All Forum Posts by: James Doren

In my opinion, it's a lot of time and energy tracking that information daily, while still having low control over the situations. Even the best day traders don't typically outperform the markets very often.. so it's a whole lot of work for a potentially slightly better payoff than an S&P500 index fund. That said, it is certainly slow and boring to do that. Obviously I'm biased, but you could get 12-15% returns taking that 45k and being a private lender in a real estate deal. You'd lend the funds and collect steady interest payments before getting your full principle back in 6-12 months. It's backed by a tangible asset (the property the investor is buying), so you get the house if something goes wrong (often worth more than your investment), and you don't have to do anything at all. Just sit and collect your checks. We work directly with private lenders like yourself to buy our own real estate deals, and it's really a win-win for everyone. Something to consider.. it's never good to have 'all your eggs in one basket', in my humble opinion. 

Partnering up in a situation like that works very well. It gets your foot in the door without over-extending yourself financially. We've done this a few time. If it's a good deal, you'll find a partner easily. Sent you a DM as well to connect - my wife and I did a very similar thing!

That's absolutely insane... we have a 2 unit, albeit in a very different area (Central PA), but ours is just over 1k. I can't imagine 10x being normal no matter the area or building age/type. 

We've met a ton of people here on bigger pockets believe it or not. It's actually been more successful than local meetups and events for us... We've met private lenders that have successfully funded our deals, contractors, other investor partners... all worked out to be win-win situations for everyone involved. Keep your eyes open, be the best at what you do, be honest and transparent, and the right partners will come :) 

What an awful, and unfortunately not that uncommon, experience to have. I am so sick of hearing how little compassion our fellow humans have for each other... it feels like lately all you hear about is people putting their own self-interest first, jumping at the chance to step on the backs of others to get even minimally 'ahead'. I hope you're not stuck, I'm far from a lawyer but it sounds like there are some certain legal implications to what they have done to you and likely countless others that have invested with them. 

My wife and I founded our company based on the principals of transparency for this exact reason. We went through a similar situation and decided to create a transparent, honest, fair medium for people to invest. Similar to what Don said above, we spend the majority of our time, and the reinvestment of our capital into the company into ensuring we have clear communications, easily accessible and real time data, friendly user-interface, and most importantly integrity and clear fund/deal structures so that there is never any confusion. The deals are easy to find and come by.. the way you treat the people that entrust you with their hard-earned money should be the priority. These guys are the reason we're even able to exist. 

I hope you get some justice in this awful situation, and I hope more people speak out about the wrongdoings of that company!

 Exactly this!

Hi Kay, 

I have a slightly different approach than most of the comments here, but you're here to see differening opinions right? In my view, you're in a classic scenario that a cost-benefit analysis will solve. We've been in this situation before...There's no correct answer IMO, though the obvious answer seems to be to 'get more money'. That does not always equate to 'raise rent'. To help decide what to do, I ask myself these question in the following order:

1) Are you currently producing cash flow?

2) How confident are you that you could get a new tenant in, that would treat your place the same and pay as consistantly as the current tenant in a reasonable time? What is that reasonable time frame?

3) How sure are you they will leave if you do raise rent, and if so, is it worth the cost of a month (or 3) of vacancy? Sometimes raising the rent a small percentage would take years of additional tenants for a few months of vacancy

4) What's the 'right thing to do'. Obviously you don't own rentals to lose money, but can you navigate the change in a way that is respectful and professional while still hoping to gain income?

Being a landlord isn't easy, because the decisions that come with it aren't. Numbers go a long way, and simple math is your friend in this situation. From my experience, people are blinded by the extra 50-100-200 dollars of extra cashflow a month and often don't realize that if you have a good tenant that pays regularly without causing issues, it would sometimes take another 3-5 years of a new tenant at the new rate to make up for the vacancy time of the turnover. In my experience, if you have an excellent tenant and aren't under water on the property, it's worth being upfront early about the need for an increase the next year or so, rather than springing it on them the time the lease is up. For us, it has created a better partnership and resulted in less vacancy, happier (and cleaner) tenants, and ultimately more cashflow and less headache. 

I know it's not a direct answer, but I hope it helps your decision. 

James

Hi Mike - I'd be happy to help if you're still looking for an agent! Just reach out and let me know!

Excellent analysis of some terms that shouldn't, but often do, get tossed around interchangeably. In this current market specifically, it's extra important to seek out the right loan product and the lender type that best suits your needs. 

Our entire company is based on working with private lenders - and we use this term the way you defined here - an individual or entity that lends out their own capital that they keep for the life of the loan. We get approached by 'hard money' lenders and even small banks or capital groups, wanting to offer us a 'private money loan'. We do work with these institutions from time to time, but the crux of our business is really helping individuals or companies invest their own money and get high returns on a short-term loan. 

I read your post with a smile on my face, and was tempted to copy and paste it on our website! LOL. Appreciate the break down, great content!

James

 Hi Ivan, 

I can relate to that... Growing up and living on Long Island, it felt like I needed more capital than I could get my hands on to get started investing in real estate. I currently live in Mechanicsburg, PA (Central PA, 3 hours east of Pittsburg), and the opportunities out here are much more fruitful. There's a low cost of living, a really growing market, and high quality tenants. I live and work here as a realtor in addition to running our investment company and it's a wonderful area, we fell in love with it right away. I'd be happy to chat if you ever wanted to know more about the area!

James