All Forum Posts by: Juan Cristales

Back when I was doing rentals I used Donny Gothard and his team at Gateway. He has since moved to Stonegate Mortgage. Truthfully for me, Donny and his crew made all the difference and if I need something like that again, I will look for Donny.  Exceptional customer service... They understand the intricacies of real estate investing... They are investors themselves... What more could you ask for?  Good luck brother! Welcome to Tejas!

@Sernel Josephwelcome to the BP Community!  Let me know if I can assist in any way.  

Hey @Gloria Gutierrez and @Thalina Garcia!  Welcome to BP! This community is an awesome place to assist you in your endeavors. Always forward! 

Welcome to BP!

You're a good story teller. It will certainly help you in your real estate endeavors.

@Brionne Moss

Find an agent who is ALSO an investor. REIA's are great places to meet some of them but in my experience, you'll find investors who HAPPEN TO ALSO be real estate agents.

@Kim Oceguera

Would you please send me some numbers?  Thank you.

Juan-

Congrats @Dominique Grayson!

Good luck to you!  The BP world is a great place to start as there are many people here who have succeeded and are willing to share their knowledge and experience at no cost.  If I can ever be of assistance, please don't hesitate to ask.  Talk to you soon.

Juan-

@Account Closed

I'm sure that I'm not alone in saying "I feel your PAIN!"  I can feel it as I read your post and have to sympathize with you.  Sales and selling techniques vary across the marketing realm of everything there is out there.

Let me give you this quick example: Weight Watchers. Weird I know, but hear me out. 

They don't sell magic food and don't provide magic pills or a magic program geared toward achieving weight loss.  What they provide, and in my opinion why they achieved so much success (and I'm not up to speed on their current success/failure) is because they provided ACCOUNTABILITY.  

Follow me here... 

If you KNOW you have to step on the scale at Weight Watchers on Monday, you can walk right past the donuts.

SO... in my opinion, what some of the guru programs don't have is accountability.  I'm not going to bash those guys as I really don't know much of their programs as I've VERY QUICKLY come to realize that there never has been and never will be a silver-bullet to being wealthy or losing a couple of pounds... BOTH of these require HARD WORK, some frustration (trust me: YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY ONE) and COMMITMENT to seeing it all the way through.  

Keep pressing forward, get creative, but whatever you do, DON'T GIVE UP! 

MASTER the niche you've chosen...

This is something that early on I personally did VERY WRONG... I wanted to do everything and anything real estate related.  I wasted a great deal of good energy on topics that required tremendous amount of more knowledge.  After re-assessing, I went back, found what I felt would be the best suit for my personal style of real estate investing and decided to FOCUS - Follow that One Course Until Successful.  

Keep bidding...

Keep crunching numbers...

Keep looking...

You'll be rewarded...

It is worth the effort...

There is an entire website (www.biggerpockets.com) dedicated to help you achieve it!    

Welcome @Emmanuel Krangar!

This community is awesome! Get involved, get educated and take action.  I've personally found so many helpful people on here that I continue to attribute my success to their willingness to freely share their experiences with me.  We are ALL students in some way or another.  

@Kelly Williams

Assuming that you are going to sell on the retail market, I have had success in thinking in terms of what a retail-buyer, non-investor-type is going to ask for or be "looking for." 

I put "looking for" in quotes because the majority of retail buyers would likely be immediately turned off by a ratty roof and then you may not have gotten such a quick response.  As you probably know well, retail buyers want a turn-key property that looks and smells great.  

A septic system, I would probably categorize in the "I don't see it so I assume it works" category.  If the inspection report comes back and makes a direct mention that it needs to be done, then you can make an allowance for that.  Chances are that the buyer won't even use the money for it but in the end, that really won't be your concern anymore.  

In order to mitigate some of these items that the retail buyer CANNOT see but can be issues nevertheless, I would always highly encourage paying for a year's worth of Home Owner's Warranty.  They are relatively inexpensive and cover the MAJOR SYSTEMS in a house such as HVAC, Foundation, Plumbing, Structural and Roof.  Shop around and you can find something for as little as several hundred dollars.  There are also different levels of coverage you can get.  I would personally keep it simple and just cover the major systems.  It really does go a long way to giving the retail buyer, peace of mind that they won't be out of pocket several thousand for a septic system that did not contribute to their, "OH I LOVE THIS PLACE!" initial reaction.  THAT (the OH I LOVE THIS PLACE), is where we as investors are able to make the most money and therefore, where I personally think we should spend smartly... it has to appeal to the senses.  

On your roof, I think you did the right thing.  A new roof looks SO great and contributes tremendously to curb appeal.  Had you not replaced it, you may not have gotten the offer you did or the price you were looking for.  I always try to think, "END-BUYER."