All Forum Posts by: Gabriel Garces

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to give an update on my progress so far. 

I have been a licensed agent for 8 months and I love it! I love Real Estate! I love entrepreneurship, I love being in charge of my own success. I'm on my way to being a Top Producer in my area.

8 Months in and I have closed 2 deals and I have 3 more closings in June. My pipeline is ridiculous. If I keep this up, I'm seriously on my way to making 100k in my first year. My first deal was a short sale. The sheriff sale was one month away when I took the listing. I got the house under contract in one business day and got the necessary paperwork in for the bank to push the sale date one more month. Long story short, I worked hard everyday to have the short sale approved. I saved my client from financial disaster and even got him the 10k relocation fee =D

It's amazing, I never worked so many hours (averaging 70 hours a week) but felt more alive. It's such a rewarding and fun career. I hustle everyday. I love how if I want more money I just need to work harder. I never been happier seeing my hard work pay off. 

I work with first time home buyers, investors, I handle short sales, and I am even trying to get a million dollar listing with my friend. (It's 100x more nerve-wrecking knocking on a million dollar house, but I'll be sure to post when I get it).

It's actually been two years today since I graduated college. I would have never thought 4 years of engineering would lead to a career as a real estate agent. Never be afraid to take a leap of faith or follow your passion. Maybe things do happen for a reason. Sometimes you don't know what life is going to throw at you. All I know for sure right now is I'm going to be one of the top agents in Jersey. So if you're looking to buy or sell your house in North Jersey, give me call.

@Brandon Turner We're going to have a podcast together one day 

@Matt Cramer

Thank you so much! I did my research the past two days, based off what you said, and I now understand data providers and dialers a lot better. 

Based on what I have learned, I definitely want to eventually use a dialer (mojo 3) and cole information for straight random cold calling. My goal is to call 100 numbers a day and generate leads that way. I may have to start with looking up numbers on my own, as I don't really have money to invest in cole information and mojo. I realized they are very expensive.

However, I was wondering if you can tell me more of the benefit of using something like vulcan 7 or TheRedX when it comes to expireds, FSBOs, and foreclosures?

I check the MLS everyday for new properties on the market and expireds. I take note, and if the expired property isn't too far, I go knock on its door. I do the same for FSBO's & foreclosures; I think nothing will beat door knocking.

But it does get very time consuming and I get pissed when I dedicate a day to door knocking and no one answers the door! So I see the benefit of simply calling. 

So can you tell me the quality of these phone numbers for Expireds, FSBO's and foreclosures?

Also, I saw that MOJO offers a REVERSE LOOK UP SERVICE. If I give them a list of properties they will find the numbers for them. I see this as a great tool since I already have access to expireds through the MLS and I buy lists of lis pendens in NJ. Do you know of the quality of this service? MOJO said it is not as good as their own Expired/Foreclosure generated lists, but I'll rather door knock on the properties with the best potential and call properties that are farther than a 30 min drive for me. Do you know of any other companies that offers a reverse look up service if I give them a list of properties.

Sorry for the long response, thanks in advance!

Hello Biggerpockets!

I want to do some cold calling. I've done some research and it seems there is so many list providers and power dialers. I'm going crazy trying to wrap my head around everything.

I want to cold call random homeowners in certain areas everyday. Who is the best list provider that provides phone numbers based on geographical areas. I have heard Cole Information is the leader for this service. 

I have also heard of TheRedX, ArchAgent, and Vulcan 7. Apparantly they offer phone numbers for expireds and foreclosures based on MLS's and counties.

Numbers for expireds and foreclosures would be great, but I definitely want straight up cold and random phone numbers too. 

I also pay for a list of properties with the homeowner's name, where a lis pendens has been filed. Is there any service where I can give them this list, and they can do the leg work to find the phone numbers?

Also can someone explain to me more about a power dialer

Is there a one stop shop company that can provide me with phone numbers based on location, expireds, foreclosures, and an integrated power dialer?

I hope this thread can help other newbies agents like me. The past couple months have been crazy for me. I want to become a rock star agent and I believe cold calling is a great marketing technique to explore besides door knocking and mass mailing. 

Thanks in advance everyone

Thank you everyone for sharing and your support.

My interview with my Broker went very well. I will be starting there at the end of the month once I get my license. 

I don't know if I will return to Engineering. But right now all I care about is hustling to make as much money as I can. Good Luck to everyone here.

Hello BP,

I guess I'm just writing this post so I can clear my mind right now.

I'm 23 and I graduated from college in 2014 with a degree in Civil Engineering. I'm a pretty smart guy. I graduated with Highest Honors. 

I've always had a thing for Real Estate. My dad owned some commercial real estate that he rented out and made a great living. He put my sister and I though college without any problem. My junior year of college I read a book by Australian Billionaire Jamie McIntyre called "What I didn't learn at College but wish I had"

This book pretty much told me about being financially intelligent, having multiple sources of income, being financially free, and having the mindset for success. This lead me to read books like Think and Grow Rich, E-myth, Rich Dad Poor Dad, 4 Hour Work Week, Building Wealth One House at a Time, ABC's of REI, and other books listed here on BP.

It changed the way I saw being successful and being wealthy. So I decided that I was going to invest in real estate once I started working after college. However, my first year after college wasn't so great. It took me 25 interviews with various companies to get my first job, that was underpaid. I took it b/c I was desperate. It sucked. I studied Calculus 4 yet I was swinging a hammer. I knew I picked Construction Management as my focus, but why was I swinging a hammer? Why did my dad pay $80,000 so I can swing a hammer???

I quit after a couple days. I found another job that paid the same but I was desperate, but at least I wasn't swinging a hammer. It was ok but I knew I could have gotten paid 50% more. I quit once I found another job that paid good. It was great. But 6 weeks later I got laid off....I was only 22 and I got laid off....

