All Forum Posts by: Matt Lawhun

I would offer 10% down with seller financing over the next 10-12 years and a balloon at the end of that. That gives you more than enough time to pay down equity and bring in a JV anytime within that period.

There is a lot more involved than what I offered in the two sentences above, but the technique is real. I bought 7 rentals for only $5,000 down, 10-years taking the loan subject-to with an additional 3-years seller financing at 0% interest. I have a ballon payment at the end of 13-years for $74,000, will have collected rent for 13-years, got all of the tax breaks and paid down equity (currently at $650+/mo principal) for all of those years.  

Just an option.... 

Best of luck.

Matt

My biggest complaint is about the tenants who pass the screening, then they move right in and start making payments late. I would think, of all things on this earth, you would make the payment to keep a roof over your head above all others. Sure, there will be tough times... that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about habitually late tenants who wait until that eviction notice comes to finally get caught up. I've got a tenant that I would put in that database today if some created it.

I bring a couple with me (just in case), but I have a business v-card set up in my phone. Someone asks for a card, I ask if I can send my v-card instead. Then, I just send a text with my v-card, make sure they received it then click on it to add to their contacts and I'm done. 

Now, they have ALL of my information that I put in my v-card... name, company name, address, e-mails, phone numbers, notes on what I'm looking for, birthday (so they get a reminder on their phone... just another way to stay in their mind), etc... much better than a card that gets lost or tossed.

You can't trust Zillow's estimates alone or you will get burned. I use Zillow to get the sold properties in the area. Then I use Trulia, Redfin and county records before I even start working the deal.

Zillow is great for looking at the most recently sold property pictures to determine whether the homes were sold as wholesale, retail, rehabs, etc... Once I look at the pics of all of the sold rehabs, I choose the rehab level of work that most closely mirrors what I would be doing to the target property and use only these houses to get a rough ARV. I also look at the price the rehabs were picked up for to get a feel for the avg. wholesale price... just for my personal notes.

I then use additional tools and resources, but this post is about Zillow. I don't recommend using Zestimates for anything honestly. If you don't believe me, look up 10 properties on Zillow then look up the same properties on Trulia and compare the differences in value. 

Thoughts? 

Hey Ed,

I'm sorry that you are having an issue with Chris. You asked for opinions of people who have dealt with Chris and it seems that you received a lot of responses. 

Personally, I don't see Chris as a "guru", because of the negative connotation that goes with the term. He is very knowledgeable and I truly think that he is there to help his students. I took his program three years ago and have used his strategies several times. 

Most "Gurus" would be finished with you after the program ends... I would know because I've dealt with several. However, since finishing his program three years ago, I have submitted a few deals through Chris and he has always called me back within a day or two to confirm the details of the deal before sending out to the network. As a matter of fact, I just spoke with him two months ago and was surprised that he even remembered me after such a long stretch without communicating between the two of us. Just as a comparison, I was in a program with a local guru who attends the same REIA meetings I go to monthly, and I guarantee he doesn't recognize my face or name after paying $15,000 to him!

While going through the program, I never had an issue if I spoke to Chris or Steve to get my questions answered. If one wasn't available, the other would call within a reasonable time. I also knew that I wasn't the only student, so patience was necessary. 

So, is Chris perfect and is he going to be the absolute best solution for every student? Not even close... He is a tough mentor who expects everyone to actually do the work necessary to succeed in his program. It took me a couple of weeks, but once I got past the fact that Chris wasn't going to hold my hand and he and Steve expected me to put in the work, I really started to enjoy the program. Once again, it's not for everyone...  

Anyway, this was supposed to be succinct response, but it turned into a novel. I hope that this helps gain a little perspective (from my experience) on the situation that you are going through with Chris and his organization and I hope you two can get the issue resolved peacefully.  

Matt

Forget Cali....Bring your $900k to South Carolina and I will find you all kinds of great cash flow properties!!! Lol....

In all seriousness, I can't imagine there aren't any positive cash flowing properties in your area otherwise all owners would be bankrupt. Find yourself the right seller and educate them on your services to get the deal. I would not jump on a deal that, at the very, very, very...minimum breaks even. It would have to be an extreme situation for me to take that deal. However, I just don't have a high level of tolerance for speculative deals.... Needs to be as concrete as possible for me.

Best of luck.

Make your 70-80% offer for seller financing. If he seller takes it then great for you. If not, don't be afraid to bump it up to 90-100-110% of asking price. As long as the tenants are paying for the property AND it is cash flowing, then it's still a deal. My experience has shown that most sellers can't wrap their head around 0% down, but when you offer more than asking price with 0% down, the conversation changes. Of course, this ONLY works if the numbers make sense and the property cash flows.

Married or not, all that matters is if you have a good partner. She may not have the same interest, but does she compliment your deficiencies? Does she support what you do? Do YOU want to be doing the books? Sounds like she is doing a great job in the support role and you need to find the value in that. My Ex-wife fought me every step of the way and made it difficult to do any deals. My "new" wife supports me every step of the way, but she does not get nearly as excited about numbers and deals as I do. However, she has chosen to step into the support role by ensuring all things around the house and dealing with the kids is taken care of so that I can focus on real estate. Is it the perfect partnership in my mind? Nope... But it allows me to work harder at reaching our goals when I am not distracted every few minutes throughout the evening by all of the needs of everyone else in the family. I still help out around the house, cook and work with the kids. However, if I start to get too distracted, my wife reminds me that SHE chose to take care of the household so that I can focus on real estate and she pushes me back into the office to make more phone calls. :-) My point...? Find the value in your partner and appreciate it. It will make your partnership much stronger.

I wholesale in the Charlotte area as well as flip. My suggestion to you is work with both. If the deal makes sense to you, then it should not matter who you work with. Best of luck.

Are you considering buying the duplex then moving into one side? A lot of people have started that way. What about wholesaling to start building capital for yourself?