All Forum Posts by: James R. Copeland

Wow, very insightful, thank you Kristina! 

Appreciate it Andrew! Read and absorbed. Have a meeting scheduled with the local portfolio lender Monday. Can't wait :) 

Im considering getting some formal training as a property manager in order to save money on the management side as well as just learn some landlord law and whatnot. Im also hoping it might help me discern good managers from bad ones better. Anyone have experience or thoughts?

So I very much want to look into a Hard Money Loan in order to purchase a multi-unit property in the Vancouver, WA area (Just north of Portland, OR). I'd like to do the BRRRR strategy over the next year, but admittedly my experience so far in real estate is only with Single family home rentals needing very little work. I'm hoping to go into a commercial lender tomorrow or later this week just to talk to them and start building a relationship, but was wondering if anyone here had any tips? What should I highlight, what should I ask for? I don't have any specific property in mind yet, just want to get pre-approved for a decent sized (300-500k) loan so I can go make a cash offer on something when the right property appears. Thoughts?

My wife is about to become an agent! So far we've agreed we're going to do 2 things:

1. Celebrate (probably some adult beverages involved here)

2. Drive around and go look at a bunch of houses without having to wait on a realtor (We'll wait for item 1 to "wear off" first, safety first)

Besides that though, does anyone have tips for my wife as a new realtor? 

Does anyone have any tips for me as a real estate investor? How can my wife and I become an investing dynamic duo in the Vancouver, WA area most effectively? 

Very cool! I'm definitely intrigued. Did a little poking just to check into "Subject To" and found that apparently banks sometimes take issue with the practice, which I don't quite get why. You'd think a bank would be happy to take money from whoever will give it to them! 

As for me btw I'm Active Duty Coast Guard, have been for 13 years. Typically my rating is IT, but I'm currently serving as a Recruiter. So if you know anybody who's applying for a job with us in the Pacific Northwest, chances are I've run into them or heard their name around the office ;)

So there's 2 things in that strategy that I'm guessing are vital and take time to build up:

1. Marketing! Guessing to do something like that you have to market yourself as the "go-to" person if someone needs to move in a hurry.

2. A network of buyers who are not W-2 (meaning non-salary, contractors, non-traditional employed people with deep pockets or something along those lines?) that also know who you are and will buy houses from you because you'll circumvent the banks somehow. Do they need to be cash buyers? Who are these buyers and how are they buying? 

Thanks for taking the time to school me, this is a side of real estate I haven't come across before. 

Wow @Account Closed, I've heard of a lot of Real Estate stuff, but that was all Greek to me!

So as I understand it, you're talking about taking over an existing loan for somebody (foreclosure situations? pre-forclosure?) and immediately putting a new tenant in there who intends to buy the property? How the heck does that work? Why wouldn't the buyer just buy the house if they were willing to do all the work to begin with? I'm very intrigued but think it still hasn't "clicked" yet. 

Thanks! Any tips for what a good keyword would be to get alerted on? 

Hey, I'm Jim. Currently own 2 houses (Not free and clear, I wish) in Vancouver, WA, once of which is leased out for a profit of around $600 per month net. It's working, it's nice, but when I hear people on these podcasts and forums talking about taking $50k and somehow magically owning 20 units one or two years later I'm absolutely baffled! 

I'm trying to learn more about real estate and get more into this, as is my wife. I'm endlessly fascinated with real estate as my investments have grown more in about 6 years than my 12 years in the stock market by FAR. That said, I've never sold a house, and have only done some basic cosmetic fixes on my rental before showing it so my experience in the renovation world is slim at best. 

I don't even know where to begin, except to say I've got around $40k liquid ready to rock and roll, and six figures in equity between my two places. I'm set to retire in 2024, but would absolutely love to be financially independent well before then if possible. Any thoughts, tips, or resources you can share to help me get the ball rolling would be very welcome. Thank you!

Very Respectfully,

Jim from Vancouver, WA