All Forum Posts by: Audrick Brown IV

@Ben G. - Thanks for starting this thread. I went back and listened to you BP podcast and some of the others you did. @Mike G. brought up a good point about setting up systems to handle the incoming calls. 

Ben, do you have any suggestions on systems/tools I can use to handle the leads as they come in from the direct mail campaign? I'm looking for way to keep things organized as I'm still a f/t employee. 

Hey BPers!!! I have been trying to locate information about rental rates in my local area. I'm just starting out and I've been analyzing properties in the Anne Arundel Co and Baltimore Co areas. I've been able to get a good understanding of the general median and average house values. However, I haven't been able to find much information regarding rental rates. Does anyone have a site or source they use to look up average rental rates? I stumbled upon this Department of Numbers link and the the US Census has this American Fact Finder. But my issue, is that neither of these sites have 2016 data. 

What sources are you all using to get rental rates for your areas?

Hey BP Community!

I just spent the past few months reading several RE books and listening to multiple podcast a day. I just finished listening to the BP podcast episode #10 with J Scott.  That’s awesome BTW. He talked about a bunch of things but what stuck out to me was being extremely specific on your target market. So, based on that I’m going to spend the next several weeks/months researching the markets I want to invest in. But, I’m kinda stuck on how to decide a target market.

Should I focus on defining my “target end-user buyer” and then determining where they are buying/renting homes? For example: first-time buyers w/ small kids…what types of property are they choosing to live in?

Should I focus on defining my “target home” and then determine the area which has the most of those? For example: 3/2 homes w/ 1,500 sqft under $200,000…who are the people choosing to live in these properties?

I don’t know if this being too specific or not specific enough. But, my thought is similar to what I imagine product developers would have with any other business model. They make a product and then find people to purchase or then survey the people and create a product to fit their needs.

What are your thoughts? Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

Hey @Ricky Grierson. Congrats on find a potential deal to work with! Full disclosure, I have not completed any deals so you can completely ignore my input if you like. 

But my thought would be to analyze the deal as thoroughly as you can. Then offer it to a more seasoned investor and put into the deal some type of arrangement that allows you to learn from them as you go. I don't know how much research you've done in regards to finding a mentor. However, everything I've read thus far suggests seeking a mentor with a deal in hand. That way you can gain some practical experience. So I definitely think it would be wise to talk to a motivated buyer from that perspective. 

I don't know much about the LLC side of things yet. I'm not much help there.

Just my 2 cents! Hope it helps!

Good luck! Let us know how it turns out

@Andrew Ashby First off congrats on making to move into the real estate world. That's exciting to hear about!!!!

You have your RE license now, what specifically are you looking to do with your RE license? Be a full-time RE agent? Use it to help with your investing?

Does FL require you to be sponsored with a broker? How did you determine what broker to work with?

Thanks for your service! Best of luck!

@Matt Powell How did you search for a brokerage go? I am in a similar situation as you presented. My wife and I already have our primary residence. However, I am wanted to obtain my MD REA license but I'm not interested in actively working as an agent (...yet). I'm curious if you were able to find a brokerage that fit what you were looking for? 

Hey BP community! I'm Audrick and I would qualify as a newbie as I have not completed any deals yet. I'm in the intensive learning phase and I'm trying to understand as much as possible as quickly as possible so that I can move to the action phase. In regards to generating leads, specifically via direct mailers, I understand there are several ways to go about it (postcards, letters, etc.). I keep hearing about these "Yellow Letters" I have actually received one from an investor in my area and it was literally was yellow. I was wondering...is there some proven science behind using letters printed on yellow paper? Or is this just an industry specific thing that started somewhere back in time and has just been passed down from generations of investors. Is there something about the yellow color which makes more it effective than say a white paper, brown paper or blue (my personal favorite)? I know this is a really specific question. But, I'm trying to think of creative ways to make my mailers a bit more effective than the generic mailers already in the marketplace. So I didn't want to invest resources (time, money, energy) into something that has previously been vetted. 

Thanks for any insight you provide in your response.