All Forum Posts by: Michael Carbonare

Why would you assign the deal back to the homeowner?  You should be assigning the deal to a tenant/buyer.

@Corey Frank  I was backed into a corner.  I was recently married.  My wife came with a 5 year old. So now I'm a husband and, gasp, a father.  Goodbye swingin' single, tequila nights.  Adding to that was my decision to move.  Packed our stuff and across country we drove, from NY to NM.  Now I find myself breaking bad in good ol' Albuquerque.  Didn't know the city, didn't know the real estate market, didn't know a soul or a damn thing.  Sitting in our rented house, a 5 year old at my feet, my panic was real. The luxury of studying, thinking, and dreaming about investing in houses was no longer.  That was a three year sabbatical I could no longer afford.  Forced to take action and break out of my comfort zone I stumbled into an article in a now defunct real estate magazine about something called Rent-To-Own.  I'd never heard of it but the author, (who became my mentor), pushed all my buttons.  Long story short, I blocked out all the noise and fog and settled in on this one strategy.  Stumbled a bit, but ultimately learned what the hell I needed to do.  That was 28 years and about 700 deals ago.
PS:  that 5 year old brat is now a reporter for ABC News.  I must have done something right. . .although my wife will argue otherwise.  LOL
Bottom line:  don't be like, Mike.  Get off the machines and get into the mix.  You know more than you realize.

What stops people from starting?  This place, along with YouTube videos, various podcasts, Facebook groups, etc.  It's called Paralysis of Analysis.

All of that listening, reading, analyzing, lunch dates, etc takes you down the path to Paralysis of Analysis, a virus worse than this WuFlu scamdemic. Book smarts make interesting conversations; street smarts make money.  Market, talk to homeowners, break out of your comfort zone.  You'll find yourself infinitely further ahead than the "I've watched 310 podcasts so far. . ." crowd.  

The typical setup with a Rent To Own requires a lease agreement between you as the homeowner and the tenant/buyer, and a separate option to purchase agreement.  The terms are spelled out, of course, specifying the length of the lease option, the monthly rent, the option price, and the nonrefundable option money you receive upfront.  It's more involved than that, of course, but that is a simplified explanation.  You can also set the deal up as a sandwich lease wherein you lease the property initially rather than purchasing it, and you then sublet it to a tenant/buyer.  Your meat in the deal comes from the spread between the terms you negotiated with the homeowner and the terms you negotiated with the tenant/buyer.

@Ryan A Rodriguez-Wiggins  I've done hundreds of lease options over my 28 years in real estate.  Done correctly they can be a safe strategy with minimal cash requirements.  But the bigger issue in this deal, at least for me, is that you are involving business and family, often a recipe for disaster.  Should an unexpected financial issue arise, guess who will be at the bottom of the list to pay that month. . .good ol' cousin Ryan.

It's not you, it's the market.  Sellers are in control.  They're holding out for all cash offers 10 to 20 percent above asking price, no contingencies, no inspections. . .and they'll likely get it.  Our business is based on dealing with motivated sellers.  Don't become a motivated buyer.

Hi, Will.  As an ex-NYer I feel your pain.  The prices, the taxes, the politics. . .is it any wonder why half the state has moved down here to Florida?
I've been investing for about 28 years.  I found my footing back when I learned about different types of lease options.  Still use them to this day, especially when doing virtual deals, which are the backbone of my business currently.  Doesn't matter that I'm in FL and a property is in Arizona or Tennessee, or anywhere else.  If you know what you're doing a lease option assignment is risk free and cash out-of-pocket free.  Smart, safe real estate and an easy way to mitigate risk.

I know nothing about this guy or his get-rich-quick scheme.  But the moment the ad screams "Free houses", that's a red flag to get out of Dodge.  And the $97 teaser fee is the beginning of an upsell funnel that you will never be able to quit, leading to his likely $30K get-richer-quicker scheme.  Caveat emptor.

@Andrew Nieto  If you're trying to time the market, any market, it will always be too easy to find a reason that you interpret as "not yet".  If you take a long term buy and hold approach, market fluctuations don't matter as much.  If you take a shorter term approach such as flips/assignments, you're also able to reduce your risk and exposure.