I went into a mild depression. I worked so hard in college, busted my butt to get straight A's some semesters. Why am I struggling so much in the real world? Two months later I got an job, the pay was awesome. Doing some math work, but once again I was swinging a hammer at times. I didn't mind because my pay was very good. However, I'm waking up at 5:30am M-F, my boss is a dick, the foreman are unprofessional and give me a tough time, and I have 11 hour days. My job sucks. Did I work this hard in college to have a ****** job?

I decided it's time to start looking at RE. I decide to get my license.

Once day my boss gives me a review and tells me he's unhappy with my performance. He tells me I don't looked focused and think about what I want to do. 

This was last week. I thought about it and now I decided I'm going to quit and go to Real Estate full-time by being an agent. I told him on Friday that I'm putting my two weeks.

I go to work today and he fires me on the spot b/c he has someone lined up. This was 2 hours ago. 

I'm home now. I made this decision to go into RE full-time. But now it's actually happening. I have my interview with my broker in an hour. I never felt this feeling of fear. My whole life I was never scared of failing b/c I thought I had it made. When I was little I thought my life would be easy. I've always done well in school and I am very personable. What a shock I'm having. But this is the first time I am taking such a big leap. As I'm finishing this post, I'm feeling a little more at ease. But I still can't shake off this feeling of certainty and doubt. I guess this is normal. I made this choice and I know it's the right one. I spoke with other members of BP who are engineers and it seems the consensus is that "Engineering can give me a comfortable life, but RE can give me a financial freedom"

And I'm really to fail a 1000 times for financial freedom and happiness. I'll rather have a great life than a comfortable life. I think I'm ready to create the life I want.

Hi,

Can someone give me the contact info for a structural engineer who does foundation inspections or consultation on structural alterations on houses in the north Jersey Area?

Hello BP,

I am a recent graduate from Rutgers University in NJ. I obtained my Bachelor's in Civil Engineering. However, I decided to go the Project Management Route. After 1.5 years of working as a Project Engineer, I've realized this is not for me. I want to go and change my career direction slightly. Obviously being here on BP, I am interested in Real Estate Investing. Thus I want to combine my Engineering background with Real Estate. I want to become a competent Structural Engineer and be able to do Foundation and Structural Inspections and offer consultation on Structural Alterations. I know I will need my PE License, but what type of company should I work for to gain this expertise? I'm hoping to here another engineer's story. Thank you in advance.

Hello Everyone, 

First off I want to thank everyone who posted on this forum. But now, after a week of speaking to different lenders, hearing different people in person and on BP, bankrate.com, and Brandon Turner, I will post everything I have learned.

The next matter of business to clarify that there is difference between a Home Equity LOAN and a Home Equity Line of Credit. It seems people like to use the two terms interchangeably. However, one is a lump sum loan and the other is.....a line of credit. It seems everyone knows what a line of credit is and its terms. So I am not going to talk more about it, as I am not trying to get a line of credit. Instead, I want to borrow a large amount of money, using the equity or value of my house. 

So now this brings us to the actual question: Cash-out Refinance or Home Equity Loan. To better understand the difference between the two, let's pretend I have a $50k mortgage on my $150k house. So now I want to take out $50k from the equity left in my house. 

The first option is the cash-out refinance which will readjust the terms, rate, or length of my existing mortgage and give me the extra 50k in my pocket. My new mortgage is now 100k.

The 2nd option is the home equity loan. I want to say this is simply a 2nd mortgage (maybe that's why people equate the term "home equity loan" with a HELOC). So with this home equity loan or 2nd mortgage I keep my original mortgage and add a 2nd one for 50k. Now I am paying two different mortgages and I got the extra 50k in my pocket.

A Cash-out Refi has more origination fees and is more of a hassle due to it taking longer and always needing an appraisal. But this is a tradition fixed rate loan that can last for 30 years. 

A home equity loan is cheaper to close and faster to get, but they have a shorter term. I'm not sure if the rate is cheaper, but the fact that the term is shorter, means the monthly payments are more likely greater than a refinance. 

So since I don't have an original mortgage, a cash-refinance and home equity loan accomplish the same thing. However, I am looking for the cheapest monthly payments possible. Thus, the cash-refi will save me more money each month, despite its expensive closing costs (which is coming out of the loan and not my pocket).

So there you go guys I am going to do a cash-out refi to use as a down payment on other properties, without using any cash in my pocket. Hopes this helps other investors and thank you BP.

BONUS: For those with a mortgage and you are towards the end of you term, it is generally better to get a home equity loan or 2nd mortgage. This is because your original mortgage payments are now paying back mostly principle, thus you would not want to restructure it. Overall it still comes down to what saves you the most money and your goals.

My lender wants to do a cash-out refi for 100k for my home. Let's say I do live in the house. It is fully paid off.

I'm reading these post and talking to different people and majority are getting mixed up. I want to compare a cash-out refinance to a HOME EQUITY LOAN (not a Home Equity Line of Credit). I am going to be holding these properties for a while. 

From those who say to go with a Home Equity Loan, they say it is cheaper to get and the rate may be better. But I want to confirm that the rate is fixed, not variable.
My lender is saying that it is variable, so he's pushing me to do fixed cash-out refinance. So now I want to know if he's right or if he's pulling a fast one on me.

The other people who told me to get a Home Equity Loan said it was better because it has less fees and tends to be a better rate. But none of them told me that it was a variable rate. Which is a big problem since I'm holding the properties for a long time, so the rate is bound to increase. 

I just wanted to get someone's opinion here on BP, so thanks guys. I will be going through with the cash-out refi then =D