All Forum Posts by: Shane Ryan

Hello knoxville. I'm New not New to the group. I've been researching and learning for several years. Have asked a question or 2 on here but have disappeared a few times. 2024 was a busy year for me. Picking up 3 properties. 1 remodel/rental, 1 demolition/New construction and 1 that I'm hoping to build a duplex on. I'm hoping I can meet up and learn from others to level up from where I am. I've used my own money so far and interested in learning more about the funding side of things. Would like to develope some multifamily soon. I would like to continue using my excavation company and network of contractors as a vessel to push deeper into this realestate thing. If any of you reading this feel you can assist me. Add inside. Have a deal or private money. Reach out. 

@Don Gouge I'll come with the numbers. Show how other properties in the area have done simular numbers that I'm proposing. Have my realtor there ready to help are the property in the right places. Explain that their property has been on the market for x amount of months and show how the property 5 miles away sold for 3 times as much and only sat on the market a month or 2.

Just like I'm doing my homework now. I'll have all my i's dotted and t's crossed. When I sit down at the table I'll have the statistics ready to fire back with any question they may ask.

Not being arrogant. But I honestly think once I complete a few deals, land owners and investor will be reaching out to me. I'm pretty much offering to remodel someone's property pre sale and agreeing to get paid when it sells.

The only problems is. I make decent money doing what I do. If I can make 5k a week doing what I'm doing now. For me to get involved this way is going to have to make sense. I'm also not hurting for work. I'm booked up 3 months.(as are almost every other company in the area that's worth hiring) I charge $100 an hour for each piece of equipment I have on a job. For me to walk away from that kind of money it will have to either pay better or be less work for the same money. It's an odd feeling right now. I'm in such high demand right now. Have been for at least the last 5 years. People begging for my services and now I'm trying to sell myself.

@Joseph Hummel I think flipping the improved land would be the best option. Pretty much turning it into a pretty, grassy field. I'm looking at acreage deals. 5-10 acres. The just clearing the land and having it ready to build leaves the potential open. Some people may want to build and other throw a double or single wide on it while they build their dream house. Certain people would prefer a house close to the road and other toward the back of the property. If I come in and set it up either way. That may turn some buyers off. 5 years ago, I'd have been sitting right with my finances. With this latest boom, it has made my money not go as far. So my options now are to think outside of the box and find a way to make this market and economy work to my benefit.

Thank you for the input. I'll keep going until it works

@Tanner Sherman . No sir. I honestly appreciate your response. I refuse to allow anyone to make me feel attacked. If someone reading this doesn't see my value. That just means I'm not explaining it correctly. If I am I'm just not approaching it correctly. AND that's exactly why I am here. I'm not trying to land a deal with biggerpockets. I'm trying to prepare myself to land a deal. (Kind of like putting on a performance for my friends and family before I go live.)

I want naysayers feedback just as much as I want the go get ems. I was a naysayer. I watched my best friend go from sleeping on my couch to owning over a million dollars in real-estate during the collapse back in 07, 08. He bought some late night infomercial videos and told me he was going to become an investor. I watched him turn 10k into a 120k deal over 2 months. Then seen him traveling the country putting his own seminars on. Now he's off in the jungles of Costa Rica somewhere. We haven't spoke in a few years but I'm frantically trying to figure out where he is so I can pick his brain.

I did learn from him some wholesaler tricks. I also learned life is sales. If the sale isn't happening then your in the wrong room. You can't sell a horse farm to a preper or vice versa. He also taught me that there are plenty of deals out there if you can just be creative and find a way to make them work. It's not always about buying low and selling high.

All of that being said. What about a lease option type purchase. Not just approach this from a single side. Lay more options on the table. Approach this as a lease option. They get their asking price. I get control of the property to do what I think needs done. I sell within a few months. Double close on the land and everybody walks away happy.

I'm going to talk to Clayton homes Monday. See if I can't get some kind of deal going with them to sell them properties ready for their homes to be moved to. Present that to the land owner. Let them know I have buyers for cleared and developed land.

I will find a way to make this work. I just may have to take a few more steps than originally planned.

Thank you again for your responses. Come down on me as hard as you'd like. It's just preparing me.

@Tanner Sherman rereading your comment.

Example. 1 property is listed at $60k. I know with certainty that a lesser property sold site unseen for 90k(on the market for 1 day)last year and another for the same price (60k on the market for a month). The 2nd just resold for 240k after being on the market about 2 months). They were about 5 miles from this property. I also know a property sold not even 2 miles from this property that was a 1/4 its size(with improvments. (Septic, water and power already on property.) For the same amount. What they have for sale is what a majority of my customers said they were looking for when they settled for the property they bought.

If I went in and did roughly 10k worth of work. It would take me a month (weather permitting) to do what I needed to do. They should be able to easily list that property for 120-130k and be fairly cheap compared to simular properties in the area. Not approach with a partnership of sweat equity. They just pay a finance fee sort of. But then they would be stuck at a set price. Let's say im 20% of the profit over their asking price minus my fees. 120k-60k-10k=50k-20%=40k. So they are now walking with 100k vs 60k with no up front cost to them.

I could just raise my price. Put my speculated price into the cost of me doing the job. But if the market suddenly falls on it's face. They lose. Now they're wrapped up in a deal where they have to get 80k out of a property they originally wanted 60k for that already wasn't selling.

If I work the ground. They put it up for 120 and get 50 offers at 90k and decide to let it go for that. My 20% now drops to 4k. They still walk with 76k without having to.do much more than relisting the property. NOT TO MENTION, MY OFFER GIVES THEM THEIR ASKING PRICE. There zero chance the property won't be worth 70k when I'm finished. That could only happen if Russia invaded the Ukraine and we went in to world war 3.

