Lex Levinrad Real Estate Investor, Speaker, Author & Mentor

On this podcast episode I talk about how to create wealth by investing in real estate. Every day, I speak to new students that want to learn how to create a life of financial freedom. This podcast episode addresses how to create wealth by explaining that in order to have financial freedom, you first need to create wealth. And the surest way to create wealth is by buying rental properties. On this episode, I talk about a house that I recently purchased which is being refinanced this week. Here are the details on this house: My purchase price was 102k Rehab cost was 15k currently rented for $1,300 per month Current appraisal value 160k When I purchased this house a few months ago, I borrowed 90k from a lender and put down the other $12,000. I then spent $15,000 of my own money to remodel the property. After the renovations were complete I rented the property for $1,300 per month. Now that the property is stabilized I want to put long term financing in place. I like 15 year mortgages since they pay down in half

On this podcast episode I talk about wholesale real estate versus retail real estate. This podcast episode topic is an important concept to understand. This episode topic came about based on a question by one of our listeners. There question was "why pay 10% interest if you can get a 4% mortgage? That's a great questions and I thought it would make a good topic for a podcast episode. I called it Wholesale Real Estate Versus Retail Real Estate because this is really the essence of you understanding why as cash investors we need to use private lenders. If you are buying wholesale real estate then you are paying all cash and you cannot use a regular mortgage. The reason you cannot use a regular mortgage are because either the seller will only accept all cash or a mortgage company would not offer a mortgage (for example on a damaged property). Situations where you would have to make an all cash offer include: BANKS Banks do not accept mortgages when they are liquidating properties so any offer on an REO, Short Sa

On this podcast episode, I interview Jason Nickel who is the founder of Lead Sherpa. Lead Sherpa is a text marketing platform for real estate investors, that lets you send text messages directly to motivated sellers. The first step to text marketing is to purchase a motivated seller list (for example an absentee list). The next step is to skip trace this list which can be done with any skip tracking service or directly inside your Lead Sherpa account. Once you have your list skip traced and you have all of the mobile numbers, then you can start marketing to potential sellers by sending text message to them. This is a very unique way of reaching motivated sellers. There is a lot of buzz in the real estate investing world around new marketing platforms like text marketing. On this podcast Jason discusses text marketing in general and particularly using Lead Sherpa. We also discuss the legality of text marketing (to sellers only) and why text marketing is legal and compliant. We discuss lead acquisition costs, c

RENTAL PROPERTY INVESTING FOR BEGINNERS Do you want to get into rental property investing because of the positive cash flow? Many new real estate investors are first attracted to the idea of investing in rental properties because of the passive income and cash flow benefits. But when you actually buy your first rental property, you are more likely to break even or make only a few hundred dollars a month in positive cash flow on your rental properties. When you realize that you have to pay for maintenance and repairs, and that not all tenants pay their rent on time, you can easily find your positive cash flow turning into break even (or even negative cash flow). This is very common, and unfortunately it is also the main reason why new investors get out of rental properties. If you are going to invest in rentals, then you need to understand the bigger picture of why you are buying rental properties and this bigger picture needs to be more than just your currently monthly cash flow. Keep in mind that I am not su

WHOLESALING REAL ESTATE 101 On this podcast episode I talk about wholesaling real estate, what wholesaling is, and the four basic steps of wholesaling. The Four Steps Are: *Finding a House That Would Be A Good Flip *Making An Offer To Buy That House *Getting The House Under Contract *Selling That House For A Profit To An Investor I discuss a lot of meat and potatoes stuff about wholesaling on this episode. I use an example of finding a house For Sale by Owner on Zillow, making an offer to purchase the house, and flipping the house to a cash investor. Using the example, I walk you through the inspection period and why that is important and how to use the inspection period to cancel your contract or ask for a price reduction. I talk to you about assignments of contract versus double closing and when you should use which strategy. We also cover cash buyers, building your cash buyers's list and why you should get your real estate license. I talk about why finding a house is the most difficult of the 4 steps above

