All Forum Posts by: Nick Doria

@Duke Marquiss sadly a few years ago i didn't think so smartly and fell into the trap. while I didn't spend some crazy 30k amount it was well more than what the information was really worth. When you don't get into the emotions of the room and see things as they really are there normally aren't too many time when you can't figure their intentions quickly.

also one last thing, why would you pay somebody 30k which very well could be the money to really get started investing where you will really learn on the fly and then be in the game. Learn as you Earn. If you're thinking that I just need to know that next thing before making the jump you never will. 

@Ben Leybovich wow, this took a while for anybody to notice haha. 

@Patrick Kingori the whole meeting was being based on "hype" and "Selling the dream" as said in the review I can't speak for the education since I had never taken any classes . The main issue I have with them is for the fact of playing into people's weakness. Read a little closer and you will see that when I wrote about them i keyed in on the Typical GURU like things they all do. If you have to play into people's fears and build up fake hype more than likely what you have to offer isn't that good. If you are providing good information people will look to pursue you and not the other way around.

@Ben Leybovich is a great example of this he doesn't go out there and recruit or force some BS story on to people to be interested in his course. He lets people see the value of the course for themselves and then THEY make their own mind up IF they want it. 

Anytime somebody is giving you a sales pitch stop and think for a moment "hmm if they have to try and sell me on something is this even worth it." Now, I can't answer this question for anyone other than myself, but is a good point.  

Another thing, I see that you are brand new to the site welcome to biggerpockets. i have also noticed that you have only commented on this topic and haven't done an introduction yet. Nothing against you but, after everybody is on the site long enough as @Ryan Dossey yes, I know this is the kinda BS that makes my blood boil. Not going to let it slide if I know people are getting taken advantage of. I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't say something. 

@Tess Tari

Are you asking them to apply before seeing the apartment ? Even though you have said you've done it in the past i've never had anybody apply without seeing the apartment. thats a pretty tall order as @Account Closed had said the credit report does leave a mark on their credit. there is no way i would apply for an apartment before seeing it and most people feel the same way. There are ways that you can have them see the unit without showing the apartment take a video and send it to them or do a facetime showing or skype showing you will be surprised how well this works.  

@Account Closed yes this is true but if they don't want to answer basic questions more than likely they aren't the type of renter you want. The pre-qual questions I always ask are pretty basic and almost always scare away the tire kickers or at least saves the time if the place isn't what they're looking for. 

Anytime I've had a person who didn't want to answer the questions at all almost always never show up since they are more then likely "professional tenants and are looking for a landlord who isn't on top of their game" my take can be jaded since that tends to be the case with the area i'm in. I know in other markets it can be different.

@Account Closed you don't have to have them fill out an application to find out if they will qualify for the apartment. When they call you go over the qualification standards that you have and after talking to enough people 9 times out of 10 you can tell if they are lying based off of how they answer the question. Of course there is the chance that you can be wrong but your gut is normally right about people. 

a couple of things that you could do to help get more people interested would be: 

- change how you have your ad typed up this does make a pretty big difference believe it or not. Also having a title that catch attention helps a large amount as well.  

- Good pictures go a long way. i know you said you just added new ones which will help a lot. 

- Do you know what other landlords are asking for in terms of qualifying standards if yours are much higher it could be a good thing that people aren't getting back to you or you could be asking for too much due to what the area is.

- maybe drop the rental amount by a small amount it's better to have somebody in there even if its lower. plus this should get more people interested and give you a better chance of finding a qualified person.

@Rhonda Shrum

I would stay clear of them. While yes, you may find some people to network with more than likely at an event like that most won't know much more than you.  It really depends on the person since and this is a general statement " must feel like they need to be held accountable or have the structure in place to succeed". I think what most people are missing when they get started in real estate investing is really knowing "WHY" they're getting started and what they want to get out of it. When the WHY is clear it's much easier to find what you are looking for when talking to people and are able to attract like minded people. 

Generally speaking from my experience because when I wanted to learn I did go to some of these presentations before I found out about biggerpockets.  Here is what was the most consistent with all of them and the same has been said by others on here: 

1.) They prey on the fact that the people in the room aren't happy with their current job and paint the picture of overnight success 

2.) they use high pressure tactics that make you feel like you're missing out and making a big mistake if you pass up on the training since "your investing in yourself and your future"

3.) they also have others that are in the program attend as well to help hype up the presentation. there is also people who post on BiggerPockets that support the training that only respond to people saying they had a bad experience with a company. best way to know if they are a scam is by looking at their profile and if they have less then 20 posts normally it BS. 

With all of that said though I do believe the classes can provide some value to a person if they don't like doing research and gathering information on their own.  

For me I like the process of doing the research so they classes would be a terrible idea for me. If you're looking to network try and see if there is a BP meetup in your local area since you will meet people who are active and doing deals. I have made some great connections from the meetups I have gone to. 

As @Brie Schmidt  had said having all of the information that is required by the RLTO is something you don't want to mess with.  In terms of customizing your lease you can add separate addendums for what you would like to also include in the lease but keep in mind that they have to not violate any of the rules in the RLTO if any do it won't matter if it's signed.

We have always used the Chicago association of realtors lease since it gets updated every year.  

@Mindy Jensen Great I bought the ebook and have read a little bit of the book. I guess i'm old school because there's just something about holding the book while you read it and mark it up as you read. I know you can do this with an ebook but have never read cover to cover no matter how hard i've tried.  

Looking forward to reading the hard copy as there is always great information from any books that Biggerpockets puts there name on. 

@Glen Hark Welcome to BP. Have you ever thought of doing black appliances ? They look good and don't look out of place with granite or other higher end finishes. Another plus of is that they are much easier to keep clean and you don't have to worry about them getting dented like you had said about stainless. 

personally, I think white appliances always look really cheap. What are the other places in your area going with ? 

Michael Carpin welcome to Biggerpockets you have found a great place where you can really learn and network with like minded people. As Eric La Pratt had said the meet-up on the north side of Chicago that he was talking about is a great place to meet people offline and start to build relationships with people in the area. If you haven't picked up the book that Brandon turner wrote "the book on rental property investing" there is a lot of great information on there that can really help you define your goals more. Another great book would be "the one thing" by Gary Keller that helps focusing on the most important things that will make the biggest difference.