All Forum Posts by: Ziv Magen

Silly question possibly, but here goes- what do you actually gain by going to see those properties in person? Can't you delegate? Surely this is chomping away at a huge portion of your time? Unless you're going to be physically conducting the rehabs "hammer in hand", why aren't your contractors inspecting those properties for you, once you've established general interest and potential in the listings? What do you gain by not delegating?

Really depends on house VS unit, and the country. In Japan, where we work, housing company (eq. of HOA) collects funds in advance, since the building's first tenancy, in a huge fund that covers all building related expenses, maintenance, rehab/repairs etc, for ever and ever (theoretically) - so we'd go for the two old ones and that yummy cashflow without any worry.

To all of you who donated - here's what you helped make - (scroll to the bottom to see the updated photos) -

http://www.tal-gur.com/blog/index.php/archives/helping-in-the-dominican-republic#june

Maybe it's just me, but this makes me much prouder than any cashflow, equity etc in the bank. :)))

Great thread, thanks. :)

We found that, while most agents will not have the required "telepathy" to know exactly how to cater to the investor's needs initially, even if they've worked with investors before - because every investor's needs differ - they still roughly fall into the categories of "those who will learn" and those who won't. It doesn't take too long (usually 3-4 emails/listings sent) to weed out the former from the latter, so I'm also a bit baffled on why you've been working the ropes with these guys for 2-3 years - are you sure there aren't ones easier to deal with in the areas you purchase in?

Someone who can't help but check out market prices about every country, county or town he hears someone mention...someone who emails local agents in places they've never been to "just for the heck of it", to see what's selling and what the cashflow is...someone who drives down a street and, rather than think "I'd love/hate living here" thinks "I wonder what the maintenance and rent on those are"...

Al Williamson you're not the only one who wants these smart homes with their parents or young ones in mind. And no offence to Steve, may he RIP, but the Japanese have been working on this for quite some time ;)

http://money.cnn.com/2004/04/06/technology/personaltech/japanese_future.rb/index.htm

Tons of good advice there, Manuel, I'll try to keep my two cents short - from your starting points, sounds like you're not afraid of hard work, have access to good or zilch price tags on labour (and with good labour connections come good connections for materials and parts as well), and little starting capital - if ever there was a hands-on, fix n'sell scenario, this is it in my opinion - study a particular market (stay local, so you and your free labour can get there easily), find your first deal, and let those hands of yours do the talking. Your age is nothing but an advantage in this regard too - tons of time to be hard working, boots on the ground, rehabbing and making personal contacts day and night before you have to start considering getting tied down to home and office - you could even live in those plaecs while you're rehabbing and save even more money.

Use your personal circumstances to your advantage - in your case it's time, labour and down-to-earthedness - I reckon rehabbing & selling at a profit sounds perfect.

Best of luck, mate! :)

Agree with Mara 100% - build your expertise, then go show it off where it counts!

Totally agree with Mike there - getting an excellent team in place will save you huge amounts of time and effort, which you can then re-invest in home duties or more work, depending on your personal situation - choosing good teams is a key skill here in my view.

Omg, kyler's got a face!!! :)))
Hope there'll be more of me around here soon, been seeing alot of interest from American investors lately, and this seems to be one of the best places to meet them.