All Forum Posts by: Steven Wiggs

@Molly Krief  I am glad you took my advice to heart and have paid special attention to your grammar/spelling.  I am not here to degrade or down you, I am here to give you an honest opinion.  I apologize if you didn't like what I said, but you really should learn how to take some constructive criticism and run with it.  It is not meant to bring you down, it is meant to help you and lift you up and shoot straight into the heart of what could be holding you back.  ****, people pay good money for that kind of realistic advice!

Second, in this game (as most games in life), you must have thick skin!  If you are offended and worried about somebody online correcting your grammar or poking fun at your dyslexia (which nobody even knew you had), instead you should thank us and continue to always improve your processes.

1) Always run every single email through a word processing program to ensure you have grammar/spelling right

2) Grow thicker skin and learn how to take constructive criticism

Thanks,

Steven Wiggs

Welcome!  

First off, you have definitely come to the right place for real estate investment advice!!

Now, here is my take on what could be happening just from reading your post:

If you are making any type of E-Mail/Written communication with these people, you should do yourself a favor and run everything through Microsoft Word and use spellcheck.  While you may be a perfectly competent person, one cannot discount the fact that your spelling is off.  On a first glance, it reeks of those Nigerian scam letters and that IS NOT a good thing, especially when you are trying to break into the real estate game with a bunch of hardened players assuming everybody is trying to game them.  I have read articles where people have changed their names for the simple fact that they were not getting any job offers.  Turns out, this guy dropped the "e" from Jose and he was all of a sudden getting all sorts of offers.  I am not saying this is absolutely the case, but it cannot be a discounted fact.  Tighten up your shot group with the spelling/grammar and you may see a vast increase in the amount of responses you receive.  Sometimes, image is worth more than what you actually know.  You can't help if you have an accent but, you can help make your written/E-Mail communications flawless with a simple extra step of running it through a word processing program such as Microsoft Word.

Best of luck.

-Steven Wiggs

Source:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/02/jose-joe-...

@Steve B.  @William Allen   Holy crap guys, I feel like I have hit a gold mine!  While this feeling is fantastic, I sense that I have a lot more work to do.  While I do not want to spend so much time on the dirty details that I can't make a decision, I am enthusiastic in the fact that I have recieved very valuable information.

@william 

@William Allen In your experience, what have been some of the best lenders you have worked with that deal in VA loans.

@Steve B. Agreed, property management is a very important part of this lifestyle.  What things would you look for in a solid property manager?  Good yelp reviews or stick to word of mouth.  I feel strongly that I will find myself a great property manager searching for knowledge on bigger pockets.  

Ultimately, this is my attempt to reach out to those who are smarter than myself for solid advice.  I am really excited to have access to priceless information to make a better informed decision. Thanks guys!

@Marcello Di Gerlando @Colin Smith @Tyrell Anderson @Brad Starling   Wow, thank you so much for the vast amount of specific advice!  It was just what I needed to start formulating my game plan and refine it.  I couldn't thank you guys enough for taking the time out of your days to help me out!

@Brad Starling Wow, that is awesome. I guess I have always had long held assumptions on how this whole thing worked. If I can get the VA loan through a multitude of different local vendors as well as national ones, I would much rather go local.

@Tyrell Anderson Thank you for the great tips! I am unsure what you mean by an "investment minded loan officer", I was planning on getting pre-approved with a VA loan through USAA or NavyFederal and doing it like that because I have limited knowledge. Due to the fact that I know little in the way of finance, how would having an investment minded loan officer be of benefit?

@Brad Starling  Thank you for the great tips as well!  If there is one thing I know, it's that I am all about sweat equity and bringing in the most bang for your buck.  I was seriously considering Fountain due to the prices, but now I am going to take a harder look at the powers corridor and consider the fact that the those areas service more possibility versus Fountain having a heavy Ft. Carson influence. 

Thanks again guys!

Aloha Bigger Pockets forum members!  I am an active duty Soldier about to be stationed at Ft Carson in appx 4 months and want to make the most informed investment decision I possibly can, which is why I am here to ask you all this:  What would your strategy be for investing with the information given below? Anybody have any knowledge on where the growth of the Springs in headed?  Any pro-tips specific to this market or in general?

My situation:

Budget of ~230,000, First Home Buy, Intend for it to be a real estate investment (I wont be there for more than 3 years), plan on using VA loan, plan on renting it out when I leave, just hit my 11 year mark in the Army.

Thanks!

SSG W