All Forum Posts by: Benson Juarez

I met an investor who teaches people how to invest out of state. He shows people how to use websites, some of them free, that have data in local areas. You're able to gain insight on the strength of the market from sites like bea.gov, berkadia.com,  neighborhood scout, and several others.  Basically, he can help you determine where to invest and what areas to stay away from.

His name is Tony Spandrio.  He's based out of Denver, but does talks all over the country. There's a 2 day workshop in Denver on September 9th and 10th. If anyone's interested let me know and I'd be happy to connect you.

@Nghi Le I'm not physically located in the Baltimore market, but I study it regularly. There is a lot of investor activity in and around the city center. I've been able to identify hundreds of flips at 70% ARV (not including construction and other costs) in the last 6 months. This doesn't include any off-market transactions. Most of these are basic interior remodels so if you could find even a modestly experienced and reliable crew on the ground they should be able to replicate the success of what other investors are doing.

I'm looking for an Investor friendly real estate broker who is located in the Tampa / Orlando areas. More specifically, one who uses MFRMLS.  This broker would be helping my company launch a new software product in the area within 30 days. Our product, Privy, is an MLS powered web based platform that helps real estate investors and agents find investment properties faster and more efficiently. We would work together to get set up with the local MLS. Please message me if you have any interest or questions. Check out this demo for more info on our product: https://vimeo.com/214905373

Website: http://www.getprivynow.com/

Benson

303-523-4490

I'm looking for an Investor friendly real estate broker who is located in the Dallas / Ft. Worth area. This broker would be helping my company launch a new software product in the area within 30 days. Our product, Privy, is an MLS powered web based platform that helps real estate investors and agents find investment properties faster and more efficiently. We would work together to get set up with the local MLS. Please message me if you have any interest or questions. Check out this demo for more info on our product: https://vimeo.com/214905373

Benson

303-523-4490

Hi @Elan Adivi Welcome to Bigger Pockets. Just interacting here is a good practice and will definitely help you to move your investing career forward. It actually sounds like you have 2 different challenges here. 1) transitioning from a non-sales, W-2 job, to a full time sales job 2) beginning to learn about and invest in real estate. 

These are both related to RE, but entirely different issues. If you go sales full time count on 60-90 days with little to commissions. You'll burn through any money you've set aside. You'll need time to get yourself established and start building your client base. Even if you did just this alone, without real estate investing, it is still an enormous challenge. Having your dad as a resource will definitely help shorten that learning curve and potentially help you generate some leads. Overtime, you'll be able to build some capital to use on a down payment for a property.

It actually may make more sense to stay in your W-2, and be an agent part time. It will be a lot easier to get a loan on a property if your income is regular and predictable. You can learn real estate investing in your free time. Attend REIA meetings and network with other investors. You can pick up some clients there as well. You'll get some deals under your belt with some decent commissions. Put that money away for when you're ready to buy that first property. At some point I think you'll have enough money put away that you'll feel more comfortable to be a full time agent. Good luck!

@Benjamin Lin Welcome sir! Flipping is a great way to get started. As you build you might consider adding some buy & holds to your portfolio over time. In residential RE it's a good strategy to long term wealth. Also, I would definitely recommend you join a local REIA. Here's a brief list of some that I've been to or know the organizers.

Sam’s Real Estate Club (Santa Monica)

http://samsrealestateclub.com/

LA South REIA (Torrance)

http://www.lasouthreia.com/

Los Angeles REIA (Culver)

https://www.meetup.com/Real-Estate-Investment-Association-of-Los-Angeles/

Los Angeles Real Estate Club (West LA)

http://www.realestateclub-la.com/

FIBI - (Multiple Chapters)

http://forinvestorsbyinvestors.com/

I have some unique insight into the Socal flipping market. Let me know if you need help with anything! Good luck!

@Dan Williamson I feel for you. @Jean Bolger put it well. People will often look to you for help out of desperation after they've tried everything else or ignored the situation for far too long. You're going to need to get comfortable with situations like this real quick. You should feel good about your motivation to help.  Just approach each situation with a true win-win strategy and walk away from ones where you feel like someone could get the short end of the stick.

@Dalton Osmanski The MLS wasn't designed to track market trends or to find deals. It was built as a place for real estate agents to list properties for sale in a standardized format in a centralized place. So, one place where agents could go to find all the properties for sale that matched their client's criteria. That evolved to a place where they would "report back" the transaction details on a closing to the MLS. It's now required by most real estate boards so they have data for comparable purposes.That data is what appraisers and real estate agents use to determine the market value of a property.

So the MLS is where you should go to get data to run your comps. You can also set searches for it to deliver you properties that meet certain criteria. But it's a simple query. There isn't any "intelligence" behind the MLS. @Alex Deacon is correct. You can't rely on the MLS to be 100% correct. Most of it's data comes directly from real estate agent input. Not only that, but it only has transactions that were listed and closed on the MLS. Have you heard of an "off-market" property, or a "pocket listing"? Those won't show on the MLS.  There are real estate technology software companies out there that run analytics on MLS data to track trends, and even some that use algorithms to find deals. Good luck with your search!

It is fairly tight there in LA. But there are definitely opportunities. What areas or price ranges do you operate? You should try finding a niche. If you have the resources, i.e. Cash, you can find deals in the Hills. These are high end luxury homes. If you'd like less expensive opportunities check out the areas centered around to 105 and the 110. There's some deals in the lower end neighborhoods over there that some investors wont invest in. If you need any help finding those I'd be happy to help! Good Luck.

Welcome Andrew! Don't hesitate to ask if you have questions about the Baltimore market. I do live in Denver, but have unique insight into the that market. Good luck!