All Forum Posts by: Jennifer L.

These are all great tips and advice, especially for someone like me who is thinking about becoming a real estate investor.

As a newbie, I would say that there are tons of information, and some are conflicting at best. It is difficult to decipher whose opinions, judgements, and authority are fiduciary.

I do believe it does take money to invest in real estate - not necessarily for a down payment but to have sufficient reserves for the investment (which does not seem to be discussed much). Real estate seems to be capital intensive.

I think having a business plan, being financially ready to invest, and knowing your end-game before starting will put that person in a better position than others. This planning phase at the beginning does not seem to be emphasized enough.

As I read other people's investment stories and talk with other real estate investors, I have noticed that some seem to have unrealistic expectations about real estate investing. This may be part of the reason why some decide to quit pursuing real estate investing, especially when challenges start presenting themselves.

Hi Ryan.

If you cannot stand your current job, you may switch jobs and still be in the same industry. It will still be counted toward the 2 years.

Honestly, it depends on your financial situation whether or not it would be best to quit or not.

@Michael Noto is correct.

Many successful investors that I know who had different careers kept working in their field until they produced enough passive income to officially quit their jobs.

I hope that helps.

@Dennis M.

I think paid mentorship is a personal choice. Many people learn in different ways. Some people feel like they will get more out of paying for someone who is perceived as more experience. Some people understand and value the time of a particular mentor and are willing to pay for it. Some people want to  invest in real estate with the least involvement and are willing to pay a more experience person to do all the work, split the profits, and learn nothing more about real estate.

I have read some investors paid $10,000 for a mentor and were unhappy. I know an investor who paid $25,000 for her mentor and does not regret it. In fact, she still volunteers at his events whenever she can. The advice she gave me was that the amount of money you spend has to make financial sense. My interpretation is that it is the responsibility of both the investor and the mentor to compare whether the cost of mentorship makes financial sense for the investor. Also, she mentioned that she made her $25,000 back on her first deal.

I think there are many other factors involved with mentorship and that it should not be taken lightly. I feel that many people misunderstand and misinterpret what a mentor can do and what a mentor cannot do.

I would spend the $20,000-$50,000 to be in a deal or partnership or several deals and partnerships (being an optimist) where there is a real estate transaction(s) involved and go from there, but that is my personal opinion.

@Don Alder-LaRue

Thanks for the detailed description. I actually never attended one of these, and now I am more amuse (more so about the entertainment seeing this more as a spectacle and show) and disappointed (was expecting it to be more educational-focus). Nonetheless, I plan to to go and have a good time. If for no other reason, I am looking forward to meeting any fellow BP members who may attend and hopefully network with others as you mention.

I was wondering if you or your friend have attended the commercial 3-day event. It sounds like it may be relatively new. This is the only reason why I decided to pay the $100 (I was one of the last persons filling out the application). I wanted to attend the 3-day commercial event because it is advertised that they include a field trip to one of their current commercial property (and actually go over the deal of how they acquired it and what they look for when finding a deal). Though, I will not hold my breath if they find some contingency or do not deliver on their promise. Also, I am hoping neither of the Groves host this event because neither one is actively investing in commercial real estate (Phill voluntarily admitted this in the initial meeting). I am hoping one of their members name, Steve, will be hosting this event because he is the active commercial real estate investor in the group. Or at the very least, I would like the host to be an active commercial real estate investor. Again, I will not be surprise if this does not happen (I have been reading so many posts about this event, any thing related, and the different opinions. At this point, anything that you may say I probably already read it).

 Please let me know if you are still interest by Wednesday (January 23). If you do not respond, I will automatically think you are not interested any more and will give the next person the opportunity.

Also, I need the extra time to RSVP to the event.

Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.

I think they are selling tickets at full price at the moment. For what I have heard, if you wait until the last minute, they offer huge discounts off the ticket price.

I will find out more information.

Thanks for inquiring.

@Bryan Hancock Thanks for validating this guy. Since he is a local investor, I did not think too many people would know about him.

@Baltazar Camacho Thanks for the warning about his constant sales pitch. I have not attend to one of these events before. I would say paid mentorship is a mix bag at best. I know one investor who paid $25,000 for her mentorship and does not regret it. In fact, she still volunteers at her mentor's events every chance she gets. That being said, she mentioned that the amount of money you spend has to make sense financially. Since she already had 10 years experience in residential real estate and accumulated her wealth as a cofounder of an option trading platform company (or something similar to that), she wanted to put her money to work and paid for a mentor to learn commercial real estate. She also mentioned that she made her money back on her first deal.

