All Forum Posts by: Billy Barnes

"If you want a Real Estate agent to work with you....QUALIFY & HAVE THE MONEY TO CLOSE. Or at the very least pay them a couple hundred upfront for their time. What do think because you've watched tv on flipping, professionals should bow down to you? R.E. Agents GET PAID to sell...not be a babysitting tour guide."

Hostile comment incoming lol.

Nope, not at all. Honestly never seen those shows because they are stupid and unrealistic. I spent my time in Colorado in the Colorado REIA and several Meetups asking hard questions paying for classes, reading nonstop, taking college classes, absorbing everything. The only thing I didn't do is spend the 25k+ on mentor programs that I thought was stupid because the info was already out there.

It was, in my opinion, and others that I have talked to, they were being unprofessional.

This was first time meetings, intros, I wanted to build relationships and actively work with them, I wanted to talk with them to see who is trustworthy in the area, and who I am to avoid! Someone who helps run comps on properties, send them properties they could possibly birddog on, close deals with. I want to build lasting and smarter relationships. This is how I was taught, I have no problem paying for lunch, but a couple of hundred dollars upfront for a single meet up? That's not going to happen. I have no problem telling people no If I don't think I will work well with them. I'm looking for quality to work with.  

  I have had totally different experiences in Colorado, better and more professional. Here it seems a bit more mercenary as also indicated by your comment. 

Hey JD Martin! I'll answer in the order they questions were asked!

"You really need to find an agent. If you are working with someone and you are serious, and they are serious, you shouldn't have problems with agent(s) flaking out on appointments."

I have been actively working on finding agents, I have planned appointments to talk with them, only to blow me off. Another I showed up at the meeting place called here and she was showing another property, another ghosted us. So the experience has been pretty negative so far. This is why I want to network more, I know there are good ones out there. 

"Agents are only going to want to work with you if you have your financing in order. If you have $10k to work with and are doing an FHA, you should be able to buy up to about $275k or so. It sounds like you want to house hack, so you should go get a pre-approval letter from a bank or other financier."

I have been trying to avoid PMI because I was told that it no longer comes off at 20%. That changes have made it to where it stays on the entirety of the loan. I was looking at a money partner so I don't have to deal with it and just pay someone back.

"You can't afford the first place. Unless you find someone to fund the whole thing. I would forget about that altogether."

Testing the waters on what I could do, the original plan is Military (my partner and I are Army Veterans) and Vacation housing; this place is just outside of a NAS. I thought it could make some great income.

"You should aim for the second place and live in the smaller side. Rent out the bigger dollar side."

This will probably where I am going to put my money. My Business partner wants to move in and we can improve it while we house hack it. The problem is, it's a bit out there and the market isn't as good as the city areas. I guess I'm still used to Colorado's market.

"How do you know how much they rent for? Do you have anything from the seller? Estoppel agreements? Talked to the tenants yourself? How long have they been there? Is that the market rate? How desirable is the area? Can you afford the mortgage if side 2 goes vacant?"

I know how much they rent for by reaching out to the Listing agents and looking at similar units what they are charging for, and rentometer.com. We have the listing agents send us the info like the: 1. Flood policy 2. General home inspection report 3. Roof certification report 4. Wind Mitigation report 5. Seller disclosures etc... they haven't sent us any Estoppel agreements yet. Something I was going to ask about if we progressed to the next step. 

I have in my notes above the time on the market, they both have been on the market for close to a year.

The single-family w/ triplex is in a very good area, nice neighborhood, close to marina and country club. The Duplex is in rural surroundings by Military Bases so there is a market there and a good area also. 

In my calculations, I save for vacancy as part of the money I set aside monthly, Over the past 4 yrs I have studied, read, taken classes, watched, and listen to everything I could to teach myself about Real Estate Investing, so I could do it right when I had the money saved to spend to mitigate the risks as much as I can. I'm not ignorant to the fact that there is risk involved, as in all investing. 

I'm passionate about this, I want to build up something so I can teach my kids how to build themselves, and as a full-time single father be able to provide for them and not have to pick and choose what I have to spend money on and as an Army Veteran I want something I can through myself in to full-time. 

Thanks for the response, I feel like I learn from every hard question asked!

Hello everyone, I just moved to the Pensacola area and still discovering local groups to network with, so when I found a couple of properties that I'm interested in, but I honestly just want to talk shop and discuss how to progress to the next level by pick everyone's brain. I have posted on here before and some people pointing me in the right direction where to look. 

The challenges we are facing are:

Real Estate Agents are being flaky with us; they are not showing up because they have forgot about our appointments or just disappearing on us, or they promise to get back with us and never do, which is frustrating. Though people did reach out on my last post. 

I'm ready to go forward. The problem is I don't have the full 20-25% down payment, I have 10k for myself, so I will need to find someone to work with for my down payment and potential future deals.

The first and main property we want is unique; it is a single-family home WITH a triplex on the same lot. The people I have talked to about financing this deal tell me they won't do multiplex on a single-family or they will make me get two loans for the single-family and triplex which drive up the cost of the down payment, so I am interviewing more financing institutions and/or specialists but advice here would be welcome.

The plan is for my business partner to house hack one of the units, while working on the ground to fix up the property, while I work on the business side, playing to our strengths.

