All Forum Posts by: Christopher Blanco

I would definitely get that money working for you. Here are some things you can do with your savings:

• Become a Gap lender. As a flipper I am always looking for 25-30K for a few months to bridge deals, or if a home takes longer to sell than I hoped, or just because cash is getting low. I pay around 9% flat for 3 months for the privilege. 
• Become a transactional lender for small deals. Find wholesalers who are dealing in 10-30K properties. You lend them money to double close on a property. Normally for 1-2days of money you can 3-5% flat. Not bad for a wire in and wire out
• Partner with someone. 

All of that gets your money working. I keep no more than 1-2 months worth of living expense savings in my account liquid. Everything else is working to make more capital. 

My lawyer will do Quit Claim deeds like the above for under $200. 

I will take a little less hard approach than Bob. I paid $4500 for my Real Estate education. My "guru" however was local and the classes were hyper local. He was sponsored through my local REIA group. As part of the education I received I also got a bunch of software subscriptions, some great books, a year paid REIA workshops, but the biggest thing I received, which has already paid my fee many times over, was a jumpstart to my network.

Access to the class also gave me access to the Academy's resources. I have access to the MLS (at the Acedemy), to real estate agents, and most of all to the main instructor himself. I can run deals by him at anytime, and he has introduced me to local HML, gap funding, investors etc.

So while I would not pay $35K to some national guru, if you can find a situation like mine I would go for it. 

Send me a PM here.

@Robin Boyer I use 7 as my max, because that is about the limit that CapEx items start to go (Hot water heaters, etc).

@Tony Wooldridge, I have a year of Realeflow's highest membership as a gift for some classes I took in the area. I find their estimation tool to be pretty good. I can normally get within 10% of my bids. My process is to walk through the house, run my findings through the tool. If the numbers make sense, then I call my contractor for a walkthrough. Don't want to burden him if I don't need to. 

I also bought the Pro version of Houseflipping Spreadsheet. Its great for estimation as well though I find myself using Realeflow now more because its available wherever I go.  

@Jack B.  MMM is a neat resource and if I was 20 and single I would be doing that in a heartbeat. Unfortunately being 41, married with 6 kids...some of his measures don't quite work. I agree with the concept though. I live in a small home (less that 1200 sq ft if you don't count the basement), have two cars: 2012 Mazda 5 and 2006 corolla, and I am working to remove all debt. We live below our means and plan to stay that way.

In my opinion the ONLY appreciation is forced appreciation. Long term buy and hold (more than 7 years) begins to cost you more than you invest, unless your NOI can cover you initial investment in less than 7 years. At that 7 year mark, cap ex items (assuming everything was new when you bought it) will begin to eat away at your profits.

When I buy for "cash flow" I never hold longer than 7 years 

@Jack B.

Bingo. That is why I don't have a number yet. I am removing items from my life that cost me money, by doing that FIRST, my freedom number becomes a LOT more attainable. 

@MarieChele Porter,

I am HUGE proponent of networking and talking to anyone and everyone. Here is a story that has kick started my career. I was talking to someone on BiggerPockets about a bank to talk to for a rental I was looking at. I went to the bank they recommended. The commercial banker was impressed with my drive, my story, and my knowledge. She said she wanted to sponsor me to come to a REIA meeting as a guest of the bank and introduce me to another investor who is doing exactly what I want to do. I met the investor and immediately hit it off. I also got involved with the REIA and met another contact who introduced me to my current HML lender and several private investors...and it just keeps going. All from one recommendation for a bank.

NETWORKING is the THE power in this business.