All Forum Posts by: Jonathan Makovsky

Thanks @Account Closed looking forward to seeing you tonight!

Reminder: Tonight is the meet-up in Fairfield, Connecticut.

All the info is above and for anyone in and around the surrounding towns/counties we would love for you to join. Please post below if you can make it!

Stamford, Norwalk, Fairfield, Westport, Trumbull, Stratford, Shelton, Bridgeport, Danbury, Weston, Easton, Ridgefield, Redding, Darien, New Canaan, Greenwich, Milford, Orange, Woodbridge, New Britain, New Haven County, Fairfield County, Hartford County, Litchfield County, Madison, etc.

Craig, please see bold/underlined text below from CT Law:

 Sec. 20-311. Definitions. As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) “Real estate broker” or “broker” means (A) any person, partnership, association, limited liability company or corporation which acts for another person or entity and for a fee, commission or other valuable consideration, lists for sale, sells, exchanges, buys or rents, or offers or attempts to negotiate a sale, exchange, purchase or rental of, an estate or interest in real estate, or a resale of a mobile manufactured home, as defined in subdivision (1) of section 21-64, or collects or offers or attempts to collect rent for the use of real estate, and (B) any person, partnership, association, limited liability company or corporation employed by or on behalf of the owner or owners of lots or other parcels of real estate, at a stated salary, upon commission, upon a salary and commission basis or otherwise to sell such real estate, or any parts thereof, in lots or other parcels, and who sells or exchanges, or offers, attempts or agrees to negotiate the sale or exchange of, any such lot or parcel of real estate;

@Christian Sifuentes, there is a local free meet-up organized by @Stephanie Cabral. I would recommend going there and talking to local experienced investors that will be glad to share their thoughts.

Looking forward to seeing you in Fairfield @Scott Lepre!

@Stephen Jackson, great questions, but loaded questions too. It's kind-of like asking what makes a good significant other? It's probably a fairly long list of items that people are going to look for in someone else. :)

I thought the items you mentioned are correct: unorganized, poor deal structure, but the list will go on forever of potential partner issues.  To try and simplify it, here are some of the top items that i would look for in a partnership:

1) TRUST. This is the probably the most important one to me. You must partner with someone trustworthy - I cannot emphasize this enough.

2) Very clear expectations of roles and what you are both expecting to get out of the partnership

3) Your personalities mesh and you want to work with that person.

4) A good attorney to draft strong legal documents.

Good luck!

@Dominique Poindexter, again best to ask an attorney or at the least an experienced wholesaler in your market. 

Front-End of Transaction: My understanding of the law is that you need to give some "Money!" (EMD) to consummate the deal with the seller. So even if it's $100, I don't think you can have a proper agreement without it.

Back-End of Transaction: I imagine based on your question you are you not planning to double close (i.e. close with the seller and then sell to the buyer), rather you are planning to flip the contract? If it's the latter form of wholesaling (flipping the contract) then you would get the Buyer to pay you your profit on the deal for the wholesale assignment agreement. 

Good luck!

@Dominique Poindexter

What a great subject line: "Money!" Who doesn't like "Money!"?!  But I don't think I understand your question. :) 

If your question is, if you're under contract who should you give the EMD to, my response would be to te Seller's attorney's trust. But I am not familiar with the Chicago real estate market nor your question.

Not sure what you mean by EMD from Buyer? Are you buying and selling a property at the same time?It's probably best to speak to an attorney in your area that specializes in real estate.

In our market, our attorney holds the money in his trust account, or in our broker's trust account.

Best of luck on your deal(s)! 

@Robert Czek nice first post!

Did you ever think about what the best sport out there is, or maybe what is the best color? Well there is no best sport or color- there might be more popular ones - but everyone likes something different.

So while I can try to give some guidance to your question, there is no right or wrong answer to your question either - it's a matter of personal preference and what works best for your family. Remember some people will take serious risks in life, and others prefer a more conservative and balanced approach to avoid risk; and since you are different and your needs/situation is different than everyone else here, there is no one way or definitive answers (unless it's one of the scam artists trying to sell a get rich quick program - there is only one right way with them.)  :)

Getting back to your question, which I am probably not qualified to answer since I am not a "smart" money person:

1) Your assumption was that you cannot get a second mortgage with your current salaries. Can I kindly challenge you to see if you spoke to MULTIPLE mortgage lenders and brokers to verify that? (I stress multiple, because some people see the world in black and white, and if you only go to them then they may have told you no, but...) I wouldn't be surprised if you can get a second loan with the income you stated. However, let's assume you cannot...

2) What about a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) on your current home to pull out money to put more money down to buy the second house and rent out home #1? Is that an option? (Again, I would recommend talking to a local lender - ask around on BP for someone, it's amazing what some of these lenders can do.)

3) Let's say  neither option 1 or 2 work, then it goes back to your comfort level. Do you like blue, pink or green, i.e. what is your risk tolerance for having a bigger mortgage? Do you feel comfortable covering that loan? If yes, and you want to move to bigger house then maybe that's the play. However, if you are you going to be up every night thinking "What if the roof blows off or what if the AC goes (that just cannot happen in Ft Myers!), or what if...?", well then maybe a bigger house isn't for you. 

Again, it's a decision for you and your family to make and what your financial situation and comfort level is.

If it were me - not knowing anything else about you - I would try my best buy home #2 and see if renting home #1 makes financial sense and get into the real estate investing game. But again, do you have the tolerance for that? And you may think very differently than me.

I guess there actually is a best and worst color when it comes to net profit: staying in the black is the best and dipping to the red is the worst.

Best of luck!

@Kristi Buell, great post! You are definitely doing all the right things to learn to flip homes successfully, but most importantly you are teaching your daughter well. Maybe she can start "crawling for dollars" soon too! :)

Looking forward to seeing you around CT and the forums.