All Forum Posts by: Robert Leonard

Sounds like a pretty bold career move Jerome - I'd be interested to hear what inspired the change? I'm over here in the Lafayette area and I'm always looking to expand my network of RE Investors too! You are definitely in the right place to get all of the fundamentals you need to be a smart REI. I highly recommend the podcasts as a great way to get "short courses" in a variety of areas. I listen to them while I'm on the road and every single one I've listened to was worthwhile!

Bonjour Benn! Welcome aboard from a fellow investor over here in Lafayette! Sounds like you're already making deals and making money! I've attended a few NOREIA events. Maybe we'll meet at one of those. Baton Rouge has a pretty active REIA (The RING) that you can find on meetup.com too! Several NO investors regularly attend those meetings.

See you soon!

Robert

Commercial is a whole different ball game. You need an experienced commercial investor or commercial agent to guide you through this process! I hope it works for you.

Disclose-disclose-disclose. It is legal to do both. Generally, when somebody comes to you for the services of an agent, it would be wrong to convert that person to a wholesale lead. But if you get a lead as an investor/wholesaler that doesn't work for an investment, you could convert that person to a listing as an agent.

The bottom line is as a realtor, you are expected to be honest and maintain your fiduciary responsibility to your clients who come to you for the services of a real estate agent and do what is best for the client and not yourself or any of your associates. Its a matter of personal integrity and following the law. Your broker should advise you on what kinds of activities are acceptable or not.

People are here to learn Joe. You should have said "You might get homes that cheap in any war zone in America." But that's not what you said. The original post wasn't about anyplace in LA and the person who posted it was from Massachusetts. Yet out of the whole country, you brought the 9th Ward into the conversation like it's the worst place in America - that is not the truth.

I'm saying, when you single out one part of one city in my state out of the blue in the derogatory way you did, that's mudslinging. There are worse (and I'm sure cheaper) places all over the country. That is the truth.

Welcome to BP, it's a great place to start and continue learning about this business. You are wise to ask before you jump into something like people do sometimes and then say, what do I do now? Before you get into a deal, you need to know your exit strategy and what you need to do to perform each step of the process. I would try to find an investor that you can develop a relationship with who will mentor you through the process.

I really like Zillow, because it gives you a lot of useful information, but the Zestimates can be way off. Don't put too much stock in that valuation. If you don't want to tell an agent the exact address, you can say you are interested in that street and get recently sold (last 90 days) comps for that area to be able to come up with your own valuation based on features and amenities of similar properties.

If you listen to the most recent podcast on BP, the guy who did 27 deals in the last year talks about how they found an investor who took them by the hand and showed them how to do their first wholesale deal and all they got for it was a $2500 finder's fee. You may have to settle for something like that just to establish the relationship with an investor who can show you how it's done. It's a relationship business.

Come on @Account Closed is it really necessary to mudsling at the 9th Ward? You just set off my "Louisiana" keyword alert, only for me to find this uncomplimentary remark. War zones exist in every mid-sized or larger city in America - heck, maybe even Dallas.

@Alexaundra McCormick it's possible for that strategy to work, but not on most REO properties being sold by big banks. Unless you have the funds to double close and cover holding costs, REOs aren't ideal for wholesaling. There are deed restrictions that don't allow you to transfer title (sell) for a certain number of days after you buy. You will need POF to buy listed properties in most cases.

You would have to find properties that fit a very narrow set of criteria for this type of strategy to work which may be possible, but not likely. Every market is unique, but with the way that REI is so en vogue today, it's going to be hard to find a place where investors aren't quickly buying properties under 25k that you really want to invest in.

Sounds like "pie in the sky" to me.

I tried it too. Back in April, I had a property that I was the winning bidder on and the seller (bank) decided not to accept it. I was kind of optimistic because the auction folks that I spoke to said I wasn't far from their reserve and they usually take it about 85% of the time when you are close to the reserve. But, not so lucky for me. I also watched several other properties that I was interested in get bid up beyond my interested price and they came right back up again in the auction a couple days later. I'm sure somebody's buying them, but they paid too much for me to compete with them.

@Robin Schumacher with your experience as an investor and level of personal financial responsibility, I think you have a huge opportunity to take advantage of the extremely low cost of money today and use some leverage to invest. I don't have a crystal ball, but I believe 5 years from now, people will say "remember when we could get 3 an 4 percent rates on mortgages!"

Buying one property at a time, all cash, is very low risk (credit wise) but you leave so much money on the table when you refuse to use leverage. It's your decision, but if your objective is growth of capital, use of leverage is what took me from near zero to six figures.

Leverage also allows you to diversify by putting less money into more properties to spread your risk. You are a stock market investor, you understand the benefits of diversification. I've also done some stock market investments. Over time, they've allowed me to use some of what I grew in my IRA to form an SDIRA and use those funds for REI.

My bottom line is I think people are using a rule of thumb "Be debt Free" as a cookie cutter "key to financial success" when I think the timing (related to interest rates) makes this the best time ever to borrow money for anyone who is young and making investments for long term growth.

@Amy A. I never let anyone waste my time. That's why I show vacancies twice a week. One weekday in the evening, usually Wednesday 5-7PM, and one weekend day in the morning or afternoon, like Saturday 10-12 or 1-3PM. I don't call it an open house, I just make appointments about ten minutes apart during those times. That way, I never waste time for unqualified people, they show up and are part of the enthusiasm for the property! You make two trips to your property for showings!

As a realtor, I know you are used to being responsive when someone wants a showing, but with a rental, you shouldn't run out to show a vacancy for every interested person. That's how you get hassled and the unqualifieds waste your time. When you schedule them to be there while you have other appointments, you make a few more contacts but it's not a waste of your time!

I use a one page application with a $25 fee for each adult that will live there. Most unqualified people take the application and never fill it out - they can easily go and deal with a landlord who doesn't have an application. Those are the landlords with the "headaches" dealing with tenants! Use a few good strategies and you'll never be one of them!