Hi all, My wife and I are starting out in Real Esate (by starting, I mean, reading books and joining the REI LA club). We’re pretty excited about the prospects of Real Estate to enrich our lives, but we are a bit confused by the sheer volume of information out there and trying to determine what which aspect we’d like to explore. Having said that, what I really like is the income generated through rental and making short-term chunks of money via the Short Sale/Foreclosure arenas.
I’d greatly appreciate any tips or best practices you all have for the following:
a. A Team for evaluating and securing rental properties (do you use a mgmt company, any how to manage out-of-state rentals, etc)?
b. Short-Sale: Is it as “simple” as calling the bank officer to figure out if they will accept the offer? Do I need to Any good areas of the country to maximizing returns?
c. Foreclosures: Tips on how to ID homes before it goes into the foreclosure process (i.e., as the NOD is filed)
a. A Team for evaluating and securing rental properties (do you use a mgmt company, any how to manage out-of-state rentals, etc)?
start by learning about cash flow - income statements. you’ll find that mgmt companies eat up ALOT OF PROFIT. any long-distance rentals are VERY tough to realize a good cash flow.
b. Short-Sale: Is it as "simple" as calling the bank officer to figure out if they will accept the offer? Do I need to Any good areas of the country to maximizing returns?
No, NOTHING IS SIMPLE until you learn it. think of learning to swim or ride a bike. it’s a PAIN IN THE REAR to learn. you end up almost drowning like 20 times before you learn to swim and the bike?? OUCH. i still have scars on my knees! anyhoot - you must must must, learn the business. think if you were going to open a pizza shop…you’d have to learn a bunch of skills…one would be to analyze the market and COMPETITION. at this point in your rei career - you are severely outgunned. but HAVE NO FEAR.
c. Foreclosures: Tips on how to ID homes before it goes into the foreclosure process (i.e., as the NOD is filed)
this requires diligence. again, you have to develop your knowledge of all of this.
give it time. devote 15 hours a week to rei. 5 hours of reading. 5 hours of visiting your local townships - gathering info and visiting your public access room. 5 on making contacts (don’t call too soon - you may sound foolish and turn people off), looking at properties, reading legal notices, reading advertisements, researching online.
YOU CAN DO THIS. just give yourselves more than a month to do it.
don’t believe the guru hype. i’ll never forget watching carleton sheets and one of the white trash women saying…i bought my first rental in 30 days.