All Forum Posts by: Kristin Britt

Jon Holdman, Luis A.

Hmmm....sounds like you may be doubtful of the outcome of this venture with my schedule....? Is that right? I know it sounds horrible, as it is difficult to imagine this lifestyle, but I still think I can do it, though it will be 2 full time jobs essentially until I can find trusted project managers. I have a very strong work ethic, so when I come home, I will just have to hit the ground running and go to the project. When I am on the road, I will call for updates. Perhaps I can set up some systems to keep the contractor up to date with where things should be---a weekly schedule that can be checked off and viewed online? Perhaps when jobs are completed, I can have them take pictures and send them via email or message, and via phone we can discuss any issues. I believe that any business I will start will require all of my time and attention. I have done the 2 full time jobs thing before so I know I am capable of it. We don't have kids, and my husband is involved too, so I think we can pull it off. It wouldn't be long term, but would have to be sustained through the first 2-3 projects, I believe, and hopefully by then I will have found a project manager that can manage for me when I am not here. Or, if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out....but at least I will know. I think I will need to use a GC for the first few jobs. Though I am interested in making a profit (so I can reinvest it, and so I can know I am successful) as long as there is some profit, I am really interested in learning how to do it. I can then increase the margin later.

John Jackson,
Hi!
Yes, we like that show too. Great pilots, amazing conditions they fly in. We saw one where the guy landed on a sand bar (a really small very uneven, rocky, narrow strip) near a river to rescue a guy.

What kind of real estate investing are you involved in?
Kristin

John Evan Miller
John,
Thank you for the response. I meant "passive" income in terms of coming from an investment, rather than income from me working for an employer. I know it will be a lot of work, but I do look forward to and relish the work I will have to do to manage a business of that size/scope. I love the idea of being independant from a "job" (I realize that I will not be truly independant as I will need tons of help from many people) but I mean that I will not have to worry about someone else's bad decisions causing me to lose my job....I will have to worry about my own bad decisions! :)

I would love to learn about and own commercial property. I have not done it yet. My one concern would be that I don't know how to pick a property that I can be fairly certain will stay rented, as I know it can stay vacant for much longer than a typical residential house or apartment. Do you have any advice about choosing a good commercial starter property?

Again, thanks for your questions and response.
Kristin

Luis A.
Luis,
Again, thanks. I appreciate you understanding my concern about getting "rolled over" by the contractors. As you said, I will just have to learn how to deal with it. And hopefully, it would not be the case very often.

We both (I've been reading these to my husband too) thought that your suggestion to maybe amend their forms if they don't want to use mine was a great way to meet in the middle.

I like the crew idea a lot. How would you suggest putting a crew together....or do you think that this would come after I have done a couple using contractors?

I kind of think of my first one or two as my internship.....hopefully it won't end up being an unpaid internship, but if somehow it did....it would still be fantastic experience. I am not afraid to try and then make mistakes and fall flat sometimes; as long as I keep trying until I am successful (and then still keep trying).

Again, thank you.
Kristin

Jon Klaus, Al Williamson,Ned Carey,Joshua Dorkin

Jon, Al, Joshua, and Ned
Thank you all for taking the time to welcome me. I appreciate it. :)

Jon Holdman
Jon,
Thank you for your insight. I like the fact that people on here challenge me to think specifically and clearly about exactly what I need to do to achieve what sometimes starts out as a murkey path to achieve a desired goal. It really helps to crystalize the vision and make the path become more apparent. So I agree that having those 3 things (money, crew, and license) will make this much more profitable. We both have our real estate licenses in Florida so that much is done. The goal is to have our own money, which is the purpose for doing the rehabs, but we will have to start out with a little and keep investing in the business to build more. As far as having my own crew....where would you start with that? Would you suggest advertisting for skilled individuals, like individual plumbers, electricians, painters, etc.? I like the idea of just paying them hourly. Why would a skilled worker want to work this way, rather than working for a contractor....especially when at first I will only be doing one here and there?

You asked what price range I was going to be doing....and at first the intent is to start with "starter" houses in decent neighborhoods that will sell for $105,000-$115,000. This is because I know about 6-7 of these neighborhoods (I live in one), and because in addition to hard money, the remainder that we will have to come up with to complete the deal $40-50K I think we can handle at this point. We both have great jobs that pay very well, but unfortunately they cause us to be out of town about 1/2 the week, every week. So finding time to search for houses and make offers is the hard part, as I am only home 3 days or so before I go again.

Then the goal is to get experience under my belt, build systems, learn who I can trust to work with, and then move up to bigger deals with more upside potential. But I have to build up a solid bank account, to really get the ball rolling.

I think I can find profitable rehabs here, I just need to break into a small one, and then I'll have a better idea of everything. As far as looking elsewhere, I don't know about doing rehabs out of town....where I don't know the areas. Is this what you mean? Have you done this? If you have, how would you suggest I go about it?

