All Forum Posts by: Christy Alferes

Knowledge. Know the industry, and and my target market. Offer insight and projections.

@MattSlowik would like that, hit me up on here, or look me up

Hi Sean,

Hiring a VA can catapult you into that next level if done correctly.

I am a currently a Realtor and also a Real Estate technology VA. I am on a team of 9 agents who are flipping, wholesaling and selling multi-families and commercial properties. I have been helping other Realtors and Investors in a couple different CRM's, but have also been successful in using Google Drive, Sheets and Docs for a lot of stuff.

You can hire someone off of Fivver or Upwork for reasonable money. Or, you can post a Craigslist ad if you prefer to have someone local.

VA's typically are paid in a few ways; Contract/Project, or long term like 6 months. You can pay a flat fee or hourly, and salary plus bonus.

To get a great outcome for both parties, I suggest the following:

If you need data entry, research or input, I would recommend you pay by the project with a flat fee, a time limit and review of the work before you pay.

If you need someone to Cold or Warm call, or to Follow up on leads, pay them a small salary with huge bonuses. You want this person to feel they are a part of the team and that everyone gets ahead if you work together - win win.

If its for technology projects, marketing and CRM management, hire hourly with set hours. Set the hours to the same time frame you are available to talk to your VA so you can communicate when questions or revisions come up.

Reviews. Be sure to set up a probation period with the understanding you are looking for the right person, and let them know that there are incentives to doing a great job; steady work, pay increase, etc. 

I hope this helps - feel free to direct anymore questions you have!! Its not easy finding the right VA but once you find the person you can rely on, who is your personal cheerleader, You'll never do these tasks yourself again.

RVM -> Ringless Voice Mail. I am an admin on the REI Blackbook, and love all its infinite capabilities. Currently working on Short Sale and Absentee leads using CSV lists. (skip traced spreadsheets) Cant wait to get the targeted social media ads, Driving 4 Dollars and other lead producing campaigns going!

Disclaimer: I am currently a member of REI Blackbook

UPDATE: after looking at the Propstream site, and some recent reviews, It seems Propstream is focused more on Valuation and Data Mining for deals? They do have lead generation, but it doesnt seem to be their focus. I hope someone will comment on this further.

Gene,

I am not familiar with Propstream, but will look into that and get back.

REI provides systems you need to help you follow up automatically. The best part though is they provide the roadmaps you are looking for to take your investing ABOVE your local competition.

So, say you could do a set-it-and-forget-it  system that works while you are doing other investor stuff.

Consumer fills out landing page form, they get a RVM, text message, email and info all automated. You follow up and manage their property inside REI.

If you are looking to get more avenues for leads, and want more spokes in your lead wheel - this is the place to go. 

I would check out this page out for the opportunities they help make available here: 

https://www.reiblackbook.com/motivated-seller-leads/

Basic instructions are included and there is somewhat of a learning curve if you are completely new to automated CRM software. Its smart to hire someone on Fivver or Upwork to set it up, and you can do it yourself. They walk you through the steps.

Support has been amazing and the community and their facebook "units" and videos provide lots more insight. Results are on you! 

@Eric Dufault @Steve Porcello

I am a real estate agent showing 9+ Multi-family properties for sale, and my family HH'd one 3 Unit in the South End of New Bedford. I cannot speak on the RI market. 

The New Bedford market is hot with House Hackers wanting to purchase the "Nice" buildings. It is surprising to me (even though I did the same) that the HH are buying into, in my opinion, some tricky neighborhoods. That being said, New Bedford doesn't really have "tough" neighborhoods, but they have "tough" streets. You have these really beautiful Homes, with gardens & all on one street and just one street over is a dump. The only real way to find out is to go to that street on a sunny/warm weekend and look around. You'll know if its right for you. We bought an A+ building on a tough street (really tough) and have had no problems. We got an amazing deal on a building with new siding, windows, roof, heating system and more!

Because I am working with some 80+ tenants, mostly TAW, some Section 8, I may have some insight here. For the most part, the tenants are okay. Out of the 80 I have met, there are about 7 that stick out in my mind as people I would want out if they were my buildings, even if they were paying their rent. I met a few tenants on Section 8, again, there are good and bad .. I would say you really have to make decisions person to person. I love the Section 8 scenario, if you are ready to deal with inspections & complaints readily, you'll be ok. Having a bad tenant can ruin a whole building of tenants. I love when I go to a building where the tenants are mutually respectful to each other, what a difference it makes to the building, the landscaping, the hallways, basements. It seems that when one tenant is given "careful" responsibility, they kinda keep everything in line.

HH cannot buy the properties that do not meet their FHA guidelines, (peeling paint, needs new roof, utilities cannot be turned on, etc.) so that's what investors have been looking at. I've been showing properties in the $77-150k range to these investors.

Hope this was helpful, I am interested in RI also, so hopefully someone from that market will chime in soon!

Current Market 1/13/17

2-3 Units New Bedford, Dartmouth, Westport, Acushnet

ACTIVE ... Multi-Family Listings: 90 Avg. Liv.Area SqFt: 2,701.28 Avg. List$: $199,151 * Avg. List$/SqFt: $79 Avg. DOM: 174.58

SOLD ... Multi-Family Listings: 78 Avg. Liv.Area SqFt: 2,652.16 Avg. List$: $206,803 * Avg. List$/SqFt: $83 Avg. DOM: 88.08 Avg. DTO: 64.94

* Auction listings are not included in this total Avg. Sale$: $196,974 Avg. Sale$/SqFt: $79

4-9 Units New Bedford, Dartmouth, Westport, Acushnet

ACTIVE: Multi-Family Listings: 15 Avg. Liv.Area SqFt: 4,115.87 Avg. List$: $216,325 Avg. List$/SqFt: $55 Avg. DOM: 228.73 Avg. DTO:

SOLD:  Multi-Family Listings: 7 Avg. Liv.Area SqFt: 4,905.29 Avg. List$: $229,971 Avg. List$/SqFt: $49 Avg. DOM: 361.71 Avg. DTO: 302.00 Avg. Sale$: $207,321 Avg. Sale$/SqFt: $44