What Is Everyones Backgrounds?
What is your background?
I'm just curious because it seems like most of the successful REIs are from a construction or real estate background.
Can you make money by shopping out most of the repairs?
I do want to learn to do it all, but don't have the time or money to learn all the different contruction techniques. I would sooner learn to find good deals and make them work.
Construction backgrounds do give you an edge you will not get anywhere else. I was leary of RE for many years since during the 80's my dad almost lost everything with the fallout of the RE market here in TX. He was saved by working with Insuance co's doing claims. He was blessed where many of the others we knew lost it all. Bought my first rehad in the late 80's though so you see I was leary but not crazy My partner has been in the construction field for 22+ years.
I worked in Aviaiton until recently as my primary job, there I learned about government entities, rules and regs among other things. This helped in our RE adventures tremendously. This was a work I loved and would be doing it still if I had not been forceably retired in the after 9/11 layoffs. I may go back someday, the last time I got out (serveral years ago) I went left on my terms and went back on my terms. My price has gone up since then
Right now I'll settle for RE it is less stressful and I do have fun.
Go to home depot and take some weekend classes. You can learn a lot of stuff there.
Also you can find the lowest bidder and let them know you will be doing a lot of work with them. That may make the price lower. You can concentrate on finding and buying. The contractor can fix and you sell.
Just an idea.
Oh I forgot to answer you !.
We like to do the repairs ourselves but have a builder/remodler we work with too. You can make money farming out the work it depends on how much you want to make. All those things must be considered. If you work with someone and give them lots of work they will often give you a price break and if they are really kept busy they will even pitch in for nothing on really minor stuff. But then you have to return the favor too.
Well, I guess I had a hard time at first guessing how much repairs would cost. My backround is Chemistry. How did I learn to do real work? Here's how I learned: I bought a house that was structurally sound, but outdated inside. I moved in, and started from scratch. Put a full bath in an empty basement. Remodeled upstairs full-bath. Learned to do plumbing that way. Oh boy did I learn a lot of good lessons! Re-ran electric circuits in the same house. Finnished basement living area. Then moved to the kitchen. Did linoleum, and put in a countertop myself. (Don't ever try linoleum yourself) I know this isn't reasonable for most in a hurry to learn it all, but patience and persistance is another lesson you need to learn if you want to rehab
Good luck.
Sam
I come from Sales. Telecom and other. REI is like getting a job, "It's not what you know, it's who you know!" If I can't do something myself, I know someone who can.
My background- Biology. I currently teach Ecology and Evolution at the college level. Most of my experience I have learned the hard way...by just trying it. I also worked with Habitat for Humanity for 2 years and learned alot. Some day I hope to get out of teaching (pay is not great, but flexibility is nice). Currently I own a duplex (fixer-up type) and have a contract out on the house next door.
Psych major, Business minor, one year of a sales and marketing internship and now I'm in REI.
My mom owns property that I grew up around and did some easy maintenance work (cleaning, mowing, painting), but not much of the hard stuff.
Well, my background is not in real estate. I am a director of an organization that shelters the mentally retarded. However, I love the real estate business and dealing with homes. I know that all who are successful have some kind of real estate in their portfolio. So, I always knew that i wanted to be in real estate investing.
As far as construction goes and rehabbing, since I am a woman, I don't do the rehab. To get around doing the work yourself, one should purchase way below market price, contract with someone to rehab the home and resell for profit...you make out and so does he. Time is $$$$. Each day that you hold onto a house, it is costing you $$$$. You have to pay for that mortgage. If you do the work yourself, then you will be spending alot of time doing and learning. If you contract out, that will save you money in the long run since they are professionals and will get the work done right away. This way you can sell, save yourself the headaches and make $$$$.
BS in Mathematics that currently works at a Dental Practice Management Software Company.