Finally, doing an internship would be fantastic experience, but I have two concerns. One is that I do have a full time job, am only here 3 days a week (to do everything from laundry to groceries to bills and just be at home for a minute), and I don't know if I could do an internship under those conditions. I could ask for time off from work, which would probably be granted, but I would have to pay insurance and would have no income, which would seriously hamper my investing goals. I don't mean to sound negative about it, because I think its a fantastic idea for building experience under a more experienced person, I am just asking if you think it could work for me? If so.....how do you suggest I find someone to do an internship with? Here on these boards? Again....thanks for your insight. I REALLY do appreciate it.
Kristin

Glenn, Glenn Espinosa
The training we went to was a bootcamp....all day every day for 4 days. It discussed estimating repairs, they gave us their price sheet for estimating repairs (with specific numbers to use for windows, floors, paint interior and exterior, roof, AC/Heat, Kitchen, Bath, landscaping, etc.), it went over hiring and dealing with contractors in a professional rehab with timelines and change orders, they discussed obtaining private money, hard money, etc, they talked about different ways of finding properties to buy, they talked about having exit strategies in place in the case that it wouldn't sell, having a project manager....that's all I can think of right now. They had us walk through some actual houses and estimate repairs using the repair estimator to see how close everyone got on the numbers they came up with. Hopefully this is what you were asking. :)
Kristin

Luis A., Luis A.
Wow! Thank you so much for your reply. Your point about letting others pay too much is a great one. That is what my husband has been saying (I'll tell him you agree! :)) but as we just can't get a nibble I have started to doubt. But you are both right.....I just haven't found that motivated seller yet.

Working with the contractors is the part that makes me nervous, because I worry that they will just try to roll over me and kind of push what they want, and not do what I want, or not take me seriously. Sometimes (having worked with them as a homeowner) they seem kind of bully-ish.

The training we went to said to have the contractors sign your forms (they gave us the forms they use) that spell everything out, and protect the investor as well as specifying when they would be paid (after some work was done), etc. But I worry that contractors will refuse to sign. Perhaps I just need to toughen up and stand up to them, and tell them if they don't sign then we can't work together. I have thought of doing this, but then I wonder if that won't really matter to them, as I am only just starting and don't have a lot of work for them yet.

I will keep reading here and asking questions and check out your blog. I also hope I can find some other friendly South Florida rehabbers who don't mind sharing their knowledge with a newbie.
Thanks again!!
Kristin

Nice house Dave,
It's going to look great once it's freshened up. If I were doing it, I would see if the wall between the kitchen and living area is load bearing, and if it is not....then I would knock out the top half of that wall to open it up and create a breakfast bar there. People always seem to like those. :) Good luck. Can't wait to see it finished.
Kristin

Hey Guys! Robert M. and John Jackson
Just wanted to say hello! Relatively new here. My husband and I are both pilots for JetBlue. He's from Mt. Pleasant, TX. We don't get back to Texas very often unfortunately......we live in Florida, commute to New York for work, and try to invest in our free time, but I always love being there when we are there. We both got all our training in the civilian world and miss flying (the fun kind) grass strips and smaller planes!! :) Just wanted to say hello.
Kristin and Jason Britt

J. Scott,
Thank you. Yes, just need local pricing. That's a good idea to spend a couple hundred dollars to get a price list together. I think that will be my next step. I may do this with several contractors to get a good average. Thanks for the suggestions.

Eddie P.,
Thanks for the reply. I see you are South Florida, as well. We are in Oakland Park.....where are you located? OK, so you went to the CT Homes/Fortune Builders seminar here? I am glad you are backing up the realization I am slowly coming to....that that formula just won't work here. Do you have one that you use, to make your offers? Do you have a lot of luck with getting offers accepted for the older listings? Have you done a lot of rehabs here? What kind of profits do you generally make on a rehab? Thank you again!

Kristin

Hi Everyone!
I am really happy to have found these forums. It's good to hear from others with the same interests and it's really interesting and informative and fun to read the newbie experiences and the experienced investors as well.

My husband and I have 7 long term buy and hold single family rentals in various cities (some are more and some are less profitable). Our short term goal is to achieve financial freedom within 5 years through passive income. We both have full time jobs, and I would like to be able to just be a full time investor eventually. Our longer term goals are: $1M+ annual income, 100+ units, and transitioning from full time work to full time investing. We intend to use our earned income as well as leverage to fund our goals, but we also want to accellerate our goal acheivement by completing multiple rehabs each year.

We have done one full gut rehab, but spent way too much money and it took way too long, and we ended up selling it in 2 weeks, but losing money. THEN, we took some extensive professional rehab training, got our real estate licenses, created an LLC, and started making offers. So far, we have been unable to get any offers accepted, and I think my offers are too low, but I am concerned about repair price estimates, having not done a rehab down here. I am just worried that it will all cost more than I initially estimate, or that I won't be able to find contractors to take me seriously and get me investor pricing vs. retail pricing.

Thanks for any advice or insight or even just encouragement or sharing you give! I appreciate it. :)
Kristin

Hi Dale,
OK, will do. Thank you for the response. I see you are a mobile home investor. My brother and I grew up in a mobile home, raised by a single mom. The mobile home allowed her to raise us in the country on a large plot of land, and to have a place of her own, rather than to have to rent an apartment somewhere. Mobile homes get a bad name, and while I didn't want to stay there forever, it was a great opportunity for our family to begin to fight its way out of poverty. :) Hope your investing is going well.
Kristin