pilots/real estate

[turpentyine]

Any pilots out there who are also in the real estate biz??
Just curious to here what you guys do, how you got into it, and if its working out well?

 

[CesnaCaptn]

I did the real estate thing for a few months. I found out that I was depending on my partner too much, and I got sick of getting called while I was on the road. Another thing was that I got sick of working on all my days off. It was just tiring working all the time. I didn't like it, but I do know of a few pilots that are doing it and they think the extra money is well worth it.

 

[wingnutt]

i dont know how one could. i have a family member thats been in it for almost 10 years now, and the amount of callas received, and the oddball times that people call are just unreal. i cant imagine how any pilot could do it with any real results except for the occasional family sale.

 

[turpentyine]

were you making good money with it at least

 

[turpentyine]

well i dont mean necessarily selling houses there is other stuff one could do in real estate

 

[wingnutt]

oh, ok then. well i manage to buy about 2 houses a year on the low end, refurb them on my days off, then resell after a bit. that tends to generate a nice side income that has paid for more than one splurge. the last one i grabbed for 93K, spent 4K in paint, tile, carpet and appliances, then sold it again 5 months later for 139...is that more along the lines of what you refer to

 

[turpentyine]

ye thats another thing

 

[potrack]

I'm an agent

Yep, got my license, then got hired by a broker. Here is what I realized about this business:

No benefits
No retirement
A fair number of cheese-D**** in the biz

You have to pay for about 95% of your own business expenses (Flyers, mailings, signs, stamps, membership fees---which are required, you have to be a member to get computer access to the MetroList, magnets, calendars, or whatever else you do to market yourself)

You gotta find your own clients.

They say, "If you have any questions...just ask".....but they are really not that helpful. Kind of like telling someone about a preflight then saying, "Go out to that airplane and preflight it.........." If you've never ever ever done one before...welll you get it.

then after that......they take a chunk of your money when you sell.

HERE IS HOW IT CAN WORK FOR YOU:
Be an agent where you know a lot of people. Networking is key. Your friends, parent's friends, old school friends, people from the church, folks from where you grew up at. I tried to start where I just moved to and didn't know many people.

Start with a company like Coldwell Banker or Century 21 that has a good training and mentoring program to learn the contracts and the ropes. They will take a cut of your money.

After you build up a client base and get referrals, switch to a company like ReMax and start raking in the cash.

I couldn't wait any longer and didn't have the cash to keep shelling out on flyers with no return. Got a flying job again and will still try to keep the real estate gig open.

If you can and you're handy-----buy houses on your own, representing yourself as a licensed agent, then fix them up and resale.

peace

 

[turpentyine]

thnx a lot thats helpful

 

[Tackleberry]

Have you ever dealt with government auctions? Any pros and cons on with that?

 

[2000flyer]

All most all realtors I know or know of are considered independent contractors. This means you pay all your own taxes (if you're doing well that means paying quarterly). I personally know one who pays about $30-35K a quarter!

Protrack is correct. As an independent contractor, you'll pay all your own expenses, including the yearly classes you'll be required to take to maintain your license.

Anticipate calls throughout the day. Trying to show property while maintaining a flying schedule will really be a problem (unless you only fly a 100 hour a year with no RONs). If you hire an assistant, many states require that assistant to be licensed as well, plus you'll be giving them a cut of your income to do so.

Buying and remodeling / refirbishing a home can be a great money maker given the current real estate market. However, this will again take a good amount of your free time. You can hire it done but there goes your profit margin.

I know a few people who make a great living making six figures selling $50-250K homes. Don't expect walking in the door and getting the $1.5M home to sell. Just like any job, you'll start by selling the lower end homes and working you way up, most likely assisting an experienced agent to learn the ropes.

In the right market, selling real estate can be extremely rewarding both financially and personally. However, if you're in Smallville, USA, you might be hard pressed to make enough to live on.

Good luck!