Are you new to real estate investing? Do You Know How To Recognize A Wholesale Real Estate Deal? If you do, then you should be willing to act (very quickly) when you see it. The first step for new real estate investors is to make sure that you know how to tell a good wholesale real estate deal from a bad one. Too many beginners don't the difference. Knowing the difference between a wholesale real estate deal and a dud is the basics of this business. You should learn what a wholesale real estate deal is for your market if you don't already know it. In this video I talk about the concept of "you eat what you kill" and having the "killer instinct". I learned both of these from my mentor. At the Wholesaling Real Estate Boot Camp, I use an analogy of a lion walking in the jungle that hasn't eaten in two weeks. If that lion were to see a deer, it wouldn't think about whether or not it should eat that deer. It would just eat it. As an investor you need to be like that lion. If you see a good wholesale real estate de

On this podcast episode, I interview John Martinez who is the founder and CEO of Midwest Rev. John created the "Online REI Sales Academy" to help new and seasoned real estate investors learn how to get better at negotiating with motivated sellers. If you want to learn what to say when you talk to sellers, what scripts to use, and how to convert and close more motivated seller leads then you should check out his training program. It's called the Online REI Sales Academy. Here is a link for you to learn more: https://www.lexlevinrad.com/midwestrev/ If you are starting to scale up your real estate business then this podcast episode is especially important for you to listen to. If you want your real estate business to thrive, you will need to be constantly marketing to motivated sellers. As your business grows, and as you make more money, you should be allocating more and more capital towards your marketing efforts. When you market to more motivated sellers then you will get more seller leads. And more seller lea

On this podcast episode, I talk about the key components that you need in order to get started fixing and flipping houses. THESE KEY COMPONENTS ARE: *Finding A House To Fix & Flip *Estimating After Repair Value *Estimating Repairs & Materials *Calculating Your Profit Margin *Finding a Private or Hard Money Lender *Having a Contractor To Fix The House On this podcast episode, I dig deeper into some of these topics and show you why the most important basic foundation for fixing and flipping is to understand what the house will sell for (After Repair Value). The other key component is what it will cost to repair the house (labor and materials). If you know the answer to the After Repair Value, and you know the Repair Estimate, then it is relatively easy for you to plug those two variables into a calculator and figure out your potential profit on the fix and flip. Here is a free tool that I created for my students to use to estimate the profit margin on fix and flips: https://www.lexlevinrad.com/rehab-pro

On this podcast episode I talk about how to buy houses with no money down. This strategy works really well when there is not enough equity in the deal for you to make a cash offer to buy the house. You will find that many of your competitors and wholesalers will walk away from these deals because they don't know how to structure them. This will give you a competitive edge if you do! The biggest benefit of this strategy is that you can buy as many houses as you want since you are not coming out of pocket on the purchase of the house (other than closing costs). This strategy allows you to buy a lot of real estate in a short amount of time and is how I got started investing in real estate. My first three houses were purchased by assuming the existing mortgages and most of the houses that I purchased between 2003 and 2006 were hurricane damaged houses that were purchased by assuming the existing mortgage. On this episode, I talk about specific details on how to assume a mortgage, assumptions of mortgages, due on

On this podcast episode, I interview David Lecko who is the founder of Deal Machine. Deal Machine is an incredible app for real estate investors that can help you take your driving for dollars game to another level. You can download the app by visiting http://www.lexlevinrad.net/dealmachine One you install the app on your smart phone, you can start driving for dollars. What's amazing about this app is that you don't need to have a yellow pad next to you scribbling down addresses of vacant properties to look up later. When you drive for dollars, you are looking for vacant, boarded up houses. Tell tale signs are blue tarps on the roof, lawns that are overgrown or mailboxes that are stuffed full. It is not difficult to tell when a property is neglected. Properties can be neglected because someone recently passed away, or they could be vacant because an absentee out of state landlord is having difficulty managing a property. There are many reasons why a property could be vacant, but the most obvious sign of distr