Honestly my wife and I saw the possibilities and just learned all we could. We loaned and borrowed as much as we could to get started and never looked back.
i'm a software developer/web developer but was a civil engineer by school. never went into it, i realized afterwards that civil work paid fairly low comparatively, plus computers started booming ...
much as samedwin - i'm now in the house that i'm trying to learn all of the trades in (on the fly). i've sprung gas leaks, blown water pipes, blew out the bottom floor of my electricity and also tried linoleum (uuugggghh - it's all curlin up on me - in every damn corner). hahaha.
i've fixed the gas, somehow managed to fix the plumbing and went for help on the electric, just to find a needed a new panel box and breakers. i did now however disconnect the service from the house, i had my do-it-all friend do that part. i don't do ladders. i have learned a lot of what i know to be nothing. i kno a bunch more than i did 8 months ago, but i realize i still don't know diddly when i talk to a contractor. but it is good to know waht kinda time and money goes into materials and building - then you can assume the rest is labor (negotiable).
My background is general clerical/data entry. I have done some retail.
I am a software enginner. Pays pretty decent; my wife can stay home with our kids. But, I want to stay home now too! Hence the move into REI.
I concur with the previous poster who said it's not what you know, it's who you know. Start by going to a REI club. You'll find a synergy there; everyone out for the same thing. They can point you to good professionals for every aspect of the business. Then ask those people, and they can point to you others (in other words networking).
I'm in the Music Business, and can't wait to get out of it. I work for multi-millionaire artists that pay their employees peanuts.
There are perks....great pay ain't one of them. Free golf is!!
I have my degree in Child and Family Development. I currently work in a Childcare Center for a major Hospital in Atlanta.
I love what I do...but it does not pay the bills....My hope is that I can make enough in REI to have my own center with one the many houses I will sell very soon...
It sounds like everyone really comes from different backgrounds... Im grateful that everyone participates and shares there backgrounds and experiences. I am in University right now, but i sit in class and think of where to find my first deal and how to start off.. Thank Goodness I found this site.. Thanks to everyone who makes this site effective... Scott
22 year old Electrical Engineer. Just started working 3 months ago and hope to have the option of leaving soon. The pay is good, but if I can make my salary in a month, why wait 12?
Mortgage Broker to the core!
Ya know that bug you got in your stomach watching the infomercials about REI, in the begining? I watched it all day at work. Did many many deals for investors and as they were excited, leaving the settlement table, they normally would unload there story on me. Tell me the blow by blow about how they just did less work than me for $10k...
Finally had enough, bought the cash flow systems, and never looked back.
hope this helps,
clear2close
[addsig]
We have been a mortgage broker for last five years. Before that we owned a restraurant. Before that I was an MBA student and finished it. Before that, I was an accountant. Before that, I was an financial futures broker.
Now we love investing in RE and love being a mortgage broker.
I work at home depot, in the electircal department
[addsig]
I am a helicopter Mechanic. Airframes and hydraulics to be specific. I have never done construction but I have a really good friend whom I trust with my life who has been in construction his whole life. I must say we make a very good partnership. I keep my boot in his butt and he keeps teaching me everything I need to know. It does help to be a little handy though. If you are not creative and good at problem solving you should try to pick up on those traits. You will find yourself looking at some things like a monkey doing a math problem, but if you are creative you will get around them. Good luck.
Jim
If you have the time on your first one hire a contractor and help. You will learn for free on what you maybe able to do yourself on next one. A lot of this stuff is simple once you see it done. Contractor will appreciate the help and maybe give you better price on next one. Contractor will do a better job with you watching. If you cant help watch but dont get in the way.
I am a home improvement and repair business owner in Woodstock Ga. I have been considering going into the investment end of my business for severaL years now but the finances are limiting my ability to reach that ****Must Reach Senior Investor status before posting URL's*** thought it may be a good place to start by finding a website such as this to poke around a bit and see whats up out there.
It's been feast or phamon in this busines for the entire 28 years i've been involved with ****Must Reach Senior Investor status before posting URL's***y kids are now grown but not left yet and figured it's about time I start thinking of me and momma again.
I currently have a few RE sales people I do work for and mostly repeat and refferal business aside from that.
Don't know why my post was edited since I never posted a web address in it !Go ****Must Reach Senior Investor status before posting URL's***ust be automatic or a robot or something. [ Edited by donnie1 on Date 10/24/2003 ]
I am a Pastor.
