All Forum Posts by: Michael Roy

1) If you're running a small operation, Angie's List is worth looking into. The reviews and references are there for you to read, and contractors cannot tamper with these reviews. It's not the greatest tool if you're doing large scale projects, but for residential remodels, it's perfect. Also, for small remodels/renovations, you should act as the general contractor and sub contract the jobs yourself. If you hire the flooring guys, painters, electricians, etc. you can save yourself 10-20% in GC fees. Ask each sub-contractor to provide a line-item list of what it is that you asked them to do, along with the cost for each.

2) Pinterest is a surprisingly great site for any of these ideas. I'm creatively challenged and it has helped me greatly on my properties.

3) Very few places are going to save you enough to off-set the risk of getting poor quality materials. Unless you're doing large scale projects, I'm not of the belief that this is worth it to pursue. You'll waste a lot of time searching, and either come up empty-handed, or with old, unattractive materials, or (very rarely) you'll have a great experience, but potentially only save a few cents per square foot.

As a young investor fresh out of college... I find my favorite commercial buildings, or (if you're geared towards residential, then find the largest residential investor in your area) and set up a meeting with the owner/investor. Most of the people are very willing and eager to meet with young, aspiring investors. Ask them how they got to where they are today. Find out how they hustled to get deals. It has been the most rewarding experience for me thus far.

If this is your first deal, you don't yet have the funds to purchase, and you trust this person, then go for it! A partnership accomplishes many things for you: First, you gain access to funds that allow you to make a transaction you otherwise would not have been able to. It also teaches you to work with other individuals on a project, something that can be frustrating, but rewarding. You will have someone to help with leasing, accounting, management, etc.  Here's the kicker: Know how to honestly analyze the potential partner, as well as articulate the interest in the property. Here is what I mean concerning the latter.

If your partner is simply providing an even 50% capital contribution for the deal, he may not necessarily get 50% of the interest in the partnership. If you are finding, negotiating, managing, leasing, and keeping the books on the deal, that is worth a lot to you, and you should not compromise your position just because you're afraid of asking for additional equity share. If you both agree in the formation documents to share all responsbilities equally, then a 50/50 split makes sense.

Just be careful, don't sell yourself short (especially if your the active investor of the two), and get deals done! Good Luck!