All Forum Posts by: Jonathan Greene

- Don't make an offer until you've physically seen at least 25 properties so you have an idea of actually what each price point looks like in person.

- Don't let anyone tell you to buy your first investment property in an area that you can't drive to in 15 minutes.

- Don't spend money on mentoring. Don't buy anything a mentor company is offering.

- Make friends with a local real estate agent who is an investor so they won't mind showing you junk properties.

- Create as large a reserve as possible for when you buy because all of the calculators will give you monthly expenditures moving forward, but will not account for a lump sum repair which will always be needed right after closing.

I hope those help.

None of those are accurate. Realtor dot com is better for accuracy, but they all are products and sell to agents. The MLS is the only place where you can do true market research. For rents, you can use Rentometer. It's better than most, but without being able to see ALL of the comps, you aren't doing market research and none of those sites have all the comps. They are focused on active properties, not sold ones. Many get phased out and the data is not always correct. On Zillow when you close, as an agent, you input your own sale data. The MLS link only works for active listings and then once it's sold, it goes off.

Sell yesterday.

You can't do anything on the MLS without your brokerage's cooperation and a fee going with them. Also, what's the upside for them? They didn't hire a realtor for a reason and they know they will get less views. It's very unlikely that your brokerage would allow this and it could be illegal if you are not working for a specialized firm that offers limited representation MLS access. Most FSBOs don't want the foot traffic or realtor involvement so there isn't much here that will help them. It will just create more annoyances for them.

Have you seen the property yet? Calculator musings are not great for first-time investors if you don't have the experience to see the property and know which numbers need to get adjusted. Especially with repairs. Too many first-time investors use the calculation as a percentage for repairs, but don't go into the property and realize what it needs now, not on a monthly payment. You will have upfront repair costs that don't work in the calculator. Sure, the numbers look ok on the screen, but what does the inside look like? How are the tenants? What are the terms of their leases? Are they over or under market value? Do the units need repairs? Have you seen the books to confirm the accuracy of the building's numbers? You need a lot more information to make sure you are making a good deal.

You shouldn't be thinking about doing anything that is a "blast." People are too smart for that now and no one wants to get the same message that everyone else gets. If you want to be successful at texting, as an agent, send direct one-to-one texts to connect with people and get to know them instead of spamming them with fake messages designed to induce them to do something. You have to do something first, prove to a market that knows there are a million agents that you are different. Anyone can send a text blast. Literally anyone.

The only way to build credibility is to be credible and knowledgeable. While everyone else is waiting for the first deals to drop from the sky, make sure you find the right brokerage for you that will give you Open House opportunities for agents who don't like to sit them. Once you find your brokerage, try to find an agent who is doing decent business who might need some help. Do anything they ask for nothing and learn all that you can. Know your market. Know what sells. Know what doesn't. You have to know more than everyone else to be credible, even more so now when all buyers think they know everything because they can find it online and on HGTV.

The forums are full of good questions and bad questions. The main error I see with new investors trying to get answers to their questions is that they aren't giving enough information about themselves to even warrant a response. If you don't have your profile filled out and your question is just a general "What should I do first to invest?" you could just look up that exact same question and find the basic answers that won't help you.

If you want to get the best answers to your questions in these forums, especially if you are new, try this:

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1. Give us some background as to why you want to invest.

2. Let us know what kind of capital you have to invest.

3. Let us know what background you have in real estate or how much you know. Things like, are you planning on getting your license? Have you seen any properties in person? Do you have any contacts in the business?

4. If you want a mentor of some kind, tell us what you have to offer other than just being a willing participant to soak up knowledge.

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I see way too many people looking for help, but not offering anything in return. Many of us like to help the new guys, but we need as much information as possible to best help you. The more general your questions are, the less helpful the answers will be. Bring something to the table, tell us something, don't just post one sentence all about what you want and think everyone is going to hop on that question just to help.

Last thing, if you haven't seen any properties in person and you have done all of your deal analysis online, you haven't done anything. Meet an agent who you can be friends with, who also likes to invest, and go with them and just look at junk properties so you know what it actually looks like in your market to be a 100k handyman special. You can't be an online investor. You need to see houses, as many as you can, all the time, every week.

If your dad has a license, why is he setting up showings through Zillow? If your parents were shown the house by any agent as a result of a contact online, that agent has proximate cause for a commission on the sale. One they let you in the door for a showing, a relationship has been made. If your dad has a license, he should have scheduled the showing himself through the seller's agent via the MLS instructions.

Zillow isn't doing anything wrong, although it's not a great site. Zillow sells ads to three buyer's agents on every listing and they get the leads when someone clicks in. If they showed your dad the house and then showed it again to you, they are entitled to a commission.

If this annoys you, don't work with buyers. Buyers today think we are all interchangeable bobbleheads. Before this showing was set, how many homes have you shown him? One? And if only this one, why do you think he owes you something? Sure, he should respond, but what if it's true. What if his daughter is sick? Did you ask or were you focused on the house when he is telling you that there is an emergency? And why are you here, on BP, complaining about it - go find other clients. This is how it is working with buyers now. If you don't show them that you are unique, they will just see any house with any agent. And shocker, sometimes real life things happen and they forget to call.