All Forum Posts by: Jessica Muto

@Bryan Zuetel Thank you for your advice! Do you have a preferred form for the letter of intent for CA? 

I hope to get to the point where we are getting leads off market and where we know enough to navigate this stuff without getting ourselves in trouble. Thanks for your help!

I'm going to follow this conversation because I have the same question in general. We just got a HELOC on our primary residence to use to buy our first rental, and the math of how that gets paid back and how we get more money for the second deal, etc, is still a little cloudy for me (I thought that being an English major meant I would never have to do math in my life, oh well. ) What you said makes sense to me. When you ran the deal through your calculator, the one you will use your HELOC for, do you factor 0% down to account for the interest on the down payment money, if that makes sense?

Good luck!

@Keith Gilbert That's great feedback. In researching other posts about this topic, and looking up California PSA stuff, it does seem that at least to start with, the agent is worth his or her time just from a legal perspective. We will keep working to find an agent who understands what we are trying to do and to learn as much as we can so as not to waste time on deals that don't make sense. I like your idea of paying the fee to the agent yourself for ongoing goodwill and the convenience factor. 

Thanks! 

@Keith Gilbert Do you pay your agent or are you factoring in his % that the seller would pay? I would think it would make sense to use him for a group of properties all at once. I just wonder how these people do it when they talk about making 10 offers in hopes that 1 will be accepted (Brandon's funnel that he always talks about.) That seems like a lot to ask an agent to do knowing most will be turned down. I wonder if an attorney could provide more of a template that could be adjusted as needed but still be legally binding. 

Thanks for your response! 

Thank you so much @Keith Gilbert and @Wayne Brooks for your advice! Looks like there are no shortcuts from picking up the phone. 

As for the offers, what kind of initial contract/offer do people buying off market properties use? I'm assuming they have a standard template they adjust for each property. Do they usually have an attorney draft this for them? 

Thanks!

Hello BiggerPockets,

I have been mostly lurking in here for a few months, asking a question or two, but really just trying to figure out WHAT I need to know and HOW to ask it. We've been listening to podcasts and reading non stop, analyzing deals, figuring out financing, and finally making a few offers (which have been turned down.) 

Here is one of my major questions as we pick up steam. We have good relationships with real estate agents in the 3 markets we are focusing on (2 are family, and one is a good friend.) All the markets are either close to us or where family lives, so it's not as crazy as it sounds. But I know it's work for them to prepare and submit offers, and we are get better at valuing properties, it might be nice to send our own offers in some way. I KNOW people do this all the time, so if there is a blog or how to already posted that you've found to be helpful, I am all eyes. 

I guess I'm looking for a template or some rules of thumbs for doing this on your own when you're finding properties via the MLS or a drip. I don't want to step on any agent's toes or anything, but it's work for them to submit offers that are low enough to make sense for me but mostly get turned down by sellers. (or so it seems now.)

While I'm at it, I have a question about the best ways you've found for getting all the details necessary for evaluating deals: how much closing costs are, how much utilities are likely to be, insurance, comps, etc. As the owner of a plumbing company, I know answering questions for free is part of the job and I get asked them all the time with no expectation of making money, but I hate to feel like I'm wasting another professionals time asking for information. How have you found ways to deal with that part of the research?

Thank you for any tips you care to share! 

Though new to the real estate world, I have been married for 10 years and run a busy and growing business with my husband for 5 of them. In a nutshell, we have found that we could not imagine doing this with anyone else. It's the two of us against the world, and we've found that it's great having a business partner who wants the best for our family as well as the business. We do each have our roles in the business, and we have to respect each other's authority especially when it comes to our employees. I think it works because our strengths and interests are so different we naturally veer to our own lanes and shine in areas where the other isn't as strong, making us better as a team. Where we have to overlap (dealing with customers or employees, making financial decisions about the business) talking and asking questions helps us figure out who is the best choice for each task. Each relationship is different, of course, but I wouldn't want to work with anyone else. Ideally, you want what's best for your spouse, and your spouse wants what's best for you, and if each of you has that goal, it's much easier to trust decisions you may not understand completely, and to give the benefit of the doubt when you're tempted to be upset. At the end of the day, we both want US to be successful, and by constantly talking about our goals we are able to help each other stay focused on what we want to do and be creative about solving any problems that come up. Honestly, it's the best! 

That's my two cents as the owner of a busy plumbing company and future real estate investor - I wouldn't want to do it without him.

Great question. My husband and I are in the same situation but haven't gotten to deal one yet. We opted for a HELOC on our primary residence for the first deal as our house has increased in value so much since we moved in. But we'll have to use that for the 20% down, so all the analysis we are running is at $0 down payment to make sure the cash flow can cover both loans.

I was an English major because it required very little math, and boy, am I regretting that these days. haha. 

Would love to hear other people's thoughts on this. 

Yes, BP is great. 

@Christopher Phillips Thank you for the feedback! We are interested in doing some Airbnb and I know there are websites with analysis data related to that niche. 

I'm all for doing as much free as possible, but also, why reinvent the wheel and spend gobs of valuable time on something when a few dollars a month might make the whole process that much easier? It's just hard to know what is worth it and what isn't. 

Thanks!

I have a question for people who have been in this game a little while and have figured out how to streamline the process. There are so many awesome-sounding resources out there, from Bigger Pockets to Rentometer to Mashvisor and so many others that I have seen in our first 6 months of education. My question is: which ones do you actually find worth paying for (other than BP, of course!) for everything from market research to rental price research to mailing lists, etc? I should clarify: we are working towards buy and hold small multifamily in California (though we will branch out to other states in the future.) 

Thank you!