All Forum Posts by: Iman Yu

@Sharon Tzib Thanks! you provided us great representation and I hope many others will value your expertise as well.

@Neda Navidnia yes! teamwork is very important if you want to be successful in REI. I love learning how to work with different people and finding out new resources & sharing that with other.

Thanks @Tommy Hopkins that's what I like to think, too. I like to put a process in place so I can easily repeat the success myself or teach others about it. What about you? What kind of deals have you done?

@Chase McEntee It's great that you can get in @ a sweet price point. That's the first important to get in on a good deal. Most people start out with buy & hold because in comparison to other options in Real Estate investing, it's probably the most straight forward option. You can buy it from MLS, put 25% down and get it rented out using a PM and you will start getting a monthly cash-flow. There are a lot more examples about buy and hold you can read about and talk to people about so that helps with the 'comfort level' for newbies, too.

Yes, I am trying to do something different on my next deal. I want to generate a bigger profit or a better cashflow. People typically starting looking at buying from wholesalers if they are thinking about bigger profit. That's what I am evaluating right now.

@James Paine haha yes my partner and I went with the 'thorough' strategy on this deal #1. What's your portfolio like and what's your strategy?

Thanks @Ray A. i am hoping for more to come in 2016!

@Tim Shin i picked up the property via the link I included in the post. check it out :-)

I didn't go to their meetings or workshop yet but i am planning on it. it's a 3/2/2 sfh off south post oak exit @ bw8. I can give you the detail via pm.

good luck on your search!

@Jacob Sampson thanks! i see that you are way ahead of me in the REI journey. any recommendation for my next deal? :-)

My partner and I started looking into REI since Q4, 2015. We knew it was a hard year to get in for a newbie investor but we didn't give up. We started out by listening to the BP pod casts on 1 of our longest road trip together (by the way, that's one of the best way to get lots of BP pod casts done in 1 sitting!).

So by then, we were motivated but we knew we still needed to figure out a plan to acquire our first deal. 

Here are the key questions to think through before you get it going:

1) what do you want to buy

2) how much can we afford

3) how will you pay for it 

3) what are you going to do with it after

Here is how we tackled this challenge:

1) Find a reputable and responsive agent to work with: we worked with @Sharon Tzib

2) Get pre-qualified with a good and local lender that work with investors: we usedd Rochelle Frazeur from New American. 

3) Use some good MLS criteria to set up lists with your agent

3) Find out how to identify a good deal: We got our hands on some good cash flow analysis calculators (thanks to @Sharon Tzib) and we used the calculators on BP as well

4) Make neighborhood visits to those areas of your interest

5) Find other venues to meet up with other investors or go to workshops and meet up's: We've attended BP meet up in Houston, events with Jet Lending, meeting with Wholesalers, and we've met one-on-one with other investors

6) Look for non-MLS sources to find properties for sale: wholesalers, and local listing through Rich club or word of the mouth

7) Talk to the property manager if you are planning on using on. We use @Jerry Ta and he has helped to stay away from certain choices and helped us to run comp's as well.

So what did we get?

Our first deal is a SFH that we found from the Rich Club Property Listing. It's a 3/2/2 with a nice backyard. It's in decent condition and we were able to get it at 76k and it currently rents at 1100 a month (with some minor renovation because the existing tenants moved out right after we closed on the property). 

We are very happy that we were able to stay on task and use all the help we needed to get to where we are today and I am hoping by sharing my story and resources, it will help you to do the same and more.

@James Stokes that's awesome! congrats!

just out of curiosity, are you renting out to section 8 tenants? The rent you reported seem to be pretty high for a property in the pics. I would love to hear more about how you filled you property!