In the real estate rehab business you make your money when you buy. However, as a hard money lender, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of a well-planned and efficient renovation process. Your general contractor and crew can make you additional money or, at minimum, save you time and hassle. Alternatively, they can drain your profits and make your life a living hell. So how do you avoid being driven nuts managing them? For starters, try to avoid these six costly mistakes:
Hard Money Blog: Invest, Revitalize, Create, Prosper
Working With A Private Money Lender: What NOT To Do
Many of our previous blogs focused on things you should be doing to succeed as a real estate investor. For example, we shared our perspective as a private money lender on how to get real estate deals and how to build a real estate investing team that will propel you forward. We talked about what it takes to be a rehabber and what you need to do to minimize your risk. However, what’s equally important is to know what NOT to do in order to succeed.
Finding Real Estate Deals: Working With A Wholesaler
To be a successful investor you have to be a good marketer. Being a good marketer might mean different things to different people. For example, in real estate investing it might mean that you are cultivating a network of agents to dig for deals that fit your criteria. Alternatively, you might be a real estate auction pro investing time and effort bidding against other investors on the court house steps – hopefully wearing thermal underwear in winter. You might specialize in HUD properties and score good deals by watching your prospective deals like a hawk. Regardless of what you do, the outcome needs to be the same. You need to have enough marketing skills and real estate expertise to generate a consistent flow of quality leads.
Get The Right Kind of Insurance For Your Next Rehab
As a hard money lender in DC area, I believe that there are two key areas that every investor should continuously work at. The first one is how to make money. It includes how to find good deals, how to manage your rehab process and how to build a good team that will propel you forward. The majority of your time as a real estate investor should be spent on tweaking, improving and learning from your success and mistakes in this area.
Practical Steps To Forming an LLC in Maryland
Today I want to talk in more detail about how to form an LLC in Maryland. As a hard money lender in MD I cannot emphasize enough the importance of protecting your profits and assets by not doing business in your personal name. You can read about all detailed reasons in our previous blog “Hard Money Lenders Love LLCs. Here is Why You Should Too,” but here is a quick summary.
The Magic of the MLS (Part 2)
Welcome to part two of our look at the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). As mentioned in the previous blog, the MLS is great tool for staying up to date on the most current properties available for investment. Metro DC Real Estate is fast moving and you need a way to track good deals and compare them to other deals. The MLS has a host of information for doing just that.