All Forum Posts by: Daniel Lucas

There are TONS of property management companies. If none of them worked, no one would use them and they would be out of business.

www.irem.org states that there are 27 CPMs in Baltimore, MD.

Do the math. Educate yourself about property management and how to find one that is right for YOUR property.

I know some investors who use CPMs and still make a handsome profit. It has to be built into the operating expenses along with everything else.

Who can really predict whether the USA will improve its financial position in the world or not?

My guess is there will be continued inflation. Our nation's economics might change once we get a new president. I would still invest here if I was from Europe, though.

(who wouldn't invest in the U.S.? I never even considered an exception until now)

Originally posted by "Ryan_Webber":

I was reading Trump's The Art of the Deal today and he was talking about how every truly successful person he's met has a heightened obsessive nature about their business. They are neurotic with their businesses.

This captivation is what leads to success. Success requires it. Success is a demanding lover. It requires your persistent and consistent highly focused attention to open up its treasures to you. Obsession with its secrets is what will give you the energy to break through. It feeds you on your journey.

The key is to balance that ambition, that fire within. If you burn yourself out too quickly you won't have enough to get you through the long journey, but if you don't keep the flame stoked enough it will go out just the same from the wind blowing on it. You must keep the flame alive and bright, but make sure you have plenty of wood for the cold winter nights.

Feed the obsessiveness, but direct it. Control it to produce.

As a matter of fact, I plan to read that book in the next week.

This is a slight tangent, but let me digress on a subject that I know fairly well - competitive gaming. I've been a gamer since I was about 4 years old (I'm currently 19, and it's one of my passions). I play all kinds of games: video games, computer games, sports, chess/Go/checkers/etc, skiing, the list goes on. I have been able to achieve a high level of success in all of the games I have participated in, and I believe there is a "secret" or a formula for my success.

My accomplishments: Over a dozen 1st/2nd/3rd place trophies at the Prince George's/Montgomery County All-Stars swimming competition. #1 player in the world for the on-line game Descent 3. One of the best in Descent 1 and Descent 2. Ranked #2 on 64 player Counterstrike: Source server with 48,000+ ranked players. One of the best on-line UT2004 players. #1 Smash Bros. Melee player at my college and #2 in Baltimore. #1 DDR (keyboard) player at my college and one of the best on foot (in the process of improving at that). There are other accomplishments as well, such as Guitar Hero, soccer, and skiing, but the others are less defined.

So what's the formula to success? I have to set myself apart from others in some way in order to pull ahead of the pack. I believe the difference is in my attitude which reflects itself in my actions. I set a higher standard than all of my peers. I find the most successful people, compare myself only to them, figure out why they are successful, and first try to emulate them to create the same success. Then I figure out how to get ahead of them. I suppose I am a bit obsessive or hardcore with whatever I'm doing at the moment. Right now I'm pretty obsessive about learning all the ins and outs of multi-family houses. I want to learn only from the most successful people. The trick is to keep myself "obsessed" by developing temporary goals or waypoints so I can feel some sense of achievement and satisfaction. It's difficult to study what can sometimes seem dull - even when I know it's for my best - if I get no short-term satisfaction. What keeps me going even when I don't succeed is my desire to change my circumstances based off of my purpose in life. I have deep reasons for why I want to become financially free and, well... wealthy. :)

Best of wishes and success to all of you.

Personally, I see a problem with calculating for breaking even. In my opinion, you should never, ever buy a property with negative cashflow. I would only buy break even if the property is located in an emerging market. I honestly don't think this property is going to appreciate greatly in the future.

Negotiate for a lower price that makes the numbers work. If you can't get that, then move on. Perhaps you could work on your marketing to get better deals coming in?

Take my advice with a grain of salt though, cause I'm still learning :)

Originally posted by "FSJR9":

Newbie question coming:

I always thought that once you acquire your first property, it becomes significantly easier to obtain subsequent properties. Meaning, you have options such as LOC's, etc. to make further purchases, followed by a conventional refi?

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Fred

I'm just learning, but from what I've gathered, it only becomes significantly easier to obtain subsequent properties if you have a well thought-out plan. Jumping in without a plan would very likely be a huge mistake. If you have a plan, then you will know what to do to obtain subsequent properties.

Dave Lindahl recommends the National Tenant Network. http://www.ntnonline.com/

Hope that helps.

