All Forum Posts by: Christopher Leon

Hi Tony Goodwin I'm from west suburbs of Chicago and organize the Chicago Area REIA www.meetup.com/CAREIA. You mentioned buying and holding but are going to start with wholesaling? A smart man once told me that the quickest way from point A to point B is by a straight line; so, you should really focus on where you want to be, what you want to do, find someone who is also doing it that you click with, and seriously do whatever they suggest to you and mimic what they do if you want their results. Wholesaling is cool, but if your not a hardcore salesman, know how to operate a sales business (meaning prospect, get leads, convert leads to sales) your going to get swallowed up. Not to mention you need to learn the market well enough to understand what IS a good deal and then get it under contract and sell someone else on the idea that it's a good deal. If it were me, and at one point it was, I would want to be building a business where there is LESS competition with a specific or niche product that is in higher demand. Work within your strengths and don't just try to grab at low hanging fruit. I been in this business for a long time and have YET to meet a for real successful wholesaler. Everyone mistakes wholesaling's simple process for an easy task, and the truth is, it's hard as hell. If your going to buy and hold property, do it. Don't dick around with wholesaling cause it seems easy. Get yourself into a local REIA, or wherever, meet some people you would like to emulate in terms of the business they have built or are building, and follow their lead. This will effectively cost you nothing, you'll build great relations, AND you will get the chance to learn the real market because you'll be rolling with some folk actually doing deals. This is exactly the way I did it, now, what works for me may not work for you but the fact is if your trying to buy and hold do exactly that, wholesaling one deal a month or taking 40 hrs for one deal to make a small amount is not worth anyone's time in my opinion. If you concentrate on the pennies, your going to miss the dollars! You'll learn much more if you borrow some money, pick up a small condo/studio, fix it up and rent it then manage it. Best thing you can do for yourself, let other wholesalers bring you deals and concentrate on your goal: buy and holding. Good luck, it's a wild market we got on our hands.

Hi Seve Chong nice job getting that license! Once you get the hang of your market, you'll see that the license you got is more like a license to print money! Since your an agent now, remove "wholesale" from your lexicon, it's a disgusting word. Your a professional now and you will be brokering transactions accordingly; furthermore, agents don't really wholesale their deals. Your held to higher standards as a professional in your field (not saying wholesalers do not have standards) but, people typically wholesale deals because they usually don't have a license and since you do, your focus should be on listing houses for sale and getting the tens of thousands of other agents in your area to work for you (in a sense) and sell your inventory. This is much more sophisticated than "wholesaling," and, profitable. ;) good luck to you.

Its all about mitigating problems and risk. Meaning, invest in the right product (which is the one you understand) close enough to home to where you can address any emergencies, and when supplying housing to people, you have things fixed properly so you do not have those "midnight calls" that people frivolously talk about. I have never had one, we have a company line and the machine tells people what to do in case of emergency; furthermore, we speak to our clients prior to move in and go over these things so they do not bother the property manager with frivolous matters that do not need to be addressed right then and there. So, to answer your question, fortunately, the only thing that keeps me up at night is my awful firm mattress. Do the things above, get a better mattress than I, and you will hopefully sleep sound as a pound. Good luck to ya!

Way to take action @Sheena Prattis

Allow me to inquire about some concerns; I am curious, what doesn't stop the seller from selling the place at 29,9 right now? Whatever the reason may be, if he/she could, I would imagine that they would do it, so what makes you believe you can sell it for $10k more down the road? Another question, if this unit has never sold for more than $15K (21 YEARS AGO!), and, it is currently valued at $4,600 (how do you know this?), why are you willing to pay more for this caliber of property? I understand that the market may be going upwards, but crap is crap, why pay more for it just because? I guess, just based on what you said I would just stand firm and tell the seller "take it or leave it." This kind of property does not sound like its worth the headache just to get a deal under the belt. I do like the fact that the seller is willing to do seller financing on this unit, but, let me ask you one thing, if this unit was the right product to own, or to flip, why isn't this guy doing it? (I understand he is flipping it and trying to make $8k on it, but, once again, why is he not trying to get 29,9? (he cant get it) and, they know its probably not the right product to own for the long term so that's why they are unloading it) Just my two sense. Nevertheless, maybe you know some stuff I don't, I guess based on the numbers you presented and the circumstances, that this was my first inclination. Good luck to you. :)

Coffee is for closers. Congrats to you.

