All Forum Posts by: Patrice Boenzi

@Kevin Chan finding good contractors is hard! You could do a post on FB, in the area you want to work in, and ask for recommendations. Then contact the contractors and start establishing a relationship. Another good question to ask FB world is What Contractor Shouldn't I Use? 

@eric 

@Eric Mota house hacking is a wonderful place to start. In my opinion, the first place to start is to learn how to run numbers. Whether you are house hacking, flipping, wholesaling etc.....it's all about the numbers! BP is a great place to learn from other and the tools are great! Our son got started out house hacking, right out of college, living off of cash flow. He just closed on his first flip today! There are so many paths you can take. Find a Realtor who can help you learn, one that actually invests. Good Luck!

@Thomas Kofi Annan start building your personal portfolio, learn to run the numbers, find the deals and educate as many people as you can. You will automatically attract people just from them watching what you are doing if you have your marketing set at the right target. @Cassi Justiz gave you good advice about meetups and networking with investors. Get yourself a mentor who is doing what you want to do and take them for coffee and pick their brain; most people will help people that want to learn. Good Luck! 

@Tyler Thavong congratulations on educating yourself and starting so you in the wonderful world of real estate investing. There are many roads that lead to success in real estate and you will need to figure our which one is right for you. BP has tons of materials to help you get started and to educate yourself. Learn how to run your numbers because the numbers do not lie unless they are done incorrectly; that takes practice. When I started my goal was to assess 100 properties a week so it would become second nature to me. I wanted to flip, so I would find properties that I think would work for my goals and I would run my numbers, and then watch the investor to see what they did, how much it sold etc. Eventually, I got good enough to be pretty accurate. Being younger, I would suggest you look into house-hacking when you are ready to launch. You buy a duplex and live in one half, rent out the other half and let your tenants pay all your expenses and end up with cash flow at the end of the month. In this situation, you would pay yourself rent by placing it into saving so you can save to buy your next property. The benefits of this are since you will be an owner occupant you will need less money down for a mortgage. I would also suggest you find a Realtor who is an actual investor...so many say they are "investor friendly", but until you lived it you really do not know it. BP is another good source to find a Realtor in your area. Good luck! You are definitely on the right track!

@Rick Sheldon I am a Realtor (and investor) and I am going to comment on your #4 point. I believe it is a conflict of interest and would not work to be a Realtor and wholesaler; I think the liability would be very high. As a Realtor, we have to abide by a code of ethics and license law and I believe it would conflict with wholesaling activities. Once you get your real estate license you will need to join a brokerage for at least two years until you can sit for your managing broker's license and open your own brokerage. So, in the first two years your brokerage will outline what you can and cannot do as E&O insurance may prohibit wholesaling activities. The Real Estate Act was put in place to protect the consumer from Realtors so it is strict. It will be hard to "only sell homes" may be hard too because some of your sellers are going to want/need to buy.

@Ahmer Zaidi I checked with Frank Boenzi and he said the lease we use is Michigan specific so it may not help you. If you need a good attorney I can recommend one; maybe she can help!

@Frank Boenzi do you have a copy of a blank lease where it says the tenant is responsible for snow and fines?

@Ahmer Zaidi we have it in our lease document and we have language about if we get fined from the City, the fine will be passed on to tenants. If you know an attorney, you can ask them to draw something up for you or maybe they have a sample.

@Marcus Brown I am from the western suburbs of Chicago and I was told by several builders it costs about $65K to take down a house. I am interested on what others have to say too! 

@Joseph Konney very good point. My rentals are out-of-state and our last eviction took about 4-5 months and cost me about 4K not including lost rent. I had a Realtor, in the area, tell me the average eviction cost in a Illinois is $10k. What have you seen?