All Forum Posts by: Michael Borger

Welcome to Bigger Pockets, Ivy. Lots of great people and information here. I'm based in Honolulu but I wouldn't mind doing a deal or two (or four or five or six) on Kauai someday :)

Welcome to real estate in Hawaii, Joshua. There's a lot of great information here on BP, so dig around the forums and ask any questions that pop up. This is a very helpful community here.

Mike Borger

Welcome to Oahu, Mike. Yes, no way around it, we have some of the highest real estate prices in the country and, depending on your investment strategy, it can be an impediment. If you don't want to be an out-of-state investor, then you might want to consider either wholesaling or getting out of stocks and into private lending. The first will give you more 'in the field' experience while the latter will be relatively passive but still help widen your real estate education. It depends how 'in the trenches' you wish to be and if your current stock investments will be enough for a private lending position.

I'm based in Honolulu. I work with both wholesalers and private lenders, so let me know if you have any questions or need some local pointers.

Mike Borger

Aloha, Todd. Great story. I'm also here in Honolulu, primarily using flipping as my current RE strategy. True, it might be easier to invest back in Wisconsin with the lower price point. It takes a lot of capital to make things happen here. If you build and have access to private capital or other sources, then you can put deals together - leverage is always king. I use private capital to fund all my deals. But it's still a super high market compared to most others and raising the required capital can take time - of course, you can get a great education here on BP in how to do that.

What type of investing are you interested in the most - flipping, passive income or just getting a deal on your own home and count on appreciation?

Mike

Aloha Kimo. It feels more like Seattle in Honolulu today - quite rainy, breezy and a bit gray. My favorite time of year in Hawaii :)

Welcome to real estate and Bigger Pockets. You'll find a ton of information here and helpful folks.

If you ever get involved in business back on Oahu, look me up.

Best wishes,
Mike

Hi Matt. Welcome to real estate investment and -- soon -- to Hawaii. BP is a great place to get a solid education quickly. Dig in, ask questions and the most important thing of all is to ultimately take action.

Hawaii can be a tough market but the successes can be extremely rewarding!

Hi folks. Just thought I'd post here that if you're a wholesaler in Hawaii, please do connect with me. I've got plenty of investor capital right now to buy your deals. If you're new, then I'll also gladly walk you through the process to fill in any information gaps. I remember what it's like to be new. People are often fond of saying wholesaling is easy, but any deal can be tricky no matter how simple it may seem on the surface. I'll help you both get paid your wholesale/assignment fee as well as empower you to go do it again and again.

If you're not wholesaling but still a local investor, then please connect with me anyway. I always enjoy meeting others in my area/industry.

Mike

bigrockinvestments.com

Aloha Sherwin. Welcome to BP. You'll get a lot of fantastic information here. I'm also here on island, based in Honolulu. I'm completing a couple flips right now and actively looking for more. The price point is higher here than almost anywhere -- that can mean taking a bit longer to get started (raising capital if your goal is to flip) but it can also mean bigger paydays in the end. One flip here could be the same as 3 or 4 in some mainland markets. It all depends on what you bring and how you go about running your business. Best wishes and hit me up if you need any tips.

Aloha, Vincent. Welcome to the BP community. There's a lot of great information here. I'm also based in Honolulu although I'm focusing more on flips than the passive income properties at the moment. We live in an interesting but great market, to say the least. I'm looking forward to connecting and sharing some ideas around. All the best.

Mike

Aloha Ryan and congrats on getting through your first open house. It's great that you used it as a learning experience. I have a few thoughts:

1. Not to disrespect your broker, but they should have informed you about the property to empower you for the event itself. I see this often and I don't get it. I had a broker here in Honolulu once put one of his agents on a high-priced property I was flipping and I still had to go to the open house to educate the agent on the property. I shouldn't have needed to do that. You handled it well, but next time I'd ask the broker for a more thorough explanation of the property. It will make you look better in front of other agents.

2. For shoes, I think you can be pretty firm on that. It's standard custom here, as you say. I forgot to do this myself once and the listing agent wouldn't let me step on the carpet.

3. Kids - there's no excuse for them touching the staging materials. That can be a few thousand dollars worth of property. I'd be firm yet polite with the parents. If the kids continue to revert to misbehaving, I'd mention it to the parents again. But at some point, you can also encourage them to look at other properties :)

Best wishes on your new venture. If you come across any good potential flips, please contact me :)

Mike