All Forum Posts by: Dominique Palmer

@Jourdain Francine

I started out as a commercial/industrial electrician and understand how electrical contractors bid their jobs. What he did is no different than what any other contractor would have done to operate their business cost effective.

Let's say you want me to do a job that will require me to use a man lift to reach high up on a building to install some conduit and some lights. I don't have a man lift so I have two choices if I want to be able to do the job 1) go buy a man lift which I will pass the charge on to you as the customer or 2) go rent a man lift which I will pass the charge on to you as the customer. If I will never need the man lift again I'll just rent it but if I am bidding a lot of jobs that require it I'll buy it. You award me the bid and have essentially bought me a man lift. The next job I bid needs a man lift also and I have one but if I didn't I'd have to rent one. Any future customer that gets that bid will have the cost of me having to rent one in their bid. Most of the contractors I've worked for have a company or branch that they set up and own which charges them to rent tools that they already own to themselves. Thats how they do it on hard bid jobs.

On service call jobs that fee is hidden. You call me and need me to come out and find out why your exterior lights aren't working. I charge $100 per man per hour and tell you there is a 2 hour minimum even though it may be 10mins of work and flipping your circuit breaker back on. My employee doesn't get paid $100 per hour but you are paying his wages, insurance, benifits, travel, vehicle cost if it's a company truck and cost of any company tools he needs for the job.

So like otgers have said it's a cost of business. If his price was reasonable and he did the job right it's fine.

@Lien Vuong

That's the same message I received from Alex, the director of the Bigger Pockets Conference. I'm attending.

@Renee Schram

I'll look into it and see if I can get an answer for the thread.

@Mark Weinstein

I think they are all different and all have somewhat different end results but I also feel like they can be skills/strategies under the bigger umbrella of being a Real Estate Investor. For example you can be a running back that can run well, catch well and block well. Just like you can be a Real Estate Investor that is a good agent, landlord and flipper.

So while I disagree with the person that say you should only do one I do believe that you should focus on becoming proficient at one and implimenting systems that can keep it going while consuming less of your time then moving to the next.

I would recommend becoming good at flipping or buy and holds and then add the other down the line.

@Benjamin Orozco

I like the way you explained that. I like RK's simplistic definitions of what an asset and a liability is. Asset- puts money in your pocket, liability- takes money out of your pocket. I think he came up with those simple definitions to help average Americans who aren't investor savy. The common school of thought is a house is an asset. Well that's not always the case you can buy a house that is a money pit and when you go to sell it it's worth less than you paid for it. I don't think anyone in their right mind would consider that an asset.

Another thing people have to remember is assets and liabilities aren't set in stone. I can buy a cash flowing rental that would be an asset. Taxes and insurance can go up and that same priperty would become a liability.

@Benjamin Orozco as for the example you gave I would say the house you purchased was a liability(because it was costing you money) but once you got the HELOC and were able to purchase enough properties to pay for themselves and your HELOC bill then at that point your house became an asset(the equity purchased assets that could pay for it and themselves).

Just the way I see it.

@Justin Thorpe

What kinds of things does he tell people not to do?

It really just depends on what you are interested in and what you are trying to accomplish. One route could be to purchase a house hack using an owner occupied FHA loan, depending on the market you are looking to purchase in.

@Zachary Shelton

Congrats on looking to get started. I'm 29 and have 13 units. So your goal is definitely achievable. Some good advice was given as to making your goal more specific and figuring out a strong enough "why" to get you through the tough times.

I would say maybe make your goal a little tougher. The harder the goal the harder you'll have to work and the more knowledge you'll need to accoplish it. It's not so important if you reach the harder goal or not. The important thing is the Real Estate investor you become in the process. The harder goal will make you a better Investor in the long run.

The other thing I would say is look for any available first time home buyer programs that will provide down payment/ closing assistance for a multi family house hack if you can find one.

@Russell Brazil

I understand that. I'll purchase my ticket now and hopefully it goes as planned.

Sorry if this has been posted already or if this isn't the correct forum to post this in.

I'm from New Orleans and I know that the city was hit hard by the Covid-19 virus. I am wondering if the BP Con 2020 is still happening at all because of Covid19?

If it is still happening are any of you guys still planning on attending?