All Forum Posts by: William McGowen

Forgive me, but did you do a thorough background check?

Criminal, rent, credit, and talk to the previous landlord(s)?

Anyway, hope you recover physically, and find the perfect tenant to replace this one.

I spent 20 years sitting on the sidelines with real estate. I kept reading up on it, but never took the plunge.

I watched the "Gurus" on television, yet there was always something I disliked about most of them.

I finally found a group that made sense. Some here think they are like the Gurus you see on television, and others are members who support them, and a few with complaints.

But through them I found this group, and then joined to local clubs.

One of the interesting facts is that people who act without thinking are more likely to become successful then the ones who think before acting. I am the latter, and as you see it took me over 20 years to get in to real estate. (Just days from my first deal.)

The reason the others are more successful is that they jump in, fail, learn from that failure, and jump again, until they do succeed, while others just sit on the sidelines watching.

Naturally it is best to think before acting, but make sure you don't think too long, otherwise it turns into analysis paralysis.

Bigger Pockets posted a list of books that came highly recommended. I think that's a great place to start.

Oh and I believe in teachers, not gurus. Learn from them, then think for yourself.

Also the plan is to learn, act, learn from your results, adjust, act again, and repeat.

It was an interesting meeting.

The room was pretty full, and I found a chair at the end, almost next to the speaker.

The speaker represented a collections company for landlords. No upfront cost, they absorb all costs from that point, and give you 35% if they avoid court, and 50% if they go to court. That sounded reasonable to me, and better then nothing.

I spoke to a couple of people there, but really didn't discuss too much. Sounded like they weren't screening their tenants as well as they could have.

After the meeting naturally people got together and started discussions. I grabbed a little more food myself, said hi to a couple people, and left.

Saw that. At Val's. (I could walk there.)

I also saw that the membership is $85, and each meeting is $13, but I wonder if that includes the buffet?

I plan on going myself.

Looks like they skip December, July, and August meetings. Probably a lot of traveling going on these months.

Okay, did a little searching, and came up with this:

http://www.reomalincoln.org/

Looks like I will be checking them out. Not sure why I couldn't find them before.

I remember at one point Lincoln had the lowest unemployment in the country. Not true now, but I think it is still lower.

I think people focus too much on the students when investing here. There are plenty of families that live here that rent. Looking at properties here I have ran into way more families then collage kids.

I have a friend who has been giving me all the standard scare tactics about investing, listing stories of landlords issues with tenants.

Now I have done my research, and more research, and then even more. I suffer from analysis paralysis, which is bad, but in the meantime, I have way too much knowledge running through my head.

One of the things I have learned is that over 90% of the problems with tenants can be traced back to the landlord not doing his due diligence before renting out the property. The urge to get somebody in there overrides the need for a good tenant. Although new landlords was mentioned above.

I believe when Chad started this discussion, which was April of 2012, this was his last post. But bumping it up did bring out a few people.

While I am focusing on Lincoln first, I am keeping my eyes open in Omaha. I have thought of checking out Seward too. But I am also thinking of becoming a passive investor in Texas.

Went to my second Omaha REI meeting today.

Meeting in Lincoln would be convenient. Though I have thought about creating a club, but not specifically on real estate, but broader, covering more aspects of wealth building.

Not sure if you are still around or not.

I am in Lincoln NE, but I am fairly new too.

I recently joined the Omaha Real Estate Investors association:

http://www.omaha1reia.com/

I have tried to find a Lincoln club, but to no avail.

Hey Mehran,

(How are people linking the names?)

I will use leverage.

This is the deal that does scare me. I have been looking into 6 & 7 plexes initially, but the 20 unit kept drawing my interest.

What I planned on doing was to buy a 6-plex, spend a little time improving it, and then doing it 2 more times in about a year.

Since I am overcoming my fears, this 20 plex looks more doable.

Hey Kristi Lee, and Stephen Anthony.

Today (Monday 8/19/13) I am going to my first meeting with the Omaha1 Real Estate Investors association. They meet every third Monday of the month at Westside Community Conference Center at 108th and Grover. (Westside High School I believe.) Technically 3534 South 108th Street Omaha.

Not sure if either one of you know of this club or not. I haven't found one in Lincoln yet, but Omaha isn't that far away. (Plus I have some vending machines there.) But you both can join me in checking them out.

There apparently is a $5 "donation" for the first meeting, though I don't know if that is required, but it's $15 for each meeting after that, or $50 a year to join. ($75 for a couple.) I intend on signing up before the meeting.

If I see you there, great, if not I'll see you here on BiggerPockets.