All Forum Posts by: Tom A.

@Chris Koteles, my advice for a new investor or investor-to-be is to:

• go to several REIAs and meetups
• go regularly
• get there early and stay late so you can actually meet and talk to people
• get to know what type of investing people are doing, where they're doing it, and think about how you might help them
• Don't think that the more business cards you pass out, the better. You want to actually know what people are doing, and you want them to know about you. Cards without a "person" behind them get thrown out. If you meet and get to know 2-4 new people per meeting consider it a success.
• Don't puff up. Just be yourself. It's OK to be new, have zero experience and money, and not know exactly how you want to invest. "Fake it until you make it" totally backfires at REIA meetings. It screams "untrustworthy".

Good luck, hope to see you around.

@Philip Jones, you probably ought to look at flipping only in areas where homes are minimum $100K. Mainly owner-occupied areas.

J Scott has a couple very good books on flipping that are available through this site. 

A big difference coming from rehabbing rentals, particularly Detroit rentals, to flipping in middle-class areas of the suburbs will be in the level of finish and quality of materials. You should get to know what is considered normal, nice and crappy in the area in which you're flipping. You will struggle to make money if you under-rehab or if you over-rehab.

Thanks for the mention @Jon W.  Anyone interested in finding out more about the meetup can contact me or Aaron, or join the closed (private) facebook group at 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/MetroDetroitRealEs...

There's never a charge for the meetup beyond anything you order to eat or drink.

I'd also recommend attending some local REIAs and getting to know your fellow investors.  It will accelerate your investing career.

Great! FYI, and for anyone else interested, the FB page for the meetup is at 

https://www.facebook.com/events/1409127799391630/

The March edition of the Metro Detroit investors meetup will be at Granite City Food & Brewery, in Troy on Big Beaver just west of I-75 on Thursday the 12th, starting around 6:30 p.m. This is a free meeting, hosted by@Aaron Yates and myself, with the aim of helping local investors meet each other, learn, help and further their real estate investing business.

The reservation is under my name, "Tom", or you can ask for the "real estate investors group".

We've been averaging 25- 30 people since starting in 2013, from total newbies to investors with decades of experience and many deals under their belt. There's no charge except for any food/beverages you order and we're a friendly, helpful bunch so there's no reason for anyone not to come out.

There also are always a good number of experienced, active investors who are doing business in metro Detroit right now, buying and selling properties, doing flips, landlording, funding deals, building new houses, wholesaling, lease-optioning and executing other strategies. There are usually several investing "team" members in attendance as well -- title company reps, mortgage pros and investor insurance experts.

We draw investors from Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw, Genessee, Lapeer and Livingston counties.

There are wholesalers with properties in Detroit, Warren, Ferndale, Royal Oak, Sterling Heights, Downriver, St. Clair Shores, and more.

There are landlords with properties in Eastpointe, Harper Woods, Warren, Hazel Park, Madison Heights, Farmington Hills, Oak Park, Redford, Southfield, Pontiac, Commerce and White Lake.

There are flippers who are active in Livonia, Troy, Ferndale, West Bloomfield, Shelby Twp, Canton and Novi.

There are private lenders who lend all over Southeast Michigan, and investor/agents, title people and insurance agents who are investor-oriented.

I hope to meet you there, or see you again if you've already attended. Let me know if you have any questions.

More info at the Facebook event page, and you can RSVP there although it's not necessary.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1409127799391630/

Hey @Gregory Dickerson Jr , welcome! The meetup is confirmed. Granite City in Troy starting around 6:30 on 3/12. All are welcome.

More info at 

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/86/topics/1801...

and

https://www.facebook.com/events/1409127799391630/

Hope to see you around!

Welcome @Erin Murtagh !  This website is a great resource for beginning and advanced investors, at a much lower cost than the coaching upsell at the 3-day bootcamp. I spoke with another attendee today who said they wanted $32K for their program. Wow! No wonder they're an Inc. 500 company!

@Brandon Krieg recommended several good local REIAs. One more worth checking out is REIA of Oakland (County), they meet in Madison Heights. There's also a free local real estate investors' meetup that meets monthly which I co-host along with @Aaron Yates .  Info on this month's meetup is at

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/86/topics/1801...

Good luck!

You've gained a quick education while getting paid, way to go!

I think Jeff answered questions 2 and 3 well. For question 1, regarding finding others who could use your services, when you get MLS access you can search for REO listings, export the listing data with listing agent names to a spreadsheet, sort to determine the highest-volume REO listing agents, and contact them to offer your services.

Garrett, you don't get a warm welcome because your first three posts on BP are shilling worthless properties in a city awash in worthless properties.

C'mon Garrett, you ought to know better than to say "There's no such thing as "worthless" real estate." Detroit has by some estimates 40,000 abandoned houses. There were 40,000 decisions made that it made more financial sense to walk away from the property rather than pay the taxes or invest in rehabbing them. A property with no current income, no reasonable expectation of future income given rehab costs well in excess of the ARV, and a constant cash burn due to property taxes is worth at best, ZERO, and more accurately, a negative amount.

In which Detroit neighborhoods did you see vacant residential lots selling for $3000? There's very little market for raw single family residential land. And there's no way you have homes in those areas that are hot because you obviously have a collection of crap properties. There's no way that you're selling houses for $3K that meet this description: "Most need minimal cosmetic upgrades, some need a little more work" in any area, good, OK or war zone.

I call BS on your description of the homes, of the areas, of the comps, of the vacant land transactions, of the potential profit and of your entire sales pitch (which the mods will likely delete shortly since you need to post in the marketplace area and pay for access to such).

What you likely have are the sloppy seconds (or thirds or fourths) from some REO tape that everyone with a clue discarded as being worthless. So please stop trying to pawn this crap off on unsuspecting people, and please stop telling those of us on the ground here in Detroit your fantasy tales about these worthless properties. The sooner the Detroit Land Bank Authority takes them over for back taxes the better, in this case.

Unfortunately we don't @Theodore B. If you get back this way you're certainly welcome to join us if the scheduling works out.