All Forum Posts by: Brian Wilson

Don't over think it. Just be yourself. As someone who is also socially awkward (I'm blunt and direct in conversation, sometimes to a fault) and introverted myself I have found the book/audio book "How to win friends and influence people" to be a great tool in building relationships. Learn it and try to take away the major points. I listen to it every year at a minimum. I then take those principles and shape them to my natural personality, it becomes a very valuable tool in my tool belt. 

Also as someone who doesn't like large groups I've found that meet-ups are very hard for me. I don't excel at small talk, so I tend to network online or in more intimate settings (less people more 1 on 1 time). Networking should be intentional and targeted, so I wouldn't be concerned about a lack of volume if you decide to do it my way. 

Best of luck and reach out if you have any questions!

 I'll help lead you based on what I assume Allan is getting at. Consider the following:

Where is the property? - Is it in a growing market, is it in an essential market that is mostly developed?
What does the property look like - Are there utilities in the area? Such as Substations/Switchyards are there T-lines that run parallel to the parcel? How would you classify the area? Commercial, residential, industrial, etc.
What businesses develop in this area - Is this a commercial building area? Industrial? Could it be used for a utility developer? 
What does the current owner do - Are they a developer? If so what kind and why didn't they develop the land.

When looking at land, knowing things like, soil conditions and other subsurface factors are huge for developers. 

 Not a guru and nothing to sell. Cold calling still 100% works. It depends on market, property class, owner demographics, etc. You have to understand the types of people you're reaching out to, when to reach out, how you can help them, etc. That being said it's a lot of work. Cold calling and Driving for dollars are honestly some of the best ways to find deals. It's just difficult to scale successfully. You can also buy leads from reputable companies that do this work for you. Average conversion rate I've heard from these companies is 15-25 leads to a deal. So you have to run the economics and make sure it makes sense, but deploying this strategy can help with scaling as you grow your business.

It's unfortunate that many of us getting lured into buying these educational programs. I still feel that books, audio books, podcasts, bigger pockets, and mentors in your local market are the best source of growth. I almost fell for one a few months back, it was 8k, thankfully after some digging decided to just put that money into finding off market deals.  

Roof replacement, pop-top, etc. are all methods that some of us use. You just have to determine if you have some or all of the following items to ensure if it makes sense for you.

-Ability to manage this portion of construction (GC, Project Manager, your personal skills)
-Capital to undertake the project
-Desire to go through the process
-Makes sense from an ROI perspective

Undercapitalization is more risky than not buying any deal. Ask me how I know. I had a 35k education on my first property about being undercapitalized. The absolutely most important factor is to have a strategy you believe in. Then you can start looking at markets. It goes investment strategy, then market selection, then submarket selection.

If you don't want to take on outside capital or loans, I would save up some money or do a live in flip or house hack. Better to wait a year or 2 and be ready than to rush into a large financial commitment un-prepared.

As for markets I like, I like the midwest a lot. Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, etc. 

 Depends on your goals, how the deal is structured contractually, etc. I would need more info on the deal to say whether in my opinion it's a good deal or not. I personally don't like IO loans, however many people run their entire business off that model and have done very well. Just have to have a solid plan in place for recasting, refinancing, or offloading the property prior to the 7 year mark. Also have a contingency plan in place. 

 My recommendation is that you avoid Zestimate tools. Instead you can look at current listings of similar kind on zillow and assume that the lowest range is the floor for what you can get. That's how I analyze properties, some might consider it overly conservative or "sand bagging" in the underwriting process, but it ensures that I'm not evaluating the deal with the most likely numbers. That being said, when looking at listed properties see how long they were listed for. If it's been 120 days or more I would say rent is either too high, or the property has something wrong with it. 

I had a subscription to rento-meter for several years. I do not feel that in my markets it was accurate enough. Either way too low (most common) or too high even when comping out the rent data against the new property.

Congrats on getting started so young! The average male in their entire life doesn't make 70k a year, it's like 63k or something. You're on your path to higher income soon enough!

As for RE, I'd spend 2-3 months really figuring out what you want to do, if you believe in your local market and the areas you want to buy in that local market. Make sure there is data to support this opinion. Speaking from experience here, but I probably wouldn't house hack again despite it being such an awesome investing method. This reflection I have from my own experiences is why I recommend you spend the time to figure out where you want to invest, and more importantly how (type of RE investing: commercial, self storage, multifamily (small, medium, large), Single family, STR, etc.

I like CA but would never own rentals there. Just a difficult landscape to navigate from my understanding. Instead I would do a live in flip if I wanted to put money to work locally. That's what I'm doing in CO (where I live). But I invest in the Midwest. I'm from the Midwest and have a business partner who is my BOG in the territories we target. 

As for finding deals, you can use batch leads and cold call/text in your target markets or use a wholesaler, or just buy something off MLS. The more work you put into finding a good deal, the better your ROI should be. MLS can still be profitable just depending on the model and duration of the investment.

@Nolan Marshall Jr As others here have already covered very good fundamentals from the objective side, here is my personal opinion on these decisions:

 Tax Depreciation - How many years left do I have, does it make sense to keep the property even without the added tax benefits? For example - great location, future expanse opportunity, rare/scarcity component, etc. 

ROE - is my current ROE meeting my investment criteria for other deals. If not is it an acceptable level of reduced return given the reduced risk (free and clear property)

Exposure - Am I exposed by having too much equity in one place. Would losing this property to a law suit hurt me severely financially?

Refinance - Is this property a good candidate for refinancing? - If in great location and want to buy something else while reducing risk and holding original property I can pull a good chunk of my equity out.

Cashflow - Does this property perform well? Would I purchase it as is today?