All Forum Posts by: Rome Wells

Very interesting forum for sure guys.  Lots of wonderful folks commentating and by the way i like the word BOOM... feels awesome when action being taken and folks dominating their geo area.  

I can't talk much on behalf of shadiness or not shadiness in commercial real estate.... since i am fairly new... in this journey...  

However, I do see many different responses that are neither right nor wrong.   I see many individual and intellectual folks killing it out there... and making it happen.   There is one difference that exists between these who are killing it and making it happen vs the ones who are not....

That difference is called Purpose.

I have observed one pattern that there is a lot of frustration in this group, and lots of hesitation and I can see that frustration and I understand why folks are being frustrated. (and heck based on what I saw my self in the period of 2 months and 13 days in my journey... I don't blame them)

I see that some folks want to start small and suggest going small, and others dive into bigger type of properties.   I see that some folks are frustrated and releasing their frustration in this group, I also realize that such frustration is contagious...   

I understand the reasons why folks are frustrated... Here is how to cope with it... Create daily plan of doing actions... and document them... document them not just for yourself but for others to see... 

Educate yourself and educate others at the same time. Sometimes learning on your own while telling your journey in the world of commercial real estate multi family house investment can translate into reduced level of frustration.   

Idea here is to be a nice person, the type of person who is likable, the type of person who tells your journey and shares openly your strategies.  Idea is to be passionate about the real estate... but within the limits and the boundaries of your own inner self and your desires.

Idea is not to have expectations when visiting these networking meetings, but rather realization of your confidence...   The realization of the confidence that can help folks discover their own risk tolerance.

Now i am not a profit neither am I wise man, and I am not trying to outsmart anyone, but perhaps maybe I can share my story with some of you folks and tell you what I think about commercial real estate from the guy who never ever in his life... even bothered re-balancing his own 401k, until Jan 1st 2018.... 

The day when I decided to dive into this rather interesting field.... the field that I simply fail in love with in the past 2 months and 13 says....   The field that some may say... seem magical... and some may think of it as Scam.  Yet the reality of it all... 90% of folks out there became millionaires from real estate, and that must mean something.

I am not brainwashed by many things I see in the training meetings, neither am I expecting the unexpected.   The concept of shadiness did cross my mind... from the standpoint of brokers charging outrageous fees... especially the ones that don't even respond..... back.... 

However... that frustration and realization of such frustration can only come from doing.... and taking action.... Whether it's doing big things or small things... 

Note buying Single family homes vs multi... family homes... is truly the strategy that folks must understand...  and the eccentric details of the benefits...

I do not agree with strategy of diving into small things... I am with the BOOM commentator... I like to see things BOOM BOOM BOOM.   (sort of like that song... boom boom boom i want you in my room...)... Anyway that was a bit funny joke  (maybe)...   but anyway... here is why i think it make sense to start with multi family units... let's say 8 or 12... vs let's say 2.... or 4....

Reason is simple... it just makes more sense from cashflow stand point and long term ROI.... Note... I am not a real estate 20 year veteran, I am not a guru... in fact I am simply certified math teacher for the state of CT and just like to take actions... and help folks discover similarly which actions make sense to make vs what doesn't make sense...

At the end of the day... after me taking the course... in real estate... i realized that... by taking someone else's course... listening to podcast... reading other wonderful folks comments on Bigger Pocket forum on LInkedIn on Quora and just networking... with folks... not with the intent of a hidden agenda to brainwash someone.... into buying multi family homes with them..., but from the stand point of simply being a good person... and networking with folks who are of similar mindset... and understand the inner reasoning of what you are trying to do.... (and if they truly understand you and you manage to relay your message... then other folks will follow... that's just essentially how it works...)

Now i am not the best person here to tell folks what to do...after all heck... :) I am just a newbie.... but my common sense tells me after being briefly educated in the short period of 2 months and 13 days... is that it's all about financial freedom and long term growth...  that is only achievable with actions... and reason to do good things... 

Without the reason, without passion vision becomes to get clouded... like a dream... yet.. the reality of it all... in this life... there is either dreamers... or the millionaires.... 

The real question is.... which one are you?

