All Forum Posts by: Justin Burns

Thanks guys great information. I figured there was some creative "hybrid". Rod Hanks do you put much into demo or any additional value to leave a blank canvas or do any repairs? Or as you said just the basics? Thanks again for the input. -jburns

This question is about wholesaling, but is directed at the rehabbers as to what you want/need. A brief background about my strategy; I do this part time and have done 3-4 profitable wholesale deals over the past year and a half. I have a successful methodology of finding properties, and I take the property into inventory as opposed to assigning the contract. Fortunately I have the ability to use my own money or have access to a pool of capital at reasonable cost. With all that said, my previous deals have been very straightforward. I did some basic cleaning, the structure was in reasonably good shape, and the grounds needed some basic upkeep. I currently have access to a property in N Oak Cliff at a very attractive price compared to ARV. The caveat is the grounds are very overgrown and it will need substantial rehab, not just cosmetic. Approximately 25 trees greater than 10" in diameter on 1/3 of an acre plus overgrowth. Roof issues but probably not replacing. Subfloor issues and perhaps plumbing and electrical. Complete refinishing of kitchen and bathrooms. Painting, cosmetics and drywall. So finally to the actual ?? As a rehabber do you prefer just cleaning and basic access? Do you prefer to have any, some, or most demo done that leaves you more access to issues and a blank canvas? Would you prefer and would it add value to do some of the repairs such as sub flooring? I assume with scale many rehabbers could do most of the demo at a negligible cost. So I'm just curious how much "prep" a whole seller might do that adds value to, reduces costs for, but doesn't interfere with the rehabber, to get the best sell price for all involved. Look forward to the input. Thanks. -jburns

Great thanks guys! Wasn't sure since never thought about my own residence as an investment property until now. Continued Success, -jburns

I have done a couple of deals but have not been super active on the boards so hope this is the right spot. I reside in Dallas, TX and own my primary home with a fixed rate mortgage. I am about to purchase a new home and want to keep this home as a rental or make improvements before selling. With that said when I apply for the new mortgage that will be my primary residence so do I legally have to contact my current lender to refi as an investment property? If so how long do I have to do this? Also since I have about 60% equity in my current home do I have to have additional capital (down payment) above the closing cost of the refi? Look forward to the input. Thanks. -jburns

Is anyone going to be at the Dallas REIA meeting this eve 10.9.14, in Addison?

If so it would be great to meet some new folks and network.

Look forward to meeting in person,

Justin

@Hattie Dizmond thanks very much for that detailed information.  I did expect those questions to be needing to be answered.

1. I am concentrating on fix and flips.

2. I have determined a geographic location.  And I agree wholeheartedly with your suggestion and that is why I am concentrating in the area in which i reside.  I have been doing research on this area for about 6-9 months.  Analyzing the data for the past 5-7 years.

3. I will be rehabbing and flipping single family residential homes. They would be considered small to mid size, older/possibly distressed. My ARV price point will be somewhere in the 125K neighborhood. The neighborhood has a varied demographic but I agree with your estimate and this would be a location of medium desireability depending on what property you acquire. The price point above in theis location stays on the market about 45-60 days over the past 2 years.

4. I am thinking of a couple of funding options. Once would be all cash either mine or a partnership. Secondly I have considered HML just to keep my cash reserves, but that leads me to another question. Are HML transactions considered financing when closing? The HML that i have been on contact with works more like a line of credit, so I would be bring cash to closing so doe that put me at a disadvantage to the other cash closers?

I had determined that MLS was probably not my best marketing technique, due to the supply issues you mentioned. I figure auctions were probably along those lines as well. I had attended several of the Dallas auctions and the prices some folks were paying made the deal almost impossible for a small guy to eeek out any margin. My initial thought was to network with several wholesellers to enlist their services and leverage their scalability of searching, marketing, and purchasing. This area is conducive to the driving as well.

My biggest concern is whether Dallas market margins on my target area are so thin that a wholsellers desired profit would cut too much into my ROI to make it worthwhile. As far as self marketing and driving, my biggest concern is my lack of knowledge in finding and actually contacting the owners of vacant homes.

Thanks again and feel free to pepper me with more questions if needed.

Hello All,

I am a new to REI, in the sense that I have not done my first deal yet, but I have a plan. I am also soaking up additional information here and planning my networking process, but had a couple of questions.

When marketing to acquire a property to flip, there are obvioulsy as many methods as there are people. You could use an MLS realtor, a wholeseller, mailings, driving for dollars, signs, auctions, and the list goes on.

Since this is a numbers game do most people use multiple methods or do they find one or two that work and stick with that until it doesnt?

Secondly, I am in the Dallas area so this would probably be for the folks knowing that market. Are the margins large enough to insert a wholeseller or an MLS agent into the mix, or are you guys finding it so tight that you have to do your own marketing? With that question I realize that there are a lot of other variables that come into play, but just in general.

Thanks very much for the assistance.

@Hattie Dizmond haha well i guess honesty and forthrightness could be construed as not nice, but I will take it.  Thanks very much for this information.  

I live in North Oak Cliff and am concentrating on what I am familar with.  There are a lot of opportunities in the different neighborhoods.  Although it is a growing area, my biggest concern with my fix and flip model is getting accurate comps and being able to move the property in a timely fashion.

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome.  I am very excited to have found this resource!  It not only seems to be a source of information, but very nice professional people. 

BP obviously has a wealth of information and vast amounts more as you start to drill down. I appreciate all the initial information, and I am going to use the next few days to get acclimated and fully understand the different sections.

For the DFW area folks-- Are there any meetups or face to face events you might recommend?

Thaks again and look forward to getting to know you all better in the future.

Justin

Hello All,

My name is Justin and I am in Dallas, TX.  I am a relative novice to real estate investing other than exchange listed REITs and ETFs.  Although I have done a lot of analysis of my planned process/strategy and the Dallas market, I have never pulled the trigger on a hard asset deal.

I am looking to network, gain some guidance and insight to get into wholesale and/or flipping.  As I progress, I would also like to build a cash flow positive rental portfolio.  

One of the most important areas I would like to get more information about is funding. Even though, I have some capital, I would like to keep a solid cash reserve to transition out of the financial services sector into a full time real estate career.

Thanks, and I look forward to meeting a lot of new people.

Justin