All Forum Posts by: Mario Casarez

Originally posted by @Jonathan R.:

I get why you think an investor friendly agent would be valuable, it’s because you think they know more than you do. You need to educate yourself. And you do that by doing deals and networking. On my first investment property I used a realtor, and thank goodness he did know how to find off market deals (most don’t) or it would have been the blind leading the blind and I may have never gotten past my first deal. He went to a Facebook group and said I have a buyer looking for this... and a few wholesalers sent him properties and we went to those with the one or two mls properties that met my criteria and I bought one of the off market deals, because it was the best deal. Once I saw a realtor do that once, I knew I no longer needed a realtor. I knew I needed to be in that Facebook group. Then I learned I needed to be on every buyers list of every wholesaler I could find in my area so my email box has deals coming through regularly. Now I buy directly from wholesalers with no realtor, I sign their paperwork or I sign the title company’s contract they send out with the wholesaler. 
I’d still consider using my original realtor if I wanted to retail sell a property, after all I have no problem tipping waiters. With more than a handful of properties under my belt, I can safely say I know a lot more about what I’m doing than the realtor. Still a nice guy.

My guess is if you asked most of those realtors that have commented in this string if they have brought off market (non mls and non for sale by owners) to buyers, most of those even have never done it. Just because they sold an mls property to an investor does not mean they know what they are doing. Perhaps they can read my above comments and learn too and proceed accordingly, after all its BP. I’ve learned a lot from the site and enjoy contributing.

 Hey there, ive been reading several different threads on this forum as i embark on my flipping journey and came across your post.  I'm in So Cal and just wanted to get an idea of how you went about finding the Facebook groups to help you find deals.  Do you still use the same FB group to find all your deals (from wholesalers)?  I'm interested in taking that approach and was wondering what your method was for locating a good source (facebook, or what have you) for finding deals.

Thank you,

Mario

Originally posted by @Shane Boyd:

Nice!  Good points by all. It's a different kind of work the average Realtor has no interest in, is what I'm gathering.  Good to know.  

I'm approaching my downtown in the inspection industry so I'll have more time to put into my 1st flip.  I don't have high expectations.  I expect to walk away with $5k or more profit for my 1st one.  It'll be fun because my wife and 14 year old son can help with the dirty work.

I'm looking forward to it.  

Thanks for your help.

Cheers!

Hi Shane,

I'm in the same boat as you were when you posted this.  Complete newb and learning the flip business.  I just wanted to check in to see if you ever did complete your first flip and make your projected 5k profit!  I found your post because i searched "should i use an agent to find my first flip" and then your post came up in one of the results.

Look forward to hearing from you,

Mario

Thank you to all who have responded here and have messaged me privately.  I appreciate the warm welcome. 
I'm still working my way through The Book on Flipping Houses (J Scott) and would like to complete to become familiar with the entire "flipping" industry.
But on a side note, how likely is it to complete my first flip before the end of this year?
How much time does it take?  I'm scared and excited at the same time, kinda like what I imagine going sky diving would feel like.  

Hello @David Featherstone.  Please feel free to send me the mortgage broker you use.  Would love to get the conversation started. Thank you.

Mario

Hello everyone,

My name is Mario.  I'm new to Bigger Pockets and have taken an interest in Real Estate Investment.  My focus so far has been on buying single family residences to either rent, flip or airbnb.   To educate myself, i bought 5 books on Amazon so far. 

1.The Book on Flipping Houses: How to Buy, Rehab, and Resell Residential Properties

2.Real Estate Investing QuickStart Guide: The Simplified Beginner’s Guide to Successfully Securing Financing, Closing Your First Deal, and Building ... Real Estate (QuickStart Guides™ - Finance)

3.The Book on Rental Property Investing: How to Create Wealth With Intelligent Buy and Hold Real Estate Investing (BiggerPockets Rental Kit, 2)

4.Airbnb For Dummies 

5. The Book on Investing In Real Estate with No (and Low) Money Down: Creative Strategies for Investing in Real Estate Using Other People's Money (BiggerPockets Rental Kit, 1)

I have read #5, started #3 and part way through, jumped into #1. 

As you can see, i just want to educate myself first before taking the next step.  Throughout my reading, Bigger Pockets was advised and so here I am.

I have an idea (my wife is on board) of what my investment journey would look like, but i would love to hear expert advice from the forum.  

My current situation is as follows:

Married, one child (3).  We live in our 3bed/2ba townhouse with about 200K in equity (under my name). Our goal is to move out of our townhouse (within 2-3 years) and into a single family house with a big yard front and back.

I make about 100k annually, while my wife makes close to that. We both have excellent credit and no credit card debt.  We only have 1 car payment with 2 years left to pay off. 

My investment idea/plan is to buy a single family residence (BRRRR method) to either flipp, rent or airbnb, but i would love to hear from ppl who have lived in a townhouse and have done this.

I would really like to know what the best financing option is for a newbie with excellent credit and 200K equity. 

From reading the books so far, I'm leaning towards Portfolio Lenders, but I read a post here recently that said Hard Money lenders was his favorite.  Is it really necessary to use Hard Money lenders if you have great credit and equity?

I just want to go through the least amount of hoops to get started. Am i at an advantage by having good credit and equity?
I've entertained the thought of renting my townhouse, but I would rather live in the townhouse until I've found a rehab property i can fix and move into.  Maybe I could flip one house, sell it and then use the proceeds to buy ourselves another rehab property we can fix and then move into and then rent or sell our townhouse. 


I know i have many questions, but i wonder how many ppl are in my situation.  Living in So Cal, i definitely am interested in "farming" in the La Habra, La Mirada, Whitter area.  

I just would like to see how someone else has done it in the So Cal area, maybe even in the whittier area. 

Thank you,

Mario