On today's podcast episode I talk about an example of a property which was based on a video that I uploaded to my YouTube channel yesterday called "Buy, Rent, Repair and Refinance". You can see that video here: https://youtu.be/KfLPeO6U52E I received quite a few questions from students of mine (and from new investors that are not yet students) asking me to elaborate on this and explain the numbers and how it works in more detail. So I created this podcast episode especially for those of you looking for a greater understanding of how this works and a more detailed explanation of the numbers. In this example my student Mark purchased the house for $116,000 and I gave him a loan of $106,000. His down payment was $10,000 and I loaned him the rest of the money. Now Mark wants to fix and flip this house. But I want to show you an even easier strategy than fixing and flipping which is way less risky. It's called the BRRR Strategy (which stands for Buy, Repair, Rent and Refinance). This strategy is overlooked by almo

On today's podcast episode I talk about buying rental properties. I talk about cash flow, appreciation, and the tax benefits of buying rental properties - especially if you have a steady job and have a lot of taxes being withheld from your paycheck. I also cover the "myth" of investing in rental properties where beginners think they are going to sit back and collect the cash flow. In reality, many times in the first few years of a rental property there isn't that much cash flow. The trick is to buy the property below market and to capture equity. If you do that then you increase your net worth the day you buy the property. Even if your cash flow is only moderately positive when you buy, it will be much more positive when you refinance. This only makes sense if you gain equity when you buy. That means you should be buying wholesale deals at wholesale prices. Over time you will be able to raise rents, and your equity will increase as well. If you are smart, you will put a 15 year mortgage on that property and o

On this podcast episode I talk about how to change your mindset, and why mindset is so important for you to be able to achieve your goals of financial freedom. First you have to believe that you can. And that starts with mindset. I can take every single real estate system, tool and method that I know, and I can teach them all to you. But without you understanding that everything starts with your mindset it will be a waste of time and you will learn nothing. The reason is because you will let doubt, fear and negative thoughts creep into your mind and stop you. The key to breaking out to another level is to understand that it all starts with your mindset. This is why I start every one of my real estate boot camps with mindset and we talk about books like "Think and Grow Rich", Rich Dad Poor Dad" and "Laws of Success". Mindset really is everything. If you want to succeed in life and achieve everything that you want (including happiness) then you need to start out with working on your mindset. Here is the link to

On this podcast episode I talk about how it is possible to have a $100,000 month wholesaling and flipping houses. I break down what you would need to do in order to make $100,000 wholesaling. I want you to see that once you understand the concept of buying houses from motivated sellers and selling those houses for a profit - how much you make is really up to you! It could be a $100,000 month or a $100,000 week or a $100,000 year. Whatever your mind can conceive and BELIEVE it can achieve. So start with working on how you think. Because that is what is holding you back. If you have never had a six figure year or a six figure month then you will need to change how you think in order to get there. I cover some really good stuff in this podcast episode. It's all mindset and learning how to push yourself out of your comfort zone. At the end of the day once you do that, you realize that it's just a numbers game. How many houses you wholesale and flip is dependent on the system and the software and the people that y

On this podcast episode I talk about Driving for Dollars and How to Drive for Dollars. I talk about how much technology has changed since when I started back in 2003 and how technology has leveled the playing field for new investors. You can now use apps like Send Fuse and Deal Machine to automate your postcard mailings to vacant houses. I show you an example of my student Mark who has found 214 vacant houses while driving for dollars on his one hour lunch break. He found 214 vacant houses in just one hour consistently driving for dollars over the past 8 weeks. He uploaded all of those houses to Deal Machine and he just got his first house under contract! I also talk about the different ways you can market to those sellers on vacant houses by mailing postcards, letters, calling them and sending them emails. If you want to try out Deal Machine you can check it out at this link: http://www.lexlevinrad.net/dealmachine Enter the code FTCYXN to get $10 off your first post card mailing If you are brand new to real

