All Forum Posts by: Scott Hollister

Hello @Morgan Wilson, welcome to the best Real Estate site! 

Congrats on passing the license. And it looks like we share some of the same passions! (Real estate and Farm) 

I was a CT teacher for 4 years before taking the jump into full time real estate investing. I got my license 3 years ago, and can offer some good reflections on the best path to take. For me, the license was the best transition into real estate investing. Although it took me a year or so, I was able to replace my teaching salary with some great flexibility compared to a full time W2 job. 

On picking the right brokerage. It is important that you pick the one that works best for your goals, and there are a few ways to go about it then just picking the highest split, lowest fees, etc. 

If you're trying to become the best agent and treat this like full time work, I would recommend you interview the top 3 highest producing agent teams in CT. Even thought the split will be very minimal (35-50% of each transaction, desk fees possible, etc.). You will be able to learn from the best that have proven systems in place, and utilize transaction coordinators so you can spend your time on what you do best. Think of the lower split like a mentor fee, instead of not making as much as you can. You will do the most amount of volume here if you apply yourself, this approach will require that you work "full time", as well as nights and weekends. 

The next brokerage we can call the mom and pop approach. This is someone who may work a full time job or not, has almost no fees associated with hanging your license, offers a really good split 60-75%, but no CAP. So whether you sell 1 million in real estate or 10 million, your fee structure stays the same. Working with the mom and pop is great, low key, offers the best flexibility, etc. But you may lack the systems, technology, passive income streams, and growth that may keep you in one place. But if your goal is to be a full time real estate investor, this may be the best approach.

The other way is to sign up with an online cloud based brokerage, that challenges the first brokerage above. There are two out there that are well known. You can get a higher split 80/20, passive income from recruiting other agents (You can get this from the other two as well, or sometimes just a bonus check), and agent ownership of a company (publicly traded). 

My thought process was this, knowing that I never wanted to be a full time agent, because agent work is active income. Just remember you are on this site to gather knowledge about creating more passive income through real estate. Even though you can create a team as a broker and treat it like a business, I truly think owning buy and hold real estate is the best investment, then lending money, investing in syndications, and stock market may follow after that in my opinion. 

So I started with the mom and pop, worked great, loved it. Until my friend brought me into the cloud based brokerage. The three reasons I left were to create my own brand (brokered by another company), and to earn passive income, and to be with one of the best real estate technology companies. 

As with anything, do your research and make sure it is the best choice for your 10 year vision. And just remember the above is  gross generalization of splits, etc. As most of everything above is negotiable with you and the broker, but I'm just trying to help with some perspective. 

PS love the wine path, my uncle is a Sommelier out in CA. And my wife and I are building our dream home on a 64 acre farm in CT, and a small vineyard is on the agenda for sure! 

@Derek DiPrete Eastern CT is an area I focus in/live in, I have a great list of vetted contractors, lenders, agents, etc.

I focus on investing, contracting, lending, raw land, house hacks, 203k loans, in the quiet corner. 

And like the great advice above, hire a pro the first time. Quality work costs what it costs. When corners are cut, you get burned. I think it's great to have a "handy man" on call for the smaller things that don't require a permit. But anything that needs a permit or requires a trade, always get a licensed, insured, and vetted contractor. 

Have you ever had a hard time sticking to your goals? Or struggled finding the necessary clarity needed to understand what you want and how to achieve it? Januarys meetup will dive into some of the best goal setting and personal development books over the last 20 years. We will break down the common themes and get you off on the right foot for 2020.

Topics Included:

Goal Setting

Real Estate Specific daily tasks

What other successful real estate investors do with their time, what their day looks like

Clarity on what you want in your life

How to plan your vision and work backwards to the now

What is success for you

How to plan your year, quarters, months, weeks, and days

Books Covered:

The ONE Thing

12 Week Year

Compound Effect

Getting Things Done

Getting Results the Agile Way

@James Wise nice work! Shape is key

@James Wise thank you sir, and likewise! 

Going strong into winter with no shave November, don't shave December, jungle January, furry February, and march madness. It's my winter scarf in New England when it gets cold haha. 

