All Forum Posts by: Ari Hadar

In general I find that painting any group with a broad brush is counterproductive and a waste of time. Why do I care if most realtors can or can't tie their shoes if I have found a good one to work with? If anything - assuming this is true - then it's only to my benefit. 

You can apply this logic to anything. Why would I care if most of the houses on the MLS are a waste of time for an investor if I only need to find one right now?

I heard a guy on a podcast recently talking about his investing in startups and the host asked him if he was ever concerned that most startups flamed and burned. He said "that may be true, but I only need to be right once".

That Serenity prayer pretty much applies to every facet of life. I hear complaints about realtors all the time but my realtor is pretty good and has brought me a couple of really good deals before they ever hit the street. Did I just get lucky? No, I worked with a couple of other realtors previously that either had no interest in investors or didn't understand how to work through an investment. As Joe said, my realtor learned along with me, but I only needed to find one good realtor. 

If these mentors/gurus were truly that good at what they do, they likely wouldn't be mentoring. There are certainly qualified folks who enjoy giving back and may want to be compensated, but that is the exception, not the rule. Tread carefully.

Hey BP Family,

It's been a while since I lasted posted anything in the forums. That is due to the speed with which my investing career has taken off. It feels like God is giving me success at warp speed. It hasn't been by chance, though. My desire and passion for real estate has always been there; I just did not feel like I had the time nor did I know where to start up until this year. As a high school math teacher of 13 years, I spent most of my time in school, investing in the students and my school community. When schools abruptly shut down in March and I was forced to work remotely, I took the opportunity to commit myself fully to taking action in my real estate journey. And, really, I think that decision was all that I needed start making progress. 

Some other things come to mind, too, as catalysts:

Mindset - I did not know that I could be an investor until I started consuming knowledge and acting on that knowledge. My journey literally started by me reaching out to a guest that I had listened to on the BP podcast. My first buy and hold property eventually came from that exchange. I did not know the power of writing affirmations until I began writing them and seeing monumental change in my thoughts and self-confidence. So many of the affirmations that I wrote and recited have come to pass already. It's caused me to be sure that anything I write down and focus on, I can achieve.

Consistent daily action - before school started back up and before I became really busy, i used the bp pro habits tracker to build a daily routine of real estate consumption. It consisted of listening to a podcast episode, reading/responding to a forum post, analyze a deal and read an article. I did this every day. And attended the weekly webinars hosted by Brandon. Now, the habits look a bit different but each day, I commit myself to moving closer to my goal through RE (time and financial freedom). 

Connecting with a team - I met the person that I now work with as a business through a BP mastermind. The four of us started working together in July and have seen good success in our wholesaling business. The power of working with a team has sped up the process and I am grateful.

Investing in myself - I have invested in 3 different opportunities since beginning my real estate journey in late March. And each one of them have been great investments that have helped me get to where I am today. My mentors - Mit Smith, Mitch Messer, and Doug Depte - have taught me things that I cannot unlearn. They have helped me build a solid foundation. Without the sound teaching and commitment of Mit, I would not have been able to wholesale 10 houses in less than 90 days. All of the money that I put into my first investment (rookie mistake), I recovered through taking a risk on myself and believing in what I could do.

I know there is still much to learn and I am excited to continue learning and growing and taking action. I am looking forward to the next set of months to see where my journey leads me.

@Chinyere Orie - I think BP is usually opposed to paid mentorship. However, you can really cut your learning curve. Like if I worked with someone for 1 hour a week for 90 days I would probably save them years of learning. So time is money. Mentoring people for free is easy if they just have a text question every so often but many want so much more. The point is, don't be afraid to pay for mentors. I didn't and my first deals were very difficult. I learned, I got through it, but someone experienced probably could have saved me a whole lot of time and money and the ROI almost certainly would have been there.