My notes for this property:

Pensacola Fl 32507 – $349,900 - 1938

On the market for a total of 268 days – estimated $1667 mortgage

Single-family (1200 sqft) home with 3 unit in triplex (upstairs-1150 per month - 1422 sqft) bottom 2 units (ea. $800.00 per month-600 sqft) possible AirBnB would produce more income per month.

1150+800+800=2750

Expenses: Taxes $150, Insurance $100, flood insurance: Vacancy $100, Repairs $100, Cap Ex $100, Mortgage $1667 Utilities: Renters responsibility, Total $2217 per month

Cash Flow= $533 per month

Cash on Cash return: need total repair costs

Pros:

Great neighborhood

Turnkeys come with properties

No major issues to the home found in the last inspection.

Found no liens or back taxes

Concerns:

1.     AC/heating was not active upon seller’s inspection

2.            Dry rot in certain areas

3.            Damping system install for chimney

4.            15 year old roof

5.            Damage to base of the chimney

6.            203K loan?

The second property is the one we will most likely have to go with because less of financial demand.

Duplex-$182,500-built 1960

On the market for a total of 325 days - Estimated Mortgage is $947/mo.

Duplex (2041 sqft) 3 bedside rents for $950/mo. while 2 bedside rents for $800 per/mo.

$950+$800=1750 per/mo.

Expenses: Taxes $150, Insurance $100, Vacancy $100, Repairs $100, Cap Ex $100, Mortgage $947 Utilities: Renters responsibility, Total $1497 per month

Cash Flow=$253 per/mo.

Pros:

1. New roof 2019

2. Lower price, easier to maintain.

3. HOA takes care of Trash, Water/Sewer

4. Central Air

5. Safe area

Cons:

1. Further then the area we were looking at.

2. HOA

3. Looking to house hack, a duplex can affect that.

Any advice is welcome, if interested in helping out or want a part of the deal feel free to reach out.

I'm mostly looking to talk shop because I love Real Estate Investing and learning, to network because I don't know anyone here yet. Feel free just to post, to critique, if there is a mistake I didn't catch, or just to network yourself. 

Thanks everyone.

Thanks for replying everyone! Sorry for my own late response, I had a problem with my account behind the scenes, but thankfully BP's customer service were able to help me out! 

I tracked down PIG and they seem very promising and I have begun looking at the surrounding areas to see what I can find as far as groups. We have a few Multiplexes that we are looking at, numbers look good. We just would love to talk to a few more people to possibly to work together on a deal. Also few RE Agents reached out to me and have been really good at following up with us. I'm glad I posted and I will continue to reach out here on BP. If interested in talking, please don't be afraid to reach out!

Hello everyone, I just moved to the Pensacola area, coming from Colorado, we, my business partner and I, have few properties that we are interested in buying, the problems we are encountering are real estate agents that make plans to meet up and then break them or forget about the meeting at the last moment, and there doesn't seem to be the same amount of active real estate groups in this area to network with than Denver.

I have found a few groups and plan on attending but I am scrambling to find things like money partners, good real estate agents, lenders now; I'm sort of starting from scratch here so I am posting here potentially meet people here. 

At the moment I am looking at a Multiplex I really like (can share info in I need to) so I mostly need to find a money partner at this time (I have money of my own saved at this time but not enough for the full down payment, but since I'm new it is difficult meeting people.

We are interested in BRRRR mostly, we want to invest in multiplexes, Military People (business partner and I are Veterans), and Vacation and Military Rentals.

I basically wanted to reach out and see who might be interested!

Thanks everyone!

First of all, thanks everyone for the replies! I didn't receive anything about why it was removed at all, thats why I was confused, and why I risked posting again. I honestly wasn't trying to sell it here, I have never done this before and was asking for advice on how, Fees, personal experiences, and how not to be screwed over as an FSBO. The info I had posted was just for info purposes only. I learned while in the Army that if you want to learn something, go to the source and ask questions. That's all I was trying to do. As a Veteran I can be too direct sometimes, maybe that's it. Wait, you have to pay to list here? Crazy lol.

Ok, who's toes did I step on? I was legit asking for help on selling my home as an FSBO from the community and it was removed. I wasn't trying to break any rules, but It was deleted without anyone telling me any details. Would love some feedback.

Good info, thanks for the update.

Thanks for the info and a necessary push @Louis Davis . What really got me was this article: Wholesaling Guide by the great @Brandon Turner . I want to do everything as ethical as possible because I want to build a business with a name people can trust, but the article caused a bit of doubt in me moving forward. I also keep getting conflicting advice on if I should use the P&S contract or CBS1-6-18 for here in Colorado. So I was looking at finding someone who can point me in the right direction. If you wouldn't mind talking about the contract from your experience I would love to touch-base some time.

Hello everyone! I am currently looking to J.V. for someone on a couple of Wholesale Deals, just to make sure I do it correctly and learn from someone who is more experienced than myself. I have no problem doing all the work, filling out the paperwork, and contacting people. I've been studying this for a while now and just need to get the actual experience and strategies of actually going through the process. I've read the books, watched the videos, been to all the REIA, Meetups, and Seminars; I learned a lot, but I am not going to pay an outrageous fee for some apprentice program. I just want to start doing deals, I just would like someone doesn't mind occasionally answer questions and be a future contact for future deals. If interested please reach out. If not, that's cool too, I just wanted to touch-base with the community before going out on my own.