All Forum Posts by: Katherine Earle

Thanks. I definitely can see the need to be super dilligent about a solid team in place! I guess the question remains....do I take the money I have now and use it towards building a solid team in a cheaper market or try to use it to get into an FHA loan here and househack in an area that is hours away from my homebase?

I have family in MI where I could buy a property $50k vs $400-500k in my neighborhood. I was thinking about doing flips that need only minor work and easy to sell while I build up some capital and experience. Investors around me keep saying to go to sacramento area, but even there is still around $200k which is still a bit out of reach for me at this point.

I own my own business and I want to break into Real Estate. I can probably liquidate about $15k to fund a flip for a hard money lender. Does that seem reasonable as a starting ground if I could find a property for $50k and $20k in rehab costs with an ARV of $100k?

I am a Norcal girl born and raised with a Soloprenuer business wanting to break into real estate. I'm considering looking outside my area for my first few flips while I build up some capital and experience until I can hook up with a partner in my neighborhood. Those who do remote investing, what are your thoughts on looking in other states to do a flip as a newbie?

Welcome Mathew! 

I am also a newbie in SR and looking forward to hooking up with like-minded people in my area. What classes are you attending and do you feel like they are benefiting you at this point? I will be at the next meet-up in Petaluma in a couple weeks. Maybe I will see you there! Good luck to ya. :-)

-Kat

I have a house across the street from my parents house that is now vacant with the owner too sick to live there anymore. I want to approach them to potentially make an offer, but I don't even know if they want to sell it yet. Since the owner has lived there for 37 years and will need full-time care, I am considering suggesting a seller-financing deal to give them monthly payments instead of just offering a low ball price. Thoughts on how I might approach them about it? Am I correct in thinking that they would offset any capital gains tax this way? I know I am still green in all of this. So if anyone has some suggestions or suggested resources that I can read myself, I would greatly appreciate it!

I really appreciate it! I keep hearing how people seem to break into this business as a wholesaler as well. I just met with a realtor yesterday who is also an investor who is giving me a couple names of hard lenders for pre-approval. Any thoughts on starting out listening to a realtor vs trying to listen to some other strategies such as getting ahold of some direct mail lists or advertising myself as an aspiring bird dog since I don't have any money in the game yet? I'm in the north bay area. So, prices are very high and I haven't even had a regular job in a few years now.

Being so new, I am going to start with whatever I can to help me achieve my financial goals. My initial thoughts are starting with finding single family homes to rent out to start generating passive income and potentially flip or do wholesale deals to create the income to live off of until I have enough passive income. Being a stay-at-home mom looking for a way generate income seemed like an appropriate way to start until I start getting out there. Thoughts?

And just so you know, we have certified many pit bulls and rottweilers for service. A breed ban should be nullified in that case, if in fact they truly are a service dog. They make amazing service dogs when they are trained properly (or family dogs for that matter). They would only be a problem if they weren't actually trained (which unfortunately I see all the time with numerous dogs of all breeds).

This a very sticky subject. I am a service dog trainer as well as a new investor. The ADA is meant to protect a disabled person regarding privacy. So the animal does not have to be wearing any ID to signify that they are in fact a service animal. There is definitive distinction between a "support animal" which has not technically been  certified as "service animal". On top of that, there is no governing entity monitoring who is even certifying these animals. It is not very understood by the public, but my husband and I have plans to change this issue. As far as your immediate needs, just because they say it is a service animal, its obedience shouldnt even ever have to be in question. If it is, they either failed to comply with re-newing their service cert "which is typically tested yearly or they were never certified by a real trainer in the first place. If they are a problem, you should speak with the ADA and a lawyer so you are protected from being sued for discrimination. Other than that, if they say it is a service animal, the only question you are leagally allowed to ask is "what task do they perform?" After that, you have to take their word for it.