All Forum Posts by: Taylor Hudgins

Hi Keyonna,

I'm not personally a wholesaler, but I meet a lot of local wholesalers at our Real Estate Meetups in the area.  Our meetups each have a Facebook page and their own website where wholesalers post their deals directly to members of the group which consist of Real Estate Agents, Contractors, Investors, etc. who are all looking for a great deal.

I've also seen wholesalers list their deals here on BiggerPockets under "Marketplace" > "Real Estate Listings".  I'm not sure what all you have to do to post there, but that's also another great way to connect with potential buyers.

You got this!

Hi Nicholas,

I definitely suggest finding a real estate agent that also invests themselves or at least is closely involved with the investing world.  They'll have a larger knowledge base than a real estate agent that is either brand new to the game or sticks to only primary residential house purchasers; giving you a smoother transition into your first investment property.  

I found my real estate agent by attending local real estate investing meetups in my area while we were saving up money.  Even if you don't specifically find an agent there at the event, you'll meet other local investors and you'll have the ability to ask them about the agent they use.

You also can search for local agents here on BiggerPockets if you aren't able to attend events in your area.  You can hover over "Network" (the top ribbon on the BiggerPockets page) and then select "Real Estate Agents" where you'll be able to filter through to an agent near you.

Hi Nicholas,

Of course!  I think you may be referring to an Appraiser?  Here is a link to the American Society of Appraisers: www.appraisers.org/find-an-appraiser Most appraisers are different, but the one our bank used was around $500 when we purchased our first rental property.  

You can definitely have one come out and take a look to appraise the value of a potential property!  I don't know that they'll necessarily look for problems in the way that a home inspector would.  Home inspectors will typically go through the attic, any crawl space underneath the house, examine the electrical, etc to let you know of any potential issues that will need repair.  We definitely used the full report from our inspector to negotiate with our seller at the time and it helped provide a great neutral ground.  They'll lay out each potential repair or damage to the house in a line by line basis (ours did at least) which we were then able to send directly to the seller to let him know which pieces would ABSOLUTELY need to be fixed before we continued in the deal.  It most definitely saved us money in the long run.

Hope this helps!

Hi Kristian,

I hope the wholesaling venture goes really well for you and your partner!! There are quite a few meetups in the Hampton Roads area where I've been able to meet some great people.  I definitely suggest going to BiggerPockets -> Network -> Events or Meetups.com to find one that you're interested in.  Some are presentation style (super awesome for learning new tactics while networking) and some are pretty laid back where people will host them at breweries, local bars, etc.  You'll be able to find your group quickly!

Hi Nathan,

It really depends on the situation.  We recently purchased our first buy and hold using rent comps from a few sources.  

First, I go to realtor, zillow, craigslist, etc to check out other homes like ours in the surrounding area.  I try to filter as closely as possible based on square footage, neighborhood, and bedroom count.  We also had some insight from a local property manager that does boots on the ground work in this exact neighborhood.

Both of these strategies will give you a great idea on where to start for your rent prices.

Hi Richard,

I recently purchased my very first rental last month.  My real estate agent was a HUGE help and she steered me to grab a pre-approval letter from a local bank first.  I had to talk to 2 - 3 that asked me to complete an application, sign off for them to check my credit score, etc.   The lender then pre-approved me for a general amount that he would lend over for our investment property.  

We then submitted that pre-approval letter with every single one of my offers that we put in (we're in a hot market so we put in about 5 offers before landing on one that actually accepted).

Your offer will seem much more substantial with a pre-approval letter; especially if you're going up against other offers.

I'm out in Virginia, but I had a lot of luck by going to BiggerPockets > Network > Events.  You add in your zipcode and it will populate what other BiggerPockets members are hosting in your area.

@Jared Baker  Hi Jared, I believe it is totally up to you and your situation.  

I started out physically looking at properties first, but our market is pretty hot right now and I'm only starting out so my price point was around 60k with limited rehab (which is like the ultimate golden egg that lots of investors are looking for).  I lost quite a few offers to cash buyers (I was purchasing through a local bank).

I switched it up with the help of my agent and started putting in offers with a 10 day inspection contingency period (this rule may change based on your state?) which I could THEN look at the house if/once they accepted our offer to decide if we wanted to back out or not.  I may not have all cash but I could at least try to be the first offer in!

We did make sure to check out as much on the internet as possible such as local crime rates on Trulia, google street maps for checking out the neighborhood, etc.  We both work 9-5 corporate jobs and my partner takes night classes M-Th, and trying to physically see each property before putting in an offer was going to take us wayyy too long. 

Hi @Barry Taylor,

I'm also a newbie in the Real Estate Investing world.  I definitely suggest Brandon Turner's "The Book on Investing in Real Estate with No (and Low) Money Down".  He shows various strategies on how to start out with limited amounts of money.  He covers everything from Seller Financing to Private Lenders.

I personally haven't tried any of those tactics (currently trying to save up for the traditional 20% down), but let me know how it goes if you do!

Thank you everyone! @Ernest Grindle @Rhett Z Begley @Stephanie P. and @Caleb Jordan !

We purchased a home in June (right before we found real estate investing) with a VA loan. With all of your input, we think we may wait until next June to re-finance our current home (and hopefully find a tenant to rent it out) and then use the VA loan again to purchase a Live-In Flip to help grow our $16K. It seems like a great way to really dig our feet in while also learning about the land lording/flipping world.

PS - I'll definitely be at the next BP Meetup in November!