All Forum Posts by: Michael Lewis Lee

Hello Jared! There are some things I would ask besides what you suggest as well as Julien. The obvious question might the interest rate that would be charged. Is their loan based on the price or ARV? How long is your loan? What personal financing paperwork do you require? Asked a little differently is what kind of experience do you have? Are your payments interest only or principle and interest and when is the Principle due? Is the payment based on daily withdrawn, monthly drawn, or actually used or based on the total borrowed and when is it due? Is any of it negotiable? When are any fees due? Do you extend the loan if requested and how long for any surprise issues or if necessary to complete? I'm not trying to sell you anything.

Hello Fili!  Most sellers like face-to-face possible buyers.  It's much too risky to not see the property before you close and it depends on how motivated they are.  if you are just looking for a good deal and are making offers every day, there will be some people that will believe in that old method and some will believe in your online agreement but make your contracts that allow you to walk away after an inspection without a penalty unless your security amount is low. Choose in a demand area for your purpose you desire.  Know which way you can go with your financing and how much it will cost you.  Have you talked to and have a title company who will do 2 simultaneous closings and what they require?  How can you figure the rehab cost or will you use an allowance that will be described in your offer and let the seller know about it.  Try to eliminate any possible surprises.

Good luck to you!

Hello Michael!  It comes to one word, experience.  They have never done it and its easy to criticize what you have no experience in it.  Them and real estate Agents are the worst people to believe  .Most Agents don't do well either and are trying to not have more competition.  Not all Agents are mean or bad and they will support you, especially wholesalers. Do not believe in most sales tactics used on the internet.  There's much to learn but the basics are pretty simple.  I was a broker for about 30 years and I know what I talk about and 30 years of construction experience.  Change your friends who are not loyal to you and sometimes hang out with experienced sand successful real estate investors at local clubs, associations, and events and communicate with as many successful and experienced people who are successful.  Do not talk too much and be a good listener.  I don't know anything about Topeka except that it is a pretty good place to be.do not let emotional thinking to make a decision for you and always sleep on it.  Do not believe on most that you hear on TV and the Internet.  I'm 63 and I know what I am talking about.  The more you learn, the more confidence you feel.  Having experience will also help build your confidence.  Life usually does not get easier.  Do not believe people that predict the future and the past is the past but still useful gaining your knowledge.  Current happenings are the most useful.  Education must continue forever.

Good luck to you!

Hello Adewale!  Make sure you are looking in a growth or area in demand for what you are doing.    Y ou may have better luck in a secondary area as seeking out in a big city ( like Houston).  No matter where you go the surrounding area must be in good shape. The cleaner, the better.  The more units at one address is better because an unoccupancy is less painful.  It's better to locate about an hour away as a maximum.

Good luck to you!

Hello Latavia!  I would go with a Private Money Lender.  They tend to be less costly and more flexable.  Hard Money Loans are usually a shorter term period of time.

Good luck to you!

Hello Jaden!  I'll give you my opinion based on these qualifications. I graduated from college way back in 1980 with honors and I did that in business  with real estate mainly because was doing well in licensed brokerage get in commercial sites mainly.  I figured out it was not so simple and who you know was very important and at that time I did not have that so I ended not doing real estate and got into construction management and, thank God my father got me that interview and I must have given them desire and I worked their for 7 years and enjoyed the hell of it.  

I was so impressive that there I had several jobs from estimating construction to a funding control officer because that owner bought a S&L and stopped only building condos and included very aggressive lending and eventually got shut down by our government in 1987cand I lost my job when they did.  Thankfully back then you could go to college without going into debt and I had enough credits to get a broker license in Texas where I kept it for about 30 years.  The only 3 other jobs I got were with, use to be, fellow employees and I ran 2 of those companies and moved onto having my own companies

I never did real estate full time but kept up with that and what was happening in and around Dallas from my dad and my licensed brother.  I will follow that up by saying you should do what you like.  I was into construction around Dallas for about 30 years. If it wasn't for my brain aneurism and stroke at 54 years old I'd probably still be doing that but it has almost been about 9 years since that happened and I still cannot walk, drive, and work ever since but I've been learning a lot about real estate investing, sales, and businesses.

I believe college is good today for learning to become a specialist, like Doctors and Lawyers and maturity.  Architecture is not one of those unless you know somebody that will help you get into that business.  An Architect I met early on was a great man and I enjoyed being around him and learning from his knowledge.  My daughter, that just graduated from the University of Arkansas as a chemical engineer but that school charged us $6,000 a semester but we did not take on any long term debt.  My wife being a computer programmer helped.

My daughter went from struggling in high school to doing well at the Univesity of Arkansas.  Besides doing better and working as a tutor for them, she matured greatly.  That might be the biggest advantage she acquired while there.  She lived well and got many experiences while there may be the biggest advantage and she now w or is for a company that prints money for the U.S. and lives by herself after we lost her mother to cancer about 6 weeks ago.  She has done much for us in the past 10 months without any negativity fights with us.  

I hope some of my past experience can help you and allow you to make the right decision.  That debt cannot be saved by bankruptcy.  Learn as much as you can because education goes on forever an.keeps you above most others and makes you have a higher value over most others.  Only you can justify going to college and the benefits you could experuence. I learned when I was in Apartment maintenance when 19 I decided to get a better education and not keep doing that or similar jobs like that for life and that was the main reason I went back to college.  Soon after going back and struggling in high school that I was smarter than most other college students and could resist all of the partying that went on and caused several friends from graduating because they could not resist that and concentrate on learning instead. 

It was a little hard to do but a phone call from my dad each week helped me too. He kept encouraging me to not quit and it helped me complete that ambition.  If debt wasn't now a part of it makes my thought about college going harder.  I have to say that it can help you to stay in college but the debt you have to live with makes that decision more difficult.  There's several things that should be important factors, like maturity and learning versus your real goals, where you live and live with as well as your own character and how others can help you in real estate from money ownership and experience.  Which style you are interested in and whether you're passionate, disciplined, and creative.  

What you may gain by going or not going depend on how you might benefit or not.  Educated people today are in higher demand. Your hometown growth might affect your decision.  Do you see any opportunities there?  Are there any people that can help you.  It's not be an easy decision to make.  There are many factors.  Just do what you like and only listen and pay attention to those that have experience in one of those fields.  Their opinions may count the most.  Be careful on taking any advice from your family because they maybe brainwashed by taking any risk or misguided risk.

Good luck to you!

Hello Marcelo!  Anything further than about a one hour drive should be a Turnkey project with management and that company has a good track record.  Things are not as good over here as shown to you.  Be careful.

Good luck to you!

Hello Remy!  If you are going to keep all of the Tenants, I think I would recommend talking to all of them and see if they all seem OK. Your predicted positive seems good but I would still do an Evaluation to come up with a net income to make sure goals are met and there are no immediate capital improvements needed. They should be considered on your offer.

Good luck to you!

Hello Christian!  The location and the safety should be considered.  There are so many choices from conventional to fashionable.  Are there any current systems or venting? It just might need a gas’s connection, or more electricity. Or a fireplace location and venting, or a furnace and any required venting.  Are there any local (subject area) City requirements on what you decide?

Good luck to you!

Thanks!