All Forum Posts by: Adam Settelmyer

I am looking to network with some real estate agents who invest and other investors around the Buford/Cumming/Atlanta, GA area. I currently reside in Illinois, south of Chicago, and will be looking to make a move down to the Lake Lanier area within the next year. My wife and I are a real estate agent team and will be seeking a brokerage to transfer to down there and investors to start networking with. Anyone interested or someone who can point us in the right direction, I'd love to hear from you! Thanks again and look forward to talking with you soon.

Adam Settelmyer

RE/MAX Ultimate Professionals

Hello all Chicagoland investors out there. I have a property that I am looking to rehab and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions as to a general contractor that is good to work with. I know its a long shot because some of you may not want to give away a good contact that you may have but any help would be great.

Thank you,

Adam Settelmyer

I live southwest of Chicago, IL and I am currently looking for recommendations on finding an investor friendly contractor for my flip properties. Are there any companies you would suggest? Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

Adam Settelmyer

Welcome John. Good to see another fellow union tradesman on here. I am also new but have been doing my fair share of research and reading and I must say sometimes it can be paralyzing. At times I feel as if I take in too much information and over analyze a lot of the details that it can make it harder than it needs to be. This website has definitely opened a lot of doors for me and has helped me narrow in my plan of attack. Wish you the best of luck!

Ali thank you for putting that perfectly into words. Half of what's going on upstairs is sifting through all the information I have read and yes that has made me think from time to time that it seems much harder than it probably is (not to say by any means that it's easy).

I mentioned before I wanted to start with flipping to generate some cash to start putting towards my ultimate goal of rental properties. The reason I like this as my starting point is I am in the construction industry and many times I see high rises and other buildings in chicago go from completely gutted to beautifully finished. I have good vision on what a "naked house" will look like when it needs to be dressed up. I'm choosing to stick to my strengths and hope it can generate some solid income to reinvest.

Thanks again I take every bit of help to heart and appreciate all of you taking the time in response to my post.

I welcome any and all advice.

Thanks Jonna for the extra perspective. I do believe it will be very tough to pull the trigger on first one. Just seeing so many properties for sale in my target area just overwhelmed me a bit.

David I am planning to look into fix and flips to generate so.e extra cash to start funding my rental properties. My goal for this upcoming year is to try and do 2/3 fix and flips and purchase my first rental property. As I buy more rental properties I would like to fund and add equity to them by flipping homes and investing portions of the profits towards paying them down.

I appreciate the feedback. Thank you.

Well as I've state before, I am new to the world of real estate investing. I consider myself in the learning phase. I spend every moment at work listening to the podcasts over and over. I wake up at 4 a.m. (two hours before I need to leave for work) to read and research books, articles, and blogs because when I come home from work I have my responsibilities of being a husband and father of two.

So here's where I am going with this...

Last night I decided to start getting my ducks in a row. Researching home inspectors, real estate attorneys, contacting my CPA to see if he works with real estate investors or to point me to someone who does, and researching general contractors.

I only have a few contacts as far as other real estate investors in the area so before I go and ask them for any suggestions I wanted to have my prior research done so they don't think I'm trying to take the easy road of just trying to use their contacts.

So after hours of doing my homework, I decided to take a look at some listings in my target areas on some websites (Zillow, Trulia). I'm assuming many other first time investors have probably come across that same feeling of anxiety as I had started to feel. Seeing all the different homes for sale and foreclosure listings in those areas became a little overwhelming. Just as I though I had a good grip on what I would be looking for, I was now struggling with wondering where the heck do I begin. I realize finding motivated buyers through direct mail marketing or driving for dollars will help generate leads, but I couldn't help feeling lost as I was sifting through the listed properties. Does anyone have any suggestions to help me direct my focus towards finding the right properties or narrowing my focus? Have many of you also encountered this feeling of wondering where to really start? Thank you for your time.

Adam Settelmyer

I would like to throw a couple general questions out there and get some feedback to help me get started in this venture. As it stands the only valuable education I have accrued is through working in the field of construction and reading articles.

FOR CHICAGO AREA RESIDENTS:

Does anyone have any suggestions as to real estate schools I should look into so I can gain some knowledge along with getting my realtors license? I work full time during the day so I don't have the option for a day time school. Online classes or night classes preferably.

FOR THE REST OF BP:

Does anyone have suggestions of helpful books that I can start researching and studying to help me with my investing side of real estate?

I appreciate your time and willingness to help me get started.

-Adam Settelmyer

Thank you for the positive feedback. I understand this is no easy task or something that will allow me to leave my day job anytime soon, but like I said, I strive for challenges. There would be no greater feeling than to be financially self sufficient. I am a person of an incredible work ethic and seeing how no matter how well you produce in a field like the one I work in, there's no garuntee of tomorrow if work gets slow and the people you compete against are buddy-buddy with the boss. That alone lights the fire to learn and excel in real estate to give my children an upbringing like I never had. I look forward to working with you all in the future.