All Forum Posts by: Paul Hitchings

If you want to get make some real $$, design a predictive algorithm that can determine the probability of a family selling their home after certain life events, i.e. new kid, different job, losing a job, etc.  Build information from public and privately aggregated public data.  Then sell the list of "highly likely sellers" to real estate investors in different cities. Because your model is based on data and not location, it would work anywhere you could get good data.  My 2c.

Large and medium sized businesses enjoy similar debt restructuring but on a much grander scale. It is silly to think that a person, who should have more rights than a business, can not restructure or settle their debt in similar ways.

As an aside, do you think the millions of Americans who sold their homes via a short-sale should be sued by the lenders? 

Try checking NFPA 13 and NFPA 13D for codes relevant to your situation :)

1) - great idea

2) - love it

3) - plus the dump smells great! :)

4) - contractor's quote what they think they can get. Like the plumber that tried to charge my landlord $700 for putting in a new faucet and a couple of short water hoses! 

5) - yup

6) - neighbors are great! They always tell you things you'd never know about the area

7) - yeah, kitchens/bathrooms/windows are great items to upgrade

Read, watch, learn, meet, drive, call. Immerse yourself in the world of real estate investing.  Check out these local meetups in your area too. https://www.meetup.com/find/events/?allMeetups=fal...

The key to investing, or so I hear, is invest in what you know.  Are you familiar with construction? Great with numbers? Love dealing with people? Good at bringing different members of a team together? Love to control everything? Willing to let go and delegate? 

In general, I would KISS for your first deal. Stay local, do one unit (or property), not several. Use more standard deal structuring. Consider owner-occupying.  

At any rate, there is no one solution for you, the magic in real estate is finding the niche(s) you love and learning everything you can about them.

Good luck!

You gave me an idea. I am going to build an app that does PM work and couple it with a tele-presence robot. 

Question, would you be willing to hire a robot(powered by computer software) to do your property management work?

Ceteris paribus, a person's motivation can be determined by how much skin they have in the game. 

Doesn't sound like a bad deal, but what is your exit strategy? How long are you going to live behind the house?

Have you considered buying a home that needs repair? Buying a home in good condition destroys your ability to rehab it...

Also, are you familiar with the FHA203K program? Allows you to wrap repair costs into the loan. A bit more complicated, but could be a good fit for your situation. You can always refinance after the required seasoning period to get out of PMI.

If you want to maximize your dollars, consider the "best use" principal. Multi-families are best for renting, SFRs are best for living in.

I think you're on the right track, but I'm not sure this is the best use of your $98K...

Awesome Kurt! Try bugging some commercial listing agents, they go for months without leads and if you offer to charge them at closing (or lease signing) it sweetens the pot even more. They are also SUPER easy to find because all you have to do is drive around looking for "For Lease" signs. Consider the opportunity costs of a large building not being rented. Commercial agents are motivated to set their properties apart from the crowd and the aerial videography is a perfect differentiation for them.

Also bug your local $1M listings. Because pretty homes look even better from the sky than average homes ;)  

Then use your commercial and luxury aerial videos to develop the residential market.

Just my 2c.

I say start a group. You will position yourself as an expert, in the long run.  I learned about half of what I know about real estate from working in the field and half from listening to others who have spent years or decades investing. 

Here in California there is no shortage of participants, but it isn't about how many people show up. 

As far as getting a real estate license, you don't need one. Yes it would give you access to certain useful tools, like the full MLS, but imho, investing and being a Realtor are not remotely related, aside from sharing an industry.

Along with the DMM, you might try "driving for dollars", or touring your local area and looking for run down or vacant homes. Just knock on the door, talk to neighbors, get a lay of the land.  Eventually you will find a motivated seller or vacant home with an absentee owner that might be more than willing to get rid of it. The DMM letters sent to a vacant home without mail forwarding don't do much good :/

Are there trustee sale auctions in your county you can attend? What about tax lien sales?

Also, this might seem like a silly question, but is your Realtor sending you leads on homes that have been on the market 120-180+ days? Because they do exist and they often have a myriad of problems, or challenges, depending on the type of person you are :)

Lastly, consider sending letters to all the Realtors in your area letting them know you'd love to get a home that needs work for a flip.  You can still use your Realtor as a buying agent, so they don't feel slighted (although unless you signed an exclusive representation agreement, you can typically work with whomever you want)