All Forum Posts by: Benjamin Finney

Well thought out response @Jay Hinrichs . All great points, there are some beautiful areas of CA. I lived in the Central Valley for a while a couple years ago and as a native New Englander was shocked when I moved there that not every part of CA is far left liberal; just in the major cities. To note, every major city in the country is blue, yes even Dallas and Houston.

Also @James Wise remember real estate is local and there are deals to be had in every market; even in a state where the population is declining like CA there can be great investment opportunities to scoop up. I usually scoff at real estate experts who just talk about national or regional macro trends. Every sub market moves on it's own trajectory. Heck sometimes it even comes down to block to block trends (think multi family in different school zones from one block to another). National/ regional/ state trends are certainly important, but knowing the local market and what investment strategy to use depending on what is happening is even more important. 

I am looking for an attorney with SPECIFIC experience doing private money loans in real estate for my lending business including structuring capital and loans with investor capital, foreclosure, usury, NC Blue Sky laws, licensing reqts, etc. Thanks in advance for any recs.

You can get the Bigger Pockets paid membership and use their Find a Market Tool to analyze. All important factors to consider- population growth or decline, job growth or decline, inventory rate and movement- is is a seller's market getting stronger or softer or a buyer's market getting stronger or softer? Also, as many have said- it's smart to start off close to home if possible. There are deals in every market if you know how to look for them and there are strategies that work in every stage of the cycle. You may just need to look harder in certain markets or stages of the cycle. And you need to really get to know your market and the intricacies of each neighborhood you're considering. Your first couple deals will be important, they will set the stage for your success. Get as educated as possible and also don't get paralyzed by information overload. Know what your criteria is and stick to it. Don't ever invest or buy on FOMO- make sure your numbers work. Get a system down to quickly filter out the deals where the numbers don't meet your criteria.

Quote from @Jay Hinrichs:

Quote from @Benjamin Finney:

Chris, interesting niche on non-performing mortgages/ rtl's. I guess every problem has it's price. And probably not a lot of competition. I've always found inventory rates (and how they've moved over time ie previous 1-2 years) to be the starting point for where a market's health is at. Thanks for the insight!

I personally dont do any of that.. every market / or most will have an active fix and flip sector or buy and hold sector the important thing to me is the operator full stop.. great operator will do well in any market and all the national data simply is noise at least at my level. ( loaning our own money and JV deals with our own money)  we dont broker or anything like that.
I do drill down when I am building new homes.. And that data will come from MLS Avaliable lots etc etc.. So like I am not going to run out and buy a bunch of lots in Lehigh acres or coral gables FLA which is saturated with new builds and un finished new builds were the  FOMO got going big time and builders have failed to execute and left investors high and dry.
I chose Charleston SC still robust and then my own backyard here in Portland metro.. NOT Portland proper that sucks but the metro is quite hot.

Agree there'll always be flippers finding and doing deals in any market. The nat'l trends are definitely not relevant, local is all that matters. Nice to know which way the markets heading even if just intuituvely through dealing in the market. Inventory rate, DOM, price trends, new build permits/ builds in the pipeline (future inventory). If things are softening, being a bit more cautious around long term reno's/ having too many deals out at once. Make sure it'll cashflow as a rental if need be. The reality is no one knows what's going to happen until 6 months later. But we can stay educated on trends. I enjoy the quantitative side of it all. Nice on SC. I recently moved into NC market. Seem like solid markets for the years ahead. Thanks for the insight Jay! Happy Holidays

Chris, interesting niche on non-performing mortgages/ rtl's. I guess every problem has it's price. And probably not a lot of competition. I've always found inventory rates (and how they've moved over time ie previous 1-2 years) to be the starting point for where a market's health is at. Thanks for the insight!

I'm curious what real estate investors and private money lenders like myself use to inform their businesses strategy and predict future market conditions. I just got done making a YT video on the subject, so it's fresh on my mind. I consider inventory rates, price trends, unemployment data, population growth, job growth all to be relevant to where a market is at and where a market is heading. What trends and indicators do you look at to keep your thumb on the pulse of market health and trajectory?

Quote from @Lorraine Hadden:

What are some strategies you have used to improve or rebuild credit?

When I was younger I went from not having a FICO score because I paid for everything cash to an 800+ score in 6 months by having a couple family members and my girlfriend add me as an authorized user to their credit cards which they'd always paid on time and paid off every month. Once I was an authorized user on their cards, I was easily approved for my own cards. At that point I had $130k+ of available credit that always got paid off every month. These two methods seem to be the easiest path to 800+.

Quote from @Kate Gerlach:

Hi Benjamin! 

I'm Kate. My husband and I are from Florida and have a few buy and hold properties there. However, we just moved up to Asheville, NC last week and plan to begin investing here as well!

Would love to connect! 

Sounds great Kate, I'd love to connect. Let's see if we can line something up :^) -Ben

Quote from @Patrick McCann:

Hi Benjamin,

I live and invest in New Hampshire. What areas of NH do you visit?

Hi Patrick, I grew up in NH and lived in Manchester until this year. I hope NH is treating you well.

Quote from @Heath Sizick:

Welcome to BP's Benjamin. How are you faring up there? I imagine you are still feeling the effects of Helene. My son goes to college at App. St. 

Thanks @Heath Sizick. I hope your son is doing okay after the storm. I fared well luckily, did not sustain any damage personally. It was no doubt a disastrous storm and still reeling. Asheville has just recently started to feel like it's beginning to come back online, but a long ways to go for a full recovery.