@Chinyere Orie 
I never paid for a mentor, but I did get a ton of education attending REI meetups and networking. It's amazing how much you can learn in these types of meetups. I met a few investors who I considered mentors, but I didn't pay them. I just befriended them. But try to make it a 2-way street, offer some value yourself. For example, I'm a data geek so I helped them out by sharing with them real estate data that I was collecting at the time. Hope this helps!

Hi Ken. congrats on passing the exam! I think that's good advice- having someone in your local market is important. Typically any formal mentorship program through a brokerage means you will be paying a percentage of your first 3-5 deals to that mentor. Example: your first 5 transactions are at a 50/50 split and your mentor will guide you through contract intricacies. After deal 5 maybe you exit the mentorship program and bump up to a 70/30 split. Something like that is typical. Beware- not all training programs are created equal. Good luck!

@Matthew Irish-Jones, Cash flow is my first priority. However, every detail of being a successful investor is my goal. i really appreciate you taking a moment to give me advice.


Ashley care the host of bp rookie show podcast buys there houses for 20 k... You have onevthe cheapest place to start.... Try to educate yourself and do little steps as well. Network to solve problem and sharpen your plan. 

Olaseni, Thanks for your response. Just to clarify, you are assuming that you as the tenant would be paying $0 in rent and be living for free right? But, what if the numbers don't work out and you are OK putting $500 into unit per month? After all, if I'm currently paying $1700 per month for my apartment, I have that amount as a buffer and could pay that monthly as "rent" and feel good. If I try to live for free in my market then there's no way the deal works out, at least no deal that I've analyzed. If the deal doesn't cash flow if I try to live for free, is a willingness to pony up some money at the end of the month and consider it a "rent" payment a fools errand? 

Hi Ari! I am practicing running numbers and analyzing deals, so I hope you find some value in this! 

Looks like this could be a good deal if the numbers are right! What exit strategy do you have with this property? Based on the 0$ rehab cost, im assuming its a turn key rental or primary residence that you could house hack.With the loan payment being as low as $330. House hacking might be a good idea if you haven't thought about it. 

If you're looking at this as a rental investment, i would double check the expenses for the property. The house being built in 1918, 2020 makes it over a 100 years old. I would increase the amount set aside for maintenance and CapEx. You have less than 1% of your PP budgeted for something going wrong, on a 100 year old house.

As far as the comps, the house looks very dated and looks like it could use a full cosmetic and probably some structural rehab. If you haven't already, I would reach out to a contractor and have them give a bid/assessment of the property and its condition. If its in a good area, the rehab might be worth it. But if not I would not purchase at 90K. 

Im not sure what market and what prices look like around your area, but you might want to consider other exit routes. I like a wholesale or whole-tail on this, otherwise I would consider a rehab and then exit using a BRRRR. or flip.

Let me know if I missed anything or failed to see something in the report. 

I have to agree with @Taylor L.

It makes no sense to buy a property with negative cash flow.  There can be exceptions... like if you had inside knowledge that the value of the property might be influenced in the near future... like if Wal Mart  or Disney was buying the property next door, etc.  But for the run of the mill residential property it just isn’t a good move.  What if the market takes a turn for the worse .  You would be upside down AND have to pay for your renter to live in the house.... how bad would that be?

There are just too many deals that “work” (positive cash flow) to take a negative cash flow deal. While I’m not a fan of out of area investing for myself, if there were no positive cash flow deals in my area I would look elsewhere.

I'm in Central Florida and regularly find deals that provide a 20-30%/year ROI. Most are C+ class properties in the $75-80k range that we will drop maybe $5,000 into them to make them rent ready. Maybe new flooring, some new paint, etc. I've found that nicer homes that cost double what we usually pay don't return any more profit due to how rent scales up. It typically takes $25-30k to close on a house that will gross $12,000 a year, and net 5,000-6,000 after PITI, with a maintenance reserve included.

California is definitely outside my knowledge base other than scratching my head how a 1,200sf property can cost $500,000 on the flip shows on TV!   Likewise other markets might be outside your knowledge base.  Just know there are plenty of cash flowing deals to be had away from your high priced market.

All the best!

Randy