On this podcast episode I follow up on the prior episode (How to get started wholesaling part 1) If you have not already listened to the previous podcast episode please do so now before listening to this one since it will make more sense to you if you listen to it in order. On this podcast episode I review getting your license, building your cash buyer website and posting properties for sale online on your cash buyer website. I talk about the importance of knowing what a wholesale deal is, and understanding After Repair Value, Repair Estimates and Maximum Offer Price. Then I discuss marketing to sellers and setting up your seller websites. I also talk about Facebook ads, direct mail (postcards) and bandit signs for sellers. I summarize for you what a beginner's wholesaling business costs would look like including call tracking, a phone system, 5 websites and marketing with bandit signs and post cards. I show you how to put all of this together and what it will cost you to realistically start out as a new whol

On this podcast episode, I walk you through a 90 day plan on how to get started wholesaling houses. STEP ONE - CASH BUYERS The first thing that you want to do is start out by building your cash buyer's list and talking to cash buyers. the best way to do this is by posting properties for sale on your website. If you don't have properties to post, then network with other wholesalers that do have properties and get permission from them to market their deals to your cash buyers. For the website I recommend that you use Investor Carrot (www.lexlevinrad.com/carrot) because it and is already set up with lead capture forms that capture buyers information when they visit your website. Carrot websites are also great for SEO and will integrate very easily with mail chimp for email broadcasts. This will come in handy when you want to start marketing wholesale deals to cash buyers via email. I highly recommend that you consider getting your real estate license before you start marketing properties since you are required t

This podcast episode is part 2 of "How To Build Your Cash Buyer's List". Please listen to part 1 before listening to this part 2 episode on building your cash buyer's list. On this podcast episode I continue where we ended off on the previous episode. I talk about more strategies of how to build your cash buyer's list and find cash buyer's by using: * The MLS to find cash buyers on past sales * Data mining lists for cash buyers * Using Linked In and Facebook Groups * Direct Mail to Cash Buyers * In the field talking to contractors * Virtual assistants scraping past sales data * Comparable Sales report showing cash sales * Your website 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 learn how to fix and flip houses I have a fix and flip training webinar at thi

On this podcast episode I talk about how to build your cash buyer's list. This is "How To Build Your Cash Buyer's List Part 1". Make sure you look for the next episode called "How To Build Your Cash Buyer's List Part 2". On this podcast episode I talk about: *Finding cash buyers from networking *Landlords that are cash buyers *Offline methods for finding cash buyers *Online methods for finding cash buyers 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 learn how to fix and flip houses I have a fix and flip training webinar at this link: https://www.lexlevinrad.com/fixandflipwebinar DON'T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE TO THIS PODCAST TO BE NOTIFIED OF UPDATES SUBSCRIBE TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL http://www.youtube.com/lexlevinrad?sub_confirmation=1 CONNECT WITH ME ONLINE htt

On this podcast episode I talk about private lending, private lenders and hard money loans. I discuss why investors use private lenders to fund their purchases, and why this is a win/win scenario for both the borrower and the lender. I also explain why buyers cannot purchase fix and flips with mortgages and why they have to pay all cash or use a private lender. This is the essence of why private lending exists. Banks will not accept offers on properties with a mortgage. They will only accept cash offers. Buyers need to pay all cash to purchase these properties and if they don't have the cash then they need to borrow the cash to fund their purchase from private lenders. This is a private loan or private mortgage (meaning originated by a private party and not a bank). Your collateral as a lender is the property. If you have money sitting in cash, savings accounts, CD's, IRA's, stocks or bonds you could be earning a consistent return of 10% to 13% by being a private lender. If you are brand new to real estate an