All Forum Posts by: Gregory Pitts

Thanks for the advice everyone. Meetings are still virtual but I'm attending REIA zooms and making some connections, and trying to network into real estate circles through other avenues as well.

It's very encouraging to hear that people are willing to give their time to help newer folks like myself. When I think about my profession (software) it's very similar but sometimes new areas seem intimidating. Your different perspectives help me realize to just treat it like any other voluntary relationship.

I wish you all the best!

Thank you all for your responses. @Evan Polaski your response absolutely resonated with me.

I found two local real estate groups having regular meetings, one was the Facebook I previously mentioned and another is a more established REI investing community. I'll be making sure to attend and do work of building a network.

Thanks @Forrest Faulconer that's a great point, I'll definitely be exploring that type of option. I do think there's still value for the mentor there, in the form of their own personal fulfillment and the concept of "my greatness is seen through the agency of others".

Perhaps my post implied I was looking for a purely transactional type of relationship, which I actually want to avoid. In my experience, those devolve pretty quickly into both sides only incentivized to providing value equal to what they perceive they are receiving.

When I find a mentor willing to take me under their wing, I'm still interested in finding a way to contribute back. I think I can help people in return, I just don't know what they need. This problem led me to the thought of "just asking people", and so, Bigger Pockets forum to the rescue :D

Hey All, 

I'm starting out with investing (purchased my "live in" fixer in Jan) but the market is obviously hot right now and so I want to go off market with my next property. I feel like I need a mentor to help me through an off market deal or two to get my feet under me.

I'm part of a Facebook group, comment (sometimes) and DM people, and plan to go to in person meet ups when they restart to try to grow my network. All that good stuff. I have a goal of two additional properties this year and I'm not great at networking, so I'm worried I won't make enough progress to give me enough lead time to find a mentor, then close two deals in 2021. Yea, dates are arbitrary but I'm a goal oriented person.

I'm not cash constrained, I just don't know how to execute nor do I have a network in the city I'm in (Rochester, NY).

In order for mentor ship and/or an expert's time, I want to offer them value. Even if someone was willing to mentor me for free, I wouldn't feel right without returning the favor somehow. Anyways, because I'm a rookie in Real Estate, I don't know what is valuable to potential mentors.

My skill set is software development, masters degree and 10 years experience. I've built a ton of different stuff, and also worked as a "CTO" of a small, 10 person non-tech company... which isn't the same as a CTO of a tech company but probably closer to a "jack of all trades" of tech.

I know this skill set can help people, but I don't know how to frame this as value to a potential mentor, because I don't know what types of problems investors have that are software/technology related.

How can I present this skill set as something that a potential real estate mentor would need so that I can find a mutually beneficial relationship? What types of problems do investors have that I can solve with this skill set?

Wow, I was gone for a minute and all these awesome replies! @Russell W. I'll check out the YouTube channel, and definitely plan to take before/after pictures. Thinking about that gets me jazzed for the job.

@Evan Polaski I haven't decided a full vs. half yet. Ideally like a full but I think this is a area worth researching for me because I have little understanding in the difference in the amount of work. One thing that concerns me (before any research) about a full is the humidity, seems like we would need to install some kind of fan which adds complications in my eyes because you're all the sudden touching a different part of the house (I think).

@Jim K. Thanks :). One reason I bid aggressively on this place was because I saw it was roughed in and that felt like a doable way to add value to the property. 

@Jim K.

Awesome Keith, let me know if you have any major learnings. I won't be starting mine for a couple month, since I haven't moved in yet. My big one is that the bathroom is in the basement, so the first thing is to figure out if i need to pump the sewage against gravity :(

@Milind Shastri Thanks for the encouragement! I love your progression of YouTube -> Constractors -> decision. Google already exposed me to Sharkbite, it knows me better than I know myself. But I'll definitely research it more now due to your recommendation.

Hey thanks John, that's great advice, exactly the type I'm looking for. I'm definitely not scared of the labor but there's probably too much that I don't know about the things like the lay out. 

Hello All,

I just closed on my first property, a SFH in Rochester NY, and I am looking to put in some sweat equity during the 12-month primary residence period before I turn around and rent.

One reason I bought this home was that there is roughed in piping in the basement for a bathroom. A nice opportunity to improve the property. I'm very interested in doing this type of stuff myself, not really related to saving but because I am interested in learning.

I am generally handy and an engineer by profession but have never taken on a job of this magnitude.

1. What is your opinion of something like this as a starter project? Am I getting in over my head?
2. Are there any specific things that I should definitely have a professional look at before starting and/or have a professional help me out with?
3. Obviously I know how to Google around, but if anyone has a very trusted informational resource to help me out that would be great.

Thanks!

Greg

@Matthew Drouin thanks for the reply! My instinct is that the worst is behind and there's going to be an invigoration of economies like Rochester because of dispersion of remote knowledge workers from places like NYC and CA.

That's good to know about tenants. It's tough to get a good pulse without knowing many people in the area, what you see on the news doesn't always tell the whole story.

@Keith Moon looks like I missed it due to slow feet responding, but I'll be checking it out in the future.