All Forum Posts by: Ryan ODonnell

Complete Real Estate Solutions www.cresindy.com

This is my property manager and they have been great.

There are avenues like wholesalers and bird dogs, but I haven't had much success with them. You have an ok game plan if you are making offers on REO's. That's all I would focus on unless you want to wait for Short Sales, but that can throw your timing off.
15k is kind of tight. You can get that eaten up pretty quick. Every house is different so if you're saying 15k NET then your numbers might work better, but just saying buy at 100k and sell for 125k or something like that is going to hurt you.
Stick to your numbers that break down what the property needs and what it's going to cost for you to get it, hold it, fix it, and sell it. If you are being realistic, DO NOT GIVE IN! Just make more offers or look for more deals. The minute you try to make a deal work by offering a little more or something like that you get burned.
I know it's tough when you haven't seen one through to completion, but when you do, you'll be glad you stuck to your numbers.

You have to show an increase in value via work done to the property. To close and in 1 month market it for sale would probably be an unrealistic scenario if you plan to make a good profit. The problem will come when you go to sell. Seasoning (how long you have owned it) is a factor to lenders of the buyer as well as why the price is inflated from the recent sale.
If you can show significant improvements and don't have problems with seasoning then more power to ya!

Hopefully not too discouraging, but it's just not going to happen like that 99% of the time.

Welcome to dealing with Banks and real estate these days. I had the same thing happen in regard to seasoning. One minute they say one thing and the next it's different. If you want to get the deal done, and most the time you HAVE to get the deal done, you just have to jump through the hoops.

Best of Luck!

You really need to do your research on the area, comps (from the mls, last 3-6 mos.), and what resources you have and are willing to use to do this.
Why would you say you're not looking to make profit on rental? If the numbers don't show cash flow every month, you are not doing a good deal.
Real estate is a dangerous place to "dabble" right now because you can very easily end up in a bad situation. Be confident in what you want, do your research, and yes, you want profit every month. Equity alone (and forget about appreciation!) doesn't necessarily make it a good investment decision.

Welcome Eric,

As some on here may agree, be careful about thinking you are moving into better opportunity. While that may be somewhat true, real estate is highly localized. You can make a living and then some farming a 300 house neighborhood...in a LOT of places!
So take your time, learn and soak up information, be careful what information you pay for, and be happy with your situation and living space first because there's deals EVERYWHERE right now.

Best of Luck

Your analysis of REO's is off based on your area perhaps. We're still seeing deep enough discounts to buy right. The problem is in "activity". Very few people seem to be looking or qualifying for purchasing.

Great question though, interested in hearing the responses.

This is an article I found hilarious. Now that things aren't going their way they want to call transactions "suspicious". Call them what they really are...Investors taking advantage of opportunity that YOU created for them. If you're not going to make the short sale process easier for buyers to go through to buy a house, then you can expect this to always happen and should live with it! IMO

http://www.dsnews.com/articles/suspect-short-sales-could-cost-lenders-375m-this-year-report-2011-05-25

Hey there Craig,

Chicago is a big area with lots of pockets that are great investment areas. I try to focus on resale activity because I'm a rehabber. I don't want a house that is going to sit very long so school districts and other factors come into play somewhat.
I disagree with Sharad. A mentor is a mentor because they have made money and had success doing what they do. I don't have a mentor that would help me make money for free. Now they might give me good advice if I buy them lunch, but again, there's a price. Someone could walk you through a rehab from start to finish and you could gain invaluable experience from that. You will need to bring money/access to money, or a heightened knowledge base in order for them to compensate you for anything though.

Stay on top of BP forums and get involved in the conversation. We all want to learn so sometimes you may feel hesitant about saying something, but the BP community is helpful and understanding!

Sorry for double post, but I had a quick example...There's someone who made forum posts about having notes and being direct to the seller. It's really just an advertisement and a way for him to get leads. It may be a good company and maybe we should all be glad he posted it, but it's really an advertisement not a BP Nation type of thing. My mind compared it to Will posting ACTUAL deals for people to grab...that's what I think its (PRO) should be all about.