All Forum Posts by: Kumar Tummalapalli

@Brian N.

great Summary and when you say 95% HELOC - you can lend up to 95% of the value of the property . For ex if ARV of property is 700K . 95% of that = 665K

And Lets assume you already borrowed 530K So far , then you can essentially use that 135K for next deal .

Great progress @Brian N.  Thanks for remembering to tag me...Really proud of what you have done and ofcourse having an agent who follows up after the sale also is great ..good job @Henry Lazerow

@Joe Fairless 

To be Frank I havent even read the whole post , but Let me say that - your podcast is the worlds best podcast , hands down . No questions .

Its magical - when I am listening to the guests on your podcast , I think of a qn in my mind and that is the qn you ask - In fact I guess , you have the knack to ask the right question ( questions that most investors would have ) and it doesnt matter how qualified a guest is - but its your ability to ask the right questions and ofcourse when the guest answers , that is tremendous value .

You are intelligent , Fair and have the right mindset . 

And the most important thing : when you say "No fluff" - It is "NO FLUFF" .  Most of the podcasts are riddled with "praising each other " "talking in generics " "repeating the same thing " 

to give an example - one of the podcasts i was listening - every episode , their only point is "Be stingy , live horribly and invest " - Its ok if some one believes in this , but if thats the aim of every episode and you tell the same thing - a zillion times , it makes me appreciate the work you are doing .

anyway - great job , good luck . 

By the way my only suggestion : ( i might be wrong)  : your episodes with theo , most of them are good , some of them are not to your super high standards .... 

@Jake Fugman  That is some great advice - and sometimes we miss the easy ones . Driving the neighborhood and developing that gut feel -sounds like a good idea. 

I have done some of this with in a 5 mile radius , but somehow forgot abt it . I will restart that .

@Patrice Boenzi Yep , agreed that its subjective . Its not a black and white statement , ( is anything black and white in real estate or in life :-)) .

One agent I spoke with , explained her experience working with previous clients and how they approached this question , their thought process and added some information that she had . The agent did not declare that a specific zone is safe or unsafe  , she used her local knowledge and experience working over the years and also asked me many questions in the process . Her inputs helped me understand that sub-market ( northwest suburbs) and I was able to develop a heuristic to figure out , if I am comfortable living in that area. 

To further add , as I kept researching more , my thoughts evolved and I made slight changes . For ex in the early part of my research I completely avoided a zipcode , with her inputs , I was able to understand that there are couple of pretty good blocks .  She knew this from a past client who came to her saying that he wants to target his search to that area .. 

Hi @Patrice Boenzi I am sure they will provide the information but they wouldnt be experts in understanding how a family would perceive a place as "safe" in the home buying process , Infact there is information available on what sort of crime happened in a street and at what time . 

I do not know how to convert that information in to "safe" "unsafe" or "warzone". So I was hoping to get the suggestion from some body who is involved in real estate ( a flipper , an agent , a lender) as this might be a famous concern among their clients .

What are the Best ways to find safe places in and around chicago land ?

What I use currently :

1. Trulia crime maps  ( used to be convenient but they changed their coloring)

2. clrsearch.com - demographics - the have a crime index ( I like this better )

3. City websites and websites such as https://www.niche.com/places-to-live/search/safest...

Do you happen to have any rule of thumb ? Right now for every property I find in the chicago city , I have to cross check the zip code . I am familiar with the northwest suburbs where I live .

I will try to classify the responses and give my understanding ( I worked for many fortune 500 companies as a consultant in their IT department )

1. Wix/weebly /oncarrot /leadpropeller :  with regards to what the OP needs , these are not suitable . 

Why ?

a. Not a one time buy 

b. Some are over kill

c.  Depend on the mercy of the company ( this is ok if you don't have choice )

d. Cannot customize the way you want - For ex lets say I want to provide an option for visitors to chat , some support , some won't support - even if they support , your monthly bill will most likely increase )

2. Find some one on Fiverr/upwork etc..

This sounds simple and will work in some cases , but potential problems :

a. Its really a hit and miss , the moment they know that you don't know what "hosting" means , they will take you for a ride. Its almost like working with a rehab contractor . They will delay , say that , this button costs extra and so on . You will resist initially and ultimately cave in . 

I am ok with all of this - if the equality of end product is good - but more often than not , it won't be

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Not easy , bust best approach :

1. If you know some one in your network , who is tech savvy ask them to vet and manage the project on upwork/fiverr

2. Reach out to a local tech company and interview them , even if they are expensive , try seeing if they are honest . You need a tech guy in your team , But understand that this guy doesn't have to know"everything " under sun , he should know where to look for and provide high level guidance 

3. Find some one on BP who can provide general direction .  I can help anything related to tech . But I am very expensive , Just kidding .. I had lot of such useful calls from people on BP , so I don't mind helping others

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Few important things :

1. Go with wordpress 

2. Any functionality that you want to add - can be added easily - Most are free

3. There are tons of free themes 

4. If you hire anyone on fiverr - make the project milestone based , if they don't deliver the first - move forward

I answered tht question in “options” . Hope this information helps you craft your answer. Thanks Much

 My agent told me the same s** . Being the numbers guy I am - I asked her to give all sales in that zipcode past 1 yr . she said she couldnt pull all of them at once - I saw a video on youtube , sat with her and showed her how to extract .Very few properties went above asking price - like 5K above , this is a hot area . Its just not the offer - be it agents , attorneys , contractors - 85% are sub standard , dont mean to demean agents , but very tough to find the right agent - who is knowledgeable and honest .