All Forum Posts by: Jennifer Wood

Hi - this may be a weird question, but I was in a mastermind and explaining how I do not have the time or desire to drive for dollars.  The leader explained to me that finding an investor-friendly real estate agent is how she gets her own deals for flips.  I don't understand how a real estate agent would get access to "investor-worthy deals" when I would think the people they work with aren't in a distressed situation and are looking to sell for a profit.  Can someone shed some light on this for me?

Thank you all for commenting on my post.  I don't see a lot of deals that meet my buy box right now with NW, but there have been a few.  I am investigating some others as well.  Cold calling and marketing aren't really something I am looking to do at this moment so trying to find a respected and knowledgeable wholesaler to do that legwork.  I am ok with taking a cut in profit at this time to do that but I still have a minimum net profit I am looking to make.

I am on the list for a few areas with a larger wholesaling company (New Western).  Since we are investing out of state, does anyone have any tips on how to do this without it being too risky?  Alot of the properties are first come first serve.  I will be traveling to the 2 locations next month and want to get an understanding from someone who has done this how they approach it.  I plan on meeting with the agents I am assigned to when I get there.  I respectively ask that you only comment if you have an answer to my question.  I've already been counseled about investing out of state.

@Benjamin Aaker I don't mean that it's not a strong market. I just mean it seems out of range for me to grow in due to the cost of housing. I am in the process of getting my real estate license so hoping once I get access to MLS and other ways of finding deals, I will see they are out there and will feel more confident.

Thanks Evan - The reason I was considering out-of-state is that Vegas can be expensive and when I say "ready to flip", I mean I can put the 20-30% down, and I have a 1-year emergency fund, but I am also looking to exit Corporate America.  It feels like flipping in Vegas will mean at least several more years of working in Corporate until I can do real estate full-time.  You are right though that knowing my market is so crucial, and the profits can be commensurate with the price of the property.  I think the capital risk also scares me a bit.

I am reading J Scotts' book on flipping now.  Early next year, my husband and I want to do our first flip.  I believe we are in a good position financially to do so, but...not in Las Vegas where we currently live.  I am getting familiar with HOW to analyze a market, my main question is, if I am looking to do this out of the city (and maybe out of state), how do I decide whether I go to a neighboring city vs farther away?  I want to be pretty hands-on with managing my first flip, so being somewhere that I can drive 2-4 hours to see progress is tempting, but I can see that surrounding cities in Nevada may not be ideal markets to flip in.  When you were a newbie, would you choose a less strong but closer market to flip so you could be close enough to inspect, or would you take a strong market farther away? 

Thank you to all who responded.  To clarify, while I would never turn down cash flow, I am not really looking specifically at that as a reason to invest.  I am more interested in the appreciation of the property.  That being said, I would prefer to at least break even.  Not sure how many of you read this book (it is a Bigger Pockets book), but it advises to start small with duplex, fourplex, etc. and then work your way up once you have more experience.  When I do invest, I can put 50% down and maybe even self-fund if needed (depending on what property), so maybe thats what I end up doing.  For now, though, every financial scenario I run shows me in the negative.  I am determined though so I will be as smart as I can on this nd ultimately do what looks and feels best based on research and talking to great folks like you.

I am brand new to real estate (other than having my own home) but am currently reading The MultiFamily Millionaire and the concept of multifamily intrigues me.  I would like my husband and I to invest in a property (likely a duplex) in 2024 and move up from there as the examples show in the book.  I was blessed to refinance during the Pandemic and have a 2.6% interest rate.  Running #'s just looking at properties in and out of state (I live in Las Vegas), I do not really understand how pure cash flow (even a small amount) is possible given these current loan interest rates unless you find the deal of the century.  I am still working through the book so maybe it will enlighten me but just curious about your experience.