All Forum Posts by: Chase Busick

@Wyatt Yost congrats on joining. I'm sure you will get a lot of feedback from people in Pennsylvania in here within a short amount of time. 

As an investor, I recommend attending local real estate investor association (REIA) meetings to start out - to learn & collaborate with people actively in the space too. As well as free business networking events. You can probably find some on meetup .com, Facebook, eventbrite & or local event hosting websites.

Keep learning as much as possible from free resources & people in the local area to build a team & friends to lean on in your own business moving forward. 

Most for sale homes on the market will probably not be good deals. Most of everything on market is others trying to capitalize to the retail investor that doesn't do any marketing. Meeting with local wholesalers, & investors will be most likely the best comparatively to an agent. Agents can still help with off market deals but you may have to compensate them for their help, structuring the deal (paperwork), facilitating everything, etc. Eventually the more you learn, & do, you may not have to utilize agents to make the best deals. Hit me up with any other questions you have moving forward.

@Joseph Ferqueron I agree with most of everyone else!

Taking advantage of many free options to learn is the best. Sure fancy programs & coaching can help accelerate the process to your goal, but don't spend an insane amount of money & only learn from people that are well trusted & in places you ultimately want to be in the future.

I recommend attending your local real estate investor association meetings (REIA). This will allow you to connect with others in your local market, learn from them, create relationships with them & maybe do deals together! You can also attend local networking & business meetups to do the same & is a great opportunity to learn from others in the space & eventually lean on them in your own endeavors.

Continuing to learn what good deals are is important. Don't force deals. Vet deals properly, ensure you can properly estimate scopes of work if you are going to do any renovations or have a GC or friend go with you. House hacking is a great option to start out, just make sure if you move out, it can still make it work as a single family rental too!

@Adam Macias I agree that laws change fast per state. 

In Oklahoma, they passed in November 2021 the Predatory Real Estate Wholesaler Prohibition Act & have made multiple updates over the years. The reasoning is to reduce the amount of predatory behavior for the consumer because Oklahoma saw that so many people were either being scammed, taken advantage of, losing property & money unethically or unknowingly without as much educated advice, and more. The act essentially means that in order to do wholesaling & market publicly - you have to be licensed, & if you are not you are doing unlicensed activity that can result in investigations & fines. Many local wholesalers that are unlicensed have hidden under the updates & ultimately do different things now, but most don't "publicly market anymore or they or their spouse have gotten licensed. 

I've had multiple out of state people call me that are spam because they have pulled my number from a public database & have to inform them they shouldn't be doing that - even if I may help them sell, wholesale or buy. They have to be licensed in the state & have had prior business relationships with people & not just purchase a list or do their own public skip tracing research.

I definitely agree with @Alan F. & @Bill B. as governments are just finding more ways to squeeze money from the people to support their agenda & needed programs. Oklahoma City passed a rule August 1st, that they are requiring all roofing matters to go through the permitting process. Whether getting a repair or full replacement you need a permit otherwise you may be subject to fines if you get caught. It is the same reasoning as the wholesaling law, to prevent the amount of unlicensed predatory behavior from the consumer, ultimately raising the standard for roofers. This backfired against them as they don't have enough infrastructure and inspectors to support this. They've even been pulling other trades inspectors in to cover the gaps.

Sure some of the reasoning is legit, then I also think that it is government just trying to make as much money as possible and controlling public business as much as they can to support their paychecks, employment, then government spending habits & programs. @Andrew Syrios & @Nick C., what all else you think?

@Jon Simmons

yeah I'd get it all squared out & whole story.

You should have documentation where they sign an application, then get verification forms that state to them you have the right to reach out to verify references & they are allowing you to do so.

Did you allow the application via zillow, apts.com, etc. & rely solely on their data? I've had meh luck with getting more detailed analysis of the applicants from that & prefer to still do my smart move. Apts. com is ok & definitely helps that they don't have to come out as much money.