This is how I started. I found a brokerage that specifically works in the investment arena. I hung my license there and was able to learn the business by applying myself and renting out all the other brokers/landlords units. I also had the opportunity to market their rentals, for sales, etc. this was great but may be uncommon for some brokerages to allow anyone in the office to market anyone's listings though. Anyways, I learned first hand how to run my own small business as a broker, I learned the areas I liked (based on the units I was renting), also learned what kind of properties I didn't like based on occupancy or tenant profiles. I learned all this just by applying myself and learning from others. I ended up learning my market so well, I was able to talk about it so effectively and with such excitement that I got my my first private lender to approach me about a deal and offer to finance it without me directly asking for it. ABC always be closing. Good luck to ya. Let me know if I can clarify anything I have said.

Getting a RE license is a great start. It allows you to get inside your local market and learn it from the inside out. With this knowledge, if you can wield it, you become more valuable than the person with the money because you know what to do with it! Just a suggestion, but go to some REIA meetings and find anyone who really knows what they are talking about and are successful with what you want to do, and squeeze your way into their brokerage. Develop a good business and personal relationship and you can probably get them to mentor you without even asking for it. It also helps if the broker you may seek to indirectly mentor you owns investment properties, because when it comes time for them to rent them or something, they will list them with the brokerage and you can ask for permission to help, this will give you the chance to learn a part of business without physically owning, and you'll get to see what different tenants are like, what the owner is looking for in a tenant, etc. you'll get the whole formula just by doing this with someone who is doing what you want to do. I crammed a lot in here, sorry if I jumped around or this is confusing, let me know if I can clarify anything. By the way, this is how i started, all by accident. I'm proof positive it is a way that works, provided that your interested in investing in yourself first and getting a license. Good luck

I think that's cool you fixed that Brandon Turner I know your looking for a handyman, but, considering there are so many unreliable ones out there, and others that charge horrendously, couldn't your business as a whole, be more profitable if you did your own repairs all the time? (Barring of course, any major repairs that may be way out of your league) not sure how you handle this regularly, but I'm talking about this kind of stuff you did, electric, plumbing, HVAC, etc. thanks for the fun post. I like what Ben Leybovich has to say, always entertaining, sir. But one time I remember early on, I had a contractor come out to basically figure out why my electric baseboard heater wasn't working, and I told him what I thought, I ended up being right, and he basically cut a 3x3 hole in wall, luckily on the first try found the junction box where my wires were (with power) connected wires to wires across the room and charged almost $375 clams for this!? Ever since then, I told myself, I will learn this **** and I can see it has helped me be net more. Thoughts?

Nice post Wendell De Guzman to answer your question, I got my money for my first deal by doing what you mentioned, I found a great deal and just kept talking about it excitedly and it just so happened that the money found me and the private lender approached me. I was able to talk to confidently and effectively about the deal and was able to negotiate very favorable terms with the lender without really trying. I think that was the thing, it's not like I was out directly asking for the money, but more like telling people about my business as a real estate broker and how the market was doing great, and how I would pick up almost anything I can get my hands in in this market, etc; lo and behold, the lender then offered to finance the deal I was indirectly trying to finance. Thanks for the post!

Originally posted by @George P.:

@Christopher Leon , what's the difference between a realtor (agent) and a broker? i pay my realtors (have used 4 different ones over last two years) one months rent, and they split it with the buyers agent if needed.

The difference between a REALTOR and a broker is the designation. I am not sure how it is in Michigan, but, in Illinois you basically have real estate brokers or managaing brokers (people that manage the brokerage house I.E. Keller Williams, ReMAX) As a broker, you can become a REALTOR by basically paying to get into the club to become a member of the NAR (national association of REALTORS) REALTORS are held to higher ethics and standards because they have to take extra ethics training and such, its great for any broker to get this designation and really the only designation i would suggest. All the others are just a waste of money. The saying goes, "the broker has his CMA, and GRI, but no M-O-N-E-Y" lol.

That stinks if you have used 4 different REALTORS in the past two years. Try to find one that is also an investor and knows the market, it will save you time and money! Good luck to you.