All Forum Posts by: Peter Martinson

Hello Peter Martinson in Philadelphia. This is what drives me crazy about BP and Newbie's thinking that they can Buy a Single Family Home and make Money. You can't! Especially, with a family and two working and owing DEBT. If, you have never owned a Home then you need to read the IRS rules for First Time Home Buyer. You can Buy your first Home and live in it for 2 out of 5 years to Sell for up to $250,000 Tax-free. What are you going to do? Rent your Residence and Buy an Investment nightmare with "Tenants?" That's putting the Cart ahead of the Horse = Smart people doing Stupid things. The easiest and safest way to start in Real Estate is to buy your first Home. Then, you find a fixer-upper house to Rent. When you Sell your Residence Tax-free, you move into your Rental and do it again. Now, you were impressed by Robert Kiyosaki and "Rich Dad, Poor Dad." Do you know he made it up? There never was a "Rich Dad." Robert's Method is to encourage you to go deeply into Debt by using "Other's Peoples Money" to invest in Real Estate. If you wanted to try to do that, the first lesson is to talk to your Banker and see if you can qualify for a Loan. The second step is to watch Grant Cardone's youtube video, "The Worst Investment You'll Ever Make." From what you described as your situation you need to start your study with David Ramsey! Google "David Ramsey's 7 Baby Steps." I had Rentals in S. Tampa, Florida for 30 years. I prepared to buy my Portfolio of Rentals to retire off of Oil Tankers for ten years. I traded Mutual Funds with some of the money off the ships and made $100,000. I sold my four Commercial lots in S. Tampa four years ago and paid all Cash for my Townhome in Valrico, outside of Tampa, to get away from the mess and crime. It took me a year to find the perfect property with Searches on Zillow etc. I bought just before the Covid and in one year my $175,000 went up in value to $320,000. But, I am experienced and studied and familiar with my State. I know how to use the computer to Search for my own Deals and Google Map to save me the time to drive over to inspect the neighborhood and outside conditions of the property etc. Do your know how to play Monopoly? Try to learn with that game and realize that Real Estate Investing is really a big game of Monopoly. You buy Single Family Houses. Sell them to Buy Duplexes, Triplexes or Quads. Then, you move up to Commercial Investing and do small or large Apartment buildings etc. It is a long and not so easy JOB if you are a single Investor. You need a Team. What's that? Can you support a Business with ten guys to work for you? How big do you want to get? I don't see this in your situation. Be very careful. The minute you say you have enough Down Payment Money to buy a house, you will have every Real Estate Agent on BP offering to help you spend your money. 

My wife and I live in Burlington County, NJ. We started at age 51, in 2019.

We researched 1-2 months and started searching for properties. We made lots of rejected offers based on our single family home rental investment criteria. It took us 6 months of searching and offers to get an offer accepted.  

We recommend that you set your criteria and begin actively looking after a few months of research. The process of actively looking amounts to real learning time, we found. 

Best wishes to you. 

 Hey Peter! I am an agent and investor in the area and I host friendly investor happy hours with @Gaetano Ciambriello for people of all levels. I think it would be great for you to network and see what others are doing. 

Reach out anytime and I'd be happy to share the details of the next event!

Buying something “right now” just to be buying something is a terrible idea. Not every property is a good investment. Be patient and buy when the numbers make sense and you have a clear plan and adequate reserves.

@Peter Martinson You make your money when you buy for the most part so once you have researched enough, likely a few months if you’re diligent, set a firm but realistic criteria for the property type you’re looking for and start looking and making offers.

Be sure to make sure it will cash flow if it's a buy and hold or will have a high enough ARV to be able to refinance if it's a BRRRR or to be able to sell for a profit if it's a flip.

However sometimes just breaking even or just making a small profit and having learned a lot is the best thing about your first deal.

My wife and I live in Burlington County, NJ. We started at age 51, in 2019.

We researched 1-2 months and started searching for properties. We made lots of rejected offers based on our single family home rental investment criteria. It took us 6 months of searching and offers to get an offer accepted.  

We recommend that you set your criteria and begin actively looking after a few months of research. The process of actively looking amounts to real learning time, we found. 

Best wishes to you. 

@Peter Martinson It sounds like you're on track, learning, but lacking a strong network. My advice to you is to budget, discuss strategy with the wife, and meet like minded people. If she's not on board you'll run into all the speed bumps. If she doesn't understand most of the numbers, strategy, and reasoning behind effort what's the point? Does that mean she's remodeling a kitchen? No. It simply means she understands the value and ROI.

My wife and I remodeled a property together. Before doing so I was sprinkling in knowledge about REI (I had experience with other properties). It was a great relationship building exercise. I encourage anyone starting out to do the same.

I was chatting with a friend in the industry this week at a Bigger Pockets meet up in Tampa. We both commented that most of the people that attend are studying and preparing, but most industry people that tell you that there is a big difference between thinking about it and taking action. I would be studying as much as financially preparing. Determine what you plan on doing...flipping? purchasing turn-key rentals? etc. How much down payment do you need? What will the closing costs be? How must cash in reserve must you have for the lender to be satisfied? Do you have a friend/mentor that you can turn to with questions? Do you have the right team...property manager, contractor, real estate agent, etc. to help? Take stock of where you are...point A... and where you want to be (point B). Then, create a map from Point A to Point B and set a hard time line to achieve it. Many desire to own real estate, but few take action. Don't let that happen to you to study forever and never pull the trigger. I don't think "buy right now" by going off half-cocked is a good idea. You need to truly be prepared, but creating a detailed plan with hard time lines will get you there.