@Patrick Britton I have a handful of great attorneys in Connecticut. Shoot me a PM with the details and let me see if I can help you out. I have a unique experience being a lender myself in CT and the local laws, hopefully you didn't get burnt too bad. I'll do my best to point you in the right direction. 

Hello @Adam Carskaddan

Congrats on the first post and welcome to BP, your life will never be the same:)

This my best advice, and a common thread from experienced investors here on BP. 

The absolute best way to get into real estate investing is the House Hack (Live in one unit, rent out others) with a low down payment loan. Typically the FHA loan, 3.5% down. If you buy a 3 or 4 unit you will need to have a post closing liquidity of 6 months of mortgage payments, you will just need a little more in the bank as opposed to just buying a duplex.

You can also use the 203k Loan, same 3.5% down, but you will purchase a Property that needs a rehab, use a general contractor, close the loan, rehab the property, and move in once finished. I think if you do this right, it can be even better than the first option. But it IS a headache and there are a couple possibility that you can get buried on this option, like going way over the rehab amount. (Which will come out of your pocket, can be scary if you don't have the money in the bank). 

Focus on your market, pick one or two, not ten. Look at everything that has sold, look at stuff on the market, start making your own comparisons, basically you want to know almost instantly if its a good deal or not (Of course the inspection will give you a better understanding) But from the outside, for the offer, you need to act quick, especially in this market for small multifamily. 

Find an amazing agent that knows investment property, house hacking, and your market, if possible. And don't be afraid to ask questions, read @Craig Curelop new book on House Hacking if you get a chance:)

And try to keep on blinders when it comes to shiny object syndrome, the most important thing you can do right now is sit down with a lender, understand how much you need to close with, find your market, find your agent, and educate yourself. Then once you execute on all of those, you will find your first investment property! Best of luck! 

@Preetinder Singh have you spoke to the local economic development yet? Usually they have a pretty good idea on businesses that want to come to town. 

The bigger players like Starbucks have very specific needs, like analyzing traffic patterns, local businesses, etc. I think they have over 20 people on their real estate/analytical team. My best advice is to reach out to local brokers that specialize in retail placement in that area of Hartford. Stephanie at Regions Commerical is a great person to know, not sure if she specializes there but I think she may know who. 

I can mention it at our next Commercial meeting, I am on the CT Commercial Alliance committee for GHAR. Shoot me a PM with the details. 

@Darren Sager for being a great friend and mentor over the past two years, whether he knows it or not. 

@Dave Van Horn for bringing people together at his events. Writing his book and leaving bread crumbs for other investors to follow. And also being so generous about his time. 

@Brandon Turner and @Joshua Dorkin for using the platform to educate others and bring awesome guests on the podcast, this has truly been the difference maker in my career. 

@J Scott for writing the book on flipping and estimating rehab costs. These two books really taught me everything at the beginning of my career. 

@Mindy Jensen for being an amazing community manager, writing an amazing book to help with my real estate clients on how to sell their home! 

And the list goes on and on, BP is the best place to be for Real Estate, bar none. 

@Greg H.

We see a lot of volume, I used to broker HM and started doing some direct lending. 

The best I have seen is 7.25% on the fix and flip, 10% down, 100% rehab, up to 75% of the ARV. You have to be doing a lot of volume to get those rates, great track record, and good relationships. Points in the 1.75 range, again fluctuate on deal, experience, and relationship.

The average I'm seeing is in the 8.99% range on the fix and flip. 

Some lenders offer 100% financing on the buy side, they don't advertise it, but they will if your purchase appraisal comes 10% below of what you have it under contract for. 

If you're brand new I regularly see 10.99% interest, 3 points, 80-85% of the purchase price. 100% of the rehab, up to 65-70% of ARV. They will discount the ARV for the risk.

And @Alex G. I would love to know who is putting that in their contracts? I've heard of local commercial banks calling the note due back in the savings and loan crisis, even when the borrower never missed a payment, and had good tax returns. But I agree with you 100%, no one plans to go south, some times are just bad and out of our control. Crazy to think there has been a handful of times like that in the last 30 years, still fresh in my eyes.