All Forum Posts by: JRD Mondial

A couple of weeks ago, I decided I wanted to dive back into the RE game and proclaimed my determination to get my 1st deal done. I boldly set a target for a successful rehab and flip by 8/31/2015.

What did I do next? Well, thx for asking.

1. Web searched for and spoke with hardmoney lenders in my area. (a few I found right here on BP) I also started to put a list together of potential private lenders. This is how I plan to finance this deal.

2. I started scouring online resources for potential deals. 

I live in NYC and own a business in Westchester County. I know NYC and the surrounding suburbs tend to have higher price points than a lot of other places. But I don't care. I want to do a deal here. Even if it's the only one I ever do in life. I want to do ONE deal here!Why not the 1st one.

I searched for single family homes for under $300K. Initially found 20 properties I wanted to look at. I chose $300k as my benchmark because I know the type of property I'm looking for, in this area, under that mark, is going to be questionable and potentially distressed. 

3. I went to check out these properties and the areas they were in. In the midst of driving around from property to property, I came across a number of other potential deals. About 7 or so. Now mind you, there was no plan of action. It's not as if I was driving up and down every street purposely looking. I was just following gps directions to the next property on my list and would catch a boarded up window out the corner of my eye. I also had a good buddy with me and he spotted a few. We would jump out, go take down the address, write down agent information if there was any, and took pictures for review later. It's that easy ppl

4. Spoke with a couple of agents to discuss the outlook for my area. One was especially generous with his time and extremely knowledgeable. 

5. Found 4 potential contractors. 1 was at a Merchants Association mtg. I use to walk past the office of another. Now I had a reason to just walk in and talk to someone and did just that. 2 I just saw working on other projects and asked for the head honcho. 

6. I've taken part in a few networking events which proved to be fruitful. One in particular was a program centered around the issue of Gentrification. I went because I knew part of the discussion would have to be related to real estate. Sure enough one of the panelist was the head of a NYC area real estate group, The Council of Urban Real Estate or CURE. He invited me to mixer they were hosting where I met a bunch of Real Estate Professionals and Investors. It was amazing!

7. I analyzed potential deals using the BP calculator. Great tool. I have one suggestion for  @Joshua Dorkin, we should be able to factor in multiple lenders on a deal. Maybe that's there and I missed it. IDK.

8. I downloaded Jay Scott's books as a refresher. He includes some solid tools for use as well. Can't front, good stuff!

9. I challenged a friend & mentor to a flip competition. Now this guy is a seasoned investor, he has focused on buy & hold for most of his career. He decided to do a flip for the excitement of it. It would be his first. I told him I was gonna kick his ***. Lololol. So here we go. The loser has to buy the other a fancy dinner. 

Hey BP community, thx for being a forum for my ramblings.

J R

Hey Malik,

One method you can utilize is the advance search feature on most brokerage websites. In my neck of the woods, I know I can't find, let's say 2,3,4 family homes for under $300k. If I set my max to $300k and multifamily properties start popping up, chances are they are distressed in some way. If they are grossly under what you would expect the market rate would be, chances are they may be empty and in need of serious rehabbing. I did this recently and sure enough I came across a few. Once you have identified a few online, that should cut back on how much driving around you need to do. You can plan to visit the potential prospects using mass transit. (not sure how what that looks like for you.)

But if you enjoy driving around farming neighborhoods like I do, you can rent a car using relay rides or zip car for a couple of hours. Or you can rent a bike if you don't already have one. I'm planning on buying a bike for this exact reason. Get great exercise and farm an area at the same time. And worst case scenario, you can identify pockets of neighborhoods you wan to check out and walk it. Again, burn some calories and farm, building wealth and health. Good luck.

@Marlon WilsonThank you all for the warm welcome and tips. You're helping me stay motivated and excited about the prospects. 

@Marlon Wilson, @Ben Rutkevitz,

@Larry Fried

Hi @Malik Joseph. Welcome to the site. I'm new as well and also from NYC. I have a friend whose had great success buying and holding out in Pittsburgh. Just goes to show you the lengths us NYCers have to go to to find deals. With that said, I would love to own here in NYC. I have not given up on the idea.

Great points @Corey Demuth. I used to drive around Newark back in 06-08 looking for opportunities and came close with multi family in Hartford.

This is hilarious. Props for making the effort. Thing is, the premise makes complete sense.

Thx @Paul Timmins for the great info and for reaching out. I just downloaded "Real Estate Rewind' and look forward to reading it. 

That they do James, that they do. It's been quite the education. It was a failed stored when it was acquired. Put a lot of work into building it up. Now it's starting to show signs of being the business I always thought it could be. But I've been dying to get back into RE. 

How are things in Cleveland? You guys have been making some noise in the sports world lately. The browns gonna give Johnny Football a real shot or what?

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the Bigger Pockets community and wanted to introduce myself. I'm a co-owner of an Edible Arrangements franchise in Westchester County, NY. Just made 5 years this past February. I'm an entrepreneur at heart, could not stomach my first professional job out of college. Have never held a full time professional position for more than 8 months. It's just not for me. Real estate peaked my interest in the mid '00s. I jumped in in 2006. Started off mostly reading a bunch of books. "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" really opened my eyes. I saw the world in a whole new light after that book. I participated in local real estate investment club meetings and have attended seminars. Around that time I did get close to closing some deals. I've had sellers accept offers and pull out when a better one came along - didn't get the contract out fast enough. In 08, I was making moves on a 12 unit. Got the seller to hold a note for 10%, was approved for 80% from the bank, but I hadn't gotten the balance figured out yet. Well, unfortunately that's when financial institutions started to fail, the investors I had lined up bailed, the deal fell apart. Rather than stick with RE, I decided I would go into franchising business. It seemed like a smart move at the time. Got some partners together, purchased a failed Edible Arrangements franchise and have spent the last few years building that up. I've been itching to get back in RE investing and here I am.

My immediate goal is to start out with rehab & flipping. I intend to successfully complete a deal by 8/31/15. I will buy and hold when the opportunity presents itself. My intermediate goal is to build a portfolio of multifamily, 20+ Units. Long term, I want to get into development.

I've been devouring the BP podcast. I know there are some amazing investors utilizing this platform. My hope is that I'll be able to make a solid contribution to the community and that we can get to know each other well. 

Thx