All Forum Posts by: Fradel Schaechter

@Greg Phillips- just don't base your valuation of the property on the tax assessor's value: In analyzing deals on the MLS, I have sometimes come across properties that were way overvalued on the tax assessment (was 60k more than other similar houses in the area, etc.)

If you have some comps you can use that will tell you if the property is really worth 200k. Lastly, be sure to find out the reasons this is on the market for a year already. There might be a reason it hasn't been snatched up yet...

Best of luck!

@Gabriel Benavidez I think there is no 'right answer' to these options and rather it is dependent on your financial circumstances, risk tolerance, and goals. Also, I am offering information here that I have learned from reading and NOT from personal experience so take it with that 'grain of salt': just my two cents here.

If your property is cash-flowing and you have a goal of owning a certain number of rental units in a certain number of years, you will get there faster if you use leverage, but you would be in a more 'secure' financial position if you paid it off before acquiring more properties and it does snowball once you have more properties. However, it would still not match the pace of using leverage as you expand.

Hope this helps!

@Greg R Peterson welcome to BP!

Nice intro you got here :)

One other way to meet other investors in your local market is to attend the real estate meetings near you. You can find these on Meetup.com or here on BP under Events on the Network tab above.

Best of luck!

@Lue Brooks nice goal of starting with being active in the forums, reaching out to others here etc.

As a matter of fact, as a fellow newbie I made a similar commitment, but since I had just read the book '10x rule' by Grant Cardone at the time, I decided to try to 10x my posts of that time (I was at 50 posts then) to 500. I am slowly inching my way towards that number :)

I decided that to help me get ahead I would do about 10 posts a day, 5 days a week which would get me going at 50 posts a week. In being so active in the forums I have also been reaching out to others and as a side effect have over 100 connections here on BP.

Enough about me: I wish you the best of luck!

@Raul Alvarado 

Perhaps wholesaling is something you can start with. In addition, you can choose to spend the next short while investing TIME in your education (such as hanging out on this website) and continuing or increasing your savings rate to help you get started.

Good luck!

Wow, @Michael Beeman- nice work! Enjoy your new home...

@Shiloh Lundahl nice thread here!

I would say the one thing that I believe will contribute to my success is my struggle with chronic illness. the strength of character I was forced to develop as well as my drive to get better despite the setbacks can help me avoid being derailed in my real estate journey. I am not giving up until I feel better, and I'm not giving up until I have reached success in real estate.

I hope I get both the health and wealth I seek very soon :)

@Jordan Moorhead

Didn't know that was even possible (to block competitors from coming). I would avoid going to such a meeting because the whole point of it is the sharing that goes on, and it seems these organizers have not mastered that yet...

@Bryan Troll nice intro!

You seem to have the financial foundation in place,  you're in a great position to get into this real estate thing.

You should definitely check out the meetings, they are great places to find the 'apprentice' opportunities :)

@Michael Mendoza I agree, as a fellow newbie it ain't easy in the beginning, but from what I understand, if we stay focused on our goals and don't give up/ get distracted, we have an excellent chance of having success.
Hang in there!

As far as networking is concerned, have you considered attending a local meeting? these are great places to hear from other investors what kind of properties they are looking for. In addition, you might meet a local wholesaler that you might be able to collaborate with.

Best of luck to all of us on this real estate journey :)