All Forum Posts by: Steve Pangborn

Hey guys, I've been studying the site along with a few others for the last few weeks and also making a lot of other changes in my life so I can become successful at creative real estate. Want to thank everyone again for sharing their stories and knowledge on the site, it really is great to know that so many people are able to do this!

My question now is that there are two different REI club meetings coming up this week. As someone who has never been to one, I wanted to get your advice on anything you'd like to share regarding that. Anything you wished you had done to start off right? Do you see people doing things that aren't really helping them in the meetings, or did you ever think to yourself "I wish I knew I should have X when I started!" Just looking for advice from any of the people who go to these meeting regularly, I'd like to start making connections the right way. For those who don't know me I'm a total newbie but am looking to make my start iby bird-dogging and possibly wholesaling to other investors.

Thanks again! You guys are awesome!

Great news! Very happy for you. I'd love to hear the numbers on the deal!

Good luck and congrats on your first four! I look forward to hearing how you do with these.

I would think it would depend on the particulars of the deal. That said, I watched a very interesting documentary last night called Freakenomics, and they had a small bit in there about how RE agents were not always algined for sellers, but instead responded more (like everyone else) to an incentive/cost of work model. Very interesting. Having said that, there are shady people in every proffession.

Thanks for the warm welcome James!

Thanks everyone for the great feedback so far. You guys are awesome.

One thing I'm concerned about is I didn't mention that in the beginning my strategy will be wholesale and locating properties. As such, I wouldn't actually do any repairs for a while, but I would need to know the costs to see if the deal can be put together. So knowing that, would the general consensus still be to hook up with a contractor? I would think if I need to see say, 20 houses before I find a deal and none of them, including the one I contracted in the end, didn't need repairs I feel like I'd be pissing off a bunch of contractors. Any thoughts about that?

Sam Sagor, I'm very luck as my local REI club (which I haven't met yet, but will when they next meet) has a program where members can get 7%-25% off at all kinds of local places including lowes, sherwin williams, etc. That combined with my strategy of using the same people will surely net me big discounts and I appreciate your input on that. What you said about having contractors inside the building also made me think about some things I had not considered, mainly about structuring that around the permission of the seller, but I don't think that would be a problem really. If they are motivated as they should be, they should be fine with it.

@Kent Bergsagel, I had not considered an overage figure, thanks!

@ Juan S, I really appreciate you taking the time to give me that advice, especially since you are a general contractor yourself! Having what I said about me starting in wholesale, meaning I wouldn't do repairs but would just need to know repair costs for the sake of putting deals together, does that change your answers? My local REI should have a lot of real estate contacts which I hope to leverage. Putting my team together seems a daunting task right now but I will be following your advice and making sure that everyone is on the same page as far as what I will be doing. I do hope to treat everyone right, I believe in forming good business relationships. Having said that are there any specific advice on a investor-contractor relationship you can give me? Have any points that you wish all investors knew or maybe some things you've seen in your experience you feel would help investors and contractors work together better? Thanks again!

Hey guys and girls,

I'm soaking up a lot of info here and one thing I keep running across is the need to put down accurate repair numbers. For someone such as myself which doesn't have a RE background or a background in construction trades, this is a bit difficult to do. I understand that as I gain experience this will come easier, but until I put the first few deals together I'm looking for some good ways to be able to pin a respectable estimate together for repairs.

Searching through the forums a a little bit, I've found a few things I can do but none of them seem very comprehensive and the ones that do, usually require something else I lack whether it be connections of funds. Here are a few ways I've seen it explained so far through a few forum searches:

* Hire a contractor to give a hard bid at around $100 bucks or so.
*Use a formula involving sq. footage of the house. Won't be accurage but will be a starting point.
*Chat up any GCs or crews I see while driving around trying to make connections to get discounts on bids/future services.
*Walking around local stores such as Home Depot or Lowes to get a feel for material costs.
*I've also heard that there are books which will tell you repair costs? The info on this was not really complete.
*There are for sure worksheets on this site which will help me focus my repair estimates, which I appreciate. Doesn't help me out without knowing what costs what though.

So starting out, it seems the most reliable, comprehensive way to do this is to go ahead and hire a contractor for a hard bid. Then again, that $100 or more for every bid, whether or not I pick up the property. (At least until I bug/do enough of them that I learn how to do it on my own) Problem is for a newbie like me I don't really have funding to shell out on that before I make my first deal or two.

Anyone have advice on a better solution?

Thanks for the reply, Jackie.

I took a quick look at your website, it looks really great. You must have a lot of infrastructure/experience to go nationwide. I haven't even looked into short sale strategies, but I'm sure they're very profitable. Thanks again for the introduction, hope you're investments are gone well :).

Hello Biggerpocket People!

I'm Steve from Kansas City. I don't have a background in real estate, but it's something that I've always wanted to do. When I was 18 I was fascinated with it, but they said I was too young. Then when I was 21 I seriously considered getting into it heavily, and they said I needed money. So I forgot about my goals in real estate. I'm now 26 and am ready to realize the dream. I'm going into real estate to do three things mainly. First to be my own boss. Secondly, to create income to live comfortably instead of living hand to mouth as I currently do. Third, I want to set up a solid foundation for my future, so I can do things i want to do such as travel, retire early, etc.

My goal in real estate right now for the short term is just to educate myself. While I do that, I will bird-dog in my area in order to make connections.(if it's legal, still working on finding a definitive answer to that). I'm also doing a lot of preliminary work such as re-wiring my thoughts and discipline myself. I've been studying a lot of people who do real estate professionally and I've noticed a lot of their skills are personal and interpersonal ones, so I'm developing those also the best I can. I've also seen some local investors and rei groups I will connect with.

After I complete my education (which I can tell this website will help with!) I plan to go onto wholeselling and master that niche. From there, who knows. By the time I get there I'll have a better understanding of where I want to go. I want to thank the members of biggerpockets in advance for your experiences and advice, I've already learned quite a bit in the last week I've been looking over the articles and forums.