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All Forum Posts by: Franky Aikens

Franky Aikens has started 29 posts and replied 123 times.

Post: Investing in STRs with a recession coming

Franky Aikens
Pro Member
Posted
  • Wholesaler
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Posts 124
  • Votes 81

@Kurt Baltutat your STR should also work as long term rentals. I don't see demand for long term rentals decreasing so if your investments should still make sense if you buy right (price and location.

Post: Should I rent or AirBnB my Newly Renovated Rowhome?

Franky Aikens
Pro Member
Posted
  • Wholesaler
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Posts 124
  • Votes 81

@Phil LoCicero All great points along the same lines of how I'm weighing the options. It comes down to what's most important for me, which is cash flow.  It seems like Airbnb would be best to help me accomplish that.  Either way, I have to let go of my somewhat emotional attachment to the property and see it as an investment vehicle.

Thanks for sharing!

Post: Should I rent or AirBnB my Newly Renovated Rowhome?

Franky Aikens
Pro Member
Posted
  • Wholesaler
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Posts 124
  • Votes 81

@Steven Foster Wilson Thank you for sharing that nugget, Steven!

Post: Should I rent or AirBnB my Newly Renovated Rowhome?

Franky Aikens
Pro Member
Posted
  • Wholesaler
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Posts 124
  • Votes 81

@Steven Foster Wilson Thank you for sharing your experience with this topic. 

Question - how did you find an Airbnb manager? Is this an independent manager or is this person connected to Airbnb in some fashion?

Post: Should I rent or AirBnB my Newly Renovated Rowhome?

Franky Aikens
Pro Member
Posted
  • Wholesaler
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Posts 124
  • Votes 81

It's better sweet, but after just two years in Philadelphia, I'm moving back to New York to another fully reno'd house in 6-8 months.

The sweet part: I'm moving to a town I love, and into a house, we'll renovate in the way we want to live for the next 20 years.

The bitter part: We took a fixer-upper in one of the most desirable areas of Philadelphia (East Passyunk) and renovated it into an absolute gem. My wife is a high-end residential interior designer, and our house looks as beautiful as the multi-million dollar homes she designs for her clients. Everyone whose seen our place (including appraisers and agents) said it's unlikely that there's another home like it in South Philly. Could we sell it? Of course, but I don't want to.

So, my question is - given the current housing market, interest rates, and the opening of the city (bye-bye covid) - should I rent or do short/mid-term stays?

Post: My buyer wants a strip mall. Anybody got one laying around?

Franky Aikens
Pro Member
Posted
  • Wholesaler
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Posts 124
  • Votes 81

Are strip malls even sexy anymore? My buyer Philadelphia, PA wants one very badly to prop up a 1031 exchange he wants to execute. I'm more familiar with marketing for residential properties. How do you market to strip mall owners? Is there any difference from how I'd approach residential marketing?

Anyone ever wholesale a strip mall before? I have a lot of questions and I hope BP has some answers.  Thanks!

Post: Creative down payment suggestion on owner holding note

Franky Aikens
Pro Member
Posted
  • Wholesaler
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Posts 124
  • Votes 81

@Christy Socash Are familiar with who Pace Morby is? He's known as the leading expert in real estate creative financing strategies. He was recently a guest on the BP podcast where he walks through some of his creative financing deals. He even shares the agreements on the show. Search "300 Doors ALL Through Creative Financing w/ Pace Morby" on youtube to find the interview.

Post: Philadelphia Investors Meetup

Franky Aikens
Pro Member
Posted
  • Wholesaler
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Posts 124
  • Votes 81
Originally posted by @Dan Powers:

@Franky Aikens Yes I know my post was short notice, there will definitely be more meetups, we're planning another for November.

Great! I'd love to attend.

Post: Philadelphia Investors Meetup

Franky Aikens
Pro Member
Posted
  • Wholesaler
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Posts 124
  • Votes 81

@Dan Powers I would’ve definitely attended had I seen this post in time. How’s it go? Will there be more?

Post: The biggest problem in Wholesaling Industry no one talks about

Franky Aikens
Pro Member
Posted
  • Wholesaler
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Posts 124
  • Votes 81
Originally posted by @Jerry Puckett:

@Franky Aikens

That's a very Quoraesk question. Do you indulge in Quora?

There's no good place to start. What ever I may mention will likely draw the ire of those on this board who have a shoot em on site opinion towards wholesalers. Not too many people seem to have a beef with wholesaling done properly. The consensus on properly centers on intent. 

Even the stoutest agent (I believe) has no problem with individuals seeking to buy their own properties off market. No one is obligated to pay the asking retail price. All retail sales are subject to negotiation with the Listing Agent required to transmit all offers. Any seller can instruct their Agent to accept any offer even if the Agent disagrees.

In a retail transaction, the seller at the least has the assumption of a Trained legal expert to give them their opinion, but is not obligated to accept it.  Agents are obligated to disclose their license to anyone they negotiate with as a protection to laymen....who can still negotiate as they will, they've been clued that they are dealing with an expert.

A real estate sale can happen between two laymen, two experts, or any combination of the two across the the spectrum. If I, John Q. Public want to make an offer on a house that is not listed, and I can call or otherwise reach out to the owner of the house I want to buy and make my offer known. If it's accepted, we can write and execute a contract. If either of us default, the contract should contain remedies.

Wholesaling can also happen between any combination of parties. As long as my intent is to buy, they I can turn right around and resell. If the contract is assignable, I can change how I choose to vest. Or I could assign it to a partner, associate or whomever else I please as long as it closes.

Many Investors, licensed or not, whether they flip or hold do this frequently and I doubt that many have a problem with it. In this case, wholesaling is an exit strategy. The operator is not a wholesaler per se, he is one who sold his position via wholesale rather than flipping or holding. One way or another, this property was going to close according to the contract.

A wholesaler on the other hand, is someone who makes a business of doing this. The sole intention is to contract the property with no intention to close. If no buyer is found for the contract, he walks away. That's problematic for a number of reasons, legal and otherwise. When all goes well things are good. 10 years ago, Investors enjoyed working with good wholesalers who would actively scout the properties desired and do all of the leg work.

Over time, the ability to get involved with little or no skin in the game, the ability to make a lump sum of money quickly, and a plethora of bad information made available by people who were only after the disposable income of those who really did not have enough money to get involved in higher level RE took a good tool and exploited it.

Wholesalers exploiting undereducated layman (someone who does this exclusively for a living is operating as an Agent with no licensing issues to restrain them or cause them to disclose expert status), using a lot of really distasteful tactics (like trying to wholesale deals already on the MLS, co wholesaling through a string of folks) and getting greedier and greedier as they went....That's where the stink came from.

The need for regulation and outcry from professionals heard loud and clear.

In my opinion, the biggest problem that needs to be solved it the ability to have an open discussion in place like this that don't turn into long anti wholesale threads populated with very closed minded people one upping their good ole boy club. One without stereotyping, all of nothing language and an acknowledgement that wholesaling as a tool has a place in the Investor kit.

That's my opinion, but tends to get drowned out by people with way too much time on their hands for typing.

Hope that helps.

I rarely do quote responses in my post replies but this one deserves to be posted again. The integrity that underscores your sentiments echoes so loud and profoundly. And so does your blunt honesty. What I'm getting from your response is that there needs to be more integrity and accountability in the wholesaling profession as well as an unbias and open conversation about how we can get there.  

Thank you so much for sharing this. I don't think there could've been a better first reply/conversation starter to my question than what you gave!