Scott Scheel and Dave Lindahl

[propertymanager]

ChiBroker,

You are evidently so far above the rest of us, why are you wasting your time on this REI site?  I think your time could be better spent counting your millions!  LOL!  

Good Luck,
Mike

[ChiBroker]

I found the site and logged on for the first time the other day actually because I found out an associate had gotten a lead on an unlisted large office building from this site, so I had to check it out of course. I had never heard of the site prior.  And this is labeled the commerical forum after all, so I thought I would read the posts and check it out.  That's my 2 cents, that's all.  If it makes you examine the commercial side of things, all the better.  If you have 150k equity on 10 residential deals you did, Mike, and can liquidate at retail, doesn't it make more sense to do one 7.5 Mln commercial deal or two 3.75 Mln deals than to go out and do a bunch more residential deals, as far as time and energy are concerned?  Even if you are focused on add-value and buying at discount rather than stability and long-term income, there are good add-value commercial deals out there to be found, with less competition from the scores of folks all looking for that spread on a residential deal.  Maybe it's just my perspective, but low-unit properties  have fluctuated with home prices, because they are in fact residential property, whereas commercial property is, and has been, about performance and income.  The exception to the above commercial generaliztion is multi-family in overheated condo conversion markets, which suffered from severe CAP compression. I would like to ask the serious question though: what market are you investing in that you get positive cash flow after debt service with 8.25% interest rate on a small unit property? In your earlier example of a 350k with 500k valuation, your monthly debt service should be about $2,775.  Assuming this is a four unit, to break even with 50% expenses, you would need to be charging $1,387.50 per unit per month. Just to break even.  To get $500/month cash in your pocket you would need to be charging $1512.50/month PER UNIT! Are you renting 6 bedroom units in a secondary market where the average 3 bedroom rents for over $750?  Exactly how do your numbers make sense, even when you are buying at 30% off retail?  

Best regards,

[landpresident]

Let me first preface this by clarifying that I do own a promotion company that sells both David's and Scott's courses and boot camps. I'm not trying to "disguise" myself as a student with no possible conflict of interest.

That being said, I have attended both Scott's and David's boot camps (multiple times) and I am very impressed with what they teach. I myself am doing commercial real estate, in fact I'm closing on 253 apartment units on Feb 5th.

It is true that this business of commercial real estate is real work, it's not like winning the lottery. And it is true that if you find a property listed with a broker or a property where you'll need bank financing to purchase it, 100% financing is the exception, not the rule.

But, that's different than buying properties with none of your own money. You can easily find a good deal and bring on an equity partner to fund the down payment and closing costs. Essentially getting the deal with no money out of pocket.

Smaller deals are easier when you're first starting out. When you're doing deals in the tens of millions the lender is going to examine you VERY closely and a newbie probably isn't going to be able to fake his way through the funding on that size of a deal. You will be amazed at what the lender will look at. If you stumble on this class of a deal as a newbie, you can still do the deal if you get an experienced equity partner who can get the loan. You may need to take a minor position in the deal but 30% of a $5MM profit is better than $0.

The easiest way to get started as a newbie is with unlisted, owner-financed properties. Both David and Scott focus on exactly how to find these kinds of deals and it's not that hard. When you're working with the owner, you can be a lot more creative than with a conventional lender and typically, your lack of experience won't be a big problem if you present yourself correctly.

Bottom line, I owe the profits from my commercial deals to both David and Scott. It does cost real money to get trained but in my opinion it's a valuable investment. I've seen people go at it on their own with no training and get absolutely cremated with a bad deal that they would have never done if they had the training. Hope this helps and I'm willing to answer any questions.

Layne Parker

[IdahoBrian]

I just returned from a 4 day seminar in Orlando put on by Scott Scheel.  I have been investing in SFR for 27 years and have done well, recently doing a lot of lease options.
I will tell you Scott's was a great event.
I am not naive enough to think we learned it all, but I honestly have some great tools to do a small deal or two (500K to 2 million) and feel pretty safe about it.

I am a little surprised that some folks who have not gone could have such strong feeling against these types of seminars.

The most valuable tool I took home was Scott's software and the knowledge of how to use it and benefit from it.

I would recommend this seminar to anyone looking to get into commercial.  That field is significantly different than residential.  Different terms, appraisals, values, etc.

Brian

[busbrey]

Scott Scheel, is the man.  And for those of you who don't think so get your heads out of the 

[kdhastedt]

Alrighty busbrey...you've been a member for less than a week - you have two posts both shilling for Scott Scheel...

You've been called out -- what's the deal?  You in danger of having your posts removed...

Keith
Moderator

[Mdhaas]

Alrighty busbrey...you've been a member for less than a week - you have two posts both shilling for Scott Scheel...

Would that make him "Scheels' shill"?   

[kdhastedt]

Undoubtedly...or Scheel's heel...

Keith

[Speedy Word]

He says he bought a 24 unit apartment building for $918,000 in Cleveland which was mostly seller financed and he got a private lender to give him the money for the down payment.  He then says he refinanced and pulled out $848,000.  That means that this 24 unit in Cleveland was worth close to 2 million dollars.   anyone who knows anything about Cleveland real estate knows no 24 unit is worth 2 million.  

A 24 unit in Cleveland is worth about 1 million.  My guess is he he paid off his seller with private lender funds and then he refinanced out 80% of his equity out to pay back his private lender.

Actually, i went to the Scott Scheel seminar. He said that he did a substituion of collateral instead of paying off the seller @ refinance. He used the refinance to buy few more properties, put liens on THOSE properties for the seller...

ONe thing I have to say about these RE gurus is that they overpromise and underdeliver and WAY too oversell. For example, they promise you that if you take their coaching (for sub$scription fee), they'll do deals with you. THey come up w/all the cash requirements, take 75% of the deal, and you do all the work. All great and dandy (b/c 25% of something is still better than nothing), but when you actually submit deals, you never hear a damn word from them.

My guess is the "coaching" companies aren't the seminar speaker's companies, but isntead RE investors like you guys who pay a portion of their revenue to the speaker in return for using his/her name... so they don't really care to communicate to every potential deal finder.

[people9300]

i know david lindahl mentions to his students that if they find a great deal and its too big, he'll partner up, has anyone actually had experience with this?