All Forum Posts by: Curtis Rouse Jr

@Marisa R.

You are correct, deals have become more and more tougher to source especially in the metro Atlanta areas and I'm sure in major cities as well. My strategy is focusing on off-market deals in rural areas that support a growing population and job growth. I mainly focus on apartment communites so I've been looking around Middle Ga, Greenville SC, Chattanooga TN and Birmingham AL to name a few. Some of these aren't necessarily rural, but have been seeing better returns vs. Atlanta. I have a buddy that focuses his flipping/wholesaling business up in Detroit and he has been doing great, but at the same time as you mentioned there are pockets that you need to be very careful of. Best of Luck!!!

@Huey Fontenot

So with getting it under contract it's pretty straightforward. There are endless places to find contracts in this day and age like the forms section of BP and if you join any FB groups on wholesaling usually the owners have some on there as well. The ones I have used are very simple and literally 1 page for simplicity (or to be safe you can also have a lawyer draft up one for you that wil cost you a couple hundred dollars) stating the address, purchase price, due diligence period, closing date and signatures from both parties. Once you have the contract you get them to sign it and you give it to your closing attorney to open escrow or you hold onto the contract until you have your end buyer. You either do a double close or assignment of contract and you close, get your check and your on to the next deal!

@Nick Elg Personally I would follow the money and what I mean by this is follow these billion dollar companies like Whole Foods, Starbucks, Home Depot, etc. These companies have already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars doing their own market research. I would also recommend to always look online where the city/county tracts job growth and population growth which are other key factors. I hope this helps and Best of Luck!

@Cassidy Burns As others have mentioned, the numbers looks good, but on the other hand the market should be a main driver of your decision making to deploy your capital or investors. With it being blue collar and only 2,000 people scares me because it goes against my factors for choosing a market which are job growth, population growth, job diversification, business friendly, landlord friendly, familiarity, rising market. I hope this helps and Best of Luck!

@Leland James I have found many potential partners from Reia meetings, conferences, networking groups (i.e. fb) and one of the best are right here on BP which has been invaluable for me personally networking. Again relationships go both ways and there needs to be something you bring to the table whether it be time, knowledge or capital. You dont need all three, but you need at least one for sure. I hope this helps and Best of Luck!!!

@Jessyca Jones I would recommend Bigger Pockets Ultimate Beginners Guide, The podcast on here, and Grant Cardone Real Estate book. There are so many faucets of real estate to get involved in but the main thing is to find one strategy that fits your long term objective and stick to it. I hope this helps and Best of Luck!!!

@Adriel Hsu So my opinion is that as an investor you should be the quarterback of your property and not specifically running the day to day operations. I understand in the beginning you need to do this when getting started but eventually you want to outsource the management/bookkeeping to a third party if you want to scale your business which is what I presume. Have you already reached out to other management companies in the area or local managers in the area that could take on this role for you? I think this would be beneficial and would help you get a perspective on how much it will cost depending on a management company, in house manger, or outsourcing to yourself/VA. Regardless in your budget or however you ran numbers you need to make sure you include 8-10% for management at minimum. I hope this helps and Best of Luck!

@James Canoy I would recommend if you have a experienced partners who has done syndications prior i would definitely jump in and partner if this is a long term goal of yours. Like others have mentioned in this forum, experience when dealing with other peoples money is everything because it comes down to experience, integrity and most importantly trust. Im guessing this is a long term goal of yours so why delay because if you put it off you will less likely dive in later. Also another angle at your scenario would be to wholesale this deal if its really a good deal because I know there are a lot of investors in the apartment space looking for deals. I hope this helps and Best of Luck!!!

@Anthony Grandinetti

I agree with @Andrew B. in the fact that prior to closing on this deal, you need to ensure that all income is verifiable and as this is the lifeline of your investing business (income). If the owner doesn't have this information or unwilling to provide, first that should be a red flag and secondly you can do what I do when I'm shopping apartment communties, go secret shopping meaning show up to the property and pretend as if you are a potential tenant and find out how much they are paying in rent/deposit. This will also give you insight of the condition of the property and if any rehab needs to be done to the rented out units and possibly the vacant unit. Best of Luck and I hope this helps!!!

@Huey Fontenot

First of all welcome to BP!!! You're in a great place for networking and asking questions like you have now. In regards to the deal, have you already got it under contract and is this a rehab property or straight turnkey (no work needed) just need to find an end buyer? If there is rehab needed, do you know the estimated budgeted needed and what the ARV will be once renovated? If turnkey, you can start soliciting the deal to your network (friends, family collegues), local REIA's, BP (think you need to be a Pro member), craigslist or any other online investor networking platform. Keep in mind with turnkey deals it will be beneficial if you provide the financials to help the end buyer/investor see the returns.These initial questions will get you started, but feel to PM with any other questions!