All Forum Posts by: Corey Harlow

Thank you Jeremy!

I definitely plan on having it reviewed, and added and took some parts out. Did my best to keep it within Maine State Law, but of course I'm not an attorney.

Thank you Carl! 

I agree with waiting for winter to end 100%.

Thank you Bob!

I agree that I have a tendency to over complicate things. The past year has mainly  been getting my self to a place where I can reasonably entertain the idea. In March I paid off over $9,000 in debt. 

What would you say is the 5% of useful information I should be concerned with?

Also I took a look at your website and love the work you do. Are the properties you work with mainly flipping or buy and hold?

@Tyler Bushey 

Lewiston-Auburn. I grew up near the Bates area of Lewiston.

Alex,

I chose this area because it is an area I know well. This also is close to several colleges. This is the area I grew up and will be returning to eventually. The property manager was selected after I selected a general location (L/A).

Congrats on the property though!

Ed, I love your idea!

I will definitely look deeper into this. The only question I have for you is this:

Is it not important to begin create systems so I do not begin completely unorganized?

Thank you!

Thank you, Dennis!

Realistically I'm about 3 to 6 months from being ready to sign on a property. I'm not so much worried with a pro membership as I had trouble justifying the expense to myself. I'm trying not to find ways to spend money. My budget has room to move but I'm doing my best to make wise and educated decisions. I am always going to continue researching and educating myself. My mindset currently is to make sure I am able to continue to grow and make progress.

P.S. How do you tag users in a reply?

Duly noted Nathan. 

I appreciate the feedback and will make the appropriate adjustments for my next post. 

Also, I definitely see the benefits of a Pro membership. I think the calculators allown are a huge value. I definitely will reorganize and reprioritize my budget to make it happen. 

I agree honesty is key. A lot of the problems I have is being so early in the process yet wanting advice and guidance from professionals. At the same time I do not feel right asking them for their time when they have other (paying) clients. I will finish my research and commit to one.

Your advice is much appreciated!

Hello All!

I am still I'm the planning phase of my investing journey and have been think about investing in real estate for about a year now. I go serious and started researching about 6 months months ago. I found many things I needed to work on to get me closer to me goals (credit, better budget, ect.) and have been aggressively attacking the things standing in my way. I have reached out to a lender in the same area as the market I will be investing in, and have reached out to a couple of real estate agents. 

Which brings me to my first set of questions. What is the respectful and responsible way to vet agents but also turn down the ones I choose not to work with for my first deal? All of them have their pros and cons, and I would like to keep them as possible "team members" for future deals. 

A lot of my research has come from blogs, articles, and videos of those thriving in this business alright. Bigger Pockets alone is have a wealth of knowledge to choose from. This brings me to my second question and first tip.

Tip#1: While no one can argue that books are a great resource, if you're like me and are diligently managing you budget, the internet has more information than you will ever be able absorb, extort it for everything it's worth. My one caveat to that is you must be able to pick apart what is a credible source is from a bogus one, because the internet is available to everyone.

I love Bigger Pockets, and want to access some of the Pro features. Can I justify paying for the Pro membership when I know my budget is one of my weak points?

I am just about ready to get preapproved for my first loan so I have very recently started to put rough systems I would like implement on paper (Google Docs to be exact). I am starting to build "my team" and have a property manager, as I am 1500 miles away from my market, a plumber, lender, and am narrowing down real estate agents as I mentioned. 

Tip#2: Word of mouth is a great thing. Start with someone you trust and just keep asking around. This is how I have start relationships with most of these professionals.

I am currently looking for some kind  folk who are knowledgeable and whiling to help a young guy as ignorant as myself. While I am confident in my research and have plenty of initiative to start many things on my own, I receive a lot of peace of mind having my work reviewed my someone more experienced than I. 

To close out I will leave one final tip that I picked up on just night.

Tip#3: My market is in Maine and one of the tasks I had assigned myself was getting a lease outlined when I simply googled "Maine Lease Outline"  I got much more than I had expected. In 1989 the state of Maine authorized the Attorney General to release a model residential lease. It was a gain update in 2014 by the Maine Human Rights Commission. While I'm sure it isn't perfect it was a great start. It even had foot notes referencing state legislation.

This discovery is what sparked this whole post. Maybe some of you who are in a similar place in your journey can benefit from this. If your market also happens to me in Maine here the link to the model lease:

https://www.maine.gov/tools/wh...

Thank you for all the insight this community has given me. I will continue to learn what I can from your contributions.