Lex Levinrad Real Estate Investor, Speaker, Author & Mentor

On this podcast episode I talk about private lenders and hard money loans. If you want to fix and flip properties, there is a good chance that you will need a loan from a private lender or a hard money lender. Hard Money Loans are meant to be short term bridge loans and because they have high interest rates, they are NOT meant to be a long term financing option. For this reason, most hard money loans are short term interest only loans for a period of 1 year. I discuss using hard money loans and borrowed money from private lenders, and why this is the perfect instrument for fixing and flipping houses. When you use borrowed money to finance the purchase of a fix and flip your goal is to buy, borrow, fix and flip the house within 6 months or less. Private lenders and hard money loans are a very useful tool for rehabbers that fix and flip houses for a living. Every professional rehabber that I know (including myself) uses borrowed money to finance their fix and flips. The reason is that borrowing money will allow

This podcast episode follows up on the Wholesaling Real Estate Podcasts Parts 1, 2 and 3. Please make sure you listen to those 3 episodes before listening to this podcast. On the previous podcast I spoke about making your first offer, knowing how much to offer, and how your exit strategy is important when determining your offer price. On this podcast episode I talk about constructing and submitting your offer. Remember that submitting your offer assumes that you know what the After Repair Value is, and how much it will cost to repair the house. You cannot determine an offer price if you don't know the ARV and what it would cost to fix the house (repair estimate). On this episode, I talk about the type of purchase contract you should use and why you want to use a "wholesaling contract" for direct to seller purchases and a standard contract for bank owned properties. I also talk about inspection periods, deposits, cancelling your contract and how important those numbers can be if it comes to wanting to cancel y

This is part three of the How To Get Started Wholesaling Real Estate Series. Please make sure you listen to Wholesaling Real Estate Part One and Part Two before you listen to this episode since this podcast builds up on the information contained in the previous two podcast episodes. On episode one, we spoke about how you need to have a property to flip, a cash investor to flip the house to, and the money to fund the deal. On episode two, we spoke about After Repair Value, Estimating what the property is worth, comparable sales and repair estimates. On this episode I talk about making your first offer, submitting bids, knowing how much to offer, exit strategies and why you should get your real estate license. If you are brand new to real estate and want to learn more about how to wholesale real estate and flip houses then please register for the free wholesaling real estate training at this link below: FREE WHOLESALING TRAINING https://www.lexlevinrad.com/webinar FIXING AND FLIPPING TRAINING If you want to lea

On the previous podcast episode (Wholesaling Real Estate Part 1) I spoke about the three things that you need in order to wholesale a property which were: 1. having a property to flip 2. having a cash buyer to flip the house to 3. having the money to fund the flip On this podcast episode (part 2) I am following up on part 1 and digging deeper into the first item in the list above which is learning how to find a property and evaluate a property in order to have a house to flip to another investor. This is the essence of wholesaling. You can have the best web site and tons of leads but if you don't know how to evaluate what a property is worth and how much you can flip it for then you will be constantly facing an uphill battle. In my opinion this is what happens to the majority of new wholesalers who focus on lead generation and websites before understanding the basic fundamentals. In order to flip a property to a cash investor, you will need to know what the house is worth retail, completely fixed up for sale

On this podcast episode I discuss how to get started wholesaling real estate. This is part one which is basically an introduction to wholesaling. I talk about the 3 main components of wholesaling which are: 1. Finding Houses To Flip To Investors 2. Finding Cash Buyers To Buy These Houses 3. Finding The Money To Fund These Flips The above 3 items are the essence of the foundation of wholesaling real estate. I find that far too many beginners that are new to wholesaling, spend way too much time focusing on things that don't make them any money. For example: setting up their business, opening LLC's, setting up checking accounts, creating web sites and business cards, mailing postcards, setting up CRM's and phone systems etc. While you will need all of the above in order to be a full time real estate investor, if you are a beginner, spending money without making money is a recipe for disaster. The number one most important criteria for a business to succeed is cash flow. If you spend 6 months or a year and have o

