All Forum Posts by: Joshua Martin

@Rebecca Knox How about that happy hour?

@James DeRoest Should've bought the 911.

WOW! Haha. Somebody liked this thread today which brought it up in my feed. It must've been like my first or second post ever on BP. I was still mulling over real estate, hahahaha.

I don't do anything else these days, and @Ryan Dossey is even on here, who I'm likely to hire to take my calls soon! And @Gino Barbaro, who I've listened to on many podcasts. Thanks for the early input guys, really.

Now I can say, probably some 40 houses into the business between buy and hold, wholesaling, and brokering MLS deals, there is no longer any question that real estate is the best avenue. And, in response to my initial inquiry about returns, I would tell my 3 yr younger self to just shoot for that infinity symbol ;)

Lol. Thanks for liking this someone, really brings me back, and I'd say if you somehow stumbled across this because you may have been wondering about real estate, go in, go all in.

Best,

  JTM

@Sam Askar That's a crazy question to try and answer. It depends what, where, and how you buy a property.

I see people in A/B class that have returns probably around 2-3% whatever metric you use (lame is my point, unless you're big on debt paydown, which is almost never why people like Milwaukee), but then I see guys doing hilarious and lease option rent to own setups where their returns are something like 1,000%...

And if you're going for value add hopefully you're shooting for that infinity symbol either way.

None of that is probably helpful, but a general point might be that they're super hard to find wherever you're looking, but there's probably deals in your own back yard just as there are in MKE.

If you're talking about the MLS, it's kind of a joke and generally none of the locals pay that.

Most MKE housing stock, especially in what are now C/D class areas, was built between 1890-1910. Well, 50+ years of neglected maintenance leaves you a lot of catching up to do. 

Out of state people do build successful inner city cash flow portfolios, but based on what I've seen over the last few years, for out of state folks it is the exception rather than the rule.

Best of luck wherever you're making moves!

Hey BP,

  So I'm just wondering what your set up is for those of you that do a lot of marketing on this particular forum. I'm looking for the specifics, as much as anyone can provide.

  Let me provide a quick example from today and try tell you what I'm talking about and the problem I'm having.

  First, if you're not using a service, how much time do you spend with each lead? How aggressively do you filter them? When we send larger mailers what ends up happening, since I'm taking the calls, is that I only chase the ones that initially seem motivated, but more and more after a few years of doing this it is the follow up that really seems more important, and I feel like I'm not interfacing with leads well enough because they seem like junk at the time they call.

  Today, for example, I touched based with a seller who my team had cold called. They had connected and sent me the summary sheet. Free and clear, vacant and slightly distressed duplex. I know the area, and know that I'd like to be at least 30k under what he currently wants for it based on his description of the property via phone, etc.

  BUT, what do you do with one like this? I can't set up appointments for every unmotivated seller call I get, but you also don't know who will come round later. (On this particular one, there were other family tensions mentioned that makes me think it's worth putting in the follow up though).

  So a few questions, to you marketing gurus one here:

1. Are you taking the calls any more?

2. What is your lead escalation process? For example, if someone else is taking the call, what needs to be satisfied in order for an appointment to be set?

3. Are you doing all the due diligence on the leads? For example, if someone else is answering and doing the initial interface, are you still pulling comps and doing the follow ups?

  Thanks for any advice I get back here. We'll be figuring it out this year but as we start sending more mail it's a problem I'm already anticipating and don't want to get stuck in the problem like I did the last year or two.

Best,

  JTM

Hey @Craig Curelop,

  I wrote a BP blog for you guys in the member section about my 203k four family story, it's titled How to Live for Free (And then Some). Combination of airbnb and renting two units plus and extra bed. Good deal. It's all there though so I don't need to repeat.

  I'm getting into an even better one though that I'm blogging about outside of here, themoneydummy.com, first post title God Help Me. That's a deal (and very well written ;)

  I'll probably post content on BP as I move through it.

Best,

  JTM

Hey @Ariana Pope,

  I would just use the WB-11 Wisconsin Offer to Purchase for the contract itself, it doesn't matter that you're not a licensee and it's better should you, god forbid, ever end up in court if this contract was used. If you search WB-11 Wisconsin I bet you'll find a PDF of it and can download there. Just read through it, get familiar with it, and strike out all 3 options on the first couple lines since you'll be a principal in the transaction.

  You'll have to fish around for an assignment of contract though, or I'm sure real estate attorneys will have them on hand. I've seen them as thin as 4 sentences and as long as a densely written full page. Pretty simple concept though.

Hope that helps to get you started!

I'm not sure turnkey ever really works out that well for people from larger companies, make sure you read lots of reviews and try to network with companies current clients before you sign up.

Best of luck!

Hey @Account Closed, great and articulate post.

I would say a few things: 1. Yeah, it seems like the market is high. As you mention Riverwest or Bay View, I'm thinking that they don't cash flow all that well, especially if you factor in a PM (with placement costs) and longer term capital expenses. Furthermore, the rents aren't that high, maybe a little more so in Bay View, but not relative to the purchase prices and the tax bills. I see that stuff in Bay View moving so high I don't even look at it anymore, and the beat up ones that hit the MLS still sell so high that there's no equity there for the investor. Those you need to buy off market - tough to find. Stuff on the south side, even with lower rents, can cash flow a lot better than these Bish class neighborhoods, if handled well.

2. I think with your current resources you can pull off just about anything you want, you have a lot of power there ;) You could leverage your resources in any number of ways. But that might still be confusing, so I would say you need to just dial in the following questions to start:

  1. Do you want cash flow or debt paydown? Cash flow can replace your income, that debt pay down can replace your retirement.

  2. Will you work in Cish class neighborhoods? If so, you could probably get to that $2,500 a lot sooner than 5 years. (FYI, a property manager friend of mine likes to stress how NON-PASSIVE this actually is, lol. Then again, he's on the front lines).

  3. Do you want to finance your purchases or network with off market folks and try to buy them at a discount?

I guess that's it for now. Best of luck, and come to our Brew City Meetup on March 14th, should be tagged somewhere around here on BP as a local meetup. Great place to start making some connections.

Oh, as for local banks, I don't have too many mortgages at the moment (they won't give me any), but Landmark, Waterstone, Equitable, and Waukesha state bank are all local and more or less investor friendly. If you need an interesting product one or the other might have it. (E.g. Waukesha State lets you put down 15% on single family investment purchases, Summit Credit Union lets you cash out into an LLC w/ no seasoning period, etc.)

Best,

JTM

Thanks @Brie Schmidt, I'll see you there. Looking forward to it.