Ah that's cool @Ben Sosa that's an interesting strategy for sure.. buying it from the city and all... any bigger properties there Ben do you happen to know?  Let's say 8 units or up directly from the city?  Or no chance?

@Bogdan Constantin Stefanide no problem... glad i can be of service

Indeed cap rates, beginning to make less sense... Multi-family owners will start waking up soon that the longer they wait for the less they will get paid...

We can either wait this out until the recession hits... and then dive into it... or strategically chose to buy in places where cash flow and upside potential is feasible... 

Majority of deals that I am seeing do not justify the price... especially with rising interest rates...   Which are going to increase again this March.  One other way for numbers to make sense though is to bypass brokers.

Ah good point Matt @Matt S.  thanks for responding mate.

Matt i think you went to one of the networking meetings in Manhattan, I read your story about storage closets.. .in Massachusetts with some partners... and Brooklyn house... cool story, it's amazing how many different methods of money making strategies exist out there in real estate world.

• My strategy and emphasis is strictly only on multi family homes... 
• I am simply trying to figure out how to bypass broker fees and work with home owners directly... 
• I am basically preparing myself... to have some insider knowledge advantage... before it comes to pulling a trigger and getting the multi family building under contract

In simple words... I am looking for multi family owners.... in CT NY NJ in above mentioned counties who I can connect directly with... who happen to be selling their multi family property....     and interested in getting fair market value... for their home without having to deal with the broker.  

I am simply trying to connect with multi family owners, ahead of time... ahead of me buying something... basically to have some multi family owners under my radar... so when the time comes to pull the trigger and team with other like minded investors... then at least it would make sense for me and my investors from ROI standpoint.

I am not trying to outsmart any brokers out there or do anything in such nature, I am just being real here... for some brokers finding a house is just business... but for some folks out there... it's their entire life savings...  

Hence every penny counts... (unless of course broker brings to my attention really good property that actually makes sense... however last time I checked majority of broker actions is driven by commission rather than the individual spectrum of the investor.  

Plus some do not even get back to you, hence I figured i'd bypass them, or at least attempt to do so... unless of course I find a good broker to work with who means business... and understands spectrum of the investor vs simply focusing on commission side of things so much that it clouds the judgement of the broker.

That's the challenge i am facing here.. of course.. it may also sound like an excuse not to invest into commercial real estate... however.. the reality of it all is..  I am simply preparing myself... and anyone who I would associate with... in the direction of financial freedom....

Hence what i am asking here.. without sounding too bit of eccentric or some type of person who tries to outsmart anyone....  is the following....

Does anyone know of any multi family owners with 8 to 12 units or more in the geographical areas that I mentioned?   Note i am not planning on buying anything now... I am simply trying to figure out if any of such folks actually exist... 

This will help me increase my confidence level... :)

I wish I can attend, but I am attending another networking even in Port Chester that same day... :)  I am from Stamford myself... Norwalk is a good area they are building a mall there.. and i blog about in my commercial real estate blog.. StudyGuide.net/Real-Estate .. 

Indeed, I have to chose between Westchester and Fairfield county.. opportunities are present all over the place...  but deciding on demographic and specific area.. can be challenging.  

If the event took place on some other day.. maybe i'll be able to make it... but currently i have 3 networking events lined up that I am attending 20, 21, 22 all  in a row..

Ranging from Manhattan, Port Chester, and once again Manhattan.  Not sure if this event is multi family oriented or single family... to be honest my mindset is in multi family world only... but good to know networking events exist in place like Norwalk for sure.

Drinking and eating from the bar.. always a nice touch in terms of bringing business into local town for sure.  

Also one thing I noticed in Norwalk there is not that many multi family units :)  It's a bit tough for sure.. finding one... that makes sense from appreciation standpoint and cashflow....

Upon me comparing Norwalk area to other areas... I still feel the possibilities and economic boom happening... heck i have a part time job in Norwalk connecting pumps to the cloud... value is indeed there... however in comparison to appreciation and anything else for that matter... I am still not convinced... about the city...  at least until the day i see some buildings that makes sense...

