All Forum Posts by: Chris Lopez

@Robert Uceda  - The comments from @Matt M. and @Bill S. are right on.

I'm a big fan of Redfin. They have great technology and a great user experience. There data is up to date as they are a brokerage and have a direct feed to the MLS. Go create a free account and setup different searches with keywords under the "remarks" section under filters.

Use keywords that would indicated a property that needs fixing:

as is, investment, fix, TLC, etc.

The remarks field searches the description. Get your daily alerts and start tracking.

Also, start a spreadsheet to track properties and watch how fast they go under contract and for how much over ask. 

It'll give you a good feel for the market.

@Joshua Zapin Do you have a specific number in mind for your return?

I have never invested with turnkey companies. I did look last year since I live in Los Angeles. I never saw anything that made me want to move forward. Main reasons:

- I like to be in control - that's just my personality.

- It's very easy for things to be going great when the markets are on the rise, but what happens when there is a hiccup or downturn?  Putting 100% trust in a company for buying, fixing, managing, etc seemed risky to me and outside my comfort zone (see control issue above!!)

- I plan on holding on to properties until I die. I'm in my 30's now. I want to make sure I can buy properties for the long run. Buying closer to home in an area I know and understand makes more sense.

Consider looking at places in Denver before totally ruling int out.

- How many properties have you actually looked at (outside of Boulder county?)

- How many deals have you analyzed in Denver area?

I've been working with @Charles Roberts for the last few months and he's been finding good deals (7x cap rates) around Denver. Not grandslams, but good deals. 

He's also picked up quite a few properties himself. 

I'll email you over a couple of examples.

I agree with you about learning, but how much are you really going to learn investing turnkey and long distance? Isn't part of the allure to turnkey investing that it's all done for you?

@Sean Gribbons - $150/mo seems like a very unrealistic budget to me. I blow $150 on Facebook ads while drinking my cup of coffee in the morning. I don't see how you can do any direct mail campaign for $150/mo, let alone send out mailers twice a month. $150 you'll probably be at a $1 per mailer. At best, 50 cents, but I doubt you'll get any discounts for such a low budget. I haven't used bandit signs in years, but the cheapest I got was $2 a sign after shipping, etc.

One of the flippers I work with spends $15k a year just to have the right to buy a list from a top notch data nerd. He still buys the list and then spends ~10k/mo on mailers. How are you going to beat that for $150/mo?

Could provide a breakdown of your budget? I'm really curious to know.

I think the idea of dominating a neighborhood is outdated with the Internet and available analytics now. 

Things really aren't local anymore. Almost everyone hops on their smartphone to search for things now. I'm new to the RE world, but have made my living from marketing skills for the past 15 years. I did a lot of research before starting my marketing for RE and concluded that the days of a neighborhood specialist are over. Why box yourself in?

The one exception is if you live in that neighborhood! Then, by all means, dominate it. You would dominate it by being on the HOA or community board, meeting your neighbors, etc. Not by a heavy marketing campaign.

Why spend money to blanket a neighborhood when a large percentage of homeowners are not your demographic?  Rather use Facebook's predictive analytics for potential home sellers or buy a list of potential home sellers.

@Julie Rhodes
Thank you for the compliment on the Denver Investment Real Estate website. I actually developed the entire thing myself with help from Charles Roberts on the content, so I really appreciate the kudos. I don't consider myself a web developer or a tech guy. I'm someone years ago who got into a sales business, realized that I needed leads to make money, and then started learning how to generate leads online. 

My background is marketing is what actually made me decide to become a broker. Initially, I had very little desire, but realized it paired well with current skills that I could leverage. I'm glad I did, because it's working out well and I'm really enjoying it.

On the website, check out the  "Should a Denver Investor Get a Real Estate License?" course. It does a great job of listing pros and cons of doing it.

I don't know the figures on wholesaling success rate (but I imagine it's very low), but so are the success rates for RE investors and RE brokers! It's relative. Personally, I'd lean more towards becoming a broker as I think it's easier to make money. Do you think it's easier to find a friend that wants to buy a house or door knock 500 times to find a deal?

@Julie Rhodes I'd call around to different brokerages and start making connections. The only way to know if you can find a brokerage situation that works for you is to ask!

I got my CO RE license in April 2017 and am in a unique situation. I live in California at the moment and moving out to Denver early 2018. But, I'm in a position where I can work full time as a CO broker, but I can't actually do the normal activities of local networking, showing properties, etc. My plan was to get the ball rolling - get all the license requirements, learn the market and most importantly get marketing going to hit the ground running for when I move out there. 

