All Forum Posts by: Bob McIntosh

Well let me pose a question...

As I stated I am just beginning my marketing. I still have a full time job and do real estate investing on the side (I own 8 rental units, am in the process of closing on a flip). My job is not a "9-5" type of job, it requires an immense amount of time and effort from me. In addition I travel about 50% of the time. With that said I don't know that I would be around or have the time in the beginning to take care of much of this myself. I am looking to minimize my time involvement since its a precious commodity for me.

Would you still recommend click2mail? Or would in my case, STL or something similar be better?

*Edit*
Would you recommend either of these for all mailing campaigns, or only Short Sales?

Couldn't agree with you both more... However like I said, I picked up the information on eBay for about $80... I would be willing to bet that the person I got it from spent over a $1000 to get it... I can't say that for that much money it would be worth it... but for $80... im happy :)

Michelle,
Did you ever decide on one of these? I have been looking at STL lately, but the cost is what is keeping me back right now. As a beginning investor I am hesitant to spend that kind of money...

I would love to hear how you have done with either program...

I know this thread is a little stale... but I wanted to add my opinion as well :)

While Than certainly is a Guru type, and he has a lot to sell, some of his information is the best I have found out there for someone beginning.

I would highly recommend his rehabbing and marketing books/CD's, you can find them on eBay for pretty cheap. II think I picked them up for about $80 each. While $160 might seem like a lot for some books and audio CD's I feel it was worth it for the information that they parted with. It was certainly better than any big name guru crap I have read...

P.S. I don't work for Than, and I am in no way associated with him, I cannot comment on any of his "universities" or "classes" just those two sets of materials. :) Take it or Leave it :)

There are a number of REIA's in NYC. Check on meetup.com here, and reiclub.com

P.S. Jared, Columbia is one of the few schools in the nation to offer a Masters in Real Estate Development... I have been debating about going for it because I believe it would be an amazing way to connect with the power players of NYC... but I have not done it yet since I still have $50k in student loans and paying for Columbia with my current work/life state wouldn't be feasible. However since you are already there... might be worth checking out :)

So I just finished listening to some audio CD's on marketing for deals. Everything that was said centered around making sure you brand imagine is the same throughout, “we buy houses cash fast†or what ever you choose, as long as you convey the message. I understand that, and I understand buying with cash allows you to close deals faster… the question is… as a beginning investor I don't have tons of cash sitting around just waiting for me to get a deal… how as a new investor can I say “I will close within 5 days†when I don't have cash and would need to obtain it… I know of a plethora of people willing to loan money, but only after you have found the deal and then they want to review it before they lend to you which won't always allow me to close in "5 days" or any time period within maybe 2 weeks. What advice can you give a newb?

Thanks!

Right now we are estimating between a 75%-85% return on cash. It is difficult to say if the backyard will definitely help sell the house or not.

The back yard can't be seen unless you go all the way through the house since its a row house... but like I said since its 4 bedrooms 3 bathrooms I anticipate a family buyer and having a nice area to play with the kids in the back can't hurt...

You do however make a good point. The extra money spent on doing the paving stones to make it pop could add quite a bit of value to the home in the end... I will have to do some more research and see what the comparables have (or don't have).

Thanks!!

Wow thanks guys! There are a ton of great ideas here that I hadn't thought about.

I would love to do the pavers just because I think they would look fantastic on this house, and its a 4 bedroom 3 bathroom so we are going to market towards families with kids (given the area and the number of rooms). I feel like having something nice with this back yard may be the tipping point for a lot of families. With that said however the slabs are a bit uneven so that may not be the best option without demoing the cement first which I am hesitant to do since the slabs connect to the foundation of the house.

Keep any other ideas coming, this is great!!

Thanks!!

Hey everyone,
So I have a small section of the back yard on this rehab which has cement slab on it that is all cracked. Its still solidly in place it just looks bad. I don' t have money in the budget to have it replaced. I was thinking about using paving stones since its only about 250-300 sq ft. Has anyone used these to cover over cement slab before? Do they work well? Will this even work? What costs have you seen to do it?

Interesting and good to know. Thanks for sharing!