Thanks for the encouragement! Now it's time to get to work exploring the info on this site. :)

I suppose I started seriously thinking about investing in real estate when I began listening to Robert Kiyosaki's audio sets. I read/listened to Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Choose to Be Rich, Cashflow Quadrant, and played Cashflow 101 and Cashlflow202. I kind of laid down the principles I use today from Kiyosaki.

I've been studying materials on creonline.com for 1-2 years. I've read several hundred articles from that site and been on teleseminars/webinars/creonline.com newsletter since I started.

I have Dave Lindahl's Apartment House Riches package. I also have Deals on Wheels by Lonnie Scruggs. I should completely go through Lindahl and Scruggs' material by the end of February.

I've also browsed through 50-100 other books relating to real estate.

Next I plan to go through Darin Garman's Commercial Real Estate Investor Bootcamp. I'll also read The Complete Guide to Buying and Selling Apartment Buildings by Steve Berges.

Does anyone have any suggestions for how to further my education in apartment houses and/or mobile homes?

Everyone I talk to in real life thinks I'm too young to start investing in real estate, whether it be my parents, brothers/sister, friends, or acquaintances. I get a lot of questions like "how are you going to pay for it?" I then have to explain that there are many ways of structuring a deal in real estate (especially for multi-family since 75% of the gross income is counted as your income when qualifying), and getting a loan from a bank with a 10 or 20% down payment is only one way.

One strong influence in my life that I've had to brush aside is my brother. My brother from Ohio is a lawyer. He invested in several apartment buildings a while back, but he got burnt out by being a landlord, and he was not making enough to pay a management company. I get the impression when I talk to him that he thinks he's superior to me (he's a Harvard graduate, 10 years older, and a lawyer - need I say more?) and since he couldn't make much money in real estate, therefore I can't either. Whenever I mention anyone's materials I've been reading and suggest that he look into them, he refers me to (or literally copy and pastes) John T. Reed's site. Anyhow, I have different skills/attitude/personality than my brother. I choose not to let his views effect me, though it's hard to put aside what he has to say.

Anyhow, I'm learning a lot as a result of my studying. A couple years ago I didn't understand mortgages, amortization, seller financing, NOI, Capitalization Rate, Cash on Cash Return, etc.

I'm going to take Dave Lindahl's advice and "start where I'm comfortable". I'll also start "when" I'm comfortable, or when I believe I could actually pull off a deal from start to finish.

I see real estate similarly to skiing. My relatives all think skiing is too dangerous and risky. They point out the famous people who died skiing 20 or 30 years ago, and all the stories of broken legs, elbows, etc. I started skiing my senior year of high school and was on the double black diamond by the end of the first day. I fell a fair amount, sure, but I didn't have any bruises because I had the proper protection. I had done research on skiing and talked with friends, so I knew what to expect. A few weeks ago I went skiing (I got skis/boots/poles for Christmas) for two days and managed not to fall at all except for a few times on the double black diamond with moguls (it was my first time doing moguls). I didn't hurt myself at all, and my parents were in awe over how nicely and quickly I cruised down the slopes. I actually taught my Dad to ski on the same weekend, but that's another story... ;)

I'm so glad now that I learned how to ski. I remember how my lawyer brother said I should never play soccer cause I'll bust up my knee (I played for six years and never sprained or hurt anything). I wouldn't trade what I did for anything. Similarly, I'm going to pursue real estate investing. I am here for the ride, so bring it on!

I, of course, have my reasons for investing in real estate. True, I want to make a lot of money, but I'm not interested in material possessions; rather, I want the intangible goods that come along with financial freedom. I want to be able to support a wife and kids by myself without the wife working, and I want the ability to spend lots of time with my kids. I can't do that with a job. It's possible to do by starting a business. However, I think it's easiest to do by pursuing real estate. That's what I'm doing.

Enough typing for now LOL.

Hi BiggerPockets! My name is Daniel Lucas. I'm a 19 year-old sophomore with a major in Computer Engineering at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. I have been interested in apartment houses since practically forever (once I heard about them and understood the concept) and I have studied real estate on-line since high school. However, I have made the most progress in the past year, and I hope to invest in some sort of real estate within the next 90 days, 6 months, year, or asap. Besides multi-family housing, I am also interested in mobile homes. I have about $20k currently in CDs that I have set aside for investing. I also have a professor who is willing to partner with me on a deal (he has a lot more than 20k to invest). I want to learn as much as possible from BiggerPockets and speed up the length of time between now and my first investment. My goal is to become a full-time investor (or enough to more than equal my JOB)--whether that takes me 3 years or 15 years.