All Forum Posts by: Darien Gaston

Amazing info Brent! I'm planning to sign up for coaching program in a few weeks. I'm sure by then you'll be giving us the details about your first sale. Thanks again for keeping us updated and we'll see you at the finish line!

Welcome to the family Kristin!! Wish you luck

 Hey Matthew,

It's always good to hear from a fellow driver. I actually came off the road last year and now I drive locally. One reason I felt like it was necessary was that I began to understand the value of time. Even though I did enjoy seeing the country and getting paid for it, I started thinking long term. I figured out that I didn't want to spend the rest of my life sleeping in a truck (even though some people love it) but that's a personal decision for everyone.

To answer your question, there are quite a few meet-ups near the area and I've been to a few. I thought about wholesaling in the beginning but that's only because of the gurus convincing me that it was easiest route in real estate. Now that I've become a tad bit wiser, I know that it takes just as much, if not more work, than any other strategy you choose.

Hopefully I answered your question. Good luck and be safe out there.

@Adrien Schebott I was looking to flip temporarily to build a cash reserve and then move to rentals possibly through house hacking.

I was leaning towards finding an agent to pull market data in the beginning, but now I'm weighing the pros and cons of both just to see what will work best for me, knowing that everyone's situation is different.

I'll be at the reia meeting next month, hopefully I'll see you there.

Hey Paula,

They usually only keep the replay link up until Friday night. After that, the only way to see previous webinar recordings is to become a pro member. Hope this helps.

Hello Everyone,

I'm a newbie investor currently in the process of educating myself. I've been reading books & blogs, listening to podcasts, going to meet-ups, etc. for about 2 months now. I've learned a tremendous amount so far and I feel that I know what my strategy is now. But I understand that I don't know anything, so if I sound like an idiot at all throughout this post, please feel free to adjust my thinking. I have tough skin.

Well, I ultimately want to house hack my way to "doing deals on the beach" (I say that figuratively, lol). I recently read Brandon's e-book "7 years to 7 figure wealth" and it was pretty inspiring. I'll probably be using an FHA or 203K loan in the beginning. However the only way I think I would feel comfortable going that route is to build my cash reserves first in order to:

1. Have a down payment ready

2. Have cash set aside for the unknown (Cap Ex or other repairs)

Now there are two common pieces of advice that I commonly hear for a new investor and those are, find a mentor or partner with an experienced investor. With that in mind, I've come across a meet-up group not too far from where I live, that I think does both. This group is geared towards fix & flips and is headed by a RE Agent, who's been in real estate for 15 years & an investor who's been active for 20+ years.

To make a long story short, they've proposed to help newbie investors by helping us get access to multiple lines of credit (ie. credit cards) through a third party credit consulting agency. Once we have access to cash, they (agent & investor) will then partner with us to help us find properties. Afterwards they will manage the rehab process and place it back on the market. The main value we bring to the table is the cash.

I was thinking of going this route to build my cash reserves for about a year and then finding a good buy and hold market to continue my strategy. But of course there is a bit of skepticism that invades my mind about whether this is a smart way to go. Do these guys truly have our best interest at heart or are they just another RE scam taking advantage of newbies who don't know any better? Also, my wife is totally against using multiple credit cards. I'm trying to teach her the difference between good and bad credit, but then again, does she have a valid point? Which is why I'm writing here.

I'm hoping to get some advice or some feedback from someone who's been there, done that and can maybe keep me from either doing something stupid or keep me from holding myself back. I'd appreciate any input. Thanks

Hey Tanya, thanks for clarifying. I wish you the best of luck in your ventures.

 Hey Tanya,

Congratulations on taking action on your first offer!! Hopefully it gets accepted.

Now for the free sites like zillow, Realtor.com, etc. I agree that there's a good extent of free information out there and I know there are investors using these sites daily. 

My only concern would be can you truly base your market research on these sites. Are they telling you what buyers are looking for? Is it giving a an accurate ARV for theses types of properties? Now I could understand using these kinds of sites along with having an agent (or yourself) verify the information is accurate, but basing your research solely off free information doesn't sound concrete enough for me to comfortably make offers.

Maybe that's just me, but I need solid evidence before I choose invest in a particular market.

 Thanks J I agree with you about staying focus on one niche.

However I would disagree you with as far as the agent side having zero carryover. Being able to have more control over your deals along with paying yourself commission on your deals could possibly turnout to be 2 of many Huge carryovers. IMO

 I'm currently looking to invest in the northwest Indiana area.