All Forum Posts by: Randal McLeaird

I'm looking for some suggestions on books for CRE. I just bought 4 textbooks - 2 on development, and 2 on analysis and finance. I've been thinking about getting my CCIM designation to compliment my Broker license but my heart is really only in the investment side of the business and not in the representation side of the business and I feel like the CCIM would be a waste of money with more dues and the extremely high cost of the designation.

So, I'm going to read these books first:

"Real Estate Finance and Investments"
William B Brueggeman

"Real Estate Development: Principles and Process"
Miles, Mike E.

"Professional Real Estate Development: The ULI Guide to the Business, Second Edition"
Richard B. Peiser

"Commercial Real Estate Analysis and Investments"
Geltner, David M.

I'd also like to see if anyone has any recommendations for other books that will give me a personal perspective of the CRE space and kind of enlighten me to the lifestyle. Not so much a textbook as a real life account. I've read Trump books and they're a good type to read for inspiration but a little too much self-aggrandizement in his writings.

If anyone has read the above books - I'd be happy to hear any reviews.

I've been in the SFR side of the business for a while so this is the start of the learning process. I've considered searching for employment at a large commercial firm but again, it leads back to the brokerage side of the business and not the investing side.

This has been an internal struggle for me in that I want to learn as quickly as possible but I also don't want to lose the autonomy I've created for myself with my business.

If anyone has had a similar struggle and can offer any advice, I'm all ears.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts, suggestions, or advice.

I used patlive for a while and then switched to voiceconnectinc. I think they were bought by claritel. if you google them they are specifically related to the real estate field and answer calls for agents, investors, mortgage brokers and the like. I have them tied into my buy and sell site so when I get a call the first thing they ask is 'do you want to buy or sell a house'. If they say buy, then the operator takes them to my website and asks them the questions for my web form. Once they submit it, the client's info in automatically in my database and I get an email notification. I can quickly read through their info and do a quick analysis based on their responses and be very prepared for the call when I call them back. This isn't very expensive unless you're getting a ridiculous number of calls and even then it's well worth it. I must say it's not without it's problems. I've missed calls here and there and you have to stay up on them if you see you received a 20 minute call without a lead in your system - clearly those are not right. They are very responsive and helpful to correct a bill if those things occur and you get a login to check all the calls. if that happens, all yo have to do is call the number back and get their information. It's few and far between but I'm giving you the pro's and the cons with them. hope that helps.

David - I've used openroad and I'm currently using Freedom$oft. We migrated everything over because there are quite a few things we can do in F$ we couldn't do in OR. I think you should trial each one and see which one works for you - if either. If you're just starting out, you can spend a lot of time and money on all this garbage and like Chris said - not use any of it. While they're great systems, you'd probably be hurting yourself if you didn't take the time to figure out what you need or desire to do and find a system that will accomplish it for you. The OR system was great for managing all the short sales I was doing. Since I've moved away from negotiating those for other people, I've realized I don't need a lot of the systems OR offered. F$ became the better fit. It was a huge time cost to move everything over so again, I think it would be best if you figured out what you need in a system, and then ask on BP what other people are using to get that accomplished.

Much praise for putting this event together. The speakers were great and the venue was amazing. I met so many good people there and took a ton of valuable information that I've now got to sit down and process where to go with the business. I'm revising the marketing strategy, branding approach, buying model and a few other things to shift from wholesaling to more rehabs. The rehabber boot camp was perfect for me. Thanks again.

what are the numbers on it? if you don't have any equity and you spent the money on the rehab, then take it as a learning experience and do some research on how to buy better in the future. There are a ton of posts here that will help you.

Back to your problem - why not seller finance it? Do you have a loan or do you own it free and clear? If you have a loan - who is it with and what type of loan is it? If you own it free and clear - why not just sell it ad take a small loss now rather than a huge headache if you're not in the landlording game? More questions than answers here so if you elaborate a little it may help others give you better advice.

refinish. i had a $30k house i bought with carpet down and flees all over the place. ripped up the carpet to find some damaged hard wood and just bit the bullet and refinished it. the whole house looks amazing and I found a guy to do it for a really good price. It definitely does help that I'm in SA because I got it done for much less than everyone else is quoting but I would've paid more because basic carpet is going to cost me $2/sqft installed anyway. I paid about $1/sqft to have it refinished and it's a rental so I wasn't concerned with having it done up to a $300k house standard. It rented almost immediately. People like hard wood and you'll love the durability compared to replacing the carpet all the time when your tenants destroy it.

back to the original question - if you don't have a deal to sell what are you selling? So, if you're going to wholesale, I'd market to sellers. Work on your marketing pieces and test everyting you're doing. If it doesn't work - dump it.

I agree with the crap people put out in my town. If a 'wholesaler' gets a deal from another guy and adds his fees - the numbers will rarely work. Their numbers rarely work as it is. So many of them are inflating their ARV to guys who don't have access to MLS and they just keep burning their buyers so they have a very high turnover of their buyer's list.

My advice would be to get a deal and the buyers will follow. Don't get sucked into swindling people if you have to alter numbers.

in order to help you find an agent that will work for you - call some of the large property managers in the areas you want to buy. sometimes they'll have homeowners who are ready to sell at a discount in order to offload their problem. also, you can ask them if they have any new agents in the office that need some business. the same applies to any of the larger offices. just call in and ask if they have any new agents. build the relationship with them and teach them to find what you're looking for. there are plenty out there.

Andy, I just did the same. I've got a Realtor side of my business and my investing business. I found that if I don't have a clear set of tasks for the assistant (and for my multiple VA's) the tasks will not be done the way I want it done. I think it's incredibly important that you clearly define their job description and the tasks at hand. Have a checklist of items they need to go through and that way you can evaluate their performance. If you just hire someone without a clear understanding of what you want them to accomplish, you'll add chaos and more work for yourself. Once I figured that out, I've been able to increase productivity. Also, by having a clearly defined role and tasks for them, you'll be able to release those tasks with more confidence since you've spelled it out for them. Hope that helps.

Nick J. - wow it's been a while - remember back in the day working short sale deals with Joaquin and I?

I appreciate the offer and if I can get out of the room I already booked I'll be down. Just did couchsurfing all over Puerto Rico so I'm no stranger to sleeping on the floor or where ever. I'll let you know.