All Forum Posts by: Tom Scott

You don't know what you don't know…

When I was 24, my sister-in-law was going to University that year with 5 friends, I bought a house in a University town that year and rented it to them. Looking back I made some glaring mistakes trying to figure it out.

• I bought it too far away from school.
• I paid too much for the property, and
• the basement flooded 3 times.

I spent an entire summer of my life fixing this house that was literally 2 hours away.

Yet little by little I started to figure it out. After a couple of semesters I knew

• how much rent to charge,
• The better locations,
• how to structure the lease

and ….most important

how to fill the property with students !

I’ve bought 11 student houses since then,

the key was jumping on the opportunity when it presented itself.

Opportunities come around every day (SF, Multi, commercial) 

The secret is… being able to spot them

Real estate sales is NOT a passion, it's a tool.

Once you see it this way it will become clear.

10 years ago I wrote my real estate license

Like you, I wanted access to the deals, I wanted to be able to lob **** balls at sellers..

But the truth is.. I wrote the license because I couldn't trust the agent I was working with.

For the first few years, it was hard,

For Example; one of my best friends growing up listed his house with some agent he didn't even know.

The irony was... I actually ended up being the one who sold his house.

The rollercoaster ride was hard to stomach.

I often found myself…

• Spending hours on end in a dead open house in the heat of summer while my kids are at the beach.

• Wasting my time. Trekking through the weather only to have a client text me minutes before the showing, saying its too snowy

After I just drove past her house.

Giving out gobs of free information

There is no passion selling real estate.

But as much as I hate it I love what it has done for me and realized It’s part of the business.

When you find out what part works for you and stick with it you’ll see the business has so much opportunity.

I’ve used my license as a tool to grow my portfolio.

It was the only way I could find money to fund another deal.

Just like any other trade, a real estate investor has many tools.

Your real estate license is one of them.

Good luck.

Hector 

One of the biggest things to remember is you have to make the decision yourself.  I read your post 2 days ago and stewed on it.  do your homework, make a plan. execute. 

I've been in REI for almost 20 years, One thing I've always wished for... was a mentor. I see the value now looking back, I always wonder what it would have been like having someone in my corner.

All the statements the others mentioned above are true and can be effective. You can find a networking group, mastermind and  truthfully ...most of the information is out there. 

this site is amazing resource
the problem isn't how much the information costs...yes most of it is free. 

the main problem is too much of it out there.. 

good luck 

Hey Darius 

You are on the right track!   making a plan is key.  It is essential to figure out where you want to be in your investing goals and your future.  Often we get scattered chasing shiny obkects and loose sight of our goal, It starts to cloud the water. Cameron said it right, you need to reverse engineer your goals. Your question ...Will there be The 100k properties in 6-10 year? who knows? yes more than likely. However  It will boil down to your strategy and your clientele. You might find that even if there were lots of 100k houses, you might not want anything to do any of them. 

Once you've done your homework,  aim... fire.... refocus..  the plan will likely change along the way. 

good luck!

I agree patience is key..and this by no means is advice to go out and pull the trigger 

One thing to consider, 

3 weeks ago the market turned dramatically. (where i live) 3 or so weeks ago before the virus really hit North America, our market saw multiple offer situations (on pretty much everything) . I had one young investor make 5 offers and not one accepted. Everything was sold over asking and "no conditions" (remember these are SFH) . The old saying "be fearful when people are buying and buy when people are fearful" is true.

there is as much fear right now... as ever. 

It is now a buyers maket and you have leverage.  

Nobody will know forsure what the outcome is 6-8 months from now when the defaults wiggle its way through the system. 

food for thought...