All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

@Account Closed had some great advice .. look for a 5 plex and plan to live in one of the units for a year .. with your va loan you would be able to put very little down and a decent interest rate .. be sure to take full advantage of everything BP has to offer .. 

thank you for your service ..

I wish you the very best ..

God Speed, 

Michael Short 

@Janelle Martin hello and welcome to BP's .. let me congratulate you on your decision to become a real estate investor.. it can be a very rewarding career . But make no mistake .. It is work .. hard work .. like anything worth while . Also like mist careers it gets easier the more you learn and with time .. BP has helped accelerate that process for most .. I know it did for me .. I can only hope the same or better for you .. just stick with it and become a spounge .. soak up everything you can but try to stay focused in one or two areas .. there are a lot of different ways to invest.. pick one that best suits you .. and follow the advice already laid out above ..

I wish you the very best ..

God Speed, 

Michael Short    

Well since you have no money i wont bother .. lol.. sorry its what passes for humor here on the states .. 

Really though , welcome to bigger pockets and congrats for deciding to invest in real estate in the future ..

It can be a very rewarding career .. you can also make very big mistakes and loose a lot .. so, take this time and learn as much as you can .. but, try to stay focused on certain types of real estate .. ie. Flipping, wholesaling, buy and holds, tax lien ..ect .. there are so many different ways to make a career in real estate ..so try to start by focusing on just one or two .. Like flipping and wholesaling , they can complement each other .. 

Read as many books as you can that pertain to investing in real estate .. a couple stars are .. Rich Dad Poor Dad .. The Art of the Deal.. The Richest man in Bolivia.. and a lot a great books available right here on BP .. listen/watch to pod casts as much as possible when your not reading ... read Bp's threads as much as you can .. set up keyword alerts to get what your interested in .. start to study the area you plan on investing in .. you can study Orlando from a far .. ( the internet is a wonderful thing ) .. learn what the market is doing ..what is the average cost of a 3/2 block fresh remodel in College Park area ? You should know .. Study , study , study ... oh ya .. you better learn how to estimate a rehab project .. you need to know if a contractor is over charging you .. learn about contracts .. and learn about construction codes .. 

Did I scare you off yet .. no, Good ! 

Once you have done all that ...Then and only then , you might be ready to invest with a 50% certainty that you will not loose money .. even after 20-30 years you never know with certainty that you will make money .. but the odds should be tipped in your favor some .. 

For me .. I love it and addicted to it ..For me its not a job or Career , its a necessity.. its the way I breath ..I can onoy hope it is the same for you ..

I wish you the very best ...

God Speed, 

Michael Short    

Just one step at a time .. 

@Kevin Thomas im curious as to why she thinks she needs a GC ? If there isnt structual work that needs to be done , than a handyman can do it much cheaper .. i see you are in Virginia .. are you still .. reason I ask is its hard to facilitate a rehab from a distance .. it can be done but its difficult ..if the house is in Leesburg ..

I could try to swing by sometime next week and take a look .. give you and her a idea of how I would handle the reno. If a GC is needed or if you can just hire out subs and a handyman ..I understand the hope is that she gets a honest person to help assure she is not taken advantage of by contractors and such .. I am not a Gc , I am a project manager and do my own flips here in Central Fl .. Send me a colleague request if you want to discuss further ..

I Wish you and  her the very best ..

God Speed, 

Michael Short 

@Victor I. hello and welcome to BiggerPockets .. let me also be the first on here to say congratulations on your decision to invest in real estate .. Its can be a scary thing to do the first time and even a few times after that but, learn as much as you can about the type of real rstate investing you want to do and you will do well .. there are a lot of different ways to make money in this business .

Try to stick with one and then another then so on.. master the first and the rest should be easier .. most people stick with what they know .. there is a ton of info to learn right here on BP and other sites as well .. This site has changed my life for the better and i hope it does the same for you .. Im sure someone will chime in and list all the books you should read , like Rich dad , Poor Dad .. or The Art of the deal by our current pres .. and you should read them and more .. listen to the pod casts as much as possible .. ask questions but when you ask try to be specific and include as much pertaining info as you can.. it will help you get the correct answers .. other than that .. 

I wish you the very best ..

God Speed, 

Michael Short  

@Patrick Philip well said !.. 

welcome to Bp's .. and you go girl .. Ok now thats thats said .. I just wanted to say that you learned very early to stay in your own backyard .. at least until you have enough income and savings that you can take higher risks .. but, when starting out .. I always suggest to stay within driving distance and i mean what would you accept in distance if you had to drive everyday to work .. I trued early on in my investing to flip a property 6-6.5 hrs away by car .. it went nowhere for a couple years .. it didnt help that i was newly married also .. my wife woukd cry and then complain everytime i tried to leave to get things moving on our property miles away .. good new for me is that I bought it right and when i sold it I still made money .. enough to pay cash for the 5/4 on 2 acres here in cerntral Fl , that I am living in now .. some call it luck .. so do I ..hehehe .. 

