All Forum Posts by: Jared Orme

The reason Carlton Sheets and most other will warn you away from them is the cost factor.

Generally the upkeep is only 10% less than a 3 bedroom. From marketing to plumbing issues to service lines, to showing/marketing the vacancy, etc.

This cost 'issue' is compounded by the fact that 3 bedrooms are highly coveted. Even a single person usually wants an office nowadays at least and a one bedroom does not cover it. Additionally, a person renting a single bedroom will likely leave sooner due to advancement or family size increasing etc.

So basically all the same work for far less rent, with a couple of more expensive turn over rates... with fewer tenet pool to market too.

If you are going to spend time and money, usually it is better to pursue the more profitable and least problematic.

Hope that helps.

@Joshua and Brandon,

Great blog post and Great list.

I just completed a transaction under number 2.

Bought a 10 acre farm, mountain view, 1 acre pond, natural spring, horse farm and CSA (produce farm).

No money down, Payments of $12,000 a year. The farm brings in $42,000 currently. Key improvements and I have $50,000 instant equity and great positive cash flow.

Oh and my tenants are horses :)

Lots of no money down farms available out there if you have any kind of farming background or are willing to do the research and learn.

@J Scott

Wow. I have only flipped 7 houses myself and did not bring in that kind of dollar ratio. This was in South Carolina.

I reviewed your website and your numbers are stout. Relocated just recently to the North Georgia market. What are your requirements to mentor someone?

@Patrik,
Mark is right on. Most hard money lenders will not touch a mobile home (regardless of foundation) and even Manufactured homes need to have an approved foundation before they will consider.

In my dealings with older Mobile homes and manufactured homes, the age of the property directly relates to the rehab costs. The older the home, the higher the likelyhood of a large expensive item. Issues arise from things as simple as the water being cut off then turned back on suddenly causing leaks... to a 15 year old septic tank never having been pumped out (these are lower income residents).... to whatever problems can come from an inexpensively made home that deteriorates after 15 years old etc...

Make sure you have enough padding in your rehab costs for the unexpected. On such a property you may even get a no money down seller financed deal to hold it.

If your intention is to flip the property rather than hold it... you would need to call around to traditional lenders to find out if they will finance on the manufactured home and what the requirements will be. This is not for yourself, but for prospective buyers. If it will be tough for them to get financing for it, the flip may be prolonged.

This environment is tough on the non conventional homes so this exploration would let you know if this home will qualify and if it will be an easy flip.

I completely realize that you can search on the forums and such and look up what people are saying, but I have noticed a trend in my searches that indicate an extreme bias against being a Guru.

Now we all know the world of money is rife with cons and charlatan's. But like colleges, the bad diploma mills should never give a legitimate college a 'bad rep' as though the concept of colleges is the issue.

When anyone seems to defend a guru, they are called affiliates or even probed to discover if they are an 'affiliate'. So very few people are likely to stick their heads up and defend a Guru for fear of losing their ability to network here.

To give a real world example, before I was Christian I would ignore any Christian's assessment of Christianity. I was foolish as obviously anyone that would have affirmed Christianity then became a Christian. I would even go so far to ignore pastors as profiteers ignoring the reality they could actually believe it or defend it, after all they made their living off the money. But we know that little profit is gained by a pastor, despite the ones that give over 500,000 a bad name.

The same relationship is here. A person who uses the Guru, becomes the Guru's proponent and may even profit off of the relationship, does nothing to detract from the fact they have used it successfully and can defend the program with intimate knowledge.

If there is a heated bigotry against such programs very few are going to poke their heads out and that will only result in a lopsided forum post or blog.

Just some food for thought. Hopefully disagreeing and using real world examples will not get me banned.

Interesting point on the asbestos with a flipped home, anyone find challenges from potential buyers concerned about asbestos on the property?

Just tossing out (with fear of getting mauled :)
I find most of the educational courses are not criminal or unethical. If you are from Atlanta you know the flip that house scandals and such.

I find that many of these courses have educated me beyond, and with more relevance, than the 40 thousand dollar social studies degree.

I also agree with all of those above, that all of these resources are free at your library and on the internet. The positive to these courses is that everything is packaged with flow, relevance and clarity. (Again I realize some of these guys are not legit.)

@Joshua
Perhaps some blog reviews that are entirely subjective from BiggerPockets that looks at these courses and can call out the ones definitively to stay away from and the ones that are informative?

These posts may exist and I am unaware of them.

There is an old axiom been around for aeons.

"Those who can do, do. Those who can't do, teach."

To compound this, people who see the value of their systems but realize the limitations to income inherent in real estate, know going guru is the next level of income.

There is a realistic cap that comes with flipping houses. Odds are you hit around $150,000/year and work really hard to get it. Most flippers though only get around 50-75K/year. A really bad flipper well, can even tend to lose money with bad investments.

So the guru's teaching can net themselves a virtual non existent workload and a list of moderately successful people who worked really hard and made money.

All of this due to the economy. People who have lost jobs, 8% out of work sure, but there is literally 30% who have taken a less meaningful job. Perfect pool of people to ply your 'financial independence' marketing tactic.

Marketing is the biggest money maker.

@Christopher,
Enjoy the research on owner financing as there are alot of resources out there. Most will cost money but be quite comprehensive in their instruction.

As to the resources it will come down to great credit score and 50% down for 10 year loans.
It is absolutely implausible and ridiculous in my book but they have the money. From a rental hold cash flow scenario this is undo able. Hence the need for pursuing owner financing.

@Christopher and Aly,
The lending caps are a challenge. As John Holdman stated, if you have enough resources, you can still get shorter term lending for a more, but in such a hold strategy this does not often mean you are getting enough cash flow. If you desire to progress with a hold strategy that involves dozens of properties you will need to work with owner financed properties.

These are great options as this economy has made owner financing mainstream. There is no limit on held properties and with the right deals, you can make significant cash flow.