All Forum Posts by: Christopher Brown

Bill,

Any luck finding a CPA in the Advance area?  I am currently setting the pieces in place for a first deal in RE investing.  I own a video production company and our bookkeeper is not really specialized in the real estate investing business.  

If you ever want to meet up to talk about the local market or want a video created for one of your properties (no charge/not solicitating for work/just want to help other investors) PM me.  I'm in the 801N area of Advance.

Here is that link

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/311/topics/602522-creating-a-buzz-with-video

I'm a video professional and a newbie real estate investor.  One thing to think about is your way of thinking.  Shift from "how do I sell this property on YouTube" to "how do I use a video on Youtube to show and educate a buyer that may be interested in this property."  I've heard over and over on BP podcasts "try to solve other people's (i.e. buyer) problem.  

Idea to find videographers in your area:

- Search for video production companies online.  Tell them what you want do and your budget.  If you are under budget for them, they may refer you (or ask for a referral) to the appropriate person in your area.

- Search online for a local college/community college/training course that has a video production program.  Students are a good resource for non high $$$ productions and they have to flexible time to do it.  

- Post what you want done on Craigslist.  You can post in either the "Jobs> TV/Film/Video" or "Gigs > Crew" section.

You can also read my reply to Joshua Hively. 

I hope that helps

Joshua,

I am new to real estate investing but I own a video production company.  I can just offer some ideas and comments about the video production aspect.  Take any bits of this advise you like.

- If your friend has the RE video production experience listen to her/him.  Maybe set a budget and see what they can do.

- Before and after content.  Once the rehab happens you can't do "before" shots so it may be beneficial to have them.  At least do photos of the "before."  Hold your camera in landscape direction (horizontal) so the photo will match the aspect ratio.  Think of how your wide screen TV looks.  The before/after shots may not help your Aunt with selling the unit but it may help her in presentations to lenders on future properties about her capabilities as a flipper/rehab manager.  Really good "after" shots and/or video will help with her rental/sales listing.

- Shooting during rehab.  This would be interesting but I'm not sure of the value of it overall.  If you do it one idea would be to do a time-lapse during one section of the rehab.  Take a photo/video shot from the same location in the room at various intervals throughout the rehab process.  Then edit those shots together.

- On all our videos we like to put a call to action at the end as narration and/or text graphic.  Tell the viewer what to do next.  Visit this website.  Call this phone number to find out more.  Come to the open house on time/date....

- Host the video on YouTube or Vimeo.  They both have free accounts.  These will be your "playback" mechanisms.  Then post that video on Facebook and other social platforms with information about the property.  Not a hard sell.  Just providing information that will "solve some buyers problem"   From numerous BP podcasts I have heard to always try to solver another persons problem.  In this case, a buyer looking for a home of a certain type, style, remodeled state, location, etc...

- With your Youtube/Vimeo title use the property type and address in the title (i.e. Just Remodeled 3BR/2BA Single floor ranch, 123 Main st, City, NC).   

-With your Youtube/Vimeo description put the URL of the property website (if you have one) and then hit "Enter."  This will create a clickable URL in the description.  Put the relevant home info in the description.  At the end of the description put another call to action.  Tell the reader how they can get more info (URL, call, visit...)

Those are just some of my thoughts.  If you have any other specific questions about video feel free to run them by me.

My wife and I have a goal of doing our first deal here in North Carolina before the end of the year. Our own SFH has equity. Funding sources besides our own cash is getting completed. Our team building networking around Winston-Salem has started. Education from BP - ongoing and priceless....

All the best to you.

Roman, I also run a video production company and am starting the RE investing journey.  My wife is our producer and I handle the video camerawork, lighting and sound.  We are based near Winston-Salem, North Carolina and have been focusing on videos delivered online for corporate and non-profit organizations.  

Since we are currently operating a small business, we have the flexibility of time during the day to devote to real estate investing and are familiar with business deductions. We receive passive income monthly from our business and we want to have our money to continue to work for us through RE investing. With the understanding that we can't do video production into our 60's and 70's, transitioning to real estate now seems like the logical direction. We are also interested in BRRRR with SFH/multi-family homes. We are in our late 40's, early 50's, have a large amount of equity in our current SFH, excellent credit, only a car payment for liabilities/debt. Plus, if we want to sell a property we can make our own awesome home tour videos with stabilized camera interior shots and exterior drone video shots.

I applaud you for starting the RE investing journey at your age.  You will have the opportunity of time to build and scale your investments.  We are in the education, team building and collecting all our funding options stage now.

I wish you all the best in your investing!

@Andrew Postell Thank you for bringing up points I should be focusing on - paying it back quickly.  We have been listening to hours (14+) of BP podcasts on our recent family vacation camping roadtrip and have learned about the power of brrrr.  We understand (in a pre-deal kind of way) the importance of refinance for the long term.  Corby and Ivory (@Corby Goade @Ivory Hayes) also echoed the short term nature of the use of a HELOC. We we keep that in mind and form a plan for a quick pay off of the HELOC. Thanks for all your input.

Our relationship with our credit union is very personal and helpful.  They are headquartered in Winston-Salem, NC and offer great member service.   With our small business we have had numerous in-person meetings.  The traditional bank is more call an 1-800 number and talk to someone remotely.  That difference is also something we should consider.

They say your first deal is the hardest and I'm enjoying the hard work of educating myself with all this new knowledge.  My wife is the action person so as a team we'll be great at this.  We have already built up passive income from our video production small business so building passive income from real estate is a nature fit.

Christopher

I'll start off by saying I'm a newbie.  I love BP!

My wife and I are looking to fund our first deal. We have ~25K cash and $75K in equity in our house and we are looking to use a HELOC for down payment and/or rehab funding. From our credit union we can get a HELOC variable rate of prime - 0.25% (4.75%). From our traditional bank 1st mortgage holder we can get an option of a HELOC with a 1-year fixed rate advance with a rate of 3.235% fixed for 1-year and then a fixed rate of 5.5%. Their variable rate would be ~5%.

In your experience, would it be more beneficial to get a HELOC with a lower long term rate (Credit Union) or a HELOC with an option of a lower 1-year fixed rate for the short term and a higher interest rate for the long term (Conventional Bank)?

Thanks in advance!  Christopher