All Forum Posts by: Larry Turowski

I’m with @Joe S. most of my deals—and all since maybe 2012—have been off market. Either ones that I found myself or through good wholesalers. And there is no mystery to it. Here is how to find them:

Networking

Wholesalers

Driving for dollars

Bandit signs

SEO

PPC

Facebook ads

Cold calling

Mailers

Billboards

It may not be easy but it is no more difficult than being a realtor. Realtors do many of these same things. How do you think deals get ON market?

@Amanda G.

> Single Family Homes $150-175K

This is your problem. I’d echo what everyone else is saying. You’re unlikely to get these to cash flow with a standard purchase. I can BRRR these and make them work (buy them at lower price points, rehab so my total cost with purchase and rehab is 150-175k and  now they are worth 180-210, refi out at 70%, extracting 136-147k so that I’ve left only 14-28k in the deal, and rent them out. My cash on cash will be much better than yours but even then it’s not a very attractive deal to me.

You should lower your price point to 100-125k. You can get decent houses in C-class neighborhoods and do fine. And I’ve had great experience with S8. 

@Logan Jamieson look, I get you. It IS frustrating. You could have bought a house, or several, that would have doubled in value. But that frustration will kill you. First—and I struggle with this, too, when deals get away from me—you need to cultivate gratitude. A lot of things are going right for you. Your job, your savings, sounds like you have a supportive dad, you live in a place you evidently love, you’ve had exposure to the business. Second, you need to realize you are looking with 20/20 hindsight. Nobody knew prices were going to double. Nobody knew interest rates were going to go  shoot up (and nobody knew we were going to face a global pandemic). But what if prices are going to double again? And what if interest rates are going to go into the double digits. I don’t think they are but what if? You’ll be kicking yourself for missing the opportunity again. All you can do is work with what you know now and what is a reasonable expectation for the future. There are deals now. You just have to find them. 

@Helene Goodworth

You said: Please tell me this is as good as I think it is. I feel like I am missing something. 

You should be looking to prove it wrong, not prove it right. You’ve already gotten some good feedback here. This does not pass the sniff test at all. S8 tenants (not bad but price is extremely high for S8 type tenants), house looks rough according to you, absurdly low taxes. I have a feeling you’d get killed financially if you bought this. Prove me wrong.

And how does this compare to other deals in the area. You should look at 100 before you decide on one. 

 I have to disagree here. The law does not apply to small landlords, those with fewer than 10 units.  And it is not about personality conflicts, especially with larger landlords who are often going to have management in place.

The biggest problem is the limit on rent increases. I and other investors have bought 10+ unit building or packages that are in disrepair, run by landlords with no funds or inclination to rehab them and as a result were rented at very low rates to tenants who wouldn’t complain about all the problems. Now nobody can buy them and put the funds in to fix them up because they won’t be able to raise the rents to justify the investment. These places are just going to continue to deteriorate. 

 This is a perfect example of the price collusion that agents deny exists because “commissions are negotiable.” Does anybody think the railroads had a written agreement on pricing? It was all a wink and a nod but collusion nonetheless. 

Here’s what I think will happen. Buyers offers will contain a contingency that the seller pays X percent to their buyers agent.

And the negotiations will go from there.

I do think real estate agents are over compensated. Heck, I’ve thought many times about becoming one because of this.

The barrier to competition has never been getting licensed. That is a very low bar. The barrier is the control of the MLS, and, in spite of assertions that compensations can be negotiated, that control coupled with collusion has created a sort of cartel effect.

What would be great is a national disruptor. A company that could offer a paid listing service together with 10 hours of training and a help desk. And maybe extra expertise for pay. Certainly saving potentially 10k or more would be worth the hassle to most people. A company like Zillow should be able to do this, to market intelligently, give people peace of mind, and have the data to back up that it works out better for the seller.

Real estate isn't rocket science, let alone and doctor level. And Realtors shouldn't be compensated like rocket scientists or doctors. Control over the MLS together with the anxiety that comes from a once in a lifetime huge transaction has allowed them to be.

I've done short sales in the past where I live using a local realtor who is an expert in short sales. I'll be working with relatives on this one. Any recommendation for help?

Awesome, thanks. DM’d you.

Any experienced commercial/multi-family investors willing to talk a little about their investing journey--like on the phone?

I'm an experienced investor, both flipping and buy-and-hold many SFHs and small multis.  In addition, I've done a couple of small commercial deals.  Now I am considering going big.

One of the things I found invaluable early on was talking with experienced investors and asking them to tell me their story.  How did you get started?  What do you do now?  What is working for you?  It really helped me shape what I wanted to do.  I have in turn done that for many new investors.

And now I'm in need it again.  Would you be willing to spend 20-30min on the phone with me?  Please reply or DM me.