All Forum Posts by: Alok Sood

David Burlock welcome to the BP Community! Check out the BP Podcasts which you can find on iTunes - I find them to be quite inspirational and filled with great ideas on how to get started in REI. Also, not sure if you can make it to NYC tomorrow evening, but there is a meetup being organized by Darren Sager . Good luck!

Hi Shawn M. Do you currently own any rental properties now? If so, then what kind (single family/multi-family) and how many units? I don't think it ever hurts to get certified in anything... You never know where or when opportunities will pop up. Also, I would check with the state certification website for known partners who can provide the training.

@Abel Vazquez

I'm finding that having a good tablet seems to be more important that having "the" phone which can do everything. I myself am an iphone guy but recently purchased a Microsoft surface which I find to be very helpful because I use excel and onenote quite a bit.

Hello and welcome to BP @Mathias B.

Hopefully you also have a chance to check out the BP Podcast which comes out every Thursday. There is a wealth of information in all of the past 52 episodes and great show notes on this site to go with them. Check it out if you get a chance - see you at the meetup!

David Perry welcome to BP. I'm also somewhat new from the Jersey City area. Hopefully you can make it to the meetup in NYC next week. Best of luck in your investing career. Best regards, Alok

I'm in! And available to help out if needed Darren Sager Thanks!

Thanks for the advice @John Moore . My initial thought is to try and focus in an area which I can get to relatively quick - approx. 30 -40 minutes from where I currently live. Although I live in JC, I find that either the properties are way too old for me to want to deal with, in war zones, or cost too much. Perhaps if I had some more experience under my belt I might look into JC again.

Hello @Mike Jones - I'm not very experienced in the NJ area as far as rentals but I can say that I've owned properties in Canada where I never had to visit that site for 5+ years at a time. This was because of 2 things; first, the property management company I had was awesome and took care of everything well enough that I didn't have to get involved outside of electronic communication and 2nd, The lease document I had used was given to me by someone who owned several hundred rental units (in Canada) and was rock solid. I'm sure some of the other more experienced rental unit owners can give you more valid info specific to NJ, but that was my experience (for what it's worth). Good luck!

@Shahriar K. - I have been through some parts of Summit, NJ and found it to be a very nice area which I'd eventually like to live in once I'm tired of condo living. Maybe its because I'm used to the Midwest (Metro Detroit Area) but I agree, property taxes here are quite high and hard to accept at first. I hope to be able to build up my business enough to do tear downs and spec builds.

@Michael Krassos - Thank you for the advice about connecting with Darren. I was pretty excited to finally hear an investor from my neck of the woods finally making it onto the BP Podcast (show 48). As for meeting up, I'm game for coffee, lunch or grabbing a drink after work any day to talk RE shop. Also, @Brandon Turner did also mention something about a BP meetup happening in NYC around Jan. 14 in this week's podcast (show 51).

@Darren Sager - To become part of the GSMLS I'll need to find a investor friendly broker who I can hang my license with, correct? Originally I was thinking of trying out the Clifton area for direct marketing as I've found it to be a nice area and of course, commuter friendly to NYC. The price points look reasonable enough for me to get into and build up from there. If you know of any meetup or REI group which I can join just to network with other investors who are doing projects in the area, that would be very helpful.

Thanks!

Alok

Hello (again) everyone and Happy New Year, my name is Alok Sood and I'm from Jersey City, New Jersey. I say "again" because I did this once before several months ago but then didn't engage afterwards (blaming it on analysis paralysis). Nonetheless I made it my New Years resolution to force myself out of my shell and make this finally happen.

Originally I'm from Windsor Ontario (Canada) and had quite a bit of RE investing experience there from rentals to property management to rehabbing and even spec home building. Since my father was a broker, finding deals wasn't an issue for me. But here in NJ, I have to find these on my own. So I've spent the past year listening to every BP podcast, reading blogs, books, and even got my RE license.

I guess what I'm looking for is some advice as to how I can utilize my past experience with RE as well as utilize my License without having to work for a Realtor who requires a sales quota to be met just so I have access to the local MLS. Are there such things as "investor friendly" brokers in this area who would be willing to hang my license and give me a few pointers or introduce me to others to partner up with? I am interested in learning more about wholesaling, rehabbing, SFR and multi family rentals, and spec home building.

Currently I work a full time job in IT at a firm in NYC but hope to build up a RE business which I can eventually transition into full time over the next few years.

Thanks,

Alok