@JT Taylor Thanks for giving a detail description. I am about to attend one of these events. Now, the deal is 2 events (residential event & commercial event) and 6 months membership for $100. I thought it was a little confusing when he pitched it because he separated us into different groups. The only reason I signed up (at the last minute) was because they were sponsoring commercial educational event. I am more interested in learning about commercial, and they mentioned I get the residential event too. It seemed more like an afterthought that they give tickets to both events.

Hello.

I have 1 free ticket to a live event hosted by Phill Grove member of Houston Real Estate Investor Association (Houston REIA). He will focus on marketing and strategies for residential properties.

Phill Grove is a local investor. It sounds like he mainly does fix and flips. He has been investing in the Houston market for 15 years. He claims his net worth is $13 million. He is still active and is more than willing to partner in deals.

It will be held at one of the hotels in the Galleria area on February 1 - 3 (Friday, Saturday, Sunday).

Please let me know if anyone is interested. 

Thanks

Jen

Hi Victor.

I have no interest in investing in single-family homes. I am more interested in commercial real estate. However, I am actively researching Mr. Kris Krohn because my friend is seriously considering investing into his program. I have not watched any of Mr. Krohn's videos...yet. My knowledge and impressions will be based on the book he wrote: The Strait Path to Real Estate Wealth that I finished reading.

His strategy seems to be an alternative version of BRRRR (Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat). The difference would be that he does not Rehab, and he does Rent-to-Own (lease options). His strategy seems to focus mainly on acquiring new properties. His program emphasizes having good credit (good enough to qualify for conventional mortgages) and leveraging that plus all other assets to acquire more properties. The fact that he does not rehab and does Rent-to-Own tenants reinforces the investor to have (maintain) good credit (tenants pay above normal rents to have the option to purchase the home they are currently renting therefore those higher payments keep the investor's debt-to-income low) and focus mainly on acquiring properties (no rehab, no property management, no repairs because the tenants would pay for all of the repairs based on the lease option agreements).

While this may all sound good on paper or in his book, he seems to gloss over the fact that he does put his investors in riskier types of mortgages because his goal is to maximize the amount he or they can borrow to acquire more properties.

I am not too sure how much research you have done on Mr. Krohn or if you know anything about his first investing partner who was his father-in-law (I think). I think his investing partnerships are basically structured the same way. Since his father-in-law had a high stable income, diversified assets (except real estate), and good credit, Mr. Krohn leveraged it all including his father-in-law's credit to buy more properties. In his book, it mentions that they bought 31 properties using his father-in-law's assets and credit. I think the caveat to Mr. Krohn's claim in the video is to find investors who match his father-in-law's financial profile and leverage all of their assets including their credit to buy more properties.

Some interesting things to note: his goal is not to own all of the properties that he acquires, he simply wants to control them for a little while and have tenants own the homes; he seems to have a negative bias against 401(K), stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and other investments; he does emphasize having an end goal, being financially prepared (being able to qualify for conventional loans meaning have your debt-to-income as low as possible or lower than 43%), and having an investment strategy before beginning to invest in real estate; he has multiple businesses that are real estate-related (realtor company, mortgage company as well as other businesses); in his book, he mentions having fulfillment and purpose with the wealth created through real estate such as giving to charities, making donations, and supporting causes that matter to you (I think he also has some sort of mentoring and life coach programs); in his book, he states his program is not a get-rich-scheme nor does his program tries to seek the highest profits rather he favors safe, reliable, and predictable (those are his adjectives, not mine; I would interpret those words loosely) income.

I think my friend bought the $1500 course but has not gone through the material yet.

In another thread about Mr. Krohn on BiggerPockets, a young man claims to have a personal relationship with Mr. Krohn (having grown up as kids together) and stated that his brother (or one of his relatives) works in one of Mr. Krohn's companies. He invited others to PM him though he wrote that post over 4 years ago so I am unsure if his contact information is still accurate.

I hope that answers your questions.

If something seems unclear and/or you have more questions, please feel free to ask. I am still actively researching.

Jen

NMLS #1791152

P.S. Please forgive any misspellings and typos. This was typed on my cell and spell-check is funny sometimes.

@Joe Stretch, thanks for your insight. I was/ still a little confused about applying to bank jobs because some do require a license and some previous experience at least around where I live (in a Texas metropolitan area).

That is a good idea to look for local brokers. I might offer my services to a local broker as an assistant maybe work and/or volunteer part time to help out with paperwork and filing and answering the phones.