All Forum Posts by: Frank Boet

 Jose, I have lived in Miami since 1969. It's remarkable to see what used to be ghetto neighborhoods turning into vibrant and expensive communities. There was a time no one wanted to live in Hialeah, Little Havana, what is now the Fashion District, Coconut Grove and even along Biscayne Blvd, especially in front of AA Arena.  Right now, I think Brownsville, Allapattah, and Wynwood are hot. Little Haiti, Overtown one day will be hot. Miami Gardens has too many problems. There is a murder there almost daily. I think one day there wouldn't be any ghettos in Miami. Ghettos and low income housing are being pushed out of Miami-Dade. Every inch in Miami is prime real estate. We live in the hottest, sexiest, most diverse city in America, maybe even the planet.

Welcome Raul. I'm also from Miami. It is a seller's market right now. Really good deals are hard to come by. Do alot of reading and listen to the podcasts. RE investing is not as easy as some may lead to believe. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it. Not to discourage you or anyone else new to real estate, just make sure you have realistic goals and a lot of education. Join a real estate investing club, talk to realtors, general contractors, etc. Make sure you have a really good RE agent, contractor, accountant and RE attorney. But the key is EDUCATION. 

Argeo, God Bless you brother. You are an inspiration. I'm so happy to see how you and so many young people on this forum want to be their own boss and do something for themselves and for their families and not rely on government or fall for the victim card. I have 2 sons, 23 and 25 year old. You remind me of them. When I was in my early 20's I wanted to be an instant success, but I was flipping burgers at Burger King. When I was 25 I got by RE license thinking that I would become rich overnight. Long story short, I never sold a single property, I let my license expire and become inactive. Here I am at 53 years old pursuing my RE dream again. But now I have a few more grey hairs and a lot more life experience. My advice to you, is the same advice I give to my sons, be the best at what ever you are working at right now, even if you consider it a dead end job. The job will not build character, instead, it will bring out the character in you! Second, if you really want to own a RE business (this is a business, not a hobby) start by getting your RE license. This way you can earn an income selling properties and find properties for yourself. Third, save as much money as you can and buy a property you can afford, even if it is just a 1/1 condo. Buy the property with an FHA loan, even if you can't buy the property at a deep discount. You will just need about $4,000 to buy and close on a $50,000 1/1 condo. Rent it out. Save up another $4,000 rinse and repeat. Now, you have residual income, tax benefits, depreciation, and capital appreciation. In a few years, you will have enough equity to refinance your properties if you like or just pay off the properties quicker. The beauty about RE is that there are several ways to make money. In summary, day dreamers dream. So don't day dream, ACT. Set a plan. My plan was that by the age of 30 I would do some traveling, own a home, be married, own my own business and own a 1985 Monte Carlo SS :) I accomplished all of it. Now at 53, I have set goals for the next chapter in my life.

Nat, that is awesome! Very inspiring, especially since I live in West Kendall and I know that area very well. I'm still procrastinating, I mean, educating myself on this crazy, beautiful business. Don't hesitate to contact me if you ever need help with a project (demo, haul, clean up) Congrats again! Frank

My wife and I attended a two hour workshop about three months. The speaker focused on wholesaling. I paid $100 for the weekend seminar and I was allowed to bring my wife for free. So basically it was $50 each. It was very worth it. We learned a lot. However, at the end of the day, it's all about selling their Mastery program which could be as high as $33,000 if I remember correctly. Thanks to Fortune Builder, I found BP because as soon as the seminar was over on Sunday, I got online and searched for house flipping and found BP. After procrastinating for a couple of months, I became a Pro member after watching one of the podcasts. I don't think there's any secret sauce in buying real estate. It's about taking action and buying low and selling high. The wealth of information on this board is worth $225 X 100. BTW, Fortune Builder is advertising again in the Miami area. I think they advertise every 4 months or so. 

Wow, I saw your zip code on Realtor.com and some of those homes I can buy with a credit card. I'm investing in the wrong city LOL. I need to move to Jax. I have always love Jax and St Augustine is my favorite Florida city.

 Riad, aside from my principle residence, I have not bought any investment properties. I am very patient. Real estate, like all assets, will drop then go back up. All assets go through cycles. Wether it is real estate, oil, gold, art or baseball cards. It is all about supply and demand. Home Depot had Christmas ornaments 50-75% off the day after Christmas. I stocked up and went on a shopping spree. LOL Why? Low demand. Oil and gold are going to make a lot of people rich in two years. When oil and gas prices rise, that "stimulus" of cheap gas will end and people will have less money to spend. I think the U.S will enter a recession this year. You will be able to buy real estate 15-20% cheaper by the end of the year or early next year. In the meantime, sit by the pool sipping a margarita under the beautiful Florida sunshine and wait for the properties to come to you. They WILL come!

Riad, I live in Miami and the pickings are few. The Miami market is way overvalued. I expect a small bubble in 1-2 years. What I would recommend is instead of refinancing your home and have to pay closing costs and begin paying interest immediately, why don't you get a HELOC and have the money sitting there UNTIL you find the right property? My strategy is to buy with a HELOC, then refinanced the purchased property and pay off your HELOC. Rinse and repeat.

I'm in Miami, Fl. We are in two completely different markets. Here's the formula that I use: 

Profit; 10%

Broker's commission: 6%

Closing costs: 4% (you may have to pay the seller's CC as well if you want to make the deal more appealing for the seller- so you may have to add that as well)

Quiet costs: 2%

Overage cost: 3%

So, right of the bat I need a 25% discount of ARV. Rehab costs can be roughly calculated by multiplying the home's square footage by $20 for a no frills rehab. It will be higher if you have to do major rehab (upwards of $30/ sqft). It sounds to me like you are going to be around the $30/sq ft price range. So 1,400 sqft X $30 = $42,000 rehab costs. That's about 23% of ARV. Soooooooooo, bottom line, you're looking at approximately 48% of ARV total investment. So a 50% of ARV offer is fair. $180,000 X .5 = $90,000 offer. So, hopefully you will profit at least $18,000 when it is all said and done.

 Amen Brother. I'm not knocking investing in R.E. I will buy any property that is priced right. The problem is that the pickings are few in between. I would love to buy homes 10-20% less then they are now. Btw, the DOW Futures are down over 250 points. Looks like the market may have another sell off Monday.