All Forum Posts by: Matt H

If you're getting that good of a deal don't try seller financing as your first option. Try to come up with an option that gets them out of their predicament, such as buying it with no conditions. Because if they want a quick sale they're not going to want to carry anything. I'd use that as a last resort if you can't find other financing first. Also the first step is just to get a sale price hammered out and signed and dated. That way you have the property pending so no one else can take it from you. Then go from there.

I know that sometimes realtors don't do their homework and might not even realize that a home is already sold. And you can be late by even 5 minutes and still miss out on the deal if someone beats you too it, at least I think. Also I doubt he's lying simply because if a realtor has a deal, which includes a bank letter stating that the person qualifies then chances are like 99.9% that they will put it through without question. Because that contract represents several thousand dollars in the realtors pocket. And if the offer came in from a different realtor then that's pretty typical. Like you went to see it, someone else may have come an hour later but instead of thinking about it they may have had a mobile fax machine with them and sent off a contract to the seller right there on the spot, putting you up s*** creek without a paddle. If you're interested in a property best to always tie it up right away. That way you don't have to worry about other people beating you to the deal like this in future.

If you were to buy an apartment building, would you do it to buy and hold? Or would you only try to find properties that you could convert to condos?

My situation is that I own one small 1960's building. It's not really the ideal property to do a condo conversion on, although it could be done. However, I'm in the process of buying a much larger property which would be excellent for doing a condo conversion.

The simple math would tell just about anyone into realestate that doing condo conversions would be the fastest way to leverage your money. I've never done a condo conversion before, so I'm just debating if I should try it or not. It sounds like it offers the biggest ROI in the shortest time frame, and if you were to continue to reinvest the profits over and over again into more and more and larger and larger condo conversions that you could do extremely well as opposed to just holding. Your thoughts on the subject?

My friend told me that when he got started in realestate he became a realtor. He met a fellow realtor who was constantly buying and selling homes, was constantly turning them over and over for quick little profits. And he convinced my friend to do the same. But he told my friend this....

"You know Steve, I've been flipping homes like this for 10 years now, and I've made some okay money doing it. But if I still owned all those homes that I've bought over the years, I'd be a retired millionaire today."

So my friend took that advice and started to buy and hold. Now he own tons of properties and is a multi multi millionaire.

He told me the same thing, "buy and hold". At first I didn't take his advice. I was flipping properties even apartments. Now just a few years later I'm kicking myself for selling off the apartments I owned. Biggest mistake of my life. I too would have been a multi multi millionaire had I not done so.

But I've now learned my lesson and I'm just going to buy and hold. I got one of the buildings back, and in just one year the value of the property went up by 40% (we had a boom here in the city). That guy must be kicking himself for selling it back to me for so cheap.

The only way I'd flip anymore is if it was a type of home that you couldn't easily rent out for enough money, such as a luxury home. Or if I was to do a condo conversion in which sometimes it can be a sensable thing to do. Because remember the rich get richer by owning income producing assets.

If the enemy within is defeated, the enemy outside can do you no harm.

If you're wanting to become a "bird dog" then you should present it in a way where you ask for a low commission on the first transaction, but then state that if they're happy with your work that every commission after that will be at a higher rate. So first commission, only say .5% then every one after that at 3%. That way you can establish long term clients. If you're a buyer then you should entice bird dogs with high commissions, because if you can get money into their pockets they'll come back for more time and time again which is what you want. So I'd pay a solid commission from the get go with incentives if they can find you certain good deals or whatever.

Remember what "Dolf Deroos" and other guru's teach, that you have to be "counter cyclical". That means that when everyone is selling their houses for cheap because the economy is bad, then that's the time to be buying them. So it sounds like you should be buying there then right now. It's like the stock market, you don't buy at the top of the market when it's peaked out, you buy when the market is low like right after 9/11. Buy low sell high.

Those sites want to capture you're info to exploit you for profit in various ways. Forget about it. Just go to your local mls site and shop there, and in the newspaper. Those are real houses for sale.

make sure you're not comparing "apples" to "oranges" when you're saying that the surrounding houses are worth 300k plus. But if all of the surrounding homes are that much more chances are strong that it's a good deal.

buy carlton sheet course off ebay for cheap. They show all the ways to buy with no money down and no credit. You need that course if you're gonna succeed as a realestate investor plain and simple. And listen to it too and from work or school every day. The advantage is that you're still so young that if you get started right now, then by the time you're 30 you'll easily be retired. The other thing to do is find a realestate investors club, and begin attending. Make business cards and start to make contacts there with seasoned investors. Try to find one that would be willing to take you under their wing and not take advantage of you.