All Forum Posts by: Ibrahim Yamini

I know someone who runs an Airbnb and they never show up to the property or has keys.  I don’t fully understand how it works but he has an electronic lock that he lets the guests use.  From my understanding, they type in the last four digits of their phone number to access the property.  When they check out, the code is reset to a number that only he or the property manager knows.

Seems like it could be useful for what up you’re planning and you wouldn’t have to worry about keys. Just a thought 

@Joe Norman

I heard that somewhere, that’s why I asked the question.  I figured I can go on Redfin and make an offer just to see if it will be accepted.  It seems like most people are saying it’s a bad idea so I’ll just continue to be patient

I saw a town house on redfin for $129K but the property history is strange.

It was sold in 1972 for $18,095.

Then it was sold in 1974 for $18133.

It was listed for sale for $126.9K just last month.

It sold on May 12th but the price isn't shown.

It was relisted on May 17th for $129.9K.

What's going on with this property?

I figured since its bouncing all over the place, I can put an offer in at $100K and see what happens.

Problem is, my refinance isn't complete yet, so I won't have access to the capital I need for the down payment for a month or two.

Should a make an offer now?  

Or is the buying and selling history of this property a bad sign?

What did you spend $2700 on?  

Oh and find someone with a higher credit score

My answer would be not to let them move in.  And doing business with family is sometimes worse than doing business with strangers.  As soon as I see the standard “I’ll pay you half now...blah blah blah.”  That’s the end of the conversation in my opinion.

If they can’t pay everything you want now, I promise you, there will be issues in the future.  They may be family, but save yourself the headache and move on.  You’ll be glad you did

@Hannah McArthur

I’m sorry, I’m still new to some of this.  Why would the owner agree to pay your down payment?   Was it because of your rapport?   Did they decide that the deal will be done faster if it was someone they knew?   I’m trying to figure out why they would do that. Is this common?

@Martina Viteri

If you’re a college student, can I assume that you’re young?  Maybe early 20s?   If so, you have time, don’t rush it.  My advice would be to focus on educating yourself about real estate and financing options first.

You need to figure out what your strategy will be and there are 3;

 Are you going to flip?  

Are you going to buy and hold?   

Or are you going to Wholesale? 

It sounds like wholesaling will be your best option since you basically find houses for investors and they pay the difference.  Doesn’t really require any investment money on your part.

 Imagine you find a distressed property owner, Divorced, inherited a house they didn’t want, about to be foreclosed on or whatever and they have to sell a house quickly. 

This person wants to sell the house for $120K and you manage to talk them down to $100K.  You then get a document saying that they’ll be and “end buyer”.  The seller doesn’t need to know what the end buyer will pay, but you can let them know another buyer will be coming.

In a nutshell, you sell to the “end buyer” the house for $120K.  The end buyer ends up paying the $100K to the seller and $20K goes to you.  There’s more to it, but that’s pretty much wholesaling in a nutshell.

It may seem wrong, but you did manage to get the seller out of a bad situation.  It also works the other way.  You can agree to the original $120K and convince the “end buyer” to pay $140K.  Either way you walk away with $20K.

NOTE:  THIS IS NOT EASY!! Don’t let people convince you it is.  It requires a lot of hard work, phone calls and dedication.  You MUST educate yourself before jumping in and make connections.  Get on LinkedIn and create a business profile.

I recommend this book:

“If You Can’t Wholesale After This, I got Nothing For You” by Todd M. Fleming on Audible.

If you can scrape up $16 a month to pay for audible, I recommend you do so and get as many books or real estate so you can learn as much as possible in a short amount of time.  I learned a lot more using Audible in a year than I would have if I had paper copy books, but that’s just me, we all have different ways on how we learn.  

You have to think of it like an Investment in yourself.

Are you worth $200?

 $192 a year is a small price to pay for a lifetime of knowledge.

I hope this helps!

@Mason Hickman

I feel like an idiot, why didn’t meet at the actual property cross my mind?   thanks for the great advice!

If you’ve already pre-screened prospective tenants, where do you actually meet them for the final interview?   This is if you don’t already have a property manager to handle these things.  

Do you rent out an office?   

Do you have an office in your house and meet them there?  

Is everything just done online with maybe FaceTime or Zoom? Do you physically meet them at all, ever?

I’m just trying to get a feel for how some of you vet tenants and the environmental you utilize so I can be more precise when I’m ready to pull the trigger