New Jersey newbie and I'm stuck...

Bird Dogs, Wholesaling
1

First off, hi to everyone. My name is Ted and I’m 24 years old. I’ve been creeping around the forums for a while. I live in northern New Jersey and I’ve been thinking of getting into REI for awhile now and I’m a bit stuck. Let me just tell you a little bit about myself. I live in Bergen County, NJ. I took a job as a property manager in Manhattan because of my interest of REI. I found an even better job in New Jersey as real estate appraiser. I thought that I can find a lot of good deals with this job. And I did. The company I work for does mass appraisals for cities and towns for tax assesment. That means that my company has to go to every house in the town and inspect it for revaluation of taxes. My credit score is 706, 700, 684 last time I checked back in June. I have about $20,000 in college loans, $12,000 in revolving debt, $2000 in the bank, living with my parents, and I have a baby on the way in 6 months. Now on to my problem.

I’m trying to prequalify for a HML because I need a “proof of funds” or “prequalifying letter” to submit with my offers and I cant qualify for a traditional mortgage. I’ve been shopping around the internet and also through the links at this site. I found one that fits most of my needs. The only thing i have a problem with is they are asking me with is I dont have enough collateral for the loans I’m asking for. Houses in Northern Jersey range from 300 - 600K. They are asking me to partner with a investor that has an investment property valued at least $50,000. It cant be a primary residence because of the laws in NJ so I cant use me parents house as collateral. My parents dont have $50,000 in their 401K to help me out coz they took out some money for personal reasons and they just refinanced a month ago. Here are the options that I see I can take:

  1. ask for a private loan thru people here in th BB

  2. wait for a friend who know a person who can possibly invest in my idea but this may take months because the person travels a lot (mainly in Thailand) and doesnt know when he will be back in the states

  3. take on a partner. If anyone here invests in New Jersey and wants to consider taking me as a partner, heres what I can offer:

  • working as a mass real estate appraiser, I can find a lot of good deals

  • will split the profits 70/30 (you keep 70%, I keep 30%)

  • when I get on my feet, and start wholesaling, you will be first on my buyers list.

I’m flexible with other terms. Sorry for the long post.

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i live in nj (passaic county) and i’d be interested to talk to you to see what you have to offer.

3

Howdy Ted:

My hard money lender lets me borrow the money for the equity that I need. That is why I have the signature that I have at the bottom of the page.

I do not believe in risking additional property. I did it once and lost out big time. I actually had more equity in the additional property than I did in the property I bought. I thought they would take the additional property and sell it and give me back the difference. WRONG. I was really green at the time. I have learned a lot more valuable lessons in the school of hard knocks.

I too had the same problem you are having. For years I had great deals and no money and then I found the money and the deals dried up. I moved to different parts of Texas to find deals when I find money. Seems like now that when I find a great the someone asks about my signature and I get the needed money. I have to get the knowingness feeling that the deal is a no brainer before I will risk the investors money or my time. There are a lot of deals that are just marginal but when I find a super no brainer I jump all over it. The last one I am doing was a 30,000 foot building in Corpus Christi that I bought for $165K. Sure it needs $220K in rehab and in an older industrial part of town with homeless drunks hanging around all day and night. It appraised at $725K and when I rehab it and lease it to small business owners for an office and warehouse I will have $300K equity. This was a true no brainer and I got the money committed within days after getting it under contract from sources I had not even met. My strong desire and knowing I could do it attracted the money like a magnet. Coupled with the fact that I have been giving back to other investors and sharing my good and bad experiences has helped me achieve my goals. It is a winning combination I did not have until I started helping others with their questions. Hope some of this rambling has helped you a little.