All Forum Posts by: Jay Orlauski

we've seen the insides a few times .. this was supposed to be the final walk through .. more of a formality than anything ..my real concern was handling children. My first instincts are to stay away - but was wondering what other have done in the past - like what if i was supposed to have plumbers there to tear out the sink .. and the only person home ( after a 24 hr notice to enter) is a child?? things like that could put us behind schedule.

Hi everyone,

just wanted to share an experience I had today and was wondering if I could get some feedback from some of you.

So I announced a while back that we just acquired a triplex after several years of not having any property. everything has closed and we became official owners two days ago. We gave our tenants 24 hr notice that we would be there onsite to go through the apts.

First door I knocked on - a little half naked kid opens the door - says his mom is not home and shuts the door fast. After a few minutes it is clear that mom is not home. A second unit had the same scenario - kids but no mom - though this was an older kid who said she would call her mom.

I felt like I was ready to take on anything and any issue they could throw at me - but I've got to say - that kid really threw me off.

I was not comfortable entering the unit with someones children there and chose not too. I was wondering how some of you handle situations like that.

My grandmother inspired me. She owned and rented a SFR and one day had me go there to collect the rent. The concept that a normal person can own a house that other people will pay you to live in clicked in my head and has been burning like a flame ever since. I have always attributed my love of real estate to that very day.

Welcome to forum Edessa , it's always great to have new members. Sometimes when just starting out , it's good to see that other people are having success at it - makes it seem like maybe we are headed the right direction. There are many very experienced investors here with much to share. I look forward to seeing you come along.

I think I asked this question quite a few years back and the answer I got was that because the agreed selling price is the exact value of what someone is willing to pay for it - therefore that becomes the new value - unless it is actually turns out to be worth less because of any of several factors like area, comps, condition and all sorts of other boogey monsters.

I don't know how true this is , but it

Hello Idena - welcome to the forum. This is definitely a place for dreamers, movers, and shakers. I hope to hear about your ventures into real estate. Just out of curiosity , what type of property are looking to buy ? Are you looking for rentals , wholesales, foreclosure.. etc. See you around the site

jay

wow .. where do I start?? lol to keep it simple , I will say this. I wish that I would have never walked away from real estate to start a completely different business. I had 6 rental properties plus my own house and l liquidated all of them to start up a new business venture that could not possibly fail ( until it failed).

The flip side to that is that I sold my houses at the top of the market just before the market fell - so I looked real smart to people that knew I had real estate. Unfortunately I lost all my money at the same time everyone was losing their money in the stock market - so I lost it like every else - guess I had a lot more fun losing it - rather than watching little credits go down on a screen everyday - i was operating a business and enjoying making customers etc. Though it didnt last , I feel like I could have lost the money in worst ways I guess.

I have started over from scratch again and my main focus now ( aside from writing real estate software for Android) is to stay focused on real estate and not turn my back on it again. I Would have been a multimillionaire by now if I had held on to my units. I am now seeing all sorts of investments that I could have purchased for cash - but have none now :(

in summary, BIGGEST REGRET: leaving real estate

excellent point about info that your partners might be looking for - I hadn't thought about that. To extend on that - if you do have partners - find out if they are using anything in particular - this may save you some time right there.

Most people hit it on the head when they said Excel - I have used excel for many years - I started turning my excel spreadsheets into mobile apps.

The best part of it is how customizable it is - but it takes a while to build it up at first , however , once its set up - they can be just as effective as any other income/loss calculator. Don't forget to lock your cells afterwords!!

A lot of times Real Estate agents can make sure that all the legal aspects are covered for you. ( meaning all the right documents signed and submitted) Since this is something that they a used to dealing with regularly - you may benefit from their experience and knowledge. My agent always goes out of his way to make sure he is getting the best deal for me he can - getting them to cover closing costs - pay for FHA stuff, and fights for things I might otherwise let go , but he stays strong - sometimes in the middle of "battle" it feel good to have an 'experienced warrior' on my team.

I once heard a joke about a mechanic and a car. The punchline is something to the effect of - the value is in knowing WHAT to fix - not how to fix it. I guess basically saying that having the knowledge is what your really paying for. To someone who is inexperienced or even very experienced , an agent can be a great asset while navigating unfamiliar waters. As with any occupation , you are always going to have shady individuals - but that does not apply towards to your typical Realtor. Sometimes people won't make a move without someone to hold their hand - to them these services would be invaluable considering that a deal may never happen if it weren't for them to begin with.

Soooooooooo I guess depending on who you are and what your comfortable with - you may not necessarily need an agent - but are they shady? generally speaking , I would say no.

I've used "RentBoss" for keeping track of units repairs maintenance and the like. There is a lot of parameters you can enter about your property - it creates a lot of reports - they have a free 30 day version online you can try.

Also if you have an Android phone, try looking up "FlowCast Pro" to find a cash flow app - doesn't keep track of income/ expenses but can help make quick calculations about cash flow potential when looking for new properties to buy. just a disclaimer: I'm the developer of the FlowCast Pro app so I'm a little partial to it.