Blog Posts for April 2015

New Marketing Strategy to Raise Private Money

So we are always looking for new creative ways to raise PRIVATE MONEY. When we put a property under contract it is time to get the ball rolling. We send emails, texts, sometimes certified letters, and on occasion Morse Code to our long list of Private Lenders. Everyone is busy so you have to constantly follow up. We put together a nice little package with comps, spreadsheets, scope of work, pictures, and a brief description of the property. We have a pretty good response rate and almost 99% of the time get funded on 1st position and 2nd position anywhere for a return from 8% - 12%. Our investors are very happy with us because we always pay them back and always invite them to come by and check out their investment anytime. We are not the guys you see on American Greed. Those are the guys that give investors a bad name.

We are always trying to come up with new ways to catch the eye of our Private Lenders (Old and New) and thought why not do a short cool video clip of the property. Put some music to it, walk through the property, show what we plan on doing and call it a day. And well this is what we came up with and so far it works like a charm. Hope you like it and feel free to reach out to us anytime......

The Good Real Estate Agent vs. The Bad Real Estate Agent-Part 2

So 1 month ago I did a Blog on The Good Real Estate Agent vs. The Bad Real Estate Agent and promised to do a blog on The Bad Real Estate Agent.  So this is Part 2.  I try to put out blogs weekly on things that happen to me as an active real estate investor so I can educate others on my experiences and hope they do not have to go through the same thing.  This Blog will talk about Real Estate Agents that put up listings on the MLS, etc that are not accurate or true.  Part 1 of this Blog was about the Real Estate Agent that went above and beyond drawing out maps for me, trekking through 2 feet of snow just to get to the front door of a property she knew i wasn't interested in and the follow up with the county about what I can build on a vacant piece of land-amongst other things.

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My wife and I are looking for a weekend house as you might know and have been checking out the Poconos and now focusing on New Paltz, NY.  Really great town upstate with tons of things to do in the winter and the summer. We have looked at probably 20 homes over the last month which is not alot but is time consuming and tiring for everyone involved.  This weekend was no different.  6 houses to look at and generally I have been negative---as the pictures agents put up look nothing like the house.  Almost like they put up pics of another house to be honest.  So two houses caught our eye, actually my wife's eye!  Both needing a little work over time but can move right in tomorrow, which is what we want.  So we weighed the Pros and Cons.

Both on a Major Road-They call them State Routes up in nowhere land, One of them has the NY Throughway in the backyard but a river and 5 acres of land.   Do we overlook that?  Maybe.... One of them in the town we want (Rosendale) and access to everything within 10 minutes.  One is a little farther away but still close enough.  This one was what they call mid century modern...One we can rent out when we are not there.  Both have wood burning fireplace.  You get the hint and last both have REASONABLY LOW TAXES, So we Thought...

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This is where The Bad Real Estate Agent comes in.  This past Sunday we narrowed it down to the house we think was IT and we get an email from our agent (whom is good BTW).  "The taxes are wrong Adam-your not going to be happy about this".  One of my biggest issues was to keep taxes low as I will only be here part-time and don't have kids that will be in school.  Taxes on this house were about 6K a year which is more than I wanted to spend. The listing stated it down to the penny---$6345.21.  But the county and city has seemed to Assess this baby alot higher now so the taxes are at over $9,000yr.  Maybe they are wrong-Maybe the county-city made a mistake I kept saying...Probably not as that's what public record said...Or maybe the listing agent is a you know what.....A Bad Agent that is not thorough and fluffs the description of the property.  We love those types. 

Yes the Good Old Listing Agent not putting accurate info into their own listing-Gets you every time.  Maybe I should have checked the taxes in advance, maybe my agent should have, maybe my dog should have. Doesn't matter because it is over $3,000 more in what my max spend was on taxes.  Can i afford it, probably-Now it might just be principle....or maybe take my chance and buy the property, try and Grieve the taxes and rent it out on Air BNB...Anyone interested renting out house to pay for our taxes....THE END

How to Expand Your Real Estate Network!

It's always great to EXPAND your Real Estate Investing Network. That means going out to networking events in your town (local REIA's, Connected Investor, Chamber of Commerce, etc), hanging out at the local real estate school, swinging by Home Depot in the morning or even taking out some new Fortune Builder Students and showing them some of your properties (which is PRICELESS - and which is what I did on this past Holiday Weekend (No Comment!!!)

When Fortune Builders called and said "Adam-We have new students coming in for Immersion Training-Are you available to go along with instructor Dan McCutchen and line up some properties to tour?"

What do you think I am going to say?  "Absolutely not......It's Passover and Easter and I have plans.  Just kidding.  Would love to help you guys out anytime." (Which I have done in the past).

As you may or may not know I live in NYC so I need to leave nice and early because traffic is terrible on the Long Island Expressway anytime day or night and I have no idea if it could take 45 minutes or 3 hours to get out to the Hilton in Melville-Long Island where the magic was happening....Bear in mind I was out in the same area of Long Island for Passover with my family 9 hours before I had to be out again at 9am.  I show up in the classroom at 830am and I meet Dan and look around the room and there is 1 other person in the room.  I look at him and say "1 Student Dan-Great Showing - This is going to be awesome".  Boy was I wrong.  

23 students showed up like there was an Easter Egg hunt going on.  My eyes light up as I am thinking 23 potential new buyers, 23 potential new wholesalers, 23 potential NEW DAILY LEADS for me, 23 potential new emails and phone calls (ughhhh-lol), You get the hint...    

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We toured three of our properties that were in the vicinity of each other-I gave them the lowdown and let Dan run the show (and a good show it was)

  • First Stop-Syosset-Small cape we are about to convert to a colonial with a 200k renovation budget
  • Second Stop-Freeport-Property that is just about on the finish line-almost complete
  • Third Stop-Lawrence-Property is down to studs with all Rough-in complete-Live Worksite   

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In Conclusion: I met 23 motivated, excited, and ready to conquer the world students.  Am I happy about that, No!  They are my competition down the road but for now they are in my circle.  I can tell you that they know by now my company Property Buyers Group are active buyers and wholesalers in the Long Island area. And I know we will be their first call when the time comes when they are looking to wholesale or JV their first property.  And this is one great way to EXPAND YOUR NETWORK..