I began REI for a bit of extra cash and for retirement. I first bought a sfh rehab. Did most all the work myself and vowed not to do it again. I have a decent number of rental units I'm holding, the last two being forclosures I financed 100% + repair costs. It was so easy and the equity in the two properties are now amazing. So now I buy and finance rehabs and joint venture with a handyman. We split profits 50/50. I do no work and get a nice check at the end.
Ron
You realize I am keeping a copy of all your postings. Now I know just who and what is drawn to this business.
I was a simple Fighter Pilot in the RAF. I bought a house near the Epping Forest in the little town of Saffron Walden. It was close to the airfield and every time I got shot down they gave me time off. Soo I got shot down alot. How else to spend it. I worked on this lovely little house built by demented serfs back in the 1600's Thatch roof, very picturesque but rather full of rodents. This explains my attachment to cats.
Survival. What do you want to know about real lead pipes? How about the toilet with the tank up above your head. Everytime you pulled the chain to flush you got a shower bath. Saved a fortune in water.
But then alas, The United States came into the war and transfered me into the USAAC. So I traveled. Name it I have been there. Where ever I went I bought property. Paris during the German Occupation, Japan after we dun dropped da biggy bomb on then. etc. etc. etc. The more rank I accumuated the more elaborate the houses and properties I bought.
Free at last in 1954. I said mean things about the government wanting to intrude in Vietnam. I was loaned out to the French at that time in Indo China. Sooo I came home to the land of my birth. California. I bought little houses and fixed them up. Had a day job in a mortgage company and in 1956 after a harrowing year as a slave employee. Talk about kissing up. Yip!
I started my own combination Real Estate Sales, Mortgages, Buy and Sell and Design houses and Sell etc. etc. I did it all. Was a member of the 40 thieves. Lovely group by there presance at all foreclosure sales monopolized Trustee sales for about three years.
But now I am starting all over again as I gave my family the loot and told them to go do it. I live in a little house in the slums and I bang on doors and save peoples properties for them and on occasion, just occasionaly I get a house or two for myself. I am also just starting a project to try and solve the problem of no housing for the lower income levels.
That's me, born again Newbie. Workers of the World Unite, I bear you your chains. Education? Oh god much too much formal education. Name it I am qualified. On Paper. I suggest just read up on the subject of your choice the rest is unnecessary except when examining your soul or pondering some small problem that has to do with String Theory. 14 dimensions indeed. I can't even handle 4.
Cheers Lucius
I am an electrical contractor, I signed loan papers this AM on my 2nd rent house. I do most of the work with the exception of some plumbing and HVAC.
Good Luck,
Larry
My background is as follows:
19 Years old - Runner on the trading floor at the Chicago Board of Trade
20 Years old – Business Finance Consultant – Asset Based, Debt / Equity corporate Finance – 1st year I made over $100K
21 Years old – International Trade Broker – gold, diamonds, currencies, tobacco,
22-23 Years old – General Contractor – 1st year I made over $200K
24 Years old – Mergers & Acquisitions. Management Consulting, Business Evaluation Business Development.
25 Years old – Investment Banking, Private Equity, Venture Capital, Due Diligence, Strategic Initiatives
26 Years old - Real Estate Investment Financing – Commercial Specialist
27 Years old – *we will find out next year* - will very probably be the 1st year I make over $300K
Everything I have done, I believe has groomed me for what I am doing now. I enjoy this so much. I set my own hours, I work for “myself”, the rewards are “mine” and the opportunity is endless. I have a great deal of experience putting deals together. I have worked on 12 “Billion-dollar plus” deals. I know what it takes to make things happen and will now start doing things for myself. I know what I want and I have made the conscious choice not to follow the vision of a corporation, but that of my own. I’m totally doing the “Jerry McGuire” thing. By the end of next year UI want to own my own real estate brokerage, residential and commercial mortgage brokerage, real estate development firm, monthly real estate newspaper and have a net worth of $1MM. It’ll happen, because I’ll make it happen. A lot of people are nay-sayers, they are same people who told me not to be a trade broker, not to start a construction company, not to get involved with management consulting, try to be an investment banker, would be crazy to leave investment banking, do my own thing. They are same people doing the same thing and are miserable. The experience I have gained and the contacts I have developed they only wish they had. The way I look at it is, I am playing the greatest game (of my life) of chess ever. I live with passion everyday. To do so any other way, would be settling. I will do a “Braveheart” (Mel Gibson movie) and die before I settle.
