All Forum Posts by: Jason Duet

@Joseph L., you mentioned that you used MLS for your second purchase (and possibly your first? I'm not sure if I read that right.) Have you continued to use it alongside direct mail, or have you abandoned it altogether?

I ask because although I've read that you can have success here and there with the MLS, it just seems to me it would be really hard considering the market exposure and then having to include, at minimum, the listing agent commission (assuming you could negotiate down the portion that would have normally gone to a buyer's agent).

I have wondered this myself. I have had a couple of past clients choose private flood insurance over FEMA for cost reasons as well.

However, they were fortunate enough to not need that insurance in the wake of the floods, so I've never heard a first-hand account of how they worked out vs FEMA.

For those of you who have had success with BRRRR here in Baton Rouge, what's been your most successful source for deals? Direct mail, Driving for Dollars, MLS, etc?

This is a broad brush generalization I see way too much. People on the outside seem to have no clue that the flooding caused by this event had nothing to do with what caused Katrina. This wasn't levees breaking because of a storm surge and flooding homes that were well below sea level. Virtually all of the homes impacted by this event were substantially above seal level. 

This event could have occurred anywhere. It was a ridiculous amount of rain that fell in a very short period of time and caused rivers to rise to historic and unimaginable levels (see the amount of homes that flooded that were not even in flood zones). This could have been any town in the U.S. built along a river. Get a grip, no one is leaving.

@Mike McCarthy, I was wondering about the impact on any revisions to the FIRM maps myself. I haven't had a chance to look at many of the impacted homes in Baton Rouge, but I live in Livingston Parish and I've seen a lot of the damage there. And I can't really see how raising homes would truly be an option for most of the homeowners; most of the homes are on slabs. It just seems like it would be too cost-prohibitive to even consider. I just can't see most of the people who will decide to rebuild waiting for revisions to the FEMA maps to decide.

I think the decision is made as soon as they determine if it's affordable once the insurance payments (or FEMA payments for those who weren't even in a flood zone and had no flood coverage) are known.

Understandably, any contractor in the reconstruction/remodeling business is going to be busy for the foreseeable future here in the BR Area. However, I have a client who will be buying a home in the next month or so and will likely buy one that needs some updating. He'll likely be waiting for everything to calm down a little, but would want to do it before the end of the year.

If you've had a good experience with one or more contractors in the area, I would appreciate hearing from you.

Nice job @Joseph L.! Will definitely follow this one for updates.

As a real estate agent who is endevouring to also call himself an investor, this is a very interesting discussion to me. 

Speaking as an agent, as @Chris K. said I would want it to be worth it to me to work with an investor buyer. In most situations involving MLS listings, the selling agent (buyer's agent) is paid by the listing agent, and does not get paid until the transaction closes (if it sounds a little screwed up, it is, because it's not how the system was intended to work).

So there is the potential for him/her to spend a substantial amount of time showing a buyer multiple properties, only for the buyer to end up deciding not to buy or not buying a property with that agent in the end. Which = many hours of working for free on the agent's end. That type of payment agreement lends itself to the type of situation many people describe, which is an agent pushing them toward properties they don't want.

As an investor, especially since I'm not looking to invest outside of my market, I wouldn't seek the services of an agent. Largely, of course, because I have my own license and experience. But honestly, with the amount of due diligence most successful investors put it, unless you were buying outside your area I don't really see why you would need an agent in the traditional sense. 

The only thing I could see using an agent for would be a limited-service type agreement where you pay a flat fee upfront (vs a percentage of the sales price) for a particular service such as placing on the MLS, scheduling showings, etc. That way you save on your bottom line and the agent isn't working for free.

just my $0.02 on the whole thing. Sounds like you're making the right move @Louis Roggeman.

There's a wealth of information that is offered by the founders of this site in the form of podcasts and inexpensive books that could do much to helping you finding your own answers to those questions.

Don't take this the wrong way, there are plenty of people on here willing to help and share experience, but they generally like to see that you've taken the initiative to try begin educating yourself before asking very broad "how do I do it" questions.

I've seen your other posts, and it seems that others are giving you some good advice. There's not going to be a "silver bullet" if that's what you're looking for though.

As a newcomer here (who is still in the "learning" process), I think that I would echo the sentiments of those who cited reasons that fall into the "fear of hard work" and "fear of risk".

For some, I think that money plays a very significant role. They didn't arrive at the conclusion that they wanted to invest in real estate because they had an abundance of extra cash and nothing to do with it; rather, they went the route of the 9-5, 5 days a week, work until retirement (when and if that ever comes), and then came to the realization that they had to do something different. Only problem was that by that point they're in debt, with a family they can't just pack up, and don't have much cash flow in order to get that first deal going.

So they are then faced with the option of either never moving forward, or figuring out how they're going to make some difficult (but ultimately short-term) adjustments to their life to cut expenses/increase income so that they can scrap together the cash to get the whole thing started. Unsurprisingly, most people just assume it's not possible when in reality they just don't want to deal with the discomfort and the level of risk of doing what they need to do to get themselves in position to act on that first deal.

Those people generally join these forums and then fade away after a couple of initial posts, would be my guess.