All Forum Posts by: Brandon Bellino

Well I don't have a desire in partnering with anyone, I am a control freak and am extremely detail oriented, so doing things on my own is the only way I wish to do things. The biggerpockets podcast #9 with Ann Bellamy comes to mind, she's a hard money lender and talks on the podcast about using hard money, and talks about how when beginners who haven't done any deals yet come to her she likes when they're upfront about it, and explains that lenders will usually just charge higher rates. So I guess I'll just have to contact a ton of lenders until I find one willing to work with me. 

If anyone has any suggestions on any lenders you think would work well for me and the kind of deal I described I'd appreciate it.

@Dennis Anninos Well I'm hoping to do my first deal in the next 6 months, focusing on entry level homes in my area. Do you have any suggestions on how to find a hard money lender that would be willing to lend 50-100k in the upstate area? Specifically, I'm looking at REO properties being sold by banks for between 20-50k needing between 20-30k in rehabs, that will resell for 80-100k. Deals like these are pretty easy to find around here, I just need to figure out the funding.

So this is mostly just going to be hypothetical, since I'm not in a place right now where I'd actually be able to complete a deal. I'm simply using this as a way to learn, and get some good tips and advice for the future. 

With that being said, I found what could be a great flip opportunity here in my city. I found a REO property online being sold for $14,300, that's the transfer value anyway, and it looks like it's in good condition at least on the outside. It is a 3 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath 1,280 SF single family home, with comparable homes in the same area selling for around $80-90k. Now I do not know what the inside looks like, but assuming it would need a total redo on everything cosmetic - flooring, painting, bathrooms, kitchen, I would say $30,000 would do it. Now I'm sure someone will ask where I got $30k, I know a few different local investors that I have rented apartments from, and they both said cosmetic rehabs like the one I described usually take around that much, assuming major repairs don't pop up like electric, plumbing, and things like that.

Now, I have a few questions I'd like some advice on: 

1. If I had a good enough credit score, and enough money saved up for a down payment, where would be a good place to find a hard money lender? I searched online, but I live in central New York, and the only lenders that came up were in NYC. 

2. Is the $14,300 listed price the amount the bank will actually sell the property for or is it like a "starting bid" sort of thing like they use on auction sites? Would it be best to contact the bank who owns it and offer an amount above or below this price? 

3. Can anyone offer some insight on borrowing from hard money lenders? If I was actually looking to make this deal happen, based on the amounts I described and would need to borrow, how much "skin in the game" would most lenders expect? What credit score is the standard minimum, if any? 

Hey, just curious if anyone has any experience buying/investing in the Scottsdale AZ market? I'm not asking because I want to invest there, I'm just curious about it. Since I started getting interested in real estate investing years ago I've heard Scottsdale being mentioned a ton, so just want to learn more about it and get hear some of your insights, experiences, stories, anything really. 

From what I've seen and read Scottsdale seems to be a pretty luxury real estate oriented area when it comes to their real estate market. I've noticed the Toll Brothers has a really big presence there, and builds tons of homes. What I'm wondering is, how does anyone make any money building homes/developing/investing in the market there when it seems to be so saturated? Just from looking on Zillow there were literally hundreds and hundreds of homes listed for sale in the city, rivaling even Manhattan. Or are there really that many people that want to move and live there? Or are all these homes just sitting on the market? 

What makes the area attract so much money and development? Is there a certain type of job industry that is there that fuels it? Or is it just one of those places that's been labeled "the" place to live if you have a lot of money, like Beverly Hills? 

If anyone has any stories to share of what it's like to investing, work, live, whatever, there I would love to hear it. I'm very curious. 

Megan, 

I'm also just getting into investing, and I'm pretty young, so take what I say with a grain of salt as I'm by no means an expert. However, real estate and investing have been my passion for years now so I've done a LOT of research, especially regarding the best ways to get started investing with little cash saved up. 

My first piece of advice, if you don't have a ton of cash saved up I would really suggest avoiding areas with really high property prices as it will make it more difficult to get started. Instead, do some research on different cities and states that would be more realistic. I've heard a lot of great things about Kansas City, MO recently. 

