All Forum Posts by: James Dickens

Welcome to BP Ty. We will take all the good Medical people we can here in Louisiana! @Robert Leonard is a great contact to have here and a nice guy as well. Enjoy New Orleans but don't forget there is a lot more to the state than just NOLA :) I hope your move goes well and you find what you are looking for in a great location.  

@Chase Johnson there are several that you can find if you look around. I like the one that I built using Justin Kivel's Udemy course The Real Estate Pro Forma Modeling Master Class. You can usually find a discount code or if you're a first-time Udemy user you can get a discount. I think I paid like $12 for this and another class. I liked taking the course as I learned a lot in the process but if you are in a hurry you can just download his template at the end of the series of lessons. 

@Tom Shallcross, @Gaspare U. and @Greg Dickerson thank you all for your replies. Lots of good information and it helped to resolve an issue I had but also solidify my thinking on this. I would say then that there is a general rule of thumb by class with a sliding +/- scale by age and or by building type. The area will also play a part due to hard and soft costs but that would be part of knowing your Regions/MSA

When running numbers on a property what cost numbers do you use as a rule of thumb for Cap-Ex per unit, per year, by Class?

I know this could be nitpicked to death with a lot of other factors such as year built, Roof Type, Heading and AC type, which is great if you want to add that information as well. However, I just wanted to get a feel for rule of thumb type numbers if you would like to share. 

Thanks!

Not trying to start a separate discussion or argue but how is that any different from your signature or many others? I see several items that would take me other places if I chose to click on them or copy and or paste. 

Maybe the topics in Marketplace need to be diversified at least, Review my podcast, looking for a mentor, looking for mentees, etc? Don't just ban hammer posts to Marketplace which is a cluster of crap to begin with on most days. May even make the mod job a bit easier if some of the topics that you have to send there had a place for people to put them in the first place? 

Food for thought.... 
 

The problem with this is that the Marketplace is not a catch-all. Yall did this to me on a post a while back as well and although it may not be for the general forum I was not trying to sell anything. When you get a lot of a type of post maybe it's time to start looking at creating a new section. 

The Ouroboros of CRE investing education. It's much the same in just Entrepreneur forums. It's all about becoming a thought leader or focal point in your space. Every podcast and book lately want you to become a podcaster or blogger etc to grow your Network. This bleeds over to any forums because it's about the funnel and numbers and conversions.

I have been coming around here for just over 2 years. What got me here? Morris Invests believe it or not. I saw some videos and listened to a podcast or two and thought this is great! The more I educated myself the further I moved away from the lure of easy money and realized that to do this right you need to know and understand a lot. In fact, I still haven’t done a deal, not even a % of a deal but I am slowly networking and trying to build relationships the right way with the right people. I see a lot of advice to jump right in but that's just not my style and I know that. 

I had a conversation with a Broker I have made friends with who has given me some great feedback and we spoke about this recently. I mentioned that there are so many new people who want to know now and not have to educate themselves and this was his reply which I think fits here. “I think the reality one has to face is you are paying for the content to be placed in your lap as someone else sees fit rather than having to go hunt for that value” and that is where we are at.

Guru’s for money know this fact that so many people who have some money want to know NOW how to do this Real Estate thing and it’s just not that simple, but yet hundreds each day sign up for this type of teaching with little or no due diligence because they want it simple and spoon-fed to them. BP just makes that easy to just that, it’s a target-rich environment.

I love BP and what it provides but at times it is hard to look through the forum due to these types of posts.

I did go back and look and if “Hotel Guy” is who I think it is I will say that I have gotten lots of good information from him and it didn’t cost me anything. I know that this individual and his people are trying to put together an education platform that will be able to teach people about investing with a low barrier to entry as they are doing the same thing with Multi-Family. They are also somewhat new at the education part so at this stage it’s still a bit awkward at times, but I think their heart is in the right place, at least right now.

It may be that BP puts up a forum for Educational Programs/Offerings? Maybe they have a pay barrier to be able to post in that space? Maybe make them put up a mission statement about what it is they are trying to do as far as educating others? I do think there has to be a better way though, BP and the Community should be proactive in finding a way to see if there is value in an offering both short term and long term to better advise newer people to what is good, bad and indifferent.

I'm working on it @Michael Ealy! Learning something new every day :) Thanks for all the support. 

@Michael Ealy Yep going to sign up for sure. Mike and his team are doing big things so tune in and listen. Well worth the time you invest!

So many good points on this thread! 

Being a noob at this and thinking about this very thing daily at times consumes me but not really scam/not scam level but more in a how can it be done better level. I think there are some established investors who may be thinking the same thing (going to visit one this week). This is great for someone like me who wants to work at this but has little starting capital to do it with. Let's change the paradigm. 

It's to easy to just say they are all scams. There are too many people on here that have spent the money and make it back 10 fold. It's more about what level you are at as an investor and if you are taking a calculated risk in choosing someone who has a well-proven track record or are you going to just be just risky and go with someone with good marketing and hope for the best. If you have the money and the motivation to make it work, then great! Follow that path. 

If you are looking into or are new at Real Estate (much like anything) and short on funds then gain all the free knowledge you can, focus on what you want to do or be a part of, be honest with yourself and gauge your strengths and acknowledge your weaknesses and then put yourself out there. 

Network and find people who you can provide value to and not be a drain on their resources. If you have something established investors want (Money to invest, Skills they don't currently have, A network of people they don't know) you can provide them value and in turn, they will be willing (in most cases) to give you 2 of their most precious resources, Time and Knowledge. You need to have focus and clear goals before you do this though so get yourself and your attributes in order first. This will be a slower path to success than going with a paid mentor/guru from the start but it could turn out to be stronger in the end. 

At some point when you have built the funds, you may feel the need to pay to jump to the next level. Now however if you have worked hard and built a network of people in Real Estate by the value you have provided then you will have a lot better understanding of who you want to invest your money with which is better than the dart at the dartboard logic that so many people seem to use when it comes to spending money on Real Estate education. 

I myself am trying to take this path and I can tell you it's not easy and taking action is easier said than done especially when you are talking Multi-family and Syndication. I feel like I am making some progress now but it has taken time and focus.

Just another 2 cents from another wannabe investor