All Forum Posts by: Jason King

Eric, 

Congrats on getting things started!  I am very close to starting my first marketing campaign, so I am glad to hear things are going well for you.  A couple quick questions - how many times (and how often) do you plan to mail to each contact and what system do you have in place to ensure you follow up properly?  I ask this question because you mentioned you were mailing on a weekly basis, so it seems that you will have a lot of following up to do at different points in time.  When I first started designed my campaign I was going to do weekly, but I thought monthly would make it more manageable.  Curious to hear back.  Good luck with everything!

@Abou C. - Welcome to the site! I will make a few suggestions. Start attending a (or several) local REIA meetings. The ones that I know about are the RI Real Estate Investors Group and Black Diamond Real Estate Investors. I have personally attended the RI group meetings for the past 6-7 months and have learned a lot and made some great connections.

The second thing that I would do is setup your keyword alerts here on BP to alert you whenever someone mentions the area you are interested in.  This could be very specific, such as 'Providence' or could be more general like 'Rhode Island'.  Once you set this up, you can check in on the conversations other investors are having about your area, and possibly chime in where you have some knowledge to share.

Good luck to you in the future!  Hope to see you at one of the future meetings!

Jerry, 

This is a great story!  Thanks for sharing!

@Ricardo M. I don't think you necessarily need a certain amount of funds to sit down with a HML. Rather, I think the discussion with the HML will help you determine how much money you actually need. If they are going to fund the deal based on ARV, you might not need anything up front if you find a good enough deal. In fact, you may find that you can fund some of the rehab through the HML in this scenario. However, I have personally found this type of funding to be hard to find, especially for a newbie. Once you talk with a few lenders you will find out what will work best for your plan and determine how much you will actually need in cash.

About the number of flips, I think it's okay to push yourself towards 4 flips in year 1 in your business plan. I am a supporter of stretch goals and "aiming high", I just like to stay pretty conservative when I am analyzing a deal. Think about it this way, if you project profit assuming a project timeline of 6 months and you complete it in 3, that is just more $ in your pocket. However, if you project the profit using a 3 month timeline, and it actually takes you 6, you could run into some cash flow issues, especially under a tight budget. Just in interest alone, assuming a 12% interest only loan from a HML you are paying $1,000/month on a $100,000 loan. If your project runs over by 3 months that is an extra $3,000 in cash outflow, which represents 15% of your overall budget. Just something to think about.

Hi Ricardo, 

Welcome to the site! I would say in order to answer the question we may need to know more about your acquisition strategy. You mention you plan to work with a hard money lender, and the answer is going to be dependent on their terms. If the HML is going to finance 100% of the purchase price, then $20K is probably enough, though I would follow Anthony's guidelines about tackling a deal you think will only cost you $10K. However, if the HML requires you to put any amount down on the purchase (which mine does) then you may be very limited in terms of which properties you can afford. If you haven't already, I would meet with a few lenders and compare terms.

My other hesitation is based on your estimation of 4 flips in year 1. Since you are doing these flips one after another that results in a 3-month project timeline for each home. While this may be ok in terms of business planning, I would be a little more conservative when estimating your carrying costs, as these can add up very quickly (especially when using a HML). In you property analysis worksheet, I would calculate your profit potential and cash flow requirements over different estimated timelines (3 months, 6 months, and 9 months, for example). This may help you see where your risk lies in terms of cash flow.

Hope this helps!  

@Elizabeth Colegrove I couldn't agree more!  We are in the process of drafting an operating agreement to (hopefully) settle any disputes before they happen.  I'm sure some things will pop up from time to time, but we are hoping to capture most of it.

Good Morning Fellow BP'ers,

Quick question to those of you reading.  My partner and I are in the process of starting an investing venture together, specifically focused on rehabs.  My partner is withdrawing some cash from his retirement to get us going, and we are trying to figure out if there is anyone in specific we should (or shouldn't) hold the funds, and if there is anything we need to pay special attention to.  We are currently planning to open a small business checking account so that we can keep all of the transactions separate.  Are there any specific fees/restrictions we should pay special attention to when comparing banks?  Also, we have not decided on what our business structure will be, so should we wait until after we consult with a lawyer?  I am not sure if different business structures have different banking requirements.  Any input is appreciated!

@Michael Barbari according to my state's realtor's assoc. website, once the proper paperwork is submitted, the assistant receives an mls ID number and password. I also find a piece of legislature from my state's department of business regulation stating what an assistant can and cannot do. According to this, they cannot prepare or presents CMA's, but can compile the information, which by understanding means they need to access mls data. I could be wrong here, which is why I am looking for anyone in the state that has previous experience with this, but that is my interpretation.

Hi All, 

I am looking to see if there are any RE agents from RI that have an unlicensed assistant working for them. I am curious to see how easy/hard this is to do and a general idea of what the process is to list someone as your assistant. I am working with an agent and want to pitch the idea of listing me as their assistant so I can personally access the MLS, but I would like to have a better understanding of the process before I mention anything. Any personal experiences with this would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks everyone!

@Isaac Guzman - Thanks!