All Forum Posts by: Dominic Jones

Great conversation going on here. Took me a little to read through everything. Everything in NY is expensive, but this conversation definitely highlights other considerable factors to weigh when purchasing in a major city.

There are a tons, but it depends on what you're in real estate for. There are a lot of agents here on BP who make their living just from commissions in real estate sales. There are also many agents here who both make their living with commissions in real estate sales, and also invest in real estate.

The major pro that you'll hear from having your license is having 24/7 access to the MLS, and being able to run comps, endlessly, at your leisure. For an investor, this is invaluable.

Cons of having the license, is that you have to attach the license to a broker and all brokers are different. You also have to pay the costs to get your license and to maintain it. Not to mention the continual education you need to keep your license.

People who work in real estate without their license still rely heavily on licensed agents.

This is my quick and dirty answer to your question. Hopefully licensed agents can come and shed more light, as well as the more experienced non-licensed investors and RE professionals. 

Ryan,

Great question. I would love to know the answer to. I'm originally from Baltimore, and I currently live in York, PA. So I'm not really in a market that has this problem, but the solution still interests me as it's a possible target segment in the future. Thanks for asking it bro-heem. Hopefully we get more replies coming in soon. 

Not familiar with property-shark so I'm sorry I can't help. Useful information though for me as I intend to get into commercial real estate later on down the line. Voted.

@Meghan Mack, that's awesome! You'll definitely enjoy real estate sales if you're already in the sales industry. As you know, sales never changes, only the product.

Are you asking for tips on how to get started as a licensed real estate agent?

I haven't done my course yet or anything, but I'm pretty sure you're aware of needing to hook your license with a broker, so shopping for the best broker in your area that you would want to work with is where I would start.

I was only interested in getting my license, and I spoke to brokers first and can already tell which brokers I would prefer not to work with and ones that I would.

Also, depends on how you plan on utilizing your license. If you're going into this thing thinking that you just want to be a part-time agent (and fill in the free time from your Tesla sales job) with the real estate sales, then you gotta find a broker who will be okay with that, because I think a lot of them want full time agents.

Lastly, what kind of agent do you want to be? Do you want to be just a regular retail sales agent or do you want to also be involved and work with the investors in your area? The faster you determine your niche as an agent, the faster you can focus your marketing energies towards attracting the right people into your network.

Oh, yeah, before I forget. Tell everyone. You never know who you can get referred to you via the power of word of mouth. This may get you going on the right foot with (at the very least) some leads that might turn into potential sales later on down the road.

Welcome to the best real estate forum in the world @Robert Yeager! 

I currently live in York, PA. I'm 25 years young. Have a full-time job, teach English part time and I have two businesses outside of real estate. I haven't done any deals in real estate yet.

Would love to keep in touch since we're so close and possibly joint venture on a deal down the road. I'm currently about to move to China to teach English as a second language but when I come back I plan on investing in residential multi-family units. I'm interested in larger apartments as well, but I still no nothing to very little about the commercial side of real estate.

Nevertheless, pleasure to meet you Mr. Yeager! 

@Alicia Hensley Hopefully you've made your decision based on all of the advise that you've been given. Please let us know what you decide to do. If not everyone, at least message me and let me know. I would like to get the update on the situation.

Originally posted by @Herlando Y.:

I guess I am making a rookie mistake because I am counting on appreciation to carry me forward. The housing value of this neighborhood is slightly depressed because of the foreclosures and high rent to ownership ratios. They are in the process putting in a new shopping center and a ferry to New York 5 minutes away. I think this property in particular will pick up because of its unique size (3700 sqft) and views of New York. 

I also think the ARV in 5 years will increase and the neighborhood is currently at rock bottom. I plan on holding the property for at least that long if I can turn it into a triplex to cash flow.

Herlando, I don't think the entire deal is a bust. The seller doesn't seem "extremely" motivated, b/c he is still holding out on the house and wouldn't take the $210. If he really wanted out of the house he would move on the $210 offer ASAP.

Since he isn't moving on that $210 offer, this gives you time to go to the local courts and find out if you can get this property converted to a triplex (via zoning). While waiting, you will also have to figure out how much the conversion from duplex to triplex will adjust your rents.

As was mentioned before, adding an additional unit will take away from square footage away from one of the other two, which will decrease that units rent, while adding in the third unit's new rental rate -- you'll only be gaining the difference.

Outside of those two things, I don't think there's a deal here. Without being able to convert the property via permits and zonings, your triplex won't ever be a triplex, which could possibly through all of your calculations out the window along with your deal.

36-Hour Course Real Estate Investing by McGraw-Hill is a great book. He talks about converting properties through zoning a ton in this book and I think everything in it about zoning and converting a property to it's best use, would help you in this situation. Book runs around $20 bucks.

I don't know the Utah market but is 30k enough to buy and renovate for a flip? Most flips run a lot more than that from beginning to end.

@Alicia Hensley Okay so if your goal is to sell and use the proceeds as a down payment on another FHA loan, and keep the remainder as a down payment another rental than do that! Sounds like you've just answered your own question! Haha