All Forum Posts by: Steven Steffel

Hi @Rashard Alomari 

Buy in a Comfortable Range

Take action. Buy your property at a price range that’s comfortable for you, but don’t go into insecure neighborhoods, especially the C and D-class areas. Finding a buyer or an investor might be difficult there. Alternatively, if you spend too much on a property that is considered as an A-class property, it may be tough to find a buyer. So, depending on how deep your pockets are, pick a property in a good neighborhood, usually a B-class area, with good infrastructure and within close proximity to facilities.

Hope this helps and best of luck,

Steven Steffel

Everyones strategies are different and require different structuring.

I personally use and have been taught by Mark Kohler and he is a Genius when it comes to tax and legal and the best way to set things up. One of my favorite books that was very eye opening and helpful is

The Tax and Legal Playbook: Game-Changing Solutions to Your Small-Business Questions by Mark Kohler. Here is a link to Amazon Tax and Legal Playbook on Amazon

This book and some of the many things I have learned from Mark have put me light years ahead in the real estate investing game.

Hope this helps.

Cheers!

Steven Steffel

Hi @Justin Young,

I personally use and have been taught by Mark Kohler and he is a Genius when it comes to tax and legal and the best way to set things up. One of my favorite books that was very eye opening is 

The Tax and Legal Playbook: Game-Changing Solutions to Your Small-Business Questions by Mark Kohler. Here is a link to Amazon Tax and Legal Playbook on Amazon.

This book and some of the many things I have learned from Mark have put me light years ahead in the real estate investing game.

Hope this helps.

Cheers!

Steven Steffel

@Brandy Johnson

Absolutely glad to help out. We all started somewhere and continually seek out guidance to continue to grow in our expertise and niches. Giving back and helping others achieve their dreams and goals is much more fulfilling and rewarding than not sharing :)

Cheers!

-Steve 

@Brandy Johnson

When it comes to negotiating you must always know your "walk away point" and never get wrapped up in doing the deal (thats where you loose time, money, and sometimes gain unwanted problems that you can't afford or don't want to pay). The power of walking away normally has a 50/50 chance that the buyer/seller will come back and accept your offer or at least change their offer. 

I experience this every day and have had people get so upset that I didn't change my offer and then hang up only to call me back in 15min to 1day later to accept a 5-9k drop in the price. If you can save an extra 3k on each deal and do 10 a year that equals 30k and if you are doing a 100 that is 300k that you could use to hire more people ;)

You must be firm and confident in you dealings, otherwise you will be tossed with every counter offer and time pressures. Knowing your numbers, market, and walk away point will help to give you that additional confidence and negotiating power.

Always remember, there is always going to be another deal ;)

Hope this helps on your next deal. 

-Steve

@Chris Clothier awesome words to hear from someone of your status about our company and fearless leader, much appreciated and I look forward to meeting you here in Toledo. 

It has been an absolute honor and privilege working with Ohio Cashflow and @Engelo Rumora. It's amazing what @Engelo Rumora has done to make sure his investors and team are well taken care of and looked after.

He loves his investors and they love him back. We recently received about a 20-25lb box of Lindt chocolates (Engelo's favorite) in the mail from one of our investors that we got to connect with while in San Francisco at the Think Realty Global Conference.

I have learned so much from @Engelo Rumora when we first met and now on a daily basis in the office. His focus on principles, integrity, and becoming the best is always evident in his words and actions.

I completely agree, the "Zestimate" is not very reliable. On the other hand Zillow can be a great quick resource to find previous sales (what really matters when you're buying). You will want to still be within 100 sqft and +-beds +-baths. 

When dealing with higher dollar valued homes it gets a little more detailed i.e. lot size, garage, central air, etc. You want to be as close as possible in location as well as amenities.

Hope this helps.

Cheers!

Steve

One of the first rules of negotiation is finding out "why" i.e. why they are selling/buying, why they should do business with you, why they are motivated, why they reached out to you (or still on the phone with you), why, why, why. Then work your way into asking about the price. If you ask the right questions you can already start working on getting the price down before you even ask for their bottom dollar. 

Here are some great questions to ask to help uncover their why, motivation, and your negotiation leverage.

Why did you reach out?

What are you trying to solve?

How do you see us helping\assisting you?

Do you have any concerns about doing this?

Would there be any reason you would change your mind?

Do you have any other questions/concerns before we get started?

Hope this helps.

Cheers!

-Steven

One of the first rules of negotiation is finding out "why" i.e. why they are selling/buying, why they should do business with you, why they are motivated, why they reached out to you (or still on the phone with you), why, why, why. 

Here are some great questions to ask to help uncover their why, motivation, and your negotiation leverage.

Why did you reach out?

What are you trying to solve?

How do you see us helping\assisting you?

Do you have any concerns about doing this?

Would there be any reason you would change your mind?

Do you have any other questions/concerns before we get started?

I agree with @Sadrud-Din Williams, you must always be honest and up front even if that means loosing a deal. You would rather loose a deal in honesty and not waste each others time than try to push it and end up loosing it anyways or worse off create a very bad relationship and reputation for yourself.

Hope this helps.

Cheers!

-Steven

Good point.

Yea, the original post was non-specific on the type of property and requested generals. Additionally for as little as $0.79/ letter we have seen a great return on our advertising investment and have saved lots of time with unmotivated sellers. You would be surprised how many property owners (large and small) that we get calls from that originated from our letters. 

However, for apartment complexes and commercial, networking with the "right people" and getting accurate information is key in finding and researching those types of properties for sure.