If the main person still wants to consider, I'd then run a screening on the co-signor to check the validity of them being able to meet qualifications. 
I'd also have a deposit to hold agreement signed by all parties, that way if something happens they agreed that a portion of the r deposit can be withheld if they back out or don't follow through with lease signing.

problem with most zillow, FB, apts.com is someone can easily go apply on another's behalf fairly easily if they're in a relationship & know their info. But with all that said, multiple failsafes to ensure they are serious & not wasting your time bc vacancy kills.

@Christina Swaby, I agree with@Greg Scott. That depends on your own individual risk tolerance. I'd also say on the severity of the felony, if they paid all their debts regarding it, etc. If it was that long ago, and there is nothing else wrong with application then can move forward if you've done all the rest of your screening process. 

I'd stick to your normal standards/qualifications that way you are protecting yourself. If there are other things within application screening that are concerning then can proceed with denial an approval with conditions.

@M Edouard, I ageee with light Gray, As it is a safe enough color to go with for most modern people's tastes. If you split up colors, it's fine too, may just save time & $ for all one color.
I think all white is also fine or a light cream/beige. The white will most likely get dirtier over time but the light cream/beige & even light gray may conceal more. With that said white paint may last longer. 

At the end of the day, up to you. Most recent 1s I've done were light gray. Because had already had most of same paint & short period of time in between projects. Then an all white since kept stained/sealed wood finish for doors & trim - since I only needed less than another 5 gallon.

@Abiy Tedla I agree with the others can figure out whether it is valid.

With that said, I also agree with@John Clark &@Adam Bartomeo. Just because they claim a break in doesn't mean that gets them of their lease which is the legal contract/agreement between parties. They still have an obligation to pay you, as much as they should've reported it to the police & the PM in order to safely resecure the house.

I'd change the locks, document & take pictures of everything (including damages), then take them to court for failure to pay, loss of rent, re-rental fees, reasonable attorney fees, damages, etc. I'd consult with an attorney on this one & most likely go with them to handle. 

@Joshua Piche, yes I'd confirm their lease & you can get an estoppel agreement signed by all parties in order to confirm. 

you can do a brief pre-screening on them in order to see if you want to keep them on your state courts network if it's free. 

If you're trying to make it a win/win, can consider giving them notice that rent will increase in a month or 2, giving them time to either sign a new lease with you or find another place. It can be beneficial to have them stay & place the rent where it's realistically be in its current condition without doing any remodeling (which will save you expense, time, vacancy, holding costs, maintenance, marketing & leasing fees, etc.). I think this would be the better way, to keep making money rolling in. Sure it may be under market slightly but that's based on rewarding that they've been there for a time & don't have to bring it up to the max market rent condition.

This can be a time to strategize, if you can get records of the rent roll showing their on time payments that'd be great then ensure that the increase won't put them out or make them homeless. You can go through re-screening them to your standards if you want or at least confirm their employment/income w/ the increase in rent.

@John Russo, yeah most within that price range will most likely not pencil out in returns if you're buying a rent ready property or even some on market that need work.

I'd try to get in contact with as many wholesalers as possible, join Facebook groups for local real estate investors & look for off market deals. 

if it's a value add, where you can get it for a low price then make repairs, may just barely make work, but most likely not. 

In most areas within that price range, it'll most likely not work unless you are house hacking, assuming a loan w/ a low interest rate & lower payment & or are just banking on appreciation & loan paydown.

Can also consider other things too. Private lending, building up conservative investments, educstion, etc.

@Happy Sohi, you're doing the right thing. Some states can have various different laws. Like some say really only need to provide heating.

Getting someone over there a when you can is great in order to keep them happy with the main system. Since it did go down, you provided what you could, maybe can provide more if have any. With that said, can try to get someone else over if can, or they can in order to make them happy in order for them to hopefully stay longer.

I'm sure others would just wait for the main repair, then leave them to deal with it as things can take time to schedule & get fixed.