markets vary but I have been told the average assignment fees are 3K-5K/property if you can get a couple dozen of those over the next few years you should be able to pay off all that debt. The best part about Wholesaling is that you don't need much money just a little to do some marketing.

I would recommend for your first step to listen to the BP podcasts paying particular attention to the investors that they have interviewed who do Wholesaling as their primary exit strategy. 

2nd seek out these people on BP. Read their posts and blogs ask them questions so you can get a little bit of education on how to do it.

3rd use some of the 10K to invest in marketing and start doing some Wholesale deals.

Welcome to BP! I have relatives in Clifton. What a great area!

I too purchased Alan Cowgill's private lending basics myself. I found his information somewhat useful about how to build a credibility kit. (Though I haven't actually tried it in the real world.)  the rest I found way too confusing to understand. I agree with @Ned Carey there are better (and cheaper) resources you could probably find I would start with the resources that are on here.

@Ned Carey I purchased his program last July (before I found BP) and you are right he talks quite a bit about the rules and regulations around private lending and the SEC.

I think @Victoria Winters is correct you need to have something to contribute before you can do any deals. I offer two pieces help you get started. Well really one and that is invest in your education. BP has tons of free resources. Learn the lingo find out how this whole real estate machine works. Ask questions, ask LOTS of questions. Build relationships with people. This community is absolutely the best place you can be. 

It sounds like you might also need some financial education which is my second piece. Start tracking where your money goes, make sure you pay your bills on time and try to put a little bit of money into savings. Even if you only put in a couple of bucks a week. It is not the amount that counts it's the discipline. Real estate is not an overnight thing it can take years but you must stick with it. I myself am 45 with no money (my credit is decent though) I started my real estate education in 2008 and I still have never completed a deal. But that time has not been wasted I have built relationships with many people, I know my market well and I have had plenty of failed deals.