We have a lot of questions coming in asking about rental properties and turn key rental properties. Today's podcast episode talks about Turn Key Rental properties in Florida. On this episode I discuss a typical turn key rental property that we sell to our investors with property management included. The example that I used on this podcast is a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom house in Port St Lucie, Florida. This house can be purchased for $175,000 and would rent for $1,350 per month. At this price assuming a 20% down mortgage and an interest rate of 5.25 percent, the annual total return on investment would be a little over 10%. This includes cash flow, tax savings and principal pay down. If you would like to see pictures of this property you can them on my web site at: https://www.lexlevinrad.com/turnkeyrentalproperty

On this podcast episode I talk about buying rental properties with no money down. No money down real estate investing is one of the most overlooked and misunderstood aspects of investing in real estate. I have had real estate agents and mortgage brokers tell me that it is impossible to buy real estate with no money down. Even my own mortgage broker who refinanced my rental properties could not quite grasp the concept of what I was doing. But the topic is incredibly simple. If you find a wholesale deal at a huge discount to ARV, for example a $100,000 ARV house that can be purchased for $50,000 then you will be able to buy the house with no money down. Most people get confused and think no money down means no money down. What it really means is none of YOUR money down. In the example on this podcast we talk about how you would need around $37,000 in cash to buy and repair this house with a hard money loan, but after refinancing, you would get back that same $37,000. So effectively, none of your cash would be i

On this podcast episode I talk about the pros and cons of Wholesaling, compared to Fixing and Flipping and Landlording. If you are a beginner then wholesaling is the easiest and best place to start out since it involves very little money, does not require credit and has no risk. Fixing and Flipping requires more money, borrowing hard money and has much more risk but also much higher profit potential. And buying rental properties provides you with passive income and positive cash flow - but you have to deal with tenants. Listen to this podcast to find out the pros and cons of wholesaling, fixing and flipping and landlording. If you are brand new to real estate and want to learn more about how to wholesale real estate and flip houses then please register for the free wholesaling real estate and flipping houses training at this link below: https://www.lexlevinrad.com/webinar If you want to learn how to fix and flip I have a fixing and flipping training at this link: https://www.lexlevinrad.com/fixandflipwebinar

On this podcast episode, I talk about how new real estate investors have a tendency to focus on the wrong things. Many real estate programs tell new investors to start out by setting up their LLC's, opening checking accounts and setting up their website and business cards. As a new real estate investor, the only thing you should be focusing on is making money. The most important thing as a new real estate investor is to focus on action steps that will make you money. Any items that will not make money should not be your focus since the longer it takes you to make money the more likely you are going to want to quit. When you wholesale your first house and deposit that check in your bank account is when you realize that this business of wholesaling is real. Until that moment of making money, it is all theoretical. It is something that other people are doing. It is something you heard at a seminar or on a podcast. But when that check gets deposited into your bank account. When you can pay down your credit card d

On this podcast episode, I discuss buying real estate with other people's money and how you should be using private lender's to fund your real estate deals. I give you examples, including the first house that I purchased with no money down, and how that deal was structured. We discuss the advantages of borrowed money and why the leverage of tapping into other people's money is crucial to increasing your returns. Make sure you take note of the advice that I give at the end of the podcast of what to say when you are sitting down with a potential private lender. Enjoy the podcast

On this podcast episode I discuss bidding on online auction sites like Hubzu, Auction and Xome. Online auction sites that list bank owned properties (REO's), and short sales are an excellent resource to find good deals at wholesale prices. Many of these deals have enough profit potential for you to be able to wholesale the property to rehabbers or fix and flip the property yourself. For example, I recently posted a video of myself standing in front of a house with a Hubzu sign. That house was purchased by a wholesaler and flipped to me (for a $10,000 profit to the wholesaler). I then fixed the house (which cost $25,000) and sold it a few days ago for $175,000 and netted a profit of $34,000. (See tomorrow's episode of the checks and HUD's from this deal). So there was $44,000 of total profit in this deal. And it was on a free online auction site that you or anyone else could have bid on!. Before you bid on online real estate auction sites, make sure you know how they work. They are all different and have diffe

