All Forum Posts by: Mike Dorneman

@Jeff Byrne

I’ve been there Jeff, most of us have in some form or another. Keep you head down, focus on your goal and build relationships with people who will support you and encourage you on this journey. It’s certainly has its up and downs, and having someone support you in critical during those down moments.

@John Sirianni Hey John- While finding off market deals is great, it's not the only way. About half the deals I've done in the past 2 years were MLS, with the other half being off market.

Many ways to find off market deals such as diving for dollars, sending individual letters, purchasing list(s), tax sales, etc...

That said, don't discount the MLS, especially as a new investor. Try to connect with an agent that represents investors, Vs simply a buyers agent. Agents working with folks looking to purchase their personal residents are far different than agents who understand what we are looking for. Cosmetics mean nothing, I care about the numbers... we can change the look of a house easily, as long as there is room in the numbers. This typically is not the mindset of your "standard" RE agent.

Best of luck!!

@Brian Brusich Cash flow is important to me so I have the ability to move on a deal when an opportunity presents itself. With that said, I keep a Heloc on my highest appraised property, to enable having access to the greatest amount of cash flow. If the next deal is appraised under the current property I have the Heloc on, ill just do a heloan on the new one.

Great questions by the way, find a deal and jump in!!

@Brian Brusich Yes to everything you stated. I daisy chain / leap frog. I bought my very first deal with my cash, I’ve since used each preceding deal to find the following one. Buy your first one, then never use your own money again. (You also recoup your own cash from the first deal during this process)

@Brian Brusich Yes, exactly! Sorry if I was unclear. The reason I' do Helocs is to have a large sum of cash on hand for deals, but not have to pay on the money until I actually use it. The issue with the HEloan, is you must start making payments right away, even if that cash is just sitting in my checking account as I look for the next deal. Plus, most banks allow you to swap a LOC to a Loan at any point without and fees. So max out the loc, convert it into a loan, then brrr the property you purchased with the LOC cash and refi the new deal. Rinse and repeat 😁

@Jim Goebel I currently have 12 HELOAN's and 2 HELOC's on various investment properties. Without HE's the BRRR strategy doesn't exist...

If your current bank told you no, find another. RE Investor meet ups are great places to learn which banks work with investors. This is how I found the current bank we do everything with.

@Kristopher Bustillo Like most places, prices have risen steadily over the past 2 years. I was buying houses with Levittown to no competition for 25k, 5-7k cosmetic updates and renting for 800-900/month. Now these same houses are being purchased sight unseen for 50-70k.

That said, now is the time (in this area at least) to hold your cash, wait for the bottom to drop, them buy all those houses at their true price points.

I’m looking into finding an online Real Estate License course (Pennsylvania license).

I’ve found many options and wondering if anyone can recommend one based on personal experience.

Thanks!

@Steven Ko Thats awesome, Congrats! This was the hard one, now just keep going.

@Ashley Cao I think it’s a great whenever you can build a relationship with a banker / commercial lender. So yes, I try to do everything with the same bank. They know business model, they see my track record and they see my assets. All things that make for a better likelihood I’ll be approved for my next loan.

Good luck!