All Forum Posts by: Rashad Nelson

Hey Carl, 

To get started in commercial (apartment buildings / complexes), here's two great resources:

Commercial Property Advisors - google Peter Harris, you'll find tons of his free video content on YouTube.  His stuff is gold.

JakeandGino.com - these two investors out of NY decided to invest in the Knoxville, TN market. They started with nothing down there, little to no money and no credibility with local brokers and lenders, but now they have multiple and sizable apartment complex holdings in that market and growing.  They have tons of blogs and videos on their website. Great stuff.

I hope this helps.  Happy investing, ;-).

Hi there.  I know it's been a few months, but has there been any luck with your inquiry from another source?

Thanks Engelo, it's greatly appreciated.  I'm going to begin to rely solely on those big institutional wholesalers here in Atlanta to bring me deals and focus my energy in other business opportunities.

I find direct mail to be mostly effective with sourcing vacant land, but no luck with existing houses to rehab.  There's two big institutional wholesalers in Atlanta, and they each spend upwards of $15K per month alone in just direct marketing.  Very hard to compete money wise.  

Hubzu, Auction.com, HudHomeStore are good options, but good deals are few and far between.  

Craigslist provides best off-market opportunities, but there's a few scammers on there as well posting properties they neither own or personally have under contract.  When the time comes to show and prove (provide their contract with the owner for my attorney to review for instance), they don't reply back.  I've wasted so much time chasing these deals on Craigslist - scoping them with my contractors - only to come away nothing.  So to prevent wasting time, I ask wholesalers to forward some form of proof to my title company that they do indeed control the property - no luck yet in this regard.

I just have to keep grinding.

I'm struggling with number 1 right now in Atlanta.  I have the funds and access to cheap money, but no deals, at least quality ones where I can make at least $20K (gross) off a flip.  

@Victor Hughes - If you have properties that are wholly owned and are looking to pull equity for a project, then a portfolio lender is definitely the way to go.  I hope this helps.

@Rolanda Eldridge - Yes indeed. For most investors, hard money is the only way to go. HMLs are good for flips here in Atlanta, but for buy-and-holds in the Atlanta market, there's not enough spread for a straight up purchase and rehab acquisition using a HML, followed by a re-finance. Finance fees are too high and the ARVs and rents are too low in this market to make it work.

@Victor Hughes - An associate from Straightline reached out to me.  Unfortunately their minimum loan balance is $75K.  My all-in investment (purchase, renovation, and initial closing costs) are around the $50K marker.

@John Anderson - I like keeping the LLCs for tax purposes mainly and having separate business accounts.  I also have a pretty good umbrella policy.  If local banks have a commercial loan option, typical 20 year amortization, 5.5% to 6% interest rate, then that should suffice.  I just have to satisfy the seasoning requirements for most local banks, usually a year of ownership.  

Cool thanks Ryan.  I've been in touch also with Lima One Capital.  I may just have to do a short-term bridge re-fi they offer, hold for a year to satisfy the seasoning requirement of most local banks, and then re-finance again.  I'll explore this strategy further.  

I plan to borrow under my LLC, but personally guarantee the loan. Quicken Loans and other mainstream lenders require the property to under your personal name.