All Forum Posts by: N/A N/A

also, flipping (rehabbing) can be done in any market. you just might have to look harder for deals. but with a market in decline, there should be a lot more foreclosures, so it shouldn't be that hard.
unless by flipping he means buying close to market value, adding zero value, and then hoping for appreciation to give you a profit. in which case he's probably right. but that sounds like a silly way to run a business, so that's probably not what he meant. that's also the kind of thinking that has created the "bubbles" we hear about in certain parts of the country...

-dean

charles,

you're right. if you're counting on luck to make a profit, it's not business. it's gambling.

as far as learning about wholesaling, i recommend you look up ryan webber's posts. there's a lot of great stuff on here, but he's one of the guys that really stands out with regards to wholesaling. there's a bunch of other great stuff. look for posts from all cash, juzamjedi, wesloans (or something like that) and a bunch of other guys. when i'm reading an especially informative post, i'll make a point to look up other posts by the same person. there was also a lady that had an outstanding post on wholesaling (and what not do to when birddogging), and i wish i could remember her name. go to all the old posts and read them, no matter what they're about. it's all interrelated -eventually.
i'm reading a book on rehabbing right now that i'm enjoying. "buy it, fix it, sell it, profit!" by kevin myers. other than the terrible name, i've liked it. mostly, it's making me realize some of the dumbass decisions i've made. some of it doesn't mean anything to me, but when the situation arises, i'll have that much more knowledge to apply to the problem. i also liked the millionaire real estate investor by the keller williams guy. if you are serious about rehabs, i'd look into all the light construction books you can find. learn what you can't do, and more importantly what you can't.

mindless,

it happened again. i have the worst connection in the world, and it costs me $65 a month. it's flat out robbery.

anyway, i got to rambling, so it's probably for the best. what i was saying is that i prefer rehabbing, but i have a little construction experience, and i'm mechanically inclined. plus, i can afford my holding costs out of my salary. i'm not running this like a real business. i consider it more of an experiment. when i'm done tweaking my business model, i may consider it full time. right now, i only want to do about 6 houses a year. but starting with rehabbing is probably a pretty bad idea unless you really know what you're doing. like ryan said, wholesaling or bird-dogging is the best way to start -i'm kind of dumb like that.

as far as mentors go, i've never had one. i'd love to, if i could find someone willing to put up with me. there's still a lot to learn. you need to keep in mind that a mentor may help you because of altruistic intentions, but you're still expected to bring something to the table. if someone is going to take a chance on you, you need to do all you can to educate yourself on the business at hand -before they start wasting their time on you. i see posts all the time on here where people ask questions about things they should probably know about, and they're asking for a mentor at the same time. you need to exhaust your learning possibilties, pre-mentor. the mentor should help you take it to the next level. that's why i read books, scour websites (like this) for info or properties in the areas that interest me. i read the home depot and lowes circulars religiously, and often find my idea of a nice afternoon to be walking home depot with a starbucks and a notebook. or, i'll drive through neighborhoods looking for disaster opportunities, number of houses for sale, neighborhood condition, and lanscaping/exterior finish ideas. i can't invest in another house until the end of the year, but the day i get back to the states i'll still be familiar with my market, and i'll be ready for the next adventure. i guess what i'm trying to say, is that by the question you asked, it sounds like you still have a lot of research to do. maybe i'm wrong. if not, don't get discouraged, just apply yourself more to learning to spot an opportunity, instead of jumping on a "deal." an opportunity isn't just the price, but everything that goes into it, plus everything that comes afterwards (holding,marketing, selling).

ryan, you got that right. i looked into other types of investment (besides rehabs), but they actually seemed more complicated. with the rehab, at least i know fairly well what i'm doing, and i know what i need done by someone else.

i definitely wish i felt more comfortable trying wholesaling. maybe i'll try that down the road. right now i want to start on my second rehab, implementing everything i learned from the first. when i think i've come close to maximizing my profit, i'll move onto some houses in the $200k arv range (i'm at the $110k range, right now). $200k is really pretty "median" around dallas. i'll save the wholesaling for when i have some extra money put away, just in case i screw it up (probably bass ackwards from the way most people do it)...

i typed a pretty long message to you, but then my connection crapped out while trying to send it. so here's the short version. just because it's cheaper doesn't mean better. you have to have an accurate rehab estimate, and the total (purchase+ rehab+ holding/marketing) has to be figured relative to a reasonable sales price.
what rehab skills do you have that you won't have to pay someone else for? there's a balancing act involved. i might pay more than someone else, but rehab it for less -and two of us end up making the same amount on two seperate deals. the good investor always strives to maximize his profit, getting the best deals he can on price and rehab. i did mediocre on purchase price, was about dead on, on rehab cost (took too long, though), and then held the property for so long that i ate 100% of my profit on mortgage and utilities. hopefully, i'll get some of that back at the end of the year. we'll see...

Yeah, you've got a better deal than I do. From now on I'll be trying to finance the initial rehab with hard money, or seller carried seconds. Getting a 30 yr note on a rehab was almost harder than the remodel I did...

I have a rehabbed property that I owe $85k on. It's about 74% of ARV. I was going to refi to get the rest of the 80% out (I'm in TX). I decided it wasn't worth spending a couple thousand to get $4-5k out of it. If it was an absolute emergency I would, but it doesn't seem like a good deal to me. Maybe you're getting your refi for cheaper than the one I looked at. Hope so.

Not sure if anyone is still following this post, but it seems like a good place for my question. I remember it being asked before, awhile back, but I looked around and couldn't find it. Question is: What are the thougts on an investor getting his RE license? I'm in Texas, and my focus is currently rehabs, with a rental portfolio as part of the long term planning.
I think the extra knowledge will be a boon, initially. Also, on HUD's, it's an automatic 5% cash back (of course I'll have to split that with my broker, for as long as I have one...).
And on top of that, I still have about 8 or 9 months before I can start investing again, so I thought I'd do something productive with the time.
What do y'all think?

I really don't have anything constructive to say about the Trump course, and I've never seen it. I will say this: Trump's greatest asset is himself, he knows it, and he markets the hell out of it. Strikes me an egotistical, pompous ***, with a terrible comb-over. In this age of reality tv, and "I'm special" mantras, he has made himself to be a king among kings. Personally, I'd rather hear RE advice from guys on this site, like Ryan Webber, all cash, juzamjedi and others, or maybe a business history of the Trammell Crow business, and the HomeVestors business.

Whatever Trump "writes" about, I can almost guarantee it was written by someone else, with a forward by the Donald. But we all knew that.