All Forum Posts by: Gretchen Roberts

This is Excel but it is very good: http://www.themichaelblank.com/syndicated-deal-analyzer/

Are you thinking of Michael Blank? His is at http://www.themichaelblank.com/syndicated-deal-analyzer/

You aren't being anal retentive. What business person doesn't keep records? Crazy. It's either a game, a stalling tactic, or a very bad business person. Whichever scenario it is, you need to verify or lower your price.

I'm also new and have just finished reading Ken McElroy's books, in which he goes into great detail about multifamily housing and how to do it right. Fantastic stuff...although next I want to do some intense market research to see just how attractive multifamily is today and might be in the future compared to when he wrote the books (they're maybe 10 years old). 

Thanks @Mehran K.! Nice to meet you. I just listened to your podcast episode the other day. :) 

Thanks @Brandon Turner for the Loopnet advice! I'm heading there now.

Ah, that makes sense. I did have to register in TN last time to pay taxes, but they were insignificant as it was an online store. Thanks, Mark.

Hi everyone! I'm Gretchen, from the Knoxville, TN area. I've been lurking for awhile here on BP, am reading all of the books Brandon Turner has ever recommended, and am slowly starting to narrow down my interests and goals. Currently working as a digital marketing director for an agency and saving up some investment seed money to get started. 

LOVE these forums and BP's blogs and podcast--what an incredible source of information and community. I plan to be here a long time, though I'll stay quietish at first as I learn the ropes.

I do have a couple of beginner questions I'm hoping someone can chime in on.

1. I'm reading Ken McElroy's ABCs book right now and he recommends getting on mailing lists for multifamily pro formas so I can practice crunching the numbers down to creating an offer. Great idea--but I'm unclear how to get on the lists and who sends them? I checked some local commercial brokers' websites but didn't see anything like that.

2. I know the LLC vs sole proprietor vs. corporation debate. My question is this: in a previous business, I had an LLC in Wyoming rather than in Tennessee due to TN's onerous paperwork, bad website, terrible gov't customer service, and higher fees, all of which I experienced in an earlier TN LLC. If I invest in TN, is it fine to have my LLC in WY? (I know I might have to talk to a lawyer but would love to take the BP temp on this one.)

Thanks and glad to be here!

Gretchen

I'm a digital marketer and would agree with John that a full-time marketer would be overkill until you have the operational capacity to handle the bottom of the funnel--i.e. close deals. That entails both time and cash (or cash/financing). You can usually work backwards by the time you're established: If you want to close X deals a month, how many qualified leads does that take? How many leads do you need at the top in order to get those qualified leads? A funnel might go like this (numbers totally made up but proportions will give you an idea)

100 responses to marketing initiatives

10 qualified leads

1 deal

So if you want to do 50 deals, you'll need 500 qualified leads and 5,000 initial leads. That's where a marketing person would come in handy, to generate those initial leads and qualify them for the close.

As you point out, there are pros and cons to both approaches, so I'd ask yourself: what's your ultimate end goal here? Do you want to have a hybrid business or is the agent side truly a side thing, designed more to help you be a better flipper/seller/buyer? If it's the latter, I wouldn't mention it except as part of your bio to give you credibility, but if you're wanting to build your agent business up as well then include both on the site.