All Forum Posts by: Derek Guyer

Dawn,

Welcome to Biggerpockets.com. We're glad to have your experience and desire to get back into the game here. I hope we can help you and you can help us.

As a Realtor/Birddog, I constantly find that Zillow is not accurate in my market. The accessed value is not the market value and that is a very important difference.

Before I became a Realtor, I buddied up with them (Realtors) and got the info I needed. If there is a listing agent in the area, you can call and ask them what other houses like their listing have sold for in the area on a similar property and see what they send you on the house they are selling. Don't ask for market comps or anything that sounds too "investory."

Some agents will do it and some won't, but it's a good way to find out the info you need and it only takes the agent 5 minutes to do it.

Most importantly, as long as you make it worth an agents time, they should be willing to help you out when you need quick things. To make sure, take them out to lunch or send them a listing or a buyer or something like that and they will want to help you as a result. I've even sent out gift cards to say thanks!

I hope that helps!

Welcome to Biggerpockets, Victoria. It's always nice to have investors with experience in here. It's a great place to learn and share.

It's seems like just when I feel a pretty strong understanding of something, someone else shares a new line of thought and I'm back to being a student again. I hope we all keep helping each other. It's definitely transforming my investing.

Congrats on the first deal and welcome to biggerpockets. It's always encouraging to see people stepping out and trying.

See you around!

I would suggest hooking up with a real estate agent in your area who can guide you to some good comps. If you are purchasing properties and they are listed, he/she can then make a buck by "being your realtor" on the deal.

I started birddogging and still love doing it today. It gives you a ton of time to learn what makes sense and what doesn't and it's a great way to learn the market.

Getting around some experienced investors who don't mind sharing some of what they've learned will do you a lot of good. That 45 minute drive should be well worth the time if you can do some good networking.

Shoot an email if you've got more questions.

I agree with juzamjedi. I do have some questions though...

What is the market like in that area? Are the properties appreciating strongly? Can you make good enough money on cash flow to justify the deal or is this something you can justify little or no cash flow on because it has such great appreciation and you can move it quickly in another year or two for some easy money?

Just something to think about.

I 100% agree with All Cash. Anytime I have veered from that, I was ticked later. Stay focused on good clean numbers that are conservative and don't let someone talk you into anything different.

For newbies, this is very difficult because there is so much hype in this field. Just because someone tells you it's a good deal doesn't mean it is and your ability to analyze is critical because of that.

Stop listening to the voices and look at the facts. They'll tell you everything you need to know about a deal.

My first deal was a s/f that we purchased for $49k. I was 23. We put $20k into it and it appraised for $115k. It was a nice deal and I learned a lot from it.

I got in because I loved the work. I still do.

Sometimes charging lower rents and looking for long-term tenants to ensure steady cash flow is just as important and in a lot of ways more important. Charging less can help keep more steady rents coming in through long-term tenants.

I'm not saying you should rip yourself off by not making anything on the rents, but why not make $100 less a month to save two or three months of vacancy because the tenants can't afford the place or are going to be more focused on owning their own place later and have no intentions of staying.

I would also highly suggest looking for a good property manager, especially if you're going to look out of town.

There are tons of variables to discuss, but...

A short sale will hurt your credit, but not nearly as bad as a foreclosure will. In a short sale, the bank knows it's taking a loss and you and the buyer being prepared for the negotiations with them is imperative.

Your friend will need to be given written permission by you to talk with your bank. Once they have been given permission, you need to find out what the lender requires for a short sale and get every piece of it in immediately. As soon as they have their requested info, the negotiations can begin and so does the fun...

I'd be more than happy to help you further, but am extremely tired and heading to bed. Feel free to call or email with questions:

Derek Guyer
317-753-7158
[email protected]