I met with 4 brokerages back in January to get a feel, explain my situation and see what opportunities pop up. I had an amazing opportunity come up work with @Charles Roberts . He's the President of Your Castle Real Estate, owns a nice rental portfolio, and just about knows everyone and everything in the Denver REI market.

My point - If I found a brokerage that allows my to work out of state and can make money this way, you can find one that works for you part time.

If you decide to talk with them, reach out to Jeremy Lambert at Your Castle. YC has their act together as a company and for investing data and resources. 

@James Brewster , Yes incorporating REI into 403b's might not be a good fit. Passing to your daughter - are you referring to your financial services business or future REI business?

@James Brewster

>>My background in real estate? I've lived in houses and apartments.

I know you're joking... but also don't over complicate things when you start investing. You've been a tenant, you know the basics of what tenants need to be happy and pay rent.

What do you do in the financial services industry? Any opportunities to incorporate REI in there?

@Julie Rhodes welcome to BP.

Since you have a few days at home, are there any opportunities to increase cash flow to help fund real estate? It sounds like you and your husband have quite a bit of experience. I'm a fan of minimizing expenses and then figuring out creative ways to leverage skills and knowledge to generate cash flow to work towards the bigger goal. 

I have a strong marketing and sales background and that's why I decided to become a RE broker. I'll have a shorter learning curve than most people starting out, I can generate leads, get networked into the RE community and use cash to buy more deals.

Random ideas:

• RE license in Colorado, make some money on the side, get networked in?
• Find deals and essentially become a wholesaler?
• Start a personal finance blog geared towards people in the craft beer industry?
• Do remote management or marketing/content for businesses?

Goodluck!

@Colin Simon - I'd stay away from managing a friend's place who doesn't want to pay going rate PM fees. Look, I get it, I don't like paying PM fees either. But, there's a good chance you'll end up in a lose-lose situation of managing a property that you're not getting paid properly for and you're friend will be complaining.

If he's not willing to pay the going rate of PM fees, then tell him to self manage.

Consider hiring a PM company to do tenant placement only. This is what I do with a long distance property. I paid them 1/2 month's rent to advertise, screen potential tenants, and place one. Then I collect the monthly rent and deal with any issues.

Make sure or your friend know the basic rules too for screening tenants. I advertised my place as no pets. The first applicant had two 2 service animals. Luckily, my PM company took the call, handled it and processed the application. If I took the call, I would have said no immediately. But that would have been against the law and a potential fine on my part. The "I didn't know card" doesn't matter!

I met Marc Cunningham, a PM in Thorton, a few weeks ago at one of his classes. The best "how to be a landlord" presentation I've seen. If you happen to see any classes that he's teaching around Denver, check him out.

Last year I did a couple month stint with an apartment brokerage in LA. My territory was in the South Bay (Torrance to be exact.) I got to meet a fair number of very successful investors and RE professionals that cater to the apt investing niche. 

@Ramon Wilson - While I don't agree with the tone of the email from your broker, I'm not surprised by it. I'm actually surprised he took the time to reply! The attitude where I was at was: "Don't waste your time with buyers. There's so many, no inventory and most can't pull the trigger and aren't will to get in a bidding war." Literally - don't waste you're time meeting, talking, or emailing with them! It was all about securing a listing, getting the seller in a 1031 and helping him trade up.

The common consensus between investors is that apartment buildings in L.A. have the "security of bonds, but the performance of equities." They were buying at 45% down, 3-4 Cap - and they didn't blink an eye. Now a lot of people talked about how crazy it was (just like you are!), but there was always a line of buyers with deep pockets.

I can't remember the exact numbers on this place, but it is interesting. Check out this place: http://www.loopnet.com/Listing/19808104/20720-Anza-Avenue-Torrance-CA/

An investor bought both buildings in the 52 unit portfolio. He got into a bidding war with others, went about a 1 million over asking price and paid around 15.5 million. That's for a 1960's class B property in Torrance, CA!!!  About 300k a unit!

He vacated the buildings, full remodel and planned on selling it. He did this all over the South Bay. People would snatch up his buildings. 

I left, so I stopped following the transaction. 

Another investor purchased a 1.5 pro forma cap 20 unit in Hermosa beach. A freaking 1.5 pro forma cap!!!

While I didn't understand, the prices they are paying, these are people worth 8 figures+... When hedge funds and pensions are buying apt buildings just to park their money there... They are not idiots. 

Different expectations, different game - but they are smart.