I cooked up guys financial formula in my blog to show how I look at commercial real estate from perspective of a math person.  I will try to post it today in my blog on facebook feel free to check it out...   Effectively what I learned.. is that it's tough to get into commercial real estate without a concrete purpose..  I show folks how to get to that purpose while still having a full time job.

It's tough... and almost impossible and only makes sense when the sale between the owner and buyer is direct... without middle man at least for the first property... <--- this is what makes sense.... however... reality of it all bypassing broker is a bit tough.

Investors want to see good deals... but good deals are hard to come by when there is lots of middle man fees... :)  Hopefully at these networking events we can discover how to bypass middle man... regardless of the beneficial factor of the middle man and dive into the concrete details... from the standpoint... where the good deal exists.. how to find them before they get on the market and how to get capital...

This is what folks want to know :)   This is what folks are trying to get to when it comes to financial freedom..  What i discovered in my 2 months and 12 days journey is that... that it takes a lot of hassle... to get the property... under contract... so much hassle.. that it feels intimidating.... to even bother... and instead invest into alternative methods... (at least that is what I thought in my initial journey... my outlook has changed since a bit... discover why it changed...  and see how I document my journey as I drive through Norwalk area and Stamford area and commentate about my discoveries in real time blog)

In regards to attending this event... if you guys reschedule it feel free to count me in.. however i already made commitment to check out event in Port Chester.... Besides that is where i have one of my clients in Port Chester as well.. where I teach student math... hence it makes sense for me to attend the meeting there... although i can equally teach students in Norwalk.. but... the point that I am trying to make is... there are lots of meetings and lots of possibilities and lots of areas to invest in... however... what investors wants to see is great cash on cash return and great ROI.

Yes you extracted proper key points from this post for sure.

Also one more thing.... if you do run into an issue don’t get stuck in paralysis state and raise that money that you just lost from the roof by investing into something else just to play away the damage and get back on track.

Obviously you must know in what to invest and how.   Luckily there are good folks in this forum to follow who are common sense experts and simply following them to see what they do and how they do it can help you realize what to invest into vs to what you should not invest to.

Note the journey in commercial real estate can be bumpy and I am learning this based on my own journey so far, however everyone appear to be so optimistic about it... even if roof goes bad and if investment was good mistakes can be weathered off or outpaced using other synergies.

At the end of the day I believe that art of the deal the successful first deal is what makes folks a bit relaxed when running into issues like this.

Anyway glad you were able to extract major key points and that my advice and other wonderful folks advice in this forum was somewhat helpful.

However I can see why you bought property on your name vs LLC... there is this whole thing about how it's easier for lenders to work with folks directly vs LLCs... (these lenders simply try to do what's easy for them vs what is easy for you)

In fact realization of what’s easy for one person and hard for another is barely realized by most folks, until they start diving into mindsets of others.

That’s when the magic starts happening.

@Rachel Rayner

Thanks looking forward to connect with like minded individuals in the world of commercial real estate with emphasis on multi family housing and private financing.

Thanks for Advice Jared.... for sure...  indeed Fleetwood or Northside are a bit expensive areas the closer to better side the more expensive it is :)   Only if broker could get back to me then perhaps it would be a lot easier to investigate....   Since broker didn't really get back to me I guess there maybe other ways of finding multi family buildings by going direct route, as I describe in my post here.

Also in regards to being new, no worries mate... I am also technically a newbie... I started diving into this journey in Jan 1st 2018.  Appreciation and all the other mumbo jumbo... is important to know but not too much to learn...  In case if interested in seeing how I am learning about commercial real estate multi family investments... feel free to check out my blog... (let me know if interested in the link and I will share it with you)  

Here is what I show in my blog...

1... How to copy successful folks

2.... how to understand math behind the deal

3... how to network with others...

My blog is a bit corny, but it shows how I am taking actions... and literally describing what they are....   Some folks may find it interesting especially the ones with like minded mindset...  and some simply don't care :) 

Figured i might as well share this journey with you....  so you can learn about appreciation and numbers and art of investing and all the other jazz... associated with it...

Once again thanks for advice... and yes I would have to literally investigate the area closely, but the closer and closer I look at things, the more and more i begin realize... other opportunities in other appreciated locations not to far from Yonkers...  or at least is what i hear from other folks (and like minded investors).

count me in.