I know you said you have about 100k in equity in your current home, as well as 25k saved. A good option for you to supplement your incomes could be investing in a couple fix and flips each year, rather than begin investing in rental properties. If you take out 80% of your 100k in equity, and take your savings you would have plenty of money to find a run down house in a nice neighborhood somewhere and put 20% down to purchase it, and use your remaining reserves to renovate it and resell it. Depending on how good of a deal you find, you can generally make at least 10k-60k from each flip. Since you are both teachers you could spend your summers doing one or two of these flips. 

Another option is looking at potential multifamily properties in a particular city where multifamily homes sell for 30-75k, which is quite common you just have to do your research. Putting 20% down on a 50k multifamily home is only 10k, so if you take out the 80% equity in your home you would have plenty of money to purchase at least 5 properties. A good tip is to look for properties being sold by owners who own them free and clear and would be willing to do a owner financing arrangement, it could really help you get started without having to fight with banks to get financing. 

@Jeff Kehl Thanks! I actually gave listsource.com a try a few nights ago, but I'm guessing it's something you need to take some time to figure out because I quickly became confused with all of the filters and things like that. It would probably be easier to find the info myself by going in person. 

When you go to a county clerk and the tax assessors offices what exactly do you ask for? As you pointed out, I want to target people that would most benefit from selling to me via owner finance, and therefor I only want to market to people who owns their properties free and clear. I don't want to have to assume any mortgages, or deal with any due on sale clause issues. 

Preferably I want to target older owners, landlords that have owned their properties for a long time that are probably ready to retire. So when you go to places like the county clerks and the tax assessors, can you just ask them for a list of people who own homes free and clear? Or do they just give a giant list of everyone in the county who owns property?  

I am hoping to begin investing in a few months, I have money saved up for some down payments however I am 21 and still in college so I am unable to qualify for conventional financing through banks. I have done a lot of research on owner financing, and I believe it would work really well for me to get myself started out. I have watched my local real estate market closely the past few years, I am on sites like craigslist, zillow, and loopnet numerous times a week seeing what's on the market, what typical rents are, what different types of properties typically sell for.

Over those few years I have seen numerous different properties advertised online in my area for owner financing, so I know there are plenty of property owners/investors that are open to it. However, I do not want to have to rely solely on hoping I find one of these deals online, I'd like to be much more proactive then that, so I'd really like some advice on things like direct mailing.

For direct mailing, how exactly do you find out who owns homes in your county? Is there somewhere online you can generally go, or do you just go to city hall or something? Also, once you find a list of property owners in your county, how do you screen them to see who owns the properties free and clear?

Also, if anyone has experience in owner financing and has any other tips and suggestions on good ways to find owner financing opportunities I'd really appreciate it. 

I am hoping to begin investing in a few months, I have money saved up for some down payments however I am 21 and still in college so I am unable to qualify for conventional financing through banks. I have done a lot of research on owner financing, and I believe it would work really well for me to get myself started out. I have watched my local real estate market closely the past few years, I am on sites like craigslist, zillow, and loopnet numerous times a week seeing what's on the market, what typical rents are, what different types of properties typically sell for. 

Over those few years I have seen numerous different properties advertised online in my area for owner financing, so I know there are plenty of property owners/investors that are open to it. However, I do not want to have to rely solely on hoping I find one of these deals online, I'd like to be much more proactive then that, so I'd really like some advice on things like direct mailing.

For direct mailing, how exactly do you find out who owns homes in your county? Is there somewhere online you can generally go, or do you just go to city hall or something? Also, once you find a list of property owners in your county, how do you screen them to see who owns the properties free and clear? 

Also, if anyone has experience in owner financing and has any other tips and suggestions on good ways to find owner financing opportunities I'd really appreciate it. 

@Danielle Fattizzi Thank you for that. I have about $10,000 of my own capital saved, and I would most likely get a private loan from a family member of another $10-15,000, and put down 15-20%. 

When you use your option 1, the 100% seller financing, how do you make it seem worth it to the seller to take that kind of deal? I haven't done any deals yet, but I would think most people would want at least something up front as a down payment. 

I am 21 years old, and have always been obsessed with real estate as it has been a passion of mine since I was young. I am currently getting my business degree, and plan to get my real estate license at the end of summer. I am also hoping to start investing in small multifamily homes in my area soon. 

I have watched a lot of videos, podcasts, read tons of books, and websites, forums, just a multitude of different sources of information for years, but I still have tons of questions. I would love to find someone on here that I could connect with regularly that could talk with me, answer questions I have when they come up, and just give me a little guidance through their own experiences. If I could find someone in New York, that would be ideal.