All Forum Posts by: Steve Rozenberg

First thing I would do as others in here have stated is figure out "WHY" you are doing this. Once you know that and you know your end goal then you work backwards. The goal has to have a finite destination and time limit on it.

For example you may say your goal is 20 houses in 20 years (paid off) earning $20,000 per month.. (20,20,20 goal).

Now you know where you're going and the timeframe for this to happen. From here you can build out your strategy, for example here you would want to have the 20 properties purchased the first 10 years so that they can use the final 10 years to pay themselves off. This means that you have to buy 2 properties per year which means you have to close on a property every 6 months which means that you have to find a property in 3 months to have it on the market and rented the following 3 months.

And the properties need to have a final cashflow of $1,000 per month after all expenses are paid. This will dictate where you purchase and look for properties based on that number alone.

My point is that you always start with the end in mind and work it backwards, this creates the strategy (Buy and hold, flip, Wholesale, Notes) which will be driven by the tactic (SFR, MFR, Mobile homes, Short term rental etc)

I always coach people and explain that the property is actually the last piece of the puzzle not the first.

Hope this helps

There are a lot of good reputable companies out here that wholesale as well as flip or do turnkey, Just make sure to do your due-dilligence on them all. Happy to help anyway I can

First thing I would do as others in here have stated is figure out "WHY" you are doing this. Once you know that and you know your end goal then you work backwards. The goal has to have a finite destination and time limit on it.

For example you may say your goal is 20 houses in 20 years (paid off) earning $20,000 per month.. (20,20,20 goal).

Now you know where you're going and the timeframe for this to happen. From here you can build out your strategy, for example here you would want to have the 20 properties purchased the first 10 years so that they can use the final 10 years to pay themselves off. This means that you have to buy 2 properties per year which means you have to close on a property every 6 months which means that you have to find a property in 3 months to have it on the market and rented the following 3 months.

And the properties need to have a final cashflow of $1,000 per month after all expenses are paid. This will dictate where you purchase and look for properties based on that number alone.

My point is that you always start with the end in mind and work it backwards, this creates the strategy (Buy and hold, flip, Wholesale, Notes) which will be driven by the tactic (SFR, MFR, Mobile homes, Short term rental etc)

I always coach people and explain that the property is actually the last piece of the puzzle not the first.

Hope this helps

I would say that the first thing you need to do is set up you long term goal and final destination for investing. from there you create your strategy to achieve that (Buy and hold, flip, wholesale, Note buying etc) from that you can determine what tactic ( SFR, MFR, Mobile homes, Condo, Townhomes, Short term rental) will be. This is the last piece of the puzzle after you know where your going.. before asking directions on the road first figure out where your driving to, that the simple way I would explain it.

Hope that helps

There are a lot of great deals here in Houston, I do know that they do not last long at all. Obviously there are good people and bad like in any market. Are you looking in Conroe area or more to the Northwest of Houston by Cypress and Hempstead?

This can be a very slippery slope getting everyone onboard. I would respect her fear and concerns and really break down to see what is causing the concern. It is probably a story that she is telling herself but the reality is if you do not address it now it will not go away. As soon as something goes wrong with a deal it will be a "See I told you" and will be a bigger problem. I suggest you sit down and outline your plan and timeline, best case, worse case scenarios and write it all out. then have her do the same and work towards a solution instead of just trying to convince her of your way. I tried your way and it didn't work well.. at about my 35th home my wife told me the next house I buy better be nice because I will be living in it... soooo dont think that just because you buy a few homes you are over the issues or challenges of their concern. Address it early and maybe sit down with a coach or mentor and talk it thru. She may have some valid reasons that you are not seeing that someone else can help with.

The first thing you need to do is figure out what your goals are and make sure you have the right strategy and also build out your team of professionals first. This must be done before you buy your first deal in my opinion

I would suggest first you create your end goal, your destination. What is the reason you are even getting involved in real estate and what is is that you want as a result of it when it is all said and done. Creating your end goal and destination in my opinion is the first and most important step. 

Next you need to determine your strategy as to how you are going to achieve your end goal. The strategy can be flipping, wholesaling, Note buying, buy and hold etc.. These are just vehicles to get you to your destination. It may be a combination of different strategies, just like if you are driving to a destination you may quite possibly take different freeways and streets to get you there. What is important is to know that your strategy is going to be different then anyone else because you destination is most likely different than anyone else.

Once you know your strategy then you decide on the tactic, such as what car, bike, motorhome, snow mobile you will use via your strategy to reach your goal. This will most likely be House, condo, apartment, Duplex etc.

This is the last and in my opinion the least important of the 3 things I just explained. If you have the wrong tactic such as snow mobile on the Los Angeles freeway, this is definitely the wrong tactic for that strategy. Same is true with getting the wrong property and then figuring out what you are going to do with that property.

The challenge is that this could actually be taking you further away from you goal when you purchase the wrong house, with the wrong type of money.

My suggestion is learn and educate yourself first, make sure you know very clear what your end goal is and then create the strategy to reach that goal and select what tactic you will use.

Then a lot of these other things you are stressed about will fall into place and not seem as daunting.

Not sure thinking of having a "Tenant proof" mindset is the right way to go into this business. Tenants can definitely try your patience and can be very stressful at times. But in the end of the day the tenant really is your client, if you are treating your rental like a business as it should be. And you are setting the proper expectations with the resident after doing proper screening and qualifications. Not all but most of your challenges will be mitigated.

Going into this journey of thinking its a me against them mindset could prove to be spending a lot of time and energy trying to deal with things which are downstream of how you should be setting up and running your business model.

Just my thoughts for what it is worth

Congrats on making the next step and move, just make sure to have what YOUR end goal is and make sure that it is clearly defined and communicated with others. This is normally the first and MOST important step when starting to invest is that we never think of our end goal and destination. We just start being busy, that only leads to exactly that. Being busy with no end destination