All Forum Posts by: Cameron Fowler

Hi @Cameron Fowler, I would first ask if you have any sales skills. Have you made cold calls? Have you developed a database? If not I would suggest getting a W2 job and start house hacking your way into investments. You could either get a duplex or more and live in one unit and rent out the rest. This way you limit your housing expenses which can go towards down-payments on other investment homes. If you move a few times over the next few years, you can get up to 10 plus units in no time.

To answer your questions:

Q1: I was an agent and worked for a lender for a few years. Lending was much better, however it still was based on sales. Think about this, how many agents are in your local area and how many lenders are in the same area. Often times there are 10X agents in the same area. Now, how many transactions are there? Given there are less lenders with the same number of transactions, I would look at lending before getting into real estate as an agent. I am now an investor and sales is not even on my radar. Also, I would note - look at the transaction history and trend line. I would not get into the real estate industry as a whole right now as the transactions are falling off a cliff (this depends on your area of course, but look at 2019 TX and 2022 TX, are they up or down?).

Q2: Cold calling and setting appointments was an everyday activity. I had a list of phone numbers to call and worked my database. It was okay work, but I just didn't really like it. \

Q3: I have 3 degrees, 2 in economics and any degree will not hurt you, but most of real estate is about sales and pipeline growth. 

You will learn the math portion, I would recommend learning cash on cash first and developing strategy around that. Something they do not touch very much in any business courses is that cash flow is the blood that flows through the business body. Without it, it will die.

Try listening to Dion Talk or Mike Zuber to get started on YouTube. They have slightly different stories and Zuber has millionaires on his channel every day.

Here is a video from Dion: www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0AjiR...

These are my opinions, I hope this helps! Good Luck! 

Interesting question…

Think about lending like hiring someone for a job… do you hire the guy with no experience?  No skin in the game?  What if it’s a really high paying job… a million dollar job…  you want someone  who has lots of experience… has done the job for years and a demonstrated track record of getting the job done.  

Lenders are going to see your deal the same way…  they would want to see previous smaller deals done… successfully, with loans repaid… with a high credit score… with cash reserves of their own… and no one is ever going to lend all the money… you have to have money in the game… that’s why 20-25% is the usual amount down you have to bring.  

Your best bet is to bring in a strong partner that checks those boxes that you don’t.  Maybe you become a more minor player in the deal.  Just be glad to be a part of it at all… because otherwise you would never be a part of it in the first place otherwise.  Not trying to be mean whatsoever.. I’ve got 25 properties that we own… 18 outright.  I’ve been there, played the game… and with that much background I could probably pull off your deal because I’ve got enough equity behind me that lenders would see I have significant assets to back such a deal.  But they would still make me lien up those properties to back such a loan.  A lender isn’t going to be the only one holding the bag… they are going to secure their position. Ask yourself how you are going to check those boxes.  It’s awesome to be bold, to think big… but your lack of experience also shows right through.   Straight up a $1.5mm deal is WAY out of any beginner’s league.  Presuming your deal is for rentals, or even a flip… do you have the funds to handle the unexpected?  New roof?  Several new A/C’s in the same month… several renters not paying their rent?  New septic system? How about a fire in a unit? How about a $30,000 cost overrun on a flip?    How about all of those within several months of each other? It’s all happened to us… albeit across about a year.  The point is, start small, build your experience, gather funds, move towards bigger deals. 

all the best!

Randy 

@Cameron Fowler, what are you trying to fund?  Is it a $1.5MM deal? Cause 100% probably isn't happening.