All Forum Posts by: Brennen Thompson

@Karl McGarvey really appreciate you jumping in, it's great to understand things from an agent perspective and I think it is insanely valuable for new investors to hear the thoughts of an experienced, ethical agent!

Few thoughts: 

1. I totally agree that this is not the easiest strategy for first time buyers. I should have clarified that this strat is for the serious investor. Specifically, first time investors that are going direct to seller to find good deals (and considering spending some money to do so) 

2. In my experience most states are totally fine with this (42 out of 50 from a quick Google search) and generally the ones that aren't just state that you must specify that the agent is working for both parties. This is like being afraid of dining at a restaurant because you're allergic to peanuts - not all dishes have peanuts and the ones that do are labeled accordingly. It's no reason to stop dining out altogether 

3. I'm not sure what prices are like in your market, but in a few of my markets, 3% is a new kitchen, or two new bathrooms, or a roof/window replacement. If the deal is small (sub $200K) I can see this being a factor. For many of us that is not the case

4. I also find it hard to believe that many agents wouldn't find the extra 3% convincing regardless of their fiduciary duty. On a $400K deal, that's nearly $15K. I'm sure you're a great dude and I would hope that all home buyers/sellers end up with a guy like yourself, unfortunately, most agents are not you, and money talks

Overall I think that this is a great lesson for new investors. There are always going to be reasons for not stepping outside the box. Great investors find a way to breakout of the status quo and do solid deals regardless 

After speaking with a few other BP members, I’ve noticed that a lot of people have the same question. Since it’s on everyone’s mind (and it probably always is since we’re in RE), I thought it’d be a good idea to share my answer with the group.

The Question on Everyone’s Mind: How Are You Currently Finding Your Deals?

It’s a pretty simple process that I don’t think enough people are taking advantage of:

1.Go to the real estate site of your choosing – Redfin, Zillow, etc.

2. Set the filters to your criteria BUT also filter for homes that have been on the market 60+ days

3. Find the number that makes sense for YOU

The BP calculators are great for this since they allow you to edit the reports as many times as you need. I would suggest initially running the numbers at the list price with an 8.5% interest rate and slowly lowering the purchase price (by editing the report) until you hit your target returns.

4. Pitch it to the agent

Play up the fact that they will be the only agent closing this deal and do some fact finding to see what the home owners pain points are. If you can solve these issues (creative finance?), you’ll get the deal.

5. Repeat until successful

This stuff isn’t rocket science, it’s a numbers game. If you can make five of these calls to your local market daily, you’ll land a deal by the end of the month.

This serves a few purposes:

1.Longer Days on Market = More Motivated Sellers & Lower Prices

With interest rates still as high as they are I can only expect homes to continue to stay on the market for longer periods of time. For RE investors, this means that solid deals are coming our way.

2.Real Estates Most Valuable Friend

Going direct to the listing agent (without an agent of your own) means that the agent can either take double the commission OR they will get more cash back for their buyer since there is only one agent involved. You want to have the agent on your side!

3. Direct to Seller Benefits Without Direct to Seller Headaches

Imagine a world where you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on mailers and dialers just to find out that your leads were crap… This method eliminates the possibility of both – no money out of your pocket, and leads that we KNOW are motivated

By no means am I the biggest real estate investor out there, but we have sourced three of our last four deals this way. As things continue to get more and more crazy over the next few months I can only see this becoming a more viable option. Especially for those of us that don’t have a ton of experience and don’t have the cash to spend on finding motivated sellers.

Hope this helps!

Believe it or not, but we've been getting some really solid deals on Amazon. I've even heard of some people using their "shop the look" feature by saving down pictures of designs they like (oof of Pinterest, Instagram, etc.) and uploading them to the shop the look platform. Amazon matches the products in the picture with similar products across Amazon

Taking action gets results... not reading books or talking about doing deals!  

I always listened to podcasts, read books, and talked with friends about investing, but I never pulled the damn trigger! I hear the same thing from people all the time - I'm just waiting for the market to heat up, I'm just waiting for the market to cool down, I'm just waiting to pay off my student loans... 

There will always be an excuse, it's our job to see this and do whatever it takes to do our first deal. The rest come easy! 

Hey brother! My suggestions: 

1. Increase cashflow by renting by the room 

2. Look into some creative rental strategies to increase cashflow - Short term rentals (be careful here as I suspect that many people are doing the same thing in order to get deals to work... Supply/Demand), mid term rentals, corporate housing, etc.  

Hi! 

We use hard money for all of our fix/hold deals. Given the market and your experience, its going to be tough to get a lender to finance 100% of the deal. I'd recommend wholesaling to build your capital. 

If that's not an option, and you have a W2, I always tell people that one of the most valuable skills I learned was how to save $25K. If you can do it in less than a year, you'll be a killer in this game! That, $25k in the bank will help you come up with the necessary down payment to do your first deal and it'll teach you a hell of a lot along the way! 

Just PM'd ya! 

Hey dude, keeping it simple for ya here: 

1. Best area to buy - wherever you can afford it, there is demand for renters, and people aren't slinging drugs/getting shot

2. This is a learning process, there are plenty of hard and fast rules but they dont paint the whole picture. Analyze enough deals in ONE market and you'll be able to smell out a good deal in no time! 

3. Pro = More cash in your pocket, Con = More tenants to deal with/more stuff to break (pros far out-way the cons with the proper systems)

4. If you can do it without them, don't bother. If you're gonna go into it with a partner, you have to trust that person with every dollar you've ever made (and get something in writing) 

Have you guys ever heard of Prime Corporate Services? To be totally transparent, I've yet to use these guys (this year will be our first with them), but they've been great to work with up to this point in prepping everything/answering our questions (just avoid talking to Darrell lol). They do everything from entity structure to tax strat. Might at least be worth a call!

Hey dude! 

You might be able to get a DSCR loan... Down payment is going to be higher, but the lender will look at the income the property produces rather than your income. You also might need to have some cash stored up (or find a partner that does) to show adequate reserves. Just spit-balling here!