Respectfully,
Phil
Phillip Herrejon
President of the Chicago Real Estate Investment Club
Investment Property Finance Consultant
312.375.7132
Herrijon
You have broken the mold, you are indeed ready to run for high office. I will vote for you. Twice.
Cheers Lucius
i work security at a community college...
i got started to avoid paying high rental rates. my room mate pays $300 per month wich covers 75% of my mortgage. after that, i decided to buy a second, and am now working on a third. to say the least, being in control of my pay raise is fun.
[addsig]
Background in finance and marketing, looking to retire young and near a beach.
AH HA
I knew there was something I liked about you Lufos.
Airbug always knows and airbug!
18 - Auto Sales at a Ford Dealership
21 - Finance Manager at a GM dealership
My wife and I are just beginning our careers in REI.
OC, Fan of the group or related?
As for me, I've been building since I could hold a hammer. Grew up in a family w/ a Dad who was in finance & had a heart for helping people. Now (going on 2 years) married to a sweet girl who understands me & enjoys working with me.
I've been in most of the construction trades as an employee, but finally realized I wouldn't find total contentment there, and went out on my own. Since then I've learned about & delved into REI. I love it. I'm on my second rehab, and totally thrilled- even though I don't have all of my rehab financing lined up yet.
2-3 years ago, I had no idea of where I would be. God's done an awesome thing in showing me what skills I have, and where I can best use them.
It's been great reading about everyone's backround.
~Matt
[addsig]
BS in Bus Admin with emphasis in Finance.
Went into Banking for 8 years. Worked as commercial banker, personal banker and branch manager
It taught me a lot of what a bank looks for...
Have been in RE for a little over 3 years.
Unlike y'all I am a foreigner: parents are Dutch, emigrated to Venezuela, where I grew up.
At the age of 18 1/2 I went to Europe, worked in International Radio and TV, presenting programs in Spanish and English, went to the University in Amsterdam, have PhD in Business Adm and PhD in Economics, owned & managed swimming pool constrc co. with 1st husband in Holland, lived in Germany, France, traveled over all of Europe.
In the meantime, I studied International trade, specialized in Exports. We moved to Indonesia, I divorced 1st husband, had 1 child and one on the way , I was 27 (1975)(did translations for geological co. French into English) same in Singapore, also did modeling for major designers, both in Europe and Asia.
After living in Singapore for 1 year I moved to Colombia, did exports as a manager for the major textile cos., when trouble broke out moved to Aruba, sold time-shares for 3 years, and in '87 moved to Venezuela, did exports and sold Encyclopaedia Britannica, trouble in '89, moved to Holland and was exports manager for multinational dairy products manufacturer, exported to S-America, Middle-East, then Eastern Europe and Western Europe, Northern Africa, stayed long enough to have my kids finish High-School. They were 22 and 18 years old, both were working and wanted to stay, when I left for the USA, finally - tried getting here since 1976 but met too many obstacles to permit my entry here, among other things, my daughter was born in Indonesia and my son in France - and landed in Georgia, worked in exports (I speak, write and read 7 languages, which sure helps getting employ anywhere in the world!), met my 2nd husband through a mutual friend, over the phone, we met after 3 days, and 10 days later we were married! (Just like old teenagers, he was 54, I was 48).
Wanted to be retired, just be a housewife for a change, but.... circumstances happened and I started translating in Court free-lance, my daughter and son-in-law came here, became residents, have a store, needed a manager, Mom gets in (that is me), I do the bookkeeping; my hubby is a great and wonderful man, is 100% disabled because of VietNam war; I have no retirement because of all the traveling, so I need to do something to create my own income, love REI, started reading, somehow got to this site and the whole CREI world opened for me, found a great guide: John Locke and Sub-2.!
I am 55 years young and started on my way: have 1 MH, 3 houses for sale (I just repossessed the MH today) and next year I will have a true birthday! I will try to celebrate it with at least 10 deals done (by 2/29/'04)
Ladybug