All Forum Posts by: Jonathan Makovsky

@Skip Gilliam 

Some examples of businesses for absentee owners: certain franchises, laundromats, etc.

I would not advise (nor do I think R. Kiyosaki is) in real estate or any owner-absentee business to ever be fully absent, but I think his point is that you don't need to be there for the business to exist (like a service business that runs only when you are running the service: attorneys, CPA's, doctors, etc.).

Hope this helps and enjoy the read.

@Steven Blanton I am going to echo a lot of the previous thoughts. My comments are also on the presumption that I will not opine on your personal/familial situation (I don't know your family dynamics) and regardless of family or not, you must strip the emotion out of the deal.

Think about your question in basic Economics 101: What is the supply (capital partners) out in the marketplace for the demand of your deal? 

If you have a great deal with tons of demand you can start dictating the terms and tell a lender/partner to pound sand because they are out of line from the other deals you have. 

However, if the demand for your deals are low/non-existent because you're inexperienced (nothing wrong with that - we all started somewhere) and have little to no cash to put in the deal (again we all started somewhere) then you might need to take what you are given and start building from there.

If after a couple of deals you prove that you have a great skill-set of finding deals, operating them successfully, and hitting great numbers you can (in other words) tell your brother to get lost with those numbers he's offering. But first, you need to have demand for your deals and unfortunately in this game you almost need experience to be trusted, so this deal might be best through your brother (who let's not forget is seemingly taking ALL the risk).

Just ask the seller if they will hold paper. (Also, sometime on the MLS/commercial brokers will provide this info.)

@Devin Mann

Buy/Hold: 

What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow by Frank Gallinelli

Fix/Flip: 

The Book on Flipping Houses and The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs by J Scott

@Yasmine Bisumber

• #1 Get Educated:
  
  • $100 - Buy books (List here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2013/04/1...)

  • Free & Invaluable - BP Podcasts

  • (Subtotal: $100)
• #2 Find Deals and/or Find a Mentor to show you how to find deals:
  • $100 Gas - Drive for Dollars/Door Knocking
  • $20 - Supplies (pens/paper) for hand written letters to leave in people's mailboxes 
  • Free & Invaluable - Work for the Mentor in exchange for learning
  • (Subtotal: $220)
• #3: If becoming educated hustling are not in the cards for your friend, then the only other way I can see becoming successful is by getting a J.O.B. and saving money to invest. 

Sorry I can't sugarcoat this, but it's hard to make money in real estate without hustling and being educated. AND it's going to still be a real upward battle without much money behind your friend. 

Although on a positive note, there is still $180 leftover in the example above :) Best of luck to your friend.

Have not read it yet, but it's been recommended a few times: Trump Style Negotiations by George Ross.

Hope this helps.

@Account Closed There is a lot of information on this topic. 

Driving for dollars, direct mail, getting lists from town clerk of blighted homes, etc. I think if you research those for starters you should be able to get a decent amount of information.

Alternatively, if you don't want to comb through the forums then listen to the podcasts. It hits on exactly what you're looking for - how wholesalers got started.

Best of luck.

@Scott Trench I am in the process of looking into offices in my area (Stamford CT) for shared office. The lenders I have spoken to had said that LTV will be higher and rates slightly lower because owner occupant/lower risk. (Not sure if same will apply for 100K SF office space, but I have been looking for 10K SF space.)

Our market might change with a decent amount of negative absorption in the office market with GE and Starwoods projected to move out of Fairfield County, so I do have some concerns buying now if office might get even softer here.

@Rick Santos $40K per door fixed up in a solid part of NB looks good and those rents are on mark (you can possibly squeeze a little more depending on time of year). 

H/T @Michael Noto for putting it together!

@Jennifer Dean My comment just relates to the numbers of the deal itself (which I don't have much information on, nor do I know your area, the age of the building, or other important factors). However, with that being said the Operating Expenses looks light compared to the Rent at only 23% ($1,360/$6,095).

It might be completely justified if taxes are low, the building is new, there are no/low vacancies (which I am not sure if you took PGI/EGI into account), etc. 

However, a 23% OpEx ratio sends red flags to me.