David Lindahl's Commercial Rea Estate

David Lindahl is the author of Donald Trump's book series: Trump University Commercial Real Estate 101: How Small Investors Can Get Started and Make It Big So when I found out David Lindahl is holding a free seminar on commercial foreclosure, I drove 3 hours to go to that seminar.

As with residential real estate investing, the number one criteria to look for is Motivated Sellers. And for commercial real estate, the motivated sellers are banks and mom & pop organizations. The money is to be made if you can identify the problem (find out why they are motivated), see if you can fix the problem, fix it and it usually increases the equity right away.

In addition, if you can find a property in the path of progress (ie, new home depot coming soon), you will have a good holding property with great appreciation potential. Investors can find out about any new development from the city hall's planning department. Also look for revitalization zones that the city plans to invest money into. Usually, there will be grant money available for investors to go into these areas to revitalize the area.

David Lindahl also talked about market cycles which run from peak to valley to peak in about every 8 to 12 years.You can find out about where the cycle is by reading the newspapers. When the media say buy, you should actually sell and move the money to other emerging markets. How can you tell the market is just starting to come back to life? The rent will increase for the first time in a while. There may be job announcement and people are moving in for long-term jobs. Permits for constructions are increasing, etc.

What's Your Exit Strategy?

Before you start to look for deals, ask yourself these questions:

What is your exit strategy?

There are several basic exit strategies and there are many many more out there. Your exit strategy will depend on what you are trying to achieve. For example, passive income or quick cash.

1. Cash Flow - buy and hold for passive income
2. Retail Flip - buy, fix and flip to end use (homeowners)
3. Investor Flip - buy, fix and flip to other investors who do not have the time to fix up the property.
4. Wholesale - buy and wholesale to other investor at discounted price without fix for quick cash
5. Rent to own - aka. lease option. The tenant pays rent and has option to buy the property few years down the road.
   

And what area fits that strategy?
Eg. Wholesale, investor flip, cashflow rentals in Kansas City vs. Retail flip in Houston
Lease option has the potential to turn negative cash flow property into positive cash flow.

Make sure the property value matches your exit strategy

Which area within a city are you going to invest?
Look for neighborhood with lots amenities such as school, church, shopping, transit, etc. The government has put in effort to develop/re-develop the area. The best way is to check out the city planning and development website. Most cities have comprehensive long term and short term plans for areas within the city on their website. Or talk to the city planners and pick their brains.

I find that I have more success focusing on one or two strategies at a time and really learn the ins and outs of the strategies. Too much going on at once is too mind boggling and confusing.

How to Get Started in Real Estate Investing

This is how I got started investing in real estate.

I had no knowledge in real estate nor business when my friend introduced me to the book Rich Dad Poor Dad: What The Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! I was working at my first job as a chemical lab technician after graduation from university and thought to myself "is this all there is?"

So I decided to become financially free and started following the advise in the book "Rich Dad Poor Dad". I attended as many FREE seminars being held in my area as possible.

In one of T. Harv Eker's free event in California, I met Robert Allen for the first time ever and it was in person too. What he said struck me. That it is not the how that's important but the why.

I didn't purchase Robert Allen's program until years later when his company started doing seminars in Canada. If there's a free seminar about real estate, I am there. I went to Robert Allen's free introductory seminar and later bought his program. I have to contribute how I got started to Robert Allen's program.

I started out flipping condo in Canada. Then I went to the USA to buy foreclosures. All with nothing down (aka I borrowed all the money). I would like to share what I've learn about real estate investing on this blog. So please check back often!

If you'd like to know more about Robert Allen's famous nothing down system Click Here!