I wish you the very best and continue to make smart decisions and you will go far ..

God Speed, 

Michael Short 

P.s. 

I almost forgot .. be sure to take full advantage of Bp's .. this site is so great .. the best real estate site for discussions and to learn from others mistakes..  it had literately changed my life and Fast tracked my investing career.. I hope it does for you as well ..  

Hi Craig and welcome to Central Fl, 

Let me first say I am not a wholesaler or agent .. I am a investor who flips SFP's so when i have a commercial property come my way I normally just close the book on it .. but , this one i seen recently has stuck out in my head .. its not in Tampa though .. its in Inverness which is a bit over a hr north of Tampa .. the ask is $65k and its right on US 41 .. i looked at it because its a house that was a 4/2 but is now a 2/2 .. I would turn it back into a 4/2 and set it up for offices which it is zoned for .. it could use a driveway / parking lot .. but it would be perfect for a realtor's office or a phycologists office .. anyway .. I would not be making anything on it .. just thought of it when i read your post ..

If you want just send me a request for more info on it ..but either way ..

I wish you the very best ..

God Speed, 

Michael Short 

@Dani Beit-Or hello..

What I have been lucky enough to find is a few investors like yourself that live out of state but for one reason or another want to invest in the Central Florida area .. I have met them right here on BiggerPockets and then later by phone or Messenger video or FaceTime ( I have not used Skype yet )  

What happens is when I find a property with good profit potential for a flip ( have not done any buy and holds to date ) 

I do my due diligence on the property and if it truly can make over 40% roi then I go and look at it ..

I take video of it and get a good idea of the rehab it will need .. 

I then crunch the preliminary numbers and insert them into BP's flip calculator ..

Then I send a email off to potential investors/partners with hyperlinks to all the sites i can find that provide information on the property. I also included the link to the video and Bp's flip analysis 

From there I find out who wants to fund the flip ( and when i say fund it , I mean 100% including rehab ) 

Sometimes there might be more than one .. in that case,  I would just pick the first one to respond and offer to fund . 

We then sign our standard joint partnership agreement that spells out what is expected of each of us. 

We then try to aquire the property ( which goes into the funding partners name or a joint llc partnership in which we would already have set up ) either, is ok with me .. ( i want my partners to know that their investment is secure ) 

Once the property is closed on .. Thats when my work really starts .. I start getting bids on the work that needs to be completed .. Yes, I have my favorite contractors but,  by getting other bid I feel it keeps them competitive and not always assuming they are going to get the work no matter what they bid .. 

I can just blame it on my funding partner and their need to make sure we are getting the best prices ..

So, once the rehab is on its way , I provide update video's every week and have policies in place to insure that i am not just handed the whole rehab amount .. Its to protect not only the funding partner but myself as well .. my partner is with me on all the important decisions if they want to be .. 

Once rehab is about completed, I then market the property myself by getting it listed on the MLS and calling the surrounding realtors offices to let them know of the open house and that we are offering 3% commission to anyone who brings us a buyer ..inventory is very low for move in ready up to date homes in Central Florida area so, most homes only sell within the first 30-45 days .. after that we can decide to rent it till it sells or another exit strategy..

For my hard work I get 50% of the profits and for my partners hard earned money that finded the project , they get 50% of the profits.. 

A example of the rehab I am in the middle of now ..

First let me say , It is a hoarder house and a complete rehab .. so, I took out 120 yards of crap that was piled up in and around this house .. the roof was caved in on one part of the house .. 

It is now cleaned up and down to the studs ..everything needs to be done .. new roof , electrical, plumbing, flooring , all new fixtures abd lighting .. plus i am converting the attached carport into a new master bedroom thus adding Sqft.. turning it into a 1870 sqft 4/2 from a 1520 sqft 3/2 . I am also making it open concept and increasing the bathroom in both the master and common area. 

So, now for the numbers .. purchased for $34.5k , $55k budget for rehab , approx $10k in holding , closing , selling costs .. so right around $100k investment with a Arv of $165-170 and three Bpo's to back that up .. 

projected profit $65-70k or 65-70% Roi .. split thats 32.5-35% Roi or $ .. 

Grant it , not every property has these numbers but I dont even look at a property unless its 40% or over and if it is a quick flip or not .. the one above is a 4 month project , hopefully sooner .. 

I have had a couple investors inquire about teaming up for buy and holds but none came up with a suitable split or idea on how to handle my end .. yes, they all said ..well , you can do the rehab and I'll pay you .. but I am not a contractor or a wholesaler ..and until someone can come up with something that makes sense , Im just going to stick with flips .. 

Main reason Im telling you this is so you can understand that you really should have boots on the ground type of person in your corner when investing out of state .. I can give you a bit more detail on how I manage the money and the rehabs if you like ..just send a request and ask away .. 

I wish you and all the investors reading your post , the very best ..

God Speed to all, 

Michael Short