Questions about courses and services

[Randi]

Hello everyone,

I can't tell you how useful your site has been to me. It is wonderful getting into a field in which seasoned professionals are willing to help newbies. I have been an academic for years, where ideas are treated as capital; y'all are very generous by comparison.   :thumbsup  Thank you.

So here are my questions:

1) I want to buy a course that is general enough to cover, for example, buying REO property, free and clear property with different structures of owner financing, and so on. I especially need to be walked through the buying process, and need forms to adapt as well.  :eyes  Any recommendations?

2) Is there a way to find comps without using a realtor?

3) What's the deal with traviscountyforeclosures.com? Is anyone here with them? Advice?

Thank you so much! I already owe you a lunch.

Randi

[akorelc]

but I've been involved in high finance/investments for over 20 years. I suggest you make realtors your friends. As far as I know, they're really the only ones who can get you the comps you need and reliable current information on the market. They can also find so much for you faster and I am a big believer in using my time efficiently. If I can gather enough salient information by phone and crunch the numbers quickly, I'd rather do that than run all over tarnation looking for properties.

Good luck to you!

P.S. Oh yeah - a course: there's a freebie 3-hour course that Rudy Gutierrez is giving this Sat. He's also going to be the speaker at this club's upcoming meeting. I'm not going to just give this to you - you're an academic, do your research and find the particulars!    

Alysia

[StacyKellams]

Randi,

Welcome! You'll find no ivory tower snobs here.  :mrgreen:

There are very few courses that are general enough to cover all aspects of REI. Besides, that formula doesn't put as much money in the guru's pockets. They like to put out multiple courses, one for each topic, and make us buy 10 courses instead of one.  

I think you'd be better off starting with a few books from the library or barnes and noble before you spend several hundred dollars on courses. Tim has put together a great list of books on this site.

http://www.reiclub.com/real-estate-investing-books.php

One of the first books I read was Robert Allen's "Nothing Down in the 90's".  It's probably a little dated now, but I liked it.

As far as courses go, I like Ron LeGrands stuff. His wholesale/retail course is great in my opinion. I would buy it off ebay and get it for 1/2 price if I were you. Tim is the one to ask about courses. He has them all...and some of mine too.    I need to get those back Tim.  

Only realtors can pull comps for you. Good luck finding one that will do it in a timely fashion.

I would not recommend travis county foreclosures. He's just charging you for stuff you can do yourself. His program is perfect for lazy investors who don't want to do the work themselves. He charges them dearly for doing the work for them. I like Peter, he's a nice guy. I would personally never use his services.

Hope that helps a little.

Happy Investing,

Stacy

[StacyKellams]

Alysia,

You've got me curious. What kind of "high finance" are you involved with?

To me, high finance is shorting 20,000 shares of Yahoo at 200 and riding it all the way to 8. Now that's high finance.    :thumbsup

Or, shorting as much World Com as you can get your hands on and riding it all the way to zero so you never have to cover and never have to pay taxes on your gain.      

Happy Investing,

Stacy

[Randi]

Thank you both, Alysia and Stacy. I made friends with a realtor today who says he works exclusively with investors, and also with a lender--the regular kind, not a 65%er. I liked both of them and found out a bunch.

Unfortunately, I'll be in Houston Saturday so I'll miss this alleged workshop (        ) that you allude to so coyly, Alysia.

I have a mess of books, so it sounds like I'm on the right track on that score. Thanks.

And thanks for the tip on the Travis County foreclosure service--I'm not lazy yet, just inexperienced. So I'll gladly do the legwork myself.

Again, thanks!  :thumbsup THis is so much fun!  

Best,

Randi

[akorelc]

Stacy:

I was an institutional trader on the West Coast, paid some dues on the NYSE, did IPO's, M&A, managed a couple of large broker-dealers, burned out and started getting into other things. I used to put together multi-mil$ tax-free bond portfolios in no time and crunch YTM in my head faster than someone could punch keys on a calculator. Now, I'm lucky if I can remember where I left my eyeglasses!  My world was definitely high finance - the public doesn't even see that part of the market.  I don't miss the stress.

Oh yeh, I was one of those BIG 6 geeks, too, trained economist forced into corporate finance, before hitting the trading desk. Real estate is more...real!

[akorelc]

Congrats, Randi! I hope you're on your way to a long and mutually beneficial relationship with your new team. Get a good CPA and lawyer, too.

Sorry you're going to miss Rudy Gutierrez on Saturday. I'm sure you'll have other opportunities to hear him and other known local area investors speak.

You'll start building a library of resources, I'm sure. hmmm...maybe we should have a garage sale or swap meet, eh, Stacy? Or start a lending library...hmmm...

 

[StacyKellams]

Alysia,

It's always good to meet someone with a back ground in wall street/finance.

I started trading futures when I was in college. After college I had job offers to work at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange for the Hong Kong Shang Hai Bank in their currency department.

I also had an offer to work for ABN AMRO at the Chicago Board of Trade.

I turned them both down to move to Austin and trade stocks with some college buddies.   :thumbsup

I wound up managing over 8 Million dollars for other people in the late 90's.  I have my 7, 63, 55 and am a registered investment advisor.

I was actually making those trades. Unfortunately, I didn't ride them all the way down. I shorted 25,000 shares of Dell 1/16 off it's all time high. I wish I still had those shares.     I still follow the market everyday.

So who do you work for know?

How do you know Rudy? He knows a lot about real estate that's for sure. I doubt I'll make his meeting. He'll give you lots to think about.

Glad to have you on the website. We'll have to trade war stories sometime.

Happy Investing,

Stacy

[akorelc]

Stacy - the Merc! Cool! I'm sure you have no regrets about the decisions you made, but everyone should experience a trading floor, once in a lifetime. It's so much fun. I started out overseas, myself, on the accounting side, then trading at Chicago Corp, on La Salle St. Small world. But, you're probably young enough to be my son. I'm an old fogie. hehehe. But, the winters are horrible.

Futures had to be fun. Closest I got to that mania was Treasuries.  It took me a long time to give up all my licenses and become a normal person again. Well, sorta normal. It never really leaves your system. Friend of mine tried to convince me to hang my license with his company, just to stay current. But, it was time to let go. I loved the high energy, but my body wore out.

My darling groom was doing a little day-trading for a while. He got laid off a year ago and, between his age and compensation level, the market's bone dry. That's why he finally agreed to get serious about real estate. It's funny how the major names in our portfolio tanked while some off-the-wall issues are showing great returns. Nothing works the way we learned in JK Galbraith's class "a hundred years" ago! We have our eyes on a stretch of beach in the Caribbean. Investing well in real estate will get us there.

I bow to Stacy the Wise!

[agkatz]

I feel so inadequate next to you guys!

[StacyKellams]

Adam,

Just give Tim a call, he'll cheer you up.

 

[akorelc]

No,no,  AG - it's the other way around - I feel so inadequate next to some of the people here!

Best,

Alysia :-)

[texastrader]

Would someone please clue me in on when and where Rudy Gutierrez is doing this Saturday class?  I'd like to be there.

Also, when and where does the Austin club meet?

thanks!

[Admin]

TT,
Rudy's gig has come and gone, although I'm sure he'll be having monthly meetings.

For info on Austin clubs, click the "Clubs" link near the logo and then click "Texas".

Welcome to the board...

[agkatz]

I think CB mentioned that he had a general "business & life" success group he was promoting.  But maybe that was somebody else?