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Are you going to be a successful investor?

People always tell me they want to be a successful real estate investor. My answer is always the same. Success is never luck. Success only happens when preparation meets opportunity. So if you are “lucky” enough to find a property you can invest in and have raised investor capital, how do you ensure you are successful? How do you prepare?

The first thing I recommend (and basically require) you to do is market research. I think it is really important that you use data and don’t rely on what people are saying. What happens is people are at a cocktail party and Joe says “Vegas is booming and my properties are killing it.” So then people jump on that and want to invest in Vegas. They haven’t researched the market. They don’t know the job growth, they don’t know the best place in the area to invest, and they don’t know that Joe may be losing his shorts on his investments and is just trying to raise money/save face. So market research is where you should aways begin. To watch the YouTube video and hear all 5 of the qualities I think are necessary to be a successful investor then click here!

Until Next Time,

Ken

Facebook Forum – Question of the Week

Each week I’ll pull a question from the forum on Facebook and present it here. Below is this week’s question.

Kathi asks:

When negotiating with commercial lenders, do you have a specific format you use to compile and present your financials and a history of property management? If so, do we have access to examples on your website?

Ken’s Answer:

Great question. Lenders typically have their own format for underwriting, however they do want you to have all your financials and projections together to hand out during the meeting. They want you to understand and support your income projections via actuals and market information, if applicable. The expenses will need to be verified too. They typically look at a DCR or debt coverage ratio against your NOI or net operating income. Each lender is different. Basically they look to your cash flow after expenses to pay the monthly interest payment…so be prepared to know this figure. It’s one of the most important things to know. That figure determines the loan.