All Forum Posts by: Jonathan Bolano

@Robert Gilstrap Hey Robert! This is perfect and exactly what I'm looking for. Thank you for the help.

@Patrice Boenzi Thank you for your help and advice. I appreciate it.

All, I am not sure if this is the right forum for this and apologize if it is not. I am a new Real Estate agent and am researching many different areas of the profession so I can determine where my characteristics/traits can be best utilized to become successful. I have read a book or two on Property Management and watched some YouTube Videos. I am solely looking for a push in the right direction on somewhere you feel I can go to get really good and thorough information on how to properly become a property manager. 

Thank you in advance for your help.

@Patrice Boenzi I have the same perception of no excuses and keep pushing forward. I keep making calls to properties with signs and no realtor. I keep door knocking. Posting on social media. etc. 

I am not really being mentored but I have a friend of the family I call from time to time. She's being doing this for 20+ years and has been very helpful. However, she's not from my brokerage. I am shadowing you bigger pockets agents and investors by starting these discussions and using your responses as guidance. In addition, I watch a lot of youtube videos and have learned a lot of great stuff from it. Can't say outside of that I really have someone who I can shadow. My sphere of influence is based through online forums. I consider myself lucky to have all of you and a particular group from facebook. 

I will continue to farm and door knock. I created my own listing packet and am working on a buyer packet. I have a few cool things I provide my sellers too. I am a graphics designer and put together some stuff to help improve communication, transparency, and trust with my clients through it. So far it has worked extremely well and my clients have been very happy with it. I am in the process of one closing for my first listing. Offer accepted after 27 days on the market. Just signed the P&S tonight.

Also, due to your advice, I arrived at my clients house about an hour early today so I decided to make a drive around the area and landed 2 listings and 1 potential. I sign with one person who has two properties tomorrow (7-unit multi-use and 3-unit multi-family) or Thursday. 

I am hoping that these sales will help fund the IDX because I do understand its importance and working on my SEO. 

I know in the grandscheme I really need a mentor but the closest I have is BP. One bright side is my office has 30+ years experience, down side, they are all really busy and new guy requires some hand holding at times.

My taxes and insurance are already included within my mortgage which makes my life easier. I do like that benefit of renting out a single-family which is why I am entertaining it. I have also fixed my numbers to be an 11% vacancy. I made a few other changes as I listed in my response right about this one. I am looking for stability, just a steady source of income. But after running all my numbers, I'm figuring on selling it instead now. My cash flow is now 114.5/mt and my ROI is 9%.

@Andrew Kerr I ran my numbers incorrectly and overlooked water and sewage (+$150) and if I add in the extra 5-6% to create a 10-11% vacancy it changes things slightly. After I made the changes (created a matrix on excel to manage my numbers) and I'm down to a -1% ROI :-|. I upped my income by 250 and my ROI is now 9% but I doubt I'll be able to rent this place for that much.

Moving forward, the formula's make sense to me. I'm an engineer and consider math to be my strong suite. But what I don't get is how I bought my house really low and my ROI is still poor. I also didn't put a lot of cash into it between the down payment, closing, and rehab. I bought this how for probably 50k less than it was worth and put in 16k cash. What are your thoughts?

@Tae C. Great response! This is the type of information I need.

@Steven Gesis Thank you!

@Elbert D. Cool. I'm trying to do all the research I can but I felt like I am missing something else and I feel you and Tae have hit it on the nose. Nothing I have researched or heard, has discussed any of what you mentioned. This is the reason I joined bigger pockets. I am currently a Realtor in my area and am coming across some great places. I have used a lot of the tools provided by other BP members, the BP formulas, and other things I found online. I feel confident in my numbers around a good purchase but uncomfortable with how to find a lender. I'm hungry to start but not so hungry to rush into something blind. I appreciate every's help on here. This is really helping push me in the right direction I feel. 

@Jay Hinrichs So what happens if I screw up and can't payback the lender. What is there to protect the lender? I am also curious about what things lenders have done that could really screw me. For example, I am lending you $X for 18 months and when you're done, you owe me your first son.

@Shiloh Lundahl thank you for your response. I have not reached out to any HML in my area as of yet because I am still in the research phase. My next question would be around how to handle the contract/agreement with the HML. I'm sure there is paperwork involved and I am really confused on this part. I understand the ARV and the deals I am interested in at this moment have a purchase price around 150 and ARV of 250-300 with possible 40k work. I think it's a sure deal. Until I find out how to properly create an agreement between the lender and I though, I am hot stop because I am trying to make sure I have all my basis covered prior to committing.