All Forum Posts by: Mateusz Prawdzik

@Brad Smith Then don't waste your time on this deal... let it go to auction and either pick it up there if the bank will take a hit on the house . This house isn't worth your time or anyone else's. No one is going to pay 115k + your fee and sell a house for 140k if it needs work. (if it didn't need work, maybe there would be someone that would take it.) Now with this being said, maybe the area is being developed the land itself might be worth quite a bit more in the future where a builder can knock it down and make a brand new house. But all in all, don't waste your time with this women or this house. Numbers don't work, and if you're in the business, you should know that this is a numbers game.

Also ARV means AFTER repair value, so you have to do your comps on a FINISHED BASEMENT, with that being said, someone might come see the house and say it's not worth finishing the basement so they will just leave it unfinished, at this point the ARV will go down some because of that.

@Noah Wood Connect with me and PM me. We'll talk, I will try my best to tell you everything and anything I did to get from where you are to where I am now (9 houses deep into flipping) in 9 months of time. 

@Stefon Bostick Reading, going to meetups, going to classes, following a mentor, all those things are ABSOLUTELY useless if you don't apply them. First off, what are you doing already? You should be applying everything that you learn to real world. Are you Door Knocking? Driving for Dollars? Mailing? Marketing? Cold Calling? Wholesaling is the toughest game in the BOOK and trust me I know that by far. Being 19, if you go and try to pick someone's house up and give them an offer, at first they look at you funny, but once you open your mouth and you show that you know what you're talking about... it makes all the difference. I started 9 months ago, from absolute zero, I can't say that I didn't get alittle lucky being in the right place at the right time, but I must say I did it all alone and I'm 100% proud of it. I didn't read anything, listen to anyone, just did a simply trial and error and made it work. Now I went from wholesaling to flipping, working on my 8th flip already  this year. Managing it, raising capital for it, and making connections along the way. 

The moral of this is that, you simply just have to DO. Period. There is no lesson better than making mistakes YOURSELF and learning from them. Trust me when I tell you, losing money isn't fun at all, and losing time is 10 times worse. So every time you listen to someone else talk or go to classes and don't apply anything that they just told you or that you just read about, you're wasting time. Don't be discouraged, just go out there and do something that will help you learn more and put foot in front of the other every single day no matter what. And most importantly, don't make the same mistake twice or else there wont be a third time.

@Daniel Murphy Hey Daniel, welcome to BP. I would love to help you out in anyway I can, not only does it help you but it reinforces all the skills I know the more I teach them. What are you looking to start doing and how much cash do you have on hand to start? What is your credit score? What do you know about REI and how did you learn it? Connect with me, I'd be glad to help.

This is a great thread for sure. Lots of good points to think about. I feel that the media has a BIG role in this as well, all these CNBC shows that show the "simplicity" of investing, showing 3 figures, Purchase, rehab, resell, and not counting anything else that is involved. Lots of these amateurs come in and big the prices to extremes because they just want to be in the business and "work for themselves." Another factor is that the new investors are over saturating the market and causing there to be too much inventory, having to make all the bigger guys drop their price (which most don't mind doing because they rather sell quicker and move on). That's just my .02

@Aaron Sutter With enough research you can find what a wholesaling contract requires and what it needs. You can either type one up or have someone type one for you. If you were just given one, you would learn anything and have the stuff on the contract you wouldn't know what it means, and if a potential seller wanted to ask you a question on point, you wouldn't know what to answer with. What i did when was starting was, just look at contracts and see what they must have. and type one up. It must have a name, address, property address, Purchase amount, Deposit amount, clauses that say its assignable without seller knowledge or consent, signature lines, date, disclosure if you're an agent.... look and learn and that's the best way you'll learn

If you want to get more involved, then get more involved. Dump the contractor and manage it yourself. Find, framers, roofers, siding guys, insulation guys, tile guys, kitchen guys, granite guys, HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical , Sheetrock guys, Spackle guys, Painters, Floor guys, Finish work guys, Window guys, Deck guys. There is guys for anything and everything. connect with me and I'll help you thru the hardest of times, don't let anyone else manage your jobs because you will learn nothing and the GC wants to tell you something that he knows is Bull and you don't, he will. Trust me you learn the hard way when people start telling you that the job is good and in reality its ****. Let me know if you need help in the steps and what comes first and what doesn't. It's easy, just getting started is the hard part. 

Some towns are stricter than others for sure. Some care, some don't. If they don't try to play the system, if they care, then they will definitely give you a hard time. I never pulled anything in my own name because I never lived in any of the properties that I was buying but I do know people that have had a hard time with towns. Also, it depends on the extent of work, if you are adding a level, you OBVIOUSLY can't live  in the house so they are going to ask for plans and a GC of who is doing the work. In my experience and from what I know, I don't think they will let you take permits on your name for a big a job where the know you can't occupy the house while construction.

@John Flores Hey John, welcome to BP, good to see another ambitious 19 year old that wants to jump in feet first into REI. I started last November and took off running, currently working on my 8 th flip this year, I must say I've learned a lot over the past almost year now. Credit score and money managing skills don't mean anything when you are first starting (maybe credit score ALITTLE BIT), it's all about experience and what you can prove. Nothing comes free with this business, I would recommend trying to find a partner that will take you under his wing and show you a little bit of the business. Chances are you will have to find the deal, put up the DP for the loan, and in return you will be on the paper as a partner with this guy that already has experience. That's the best way to get started in this business.

You have the right approach though, find a deal that anyone will be willing to partner with you on. I would recommend off-market because on market deals are exposed to everyone , so chances are if it's still there the next day, it's not that good. (This is especially true for NJ) There is plenty of money out there and plenty of partners out there, you just need a deal that makes sense where everyone makes money (and you make the least and do the most work) but that's the price you pay. 

Connect with me if you have any questions, I was in your position not too long ago at all, so I remember vividly everything that I did to get to where I was now. I won't tell you everything I did because the best way to learn is for you to do what you think will work and screw up and learn from your own mistakes.

I stand corrected, the distance is 1 hour between us, which is nothing. So definitely let me know if you'd like to partner on some things, we can mix crews, I must say I get some good prices on LOTS of things.