All Forum Posts by: Mike Goldenthal

@John Thoma First off, congrats on that deal. Those numbers are amazing. 

As someone currently looking at financing options for a similar sized investment, wanted to ask if you don't mind sharing, how did you manage to acquire a $250K commercial property for only $15K down?

@Enrique Huerta thanks for elaborating. Super helpful! Wondering if you might be able to elaborate on JV structures. For my example, if I'm looking to go in with 3 other partners and we all contribute an equal amount of the initial cost, but I'm doing all the work (finding the deal, acquiring financing, property management, etc.) how have you seen the profit sharing structured? Trying to set it up where everyone gets what they're owed, but also valuing my own time. Any advice would be great!

I've always been told that once you get above a 4-plex things tend to get a lot more complicated due to the classification change. Wondering how much truth there is to this and what the actual differences are between acquiring and maintaining a small multifamily and a larger complex (specifically looking more at 6-12 unit buildings for what it's worth). 

Would love if anyone had some insight into how these differed from smaller multi-family's as it pertains to 

-Acquiring financing/financing requirements/down payments

-Insurance

-Taxes

-Overall Maintenance

-Any other factors that you feel are significantly different.

Thanks!

As I'm sure all of you know, real estate investing isn't all just numbers. Life goals and personal happiness also has to factor into your decision making. 

That being said, my wife and I recently bought our first single family home to serve as our primary residence. We did this against the advice of fellow investors, colleagues and friends, who all told me to start with the duplex/triplex and live in one unit while renting out the others, taking advantage of the low down payment required when going through FHA, Fannie Mae, Conventional 97, etc. But as they say, happy wife, happy life.

While we aren't house poor by any stretch, and still have some money left in the bank, I'm wondering where everyone else in the BP community who was in my position turned to for financing. Were you forced to go conventional with 20% down? Were you able to find hard or private money that would take a chance on someone with no experience? Did you turn to a family member or friend? Would love to hear everyone's stories.

Thanks @Anthony Angotti! I will have to give that a try!

Anybody got any good tips or tricks they use to maximize what they get out of the MLS data?

Not sure if this is the appropriate forum for this, so apologies if this post is in the wrong spot.

I am an aspiring real estate investor looking to get started on my first couple properties in 2018. I'll be taking my realtor certification tests in a few weeks, and I'm currently exploring different brokers/firms with which to hang my license. 

A little about me:

-Recent college grad from Northeastern University (2015).

-I work a full time job in New Haven as a manufacturing operations manager.

-Previous experience as a broker's assistant doing high volume mid-low end residential in Southern California.

-Interested in buy and hold investing as well as flipping.

-Looking to purchase my first house (primary residence) in April-May 2018, and my first rental property by the end of 2018.

-I enjoy playing music (guitar, drums, recording), bowling, and Boston sports.

My ideal broker:

-Requires little to no time commitments (flexible hours). I'm not looking to be an agent in a traditional sense.

-Able to mentor and teach about all processes, as well as experience working with investors.

-Offers at will employment or a short term contract.

-Offers reasonable splits for a new agent.

-Laid back, easygoing, and someone I can work well with. 

If you're a broker looking to take on a new agent and think I may be a good fit, or if you may know someone who is, please feel free to reach out on BP or directly by phone or email listed on my page.

Thanks!

Mike

So far in my brief real estate experience I've encountered very polarizing viewpoints on lead paint. 

From a landlord's perspective, I've been told "Don't worry about it. As long as you don't eat the walls you'll be fine. That disclosure is just to let you know not to let your toddlers eat the paint chips off the window frames."

However, the general essence of the environmental portion of the real estate salesperson's class was more like "If you live in a house with lead paint, you will die. Your children will get brain cancer. Between the paint on the walls, and even the paint on the outside of the house ending up in your garden, you and your children will all get cancer and die.". 

Obviously there is quite an abundance of pre-1978 homes in the marketplace and as we all know, they're all virtually guaranteed to have lead based paint. 

So what is the real truth here? Just how dangerous is lead based paint? Would you (or do you currently) personally live in a home with lead based paint? Would you live there with small children? Just how bad does the situation have to be before it requires a professional to mitigate the situation, and just how involved (and expensive) will that be?

All experiences and opinions valued and welcome!

I'm currently looking into acquiring my realtor license for investment research purposes. Trying to figure out where I will be able to hang a license without the expectation of bringing in sales in a traditional sense. I came across joinreal.com in another forum and was wondering if anyone has had experience using this brokerage? Additionally if anyone has advice about where/how an investor can go about seeking a brokerage to hang their license that would be super helpful. Thanks!

@Jon Lee  @Huy N. @Craig Curelop Thanks for the advice! All good things to keep in mind.