One of the biggest challenges for new investors who are looking to get into fixing and flipping houses, is the fear of not having a good contractor to do the work for them. I have seen this fear stop investors dead in their tracks, even when they have a good house, and the money lined up to buy the house. The fear of not knowing a contractor that will do the work or how much it will cost will prevent many new investors from pulling the trigger and moving forward on the deal. Don't let this fear of paralysis analysis stop you from doing your first fix and flip. The best way to overcome fear is with education and knowledge. Start out today by learning the basics of estimating the material costs by taking a visit to your nearest Home Depot or Loews Store. Allow yourself around 2 hours for this exercise and make sure you take your notepad and a calculator. Go through each aisle and take note of the material components that you will use for each room in the house. Write down the costs of flooring, cabinets, faucet

On this podcast episode I discuss the importance of understanding full retail value when calculating the After Repair Value. As an investor it is very important for you to understand what a house would sell for once it has been fixed up. In order to know this, you need to understand the difference between full retail price on a property that has been completely remodeled with granite counter tops, nice cabinets and stainless steel appliances versus a house that is at retail price in great condition but occupied by the owners and that has not been remodeled. The difficulty for new investors is understanding how much to offer on a house that is in less than perfect condition. For example, a house that has not been renovated in 20 years and has a tenant living in the house. How much should you offer on that house? Listen to today's episode to learn how buying the exact same house can have different exit strategies for different investors depending on whether they are planning on keeping the property as a rental

One of the best ways to locate real estate deals is by something called “driving for dollars”. Many of your competitors may be mailing post cards and yellow letters, or paying for expensive pay per click campaigns on Google or buying Facebook Ads. Some of your competitors may even be using automated dialers to cold call expired listings, for sale by owners or targeted lists that they have acquired. Those approaches all work great (and we use them all). But let me ask you a question. How many of your competitors are actually getting into their car and driving around looking for deals? The answer is not many! How do I know this? Because I find deals all of the time that are right in my backyard! Almost every single time I get in my car, and go driving through my target markets, I find deals. Almost every single time! Investors have become spoiled and lazy. It is easy to overlook this old approach of “driving for dollars”. But it works. Driving through any neighborhood and noticing vacant, boarded up properties,

On this podcast episode I discuss how wholesalers assign contracts when they are flipping houses and how assignments of contract work. We talk about the pros and cons of assigning a contract versus paying for a double closing and when you should double close versus assigning the contract. My personal preference is to always double close but many wholesalers that I know always assign almost every house that they flip. You can download an "assignment of contract form" at this link which was mentioned in the podcast: https://www.lexlevinrad.com/assignment

On this podcast episode I talk about something that from the guy that taught me real estate - my mentor Ben. It's the concept of urgency and how when you spot a deal you need to have the sense of urgency to understand what you have and lock it up before someone else does. I like to use the analogy of a lion in the wild. If a lion has not eaten for weeks and it spots a deer then it doesn't think to itself hmmm should I eat. No it pounces on the deer and it eats. If you are a real estate investor and you see a smoking hot deal you should't be going hmmm is that a deal. You should be pouncing on it. Hence the term "you eat what you kill".

On this podcast episode I talk about motivated seller appointments. When you are marketing to motivated sellers, regardless of the method you use to market to sellers, you will need to go on motivated seller appointments. On this podcast I discuss the initial lead intake form, and the type of conversation that you will have with a motivated seller. When you have that first conversation with the seller, you will need to know what questions to ask them. It is helpful if you have a script to use. You also want to make sure that you are using call tracking in order to keep track of where your calls are coming from. If you have multiple channels like a website, bandit signs and direct mail then you need to know which lead source generated the phone call. We use call rail for that. After you have gathered the initial data from the lead, you should move on to the appointment setting. As a new investor you should try go on as many appointments as you can. As a general rule of thumb if they have multiple pain points,

In this brief training video Lex shows you how to use bandit signs to market for Distressed Sellers

On this podcast episode Lex talks about how you can learn to be more productive by structuring your day into specific segments. Topics covered include productivity apps, and how to structure learning and reading into your day to become way more productive.

Listen to this podcast to learn how thoughts become actions and how what you think, and what you believe are ultimately what end up happening to you. Lex explains this concept and how it relates to real estate.