All Forum Posts by: Mason Liu

Would have probably got a job as a waiter or something during college to build an income base to buy a property in Miami to house hack as a student, and from then on snowballed that. Could have bought a 4 bed SFH home for around 200-300k at the time...now it'd be 750k+ easily.

Although, I will concur with @Eliott Elias that every missed opportunity and mistake has just helped made me who I am today, and I'm happy to have experienced it all.

One other consideration is the value of the garage itself. Is there already ample enough parking for the tenants, as well as the new additional tenant? Or is this property in a market where parking doesn't matter (IE: in Manhattan, you gain more in rent revenue by adding a unit more and getting an additional tenant)

You would need to add in the value lost by getting rid of the garage + the cost of conversion to get an idea of the true opportunity cost of converting to an ADU.

Slightly confused on the deal itself. Do you have a mortgage, and also private money lenders for the property? Are you paying 8.5% on the mortgage, and 7% for the private money seperately?

Also, what is the amortization on the mortgage, as well as the other loan (if there is one).

First thing I'd say is make sure you have all your paperwork vetted by a local real estate attorney.

In general, the investor you are assigning the contract to is the one who pays for contractors and all other due diligence items. I have seen some wholesalers who do spend on their own dime in hiring a 3rd party inspector to provide a home inspection report on the property for investors, but beyond that not much else.

Make sure you are abiding by legal methods in contacting sellers. IE abide by Do Not Call lists, do not door knock on properties that state "no soliciting" etc..

As others mentioned, the best protection against downside risk in real estate is having enough liquidity and cash flow to keep properties afloat. If history serves as good data, we know that if you hold any property for more than 10 years, very rarely will you lose money on the property value itself (not taking into account tax benefits and cash flow). If you are financially solvent and the property is cash flowing, you probably don't have to worry about the property value all too much.

In general, if someone's line of business is fix and flipping, often times they will not be paying full list price on a MLS deal. Most of the time, deals will either be sourced off market, or potentially on market properties which get no demand from the market and can be purchased way under market price due to seller distress.

For rentals, it may be a different story.

EDIT: Just realized you were asking for Josh since he's an agent, my bad. That is what I see though.

There's not really a single tool you can use to research markets. In my opinion, there's some elbow grease needed to do this correctly.

First, use Google to evaluate population & demographic data. Are people moving into or out of the market? Are jobs being created there? What type of jobs? What's the median salary and occupation of the work force there? How are the school districts?

Next, you can use google/redfin trends/zillow/biggerpockets/rentometer tools to evaluate the price and rent growth in the area. Evaluate the price to rent ratio to see if this is a market that will cash flow well as a rental or not.

Lastly, I believe strongly in developing comparative advantages in markets you invest in. Once you identify some markets that may be good prospects, start networking with agents, investors, lenders, contractors, everyone in the space. That is the best way you can truly learn a market. Hope this helps!

My advice would be to first start off analyzing deals in areas you have a comparative advantage in. Whether it be relationships, understanding of the market, etc, if you have a comparative advantage in finding a deal in specific market, your odds of being able to find and execute on a deal to preserve equity is greater. If you don't have a comparative advantage in any market, tyr and determine what markets you would be able to develop that advantage in.

From then on, filter out which of those areas have properties where the numbers make sense. For example, if the area's price to rent ratio is way too high, you probably won't be able to get much of a COC return there unless you buy at a very large discount.

But as a generalized answer, you could probably look towards some of the midwest markets to find what you are looking for.

Hey James,

I send around 2000-3000 handwritten letters in one specific market every month.

I think a couple of things matter. One is that you have a working website on the letter. Lots of potential sellers want to know that you are legit, and in today's day and age a working website goes a long way in providing credibility.

Next is that the letter to standout and not be in just a generic white envelope. I think those have a larger probability of never being opened.

I agree with @Chris Seveney that it will often take multiple touches before a seller is willing to sell you, so just because you've hit them once with a mailer doesn't mean you stop if they do not respond. This is why volume and consistency is important in this type of marketing.

Hope this helps!

What question specifically are you looking to ask about Palm Beach County? Which city in the county are you looking to purchase in?