All Forum Posts by: April Crossley

The leases become yours when you buy. If it states in the lease anything about how lease changes are handled I would follow what it says- for example my lease states all changes are in writing and tenants have 15 days to respond if they disagree. So if someone bought my places they could just send them written addendums regarding payment etc. If the tenants are on month to month leases I would sign new leases with them immediately

Definitely check with your local bank that you do cash out re-fi with. They may lend a smaller percentage on commercial-- they may not. And depending on the value once it's all fixed up you may actually get better terms. Not sure where you are and/or how pricey things are there but where I am if I'm buying 500k+ my terms are more favorable

Hey Nathaniel! I'm pretty no BS.. so please don't take offense to my response. But I'm brutally honest. In my opinion in this market- which is insane- you have to have time to put in to work this business. My students are usually surprised at how much time and effort it takes. This business is all about finding deals and if you can get a marketing machine up and running to find deals you will get deals done. BUT.. it take time and effort to do this. If your plate is full already you may want to consider holding off. Not saying you can't do it- I have students that have full time jobs and 3 kids and are very successful at buying deals-- but they are non stop and super driven and passionate. I would start by pin pointing your focus/goals. What is more important to you? Flipping for chunks of cash or holding rentals for future retirement income/tax write offs? It's nice to want to do both but I find newbies often lack focus. I would pick one and just start there. It will always come back to finding deals-- learn that and you can conquer anything in REI :)

@Susan Knight I do not have my license. I gave it up bc I hated it. If you can find an brokerage that will let you hang your license there for a very minimal fee-- it might be worth it. We have people here in PA that do that. They are licensed but don't really act as realtors. They just do investing and have the license for MLS access. But they also have to pay the brokerage office to hang the license, pay for MLS access, pay their licensing yearly fees, pay for continuing ed to keep the license... the list goes on! So while MLS access is nice. It is not necessary if you create solid relationships with local agents. And if you hate it -- like I did-- I would focus on that. I personally have never purchased a property off of the MLS so to me having it doesn't benefit me that much.

I can tell you as a private lender I do not like to lend or JV with people that have multiple people involved in the deal. Everyone has different work ethics, different standards, different opinions.. and as friendly as partnerships start.. business and personal should not be mixed. Things are TOTALLY different with the group dynamic when you are doing deals and problems arise. In short- the more people involved the more complicated everything is. When people come to me and say: My family and I OR.. my 5 friends and I are all going to do this together... I immediately tell them to jump ship and either do it on their own or form an LLC that consists of just 2 of them. I have never seen a partnership with a large group of people work out. That's 12 years of REI talking. Its nice everyone wants to work together... but experienced investors have seen this time and time again not be beneficial and not work. AND.. the more people you are dealing with on a transaction the more complicated. Thats 5 people signing at settlement, 5 people giving their opinion and input on things, 5 people to consult with on price to re-sell, design for rehab, etc. Its just a recipe for a huge headache. 10k is peanuts in REI and you won't need it. Leverage other people's money, jump ship, and go at it on your own :)

Cash out re-fi that thing! Pay for the roof and take the rest of the cash and put it down on your next deal! 

Find deals.  Analysis paralysis is because there is such an overwhelming amount of info out there and people trying to make it WAY more complicated then what it is.  Just start finding deals.  

1st Property: Single family home on a whole bunch of acreage

Found by connecting with a wholesaler at a REI meeting

I had ZERO money or experience. I took the deal to an investor in my area that was successfully flipping. Asked him if he had interest in doing the deal together (if he said no I would have just taken it to every cash buyer in my area until I got a yes).  He said yes. He brought the funds. We brought the deal.  We split the profit. 

Emotions- Overwhelming. TONS to learn and stay on top of but worth it. I was exhausted by the time it was done. 

Outcome: Profit split - we each made 25k. 

EVERYONE is so hungry for deals right now bc the market it just insane. If you can find deals and you can find the people that buy deals. Anyone in their right mind will help you get a deal done to make some money splitting it then make no money at all.   And if they won't- you don't want to be doing business with them anyway. 

Just my two cents :) 

If your passion is real estate, getting licensed doesn't hurt. I can tell you... I tried the realtor thing and hated it.  Realized I just wanted to be an investor... and stuck to that for years now. BUT.. everyone is different. It can help you, but it is possible to do it without being an agent.  Know that becoming an agent is a WHOLE other business in itself that you have to get up and running. If you have the drive to do the agent thing and the investor thing-- go for it! While they are tied together they are also 2 different monsters. I teach a lot of agents how to become investors. They are just completely different businesses. 

Hi @Frank Contreras! When I was a newbie I had no money.  So what did I do? I found deals. That is what makes this business go round.  I found a deal, took it to a cash buyer in my area that I knew was doing flips and asked him how we could get this deal done.  He brought a private lender, I brought the deal, we did a joint venture and split the profits.  It was an awesome learning experience. 12 years later and I have never used my own money. Only private funds. We buy cash and do a cash out refinance with a local bank. Hard money lenders will typically NOT fund everything, but private lenders that know you and know your market are more willing to fund 100%. I feel like I could talk about this topic all day :) But I would start by finding deals and maybe consider a joint venture with an experienced investor. You can find your cash buyers at sheriff sale, auctions, and tax sale. They HAVE to buy cash in these cases. Even if its not their cash-- they are using a private lender.  

@William

@William Walker @Kevin Breed @Joe Prillaman would love to connect with you guys! I am currently looking for properties in Wilmington, NC!!