All Forum Posts by: Brian Burke

Or it could be that thieves stole all of the copper plumbing and wiring, or has a bad (or no) foundation, or needs to be torn down due to code violations, or a combination of these factors and those mentioned by Tom and Andy. You have to see the property, and check the records at the county or city, and ask a lot of questions. And don't forget that Zillow calculates value using an automated algorithm that will never replace human perception and local market knowledge.

@Max, zero percent subject to or lease options, not a big fan of either. @Kofi, probably me to start with, you can PM me and we can go from there.

Thanks Steve!

Greetings from Santa Rosa Sean,

With $80K to get you going, you might find something worthwhile in southwest Santa Rosa. I have properties in most Sonoma county, Solano county, and Sacramento county cities. We get stronger cash flow in Sac and I believe the highest appreciation potential in Sonoma, Solano probably falls somewhere in between. The right choice is perhaps dictated by whether you want the benefits of current return or want to bet on future value.

Lathan,

I started when I was your age and I didn't know squat about real estate. The problem is that you don't even know what you don't know. You can't read a "how to walk" book and then start walking. You take a step, fall, get back up, and try again. You've just got to get yourself out there and learn all that you can one piece at a time. Sure, you will make mistakes, but remember that good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment. You move ahead in this business by expanding your comfort zone, not by knowing everything before you even dip your toe in the water.

Hello everyone,

I'm not new to real estate investing, but I've never been much of a forum guy. I've heard of BP over the years but thought I'd join to see what is going on in the world outside of my typical everyday routine. I've always been pretty busy running my business and haven't left any time for reading forums and posting stuff but thought that from time to time I might have something to contribute.

I'm in Santa Rosa CA which is the heart of the wine country. That would be great if I drank wine so instead of touring wineries I invest in RE. Started not long after high school while nearly penniless and working a job at $13/hour. Bought my first flip by cash-advancing a stack of credit cards (that I somehow managed to qualify for by returning "pre-approved" offers that came in the mail) using the money for $1,500 walking money for the seller plus fix-up costs, taking the property subject-to. Sure was exciting being young, naive, and having nothing to lose.

20 years older, wiser, and hundreds of properties later I manage my own privately held real estate private equity firm. I make my living flipping houses and apartment complexes, and make my future with rentals, both single family and multifamily. I've built a motel (take my advice--DON'T), developed housing projects and a self storage facility. From where I sit, residential investing is much better than development.

If I'm not working (how often does THAT ever happen?) I like to travel to Maui, and enjoy my favorite hobby - aviation. Started flying airplanes at 16 years old with the money I made bagging groceries and still love it to this day. Now learning to fly helicopters, that's about as challenging as trying to find motivated sellers with equity that call on bandit signs to unload prime properties that need no rehab.

I'm not really sure why I joined BP but I think that's the beauty of it...time will show me why. Maybe I can help some people, maybe I meet some friends, maybe I strike a deal that I otherwise would have missed. At the very least, I'll kill some time...although that is probably the last thing I need!

Both. I started 20 years ago and for the first 10 years I spent most of my flip profits doing what young people do with extra money - spend it, so I flipped 95% and held 5%. For the second 10 years the market in CA didn't make any sense to buy/hold so I kept flipping here, but buying apartments to hold in other states. Started to hold SFR about a year ago when the price to rent ratio got really out of whack. Still flip if the cap rate doesn't support holding, and hold if it does.