@Jack Orthman again. I thank you for the advice.

I think you are right. My approach wouldn't make a lot of sense to a big investment company or at least not an in state, in my area company. (That bit of insite is extremely benificial so thank you)

I was thinking a smaller individual getting started in investing. A smaller investment group. Out of state investors. People with capital but not so much time. People with capital wanting to grow but not enough capital to just do it on their own.

My post may be a bit repetitive. Asking the same questions different ways. This is how I fine tune it. Figure out what will and won't work. My initial idea may be a failure. But with some changes will turn into a success. I know it will work. Just have to figure out how to make that happen. I have a few customers that I could approach but know that what they have wouldn't be worth either of our time. I'm focused on making it happen but know the numbers are always going to add up. Not every deal is a deal.

Thank you again. And feel free to hurt my feelings and be ugly if it's what you see. The constructive criticism will only make the final product better. Thank you again sir

@Tanner Sherman thank you sir. I've been getting mixed reviews on my idea. Several people downplaying the value of what I offer. Others cheering the idea on. My proposal makes sense to some and others "could do it without me". The more I'm told my part is miniumal the more I want to make it happen to prove them wrong. The "dirt work" I do may be miniumal to the overall project but the value I offer is not.

I'm still in the infancy stages of my idea so there is still a lot to iron out. Structuring the deal. The exit strategy. Do I give it a time limit? I don't want to screw myself but at the same time don't want them to think they are obligated for the next 5 years to get the proposed value out of the property before they can sell. With the market the way it's been. With what I've witnessed personally. I'm extremely confident in what I'm proposing. Would jump on the deal my own money now if it were available.

I will also add. For an out of state investor. What I bring to the table is priceless. 10 years in the area. I've built my business up from a junk $1k to owning 2 dumptrucks, a mini excavator, bulldozer, multiple skid steers and every attachment availble.(paid for. I've learned that I can come in significantly cheaper than my competition and still make the same amount of money if I'm not having to male $10k payments each month.) Went from fixing driveways for $100 a pop to completely developing properties to build on. Everything from the road to the concrete slab and footers. Clearing the land, building the driveway, leveling the pad, trenching for water and power, digging the septic systems, pouring the concrete slab and footers and planting the grass in the front yard when I leave. Everything I don't do. I've got a honest, dependable, reputable crew of people to send my customers direction. (With so many fly by night and unhonest companies in our area that in itself has been a chore to aquire and priceless) 8 out of 10 of my jobs start with me and finish with a crew that I recommend.

I dont get involved with zoning but deal with codes all the time. Know general prices for different permits, what will be required to make a property pass code etc. I don't just move dirt. The trucks run about 10 driveways a day. I do at least 1 new construction projects a month with the equipment. I'm talking to people buying, selling, renovating land constantly. I know the guy across town selling his house and what he's asking for it. I also know the guy 2 blocks over that just paid x amount of dollars for the same type house last week. I know what it cost to turn an ugly grown up property into a property that people wished they would have bought. I talk to the locals and know what the people in my area want in a piece of property. I also talk to the people moving here from out of state and know the types of property they were interested in when they bought their houses. My value would not be the same out west or up north. But in this area, I don't just move dirt.

@Les Williams I have posted a couple post on here in the last couple days.(not sure you can search them or not) I'm near one of the locations you listed on your post for oos investing. I'm bringing a unique offer to the table that I'm unsure of how to structure. It may be something you're interested in. If you are unable to find my post send me a message and I'll break it down for you.

Regardless. Good luck.

I had previously posted about approaching a land owner/investment company. This is the 2nd scenario I'm working thru. 

I was talking to a friend tonight about using my excavation company to get my foot in the door to investing in real-estate. Explaining how I felt I could be an equitable partner. Hoping that he had some feedback or even possibly was interested in investing some himself. He brought it to my attention that he had a virgin tract of land in a gated community. Land that needed a significant amount of work to be usable or built on. (He purchased it for access to the gated communities amenities) He paid $10 for the property. It needs another 10-15k worth of excavation to be able to build on. Simular lots are going for a few thousand more than what he paid. (Needing different but close to the same amount of work to be ready to build on). He was talking about selling and trying to get property closer to the lake than his but he would ultimately just be getting his money back if he went that route. Other properties already leveled in the same area of the community are selling for around 40k. Houses in the community range from 250-400k (last time I checked)

We discussed having me go in and level property. Since it's just excavation and no material needed, I'd only be out time, fuel and payroll. (Miniumal expenses.) There would be no upfront cost to him. I could wait until the property sold for payment. At the time of sale I'd get paid for the work I performed and get paid some of the profit. He should ultimately double his investment. I'd get paid extremely well for the work I performed. Should be a win win for both of us. 

How would I go about structuring that deal? He is a good friend and I don't forsee anything going wrong but I also know it's business. Friends and business have to have distinct lines. It keeps the business business and friendships a friendship. 

Should I (using some wholesaler tricks) somehow put money in escrow to make myself have equitable interest in the property. Have my name added to the deed? Form a llc with him as a partnership. (We will probably be doing deals together in the future so that may factor into the structure) or just do a sale contract.

Side note. The property is paid for. No loan. I explained to him there might be an opportunity to get a loan from his bank on the property and use the loan to purchase other investment properties instead of selling the land outright. 

I haven't done a lot of research on cash out refinances and don't even know if this would be an option. But would like to explore that avenue as well. So any insite there would be appreciated. 

Any advice or criticism is much appreciated.