All Forum Posts by: Chris Hake

Dave, many of the books recommended above are excellent for your real estate journey. I would HIGHLY recommend a few other books that I talk to all my students and everyone at my REIA about (not real estate related, but as a foundation for business and life can be applied to everything):

The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson

The One Thing by Gary Keller

Resolved - 13 Resolutions for Life by Orrin Woodward

Power Questions by Andrew Sobel and Jerold Panas

Enjoy :)

My first question is where is the rest of the money coming from for acquisition and repairs??

If $1,000 is the difference with a deal or no deal, I would say if family is out then find another investor at your local REIA (this assumes you attend a local REIA) or friend and offer them a JV type arrangement where they lend you the $1,000 for the earnest money and in return you give them either a flat fee at time of closing (again, assumes you already have that money figured out) or a promisorry note with simple interest rate. Base don the small dollar amount I would say a flat fee for the use of $1000 has more appeal. Good Luck :)

My best advice for you as a newbie REI, remember that building your team is a marathon not a sprint. I have been investing over 22 years and my team is constantly being added to and deleted from. Yes, I have my core team and they are very solid, but team members come and go so you always need to be top grading for talented folks. Some of the members you mentioned in your post you will use far less than others so my recommendation is to start small and focus on the CORE team members (Realtor partners, GC, Attorney, CPA, Mentor/Coach, Title Company, Insurance) to get you out of the gate. Work on the rest as you build and grow as they will start to come by way of referrals from your CORE team and also through association with other investors in your local market. And lastly, make sure you are attending your local REIA (or other investor meetings) meetings as this will be one of the best places to meet these people for your team. Good luck :)

My first question is did you have any type of written agreement/contract in place which spelled out the terms of your working relationship and expectations (cost, timing, quality)? In my experience the times I did NOT have anything in writing and something went wrong (poor quality, not timely, over budget, etc...) I was left to smooth talking and negotiations to try and get done what I wanted so job would get finished without starting over with another contractor. BUT, when I have a written agreement in place that sets ALL the expectations PRIOR to the job starting I am in a much much better position to get the job done right, on time and on budget. Again, even with a written agreement its not perfect, but I sleep much better having something in writing that has teeth. Good luck