All Forum Posts by: Taj Hayden

@KC Conti I would listen to the BP podcast 402 on identifying your best market, neighborhood and property. I just listened to it yesterday and took some great notes. You seem to be in a good spot financially so it would be wise to get a better understanding of what the pros recommend.

@Teresia Sayler Let me know what you decide as I'm exploring the HELOC option as well in early 2019.

@Deb Somdahl - Thank you for the suggestion.  There's a note invest that was on the podcast that I saved and I subscribe to their newsletter but I haven't dove too deep because I thought I would need to be prepared to handle non-performing notes, etc. To be honest I haven't dug too deep but I do know that in David Greene's first podcast he mentioned using notes to accelerate the payoff of his rentals which I find very attractive.

@Jonathan R.  That's a great update!  Is everything in Sedgwick Co?  Between you and Randy I may need to look at lower priced homes.  Based on your numbers you're right around the 2% rule.  Good luck at the auction!

@Randy E.

Thanks for the clarification.  When I say war zone, this is based on me having grown up in STL.  I can buy a home for $18K in Ferguson but that's not at the top of my list.  The home I grew up in was purchased for $30K in 1985 and I looked it up recently and it last sold for less then $20K.

I'm almost finished reading David Greene's book on investing at a distance and that's when I realized that I have a "head start" in the STL market due to personal connections with an established realtor who's also an investor.  I can certainly do that in other cities but I would have to start somewhere and STL makes sense when the time comes.  I'm not in a hurry and will begin the direct mail campaign which allows me to learn more about areas I didn't grow up in and explore potential opportunities across the Midwest  (my contact has also begun looking out of the area as well).

@Randy E.  I'm not opposed to a cheap rental but that requires an out of state investment and the best place for me (based on my network) is St. Louis and frankly the areas where I could get something for $30K are war zones.  Maybe I can find one in an outlying area (deep St. Louis county, etc.).  Also, are you saying "all in" as in purchase cash? Or just a significant down payment (50%?).  I would think that such a rental would required a rehab and a potential eviction at some point.  Thanks for writing!

@Jonathan R.@Michelle R.@Ivan Mares@Andrew Syrios@Michael Ablan@Ingrid J.@Chase Harris@Joe Villeneuve@Trevor Lohman@Sergii Khromchenko

I wanted to share an update as I'm about to take action.  I have been in learning mode for months (not that I'm done) and have decided on the following:

Start a 6-month direct mail campaign to generate wholesale deals.  I realize there a few good wholesalers and that it's difficult.  However, I also see direct mail as a common denominator for finding buy and hold, off-market deals which is ultimately what I want to do. 

Money generated through wholesaling will go towards buy & hold properties.  I'm targeting $5,000/deal and willing to split 50% if I can partner with someone on a few deals to limit my risk.

I believe it will take 9 months or more but I would like to reach the point where I generate two deals per month on a consistent basis.  This cash will be a safety net for when I underestimate a rehab on a buy and hold (inevitable) and also to increase my cash position for when the market turns in my local area, allowing me to potentially purchase closer to home.

I have a list of the BP podcasts which are primarily about wholesaling and will create a best practices document based on these.  Most I have already heard (I've been listening to the podcasts in order) but there are some that I will need to jump ahead and listen to so I can finish the document.  I've also re-read the ultimate guide to wholesaling.

My wife became a real estate assistant since I first posted and there have been early conversations about partnering with her broker on investments.  He's well established (20+ years) and my license hung in his office 12 years ago when I was in new home sales.

That's all I have for now, sorry to have disappeared for so long.

I would love to hear how everyone else has been progressing.

@Matt M.  Sorry for the delayed response.  We thought of quarterly/monthly bonuses too, in regards to total transactions closed, with the idea of the assistant providing more time for the broker to focus on high value (revenue generating) tasks but it doesn't seem to land.  Maybe it wasn't brought up the right way (sliding scale/tier).  Thanks!

@David Hunter  I was thinking something performance based since a Transaction Coordinator gets paid per deal.  Main goal is to help broker implement/create systems so they can scale and eventually the broker can step away.  My thinking is that more efficiency provides more time for the broker to hire/train new agents, etc.  It's hard to measure this since I haven't thought of what metrics would lend themselves to bonus pay.  Maybe one of the processes to be created is a type of pay for performance system.