All Forum Posts by: Mark Langdon

I have my original 10 places I rent out here in NJ locally but I moved my investing out of state 4 years ago to invest in the southeast as a GP with apartments and its working out so much better and much easier to operate. Love to catch up with anyone here in NJ.

Multiple HELOC's built my real estate portfolio from fix and flips to apartment buildings. I would get some more experienced and make sure you know what your doing but if done correctly it provides another avenue to buy a property by using it as a down payment but understand if you get a loan in addition to a HELOC down payment you are now potentially 100% leveraged which is infinite returns but if you don't buy the property right and you get a market crash and can't make the payments you can get yourself in trouble. Always have reserves. Even though some of my HELOC's you only have to pay interest only; I pay it off like it was a 15 year typical mortgage loan so its both interest and principal as my rents pay down the principal in addition to the interest but that's me. Everyone's risk is different but be careful especially since you are just starting out.

Hi @Jennifer S. and @Ryan Halford;

See you in Orlando with J&G and let's talk. Love to partner Up !

You need to get your team together and partner up with someone who can help you get going and can help suggest how you get the things the broker is looking for before they will give you the attention you are looking for. Don't go it alone.

I always leveraged as much as I felt comfortable with over numerous properties but you have to decide what's right for you so you feel comfortable. It depends on where you want to go. If you want to scale then leverage and go multiple properties; if you are fine with the one property so be it. Whatever you decide check out the numbers and your commitment and comfort level. 

Congrats !  I have a rule with my wife (partner) that any spouse can kill a potential deal if they don't like it as I run everything by her for her thoughts. Sometimes you get so excited about a deal the other half may make some good sense into what you are doing and make not be so excited. There is always another deal so you need to keep her on board and work as a team if you are going to make it last.

If you want to scale use a PM. Not sure how you would self-manage far away but I am sure it can be done.

Find a partner to help you through it or meet someone at a meetup or here on BP like 

@Robert Lawrence who may be able to steer you to someone or help guide you so you don't make any crazy mistakes.

Its amazing how "Trust you Gut" is that important. If anytime on any deal your gut is saying otherwise; it is almost always right. No one usually makes a killing on their first deal so don't worry; if they did its beginners luck and then they get cocky and the next deal is not as great. Just keep going; you learned  a lot. Its the people that quit now that never know how great real estate can change their life.

This can be sketchy if you don't know the contractor(s) or you do not have any experience dealing with them or how much renovations cost. I guess you could try getting multiple bids from contractors you have checked out that have very high ratings/reviews but know it always costs more and takes longer than you think. I don't pay contractors to get bids but not sure about your area. As @Tyler Fontaine said always best to lock it up and get it under contract if the numbers work for the property that much and then put in your get out clauses while you get home inspections/contractor bids during the inspection period once you know more so you can get out if the numbers don't work anymore. Also try to partner with someone who knows good contractors and/or construction costs so you can get knowledgeable. Best of Luck !