One of my friends knows a very successful local investor and has set up a meeting with me and the investor for us to talk about his properties.
I was wondering if anyone could help me find situations that would benefit us both out of this meeting. He has about 25 residential properties in this area, mostly single families and 2 families.
I hold a NYS real estate license, so if he wants to sell any like that, I could list them.
I currently rent, and if I could get into one of his properties as owner occupy that would be good too, in a 2 family.
What about wholesaling any? How do you suggest working that angle?
I’m new to RE investing and don’t have any cash to buy any so if there are any creative ways to get me in one or any ways to make some cash out of any of them, please help me with some advice. I feel like this could be a good chance to get started in the field and I hope you can gove me some good info!
Thanks so much.
-Jon
Good luck with your meeting! It sounds like a great opportunity.
What was the purpose of the meeting??? Did your friend set it up so you could get advice?? Is it to discuss the sale of this man’s homes??? Or are you looking for a mentor???
We really need those answers because the advice you get will be based on the pretense of the meeting.
Different strategy’s for different topics.
The purpose was for a few things. He is interested in talking about other business opportinities with us. I run some rental listing sites and vacation exchange sites and so does he and he is interested in doing business with us on that level. Posibly combining our businesses some how. But I also asked him if he’d be interested in selling or unloading any of his properties and he was open to it. We didn’t really go into details of what he wants to do with them.
Good luck with the meeting.
When ever I sit down with guy’s like this I’m always prepared. If you going to talk about combining your business make sure you have a plan that will benefit both of you. It sounds simple but remember, this guy is sizing you up. From the moment you walk in he’s
trying to decide if this is business or just a social meeting. YOU may think it’s all business but if you aren’t BRINGING it, it won’t be. These guy’s meet a lot of strokers. (I am in no way applying that label to you)
I always ask these guy’s a few questions. It gives you some insight into their thinking and their businesses. I also have learned some GREAT tips from this…
The questions are…
How did you get started and WHY??? (usually a GREAT story behind THAT question)
What was the toughest deal you ever did, and how did you finally get it done?
Would you change anything if you were starting over?
What advice would you give me about investing real estate?
How did you get your first bank loan for investment property?
Slip these questions in. Don’t machine gun the guy. Ask GOOD follow up questions. If he “see’s it” in your eyes he’ll enjoy the conversation.
Having excellent prepared questions makes you look sharp, and to these guy’s…they’ll take sharp over smart ANY DAY!!! Lot’s of smart guy’s at Harvard, they all won’t be Millionaires like your investor though.
I'm new to RE investing and don't have any cash to buy any so if there are any creative ways to get me in one or any ways to make some cash out of any of them, please help me with some advice. I feel like this could be a good chance to get started in the field and I hope you can gove me some good info!
Keep in mind that simply because someone is willing to sell you their property does NOT mean that you should buy it. Even if they are willing to sell it with no-money down, owner-financing, land contract, or some other creative option, it still may not be worth doing.
Being new, you are at an extreme disadvantage going into this meeting. A successful investor will likely be wanting retail for the properties and paying retail is a recipe for disaster, especially in a risky and declining market. As Pete suggested, I would come up with a plan before you go to the meeting. Really understand your exit strategy and understand how you will make money!
Good Luck,
Mike
Thanks guys…I appreciate you taking the time to give your input. This site and it’s members has been a great help to me. Good luck to you all in your business.
You should always be careful when buying real estate, but especially when buying from a seasoned, professional investor who owns multiple properties. If someone owns 20+ properties and they have identified a few that they’d be interested in selling to you, you have to wonder why s/he picked those specific properties.
Remember, the sellers know everything about their properties (even the little old ladies who sometimes play dumb), while you know nothing about them.
When you meet with this guy what you want to do is find out exactly how he does what he does. What you want to do is to do exactly what he does and you will get exactly the same results that he gets. If you ask him things that he does not do you may or may not succeed. If you ask me how to buy 20 houses in Houston that cash flow. I can tell you how. But if you ask me how to bird dog and flip in southern California, I have no idea. Don’t reinvent the wheel and don’t get your mentor out of his area of expertise.
You are there to learn. You must listen. If your mouth is moving then you are not learning. Ask questions for understanding but most of the talking has to be from your mentor not you. When he asks you want you are looking for, don’t go into all that wholesaling stuff, tell him you are looking to do what he is doing.