2000Flyer

 

[Illini Pilot]

buying an investment property, such as a rental home can be a nice investment. with interest rates so low right now, the rental market is down, but as the rates get higher, people tend to start renting rather than buying. also, single family rental homes will yield less day-to-day maintenance and upkeep, which is probably better for pilots. for example, in a real estate finance class project i did, we went out and found a $45,000 home that was on the market and being rented at the time for $800/mo. using very conservative assumptions we still projected a before tax cash flow of just under $3000/yr, which is 26% return on your down payment in the first year.

 

[turpentyine]

i am thinking about majoring in real estate that is why i am asking thnx for all your replys

 

[garf12]

My family is in the realestate business, and I am majoring in it in college. We only do commercial realestate though, and not for other people just us. Great business, and we have made a fortune. I am working on my PPL so that I will be able to fly to do deals out of town.

I went ahead and got my license so that my dad could start giving me all the commisions.

 

[User546]

I currently own seven pieces of real estate, both residential and commerical. My suggestion is DO IT! Not only is it a nice monetary supplement to our income, but most importantly to us pilots, it's a wonderful sense of security - knowing that if my corporate flying gig wasn't around tomorrow, I wouldn't be out on the street. We ALL now how fickly this industry is, and even if you own 1 piece of property, it can make a huge difference!

Like some of the other guys were saying before, be prepared to get a lot of phone calls on the road if you rent your property! And when something breaks, or something happens while your out on the road, the call NEVER comes at a good time! It eventually got to be too much for me after I started flying full time, and I hired a Property Manager to manage all the property. He's the point-man for all my tenants, he takes all the calls, arranges to have all the problems fixed, and pays all the bills; all for a small monthly percentage. If your going to own real estate, and be a pilot - do this!

Another piece of advice I would give is if your going to buy some real estate with the intention to rent, dont always go for the "cheaper" low-rent type of houses. Although sometimes thats all you can afford (especially starting out), you just have to be prepared for the type of people that will end up renting from you. When you buy a cheap house, you normally have to charge a much lower monthly rent, and the type of renters that you normally end up with, normally end up being a real handful to deal with (always late paying, tears up your property, leaves without notice, etc.) Whereas a little bit more expensive house, you charge a higher monthly rate, and get more "stable" people. Your tenants truly do make or break your real estate venture.

That and newer, more expensive homes, dont normally break as much and your not continually sinking a small fortune into fixing up a 50-60 year old home that slowly starts coming apart at the seams. And I'm not talking about $200,000 homes here. I'm talking about the difference most of the time between buying a $20,000 home VS a $80,000 home. You'd be suprised what a big difference it can make, and also with interest rates as low as they are right now, taking out a little higher loan doesnt hurt you quite as much as it did a few years ago.

Hope this insight helps you out a little bit.

 

[EngineOut]

...That and newer, more expensive homes, dont normally break as much and your not continually sinking a small fortune into fixing up a 50-60 year old home that slowly starts coming apart at the seams. And I'm not talking about $200,000 homes here. I'm talking about the difference most of the time between buying a $20,000 home VS a $80,000 home. You'd be suprised what a big difference it can make, and also with interest rates as low as they are right now, taking out a little higher loan doesnt hurt you quite as much as it did a few years ago.

Hope this insight helps you out a little bit.

Where are these $20,000 homes at?

 

[Gulfstream 200]

Where are these $20,000 homes at?

where are the $80,000 homes at??

 

[414Flyer]

I remember Fargo ND having pretty nice homes for that much.

Same with north Texas.

I am also looking into getting licenses and doing many of the ideas people have talked about on here. Is there anyway to take the classses online for the initial licenses?

 

[s0ldier93]

I am also looking into getting licenses and doing many of the ideas people have talked about on here. Is there anyway to take the classses online for the initial licenses?

I second this question.

 

[garf12]

Is there anyway to take the classses online for the initial licenses?

I just did a quick google search and it looks like there are alot of online courses. Just do a search for your state.

 

[User546]

Where are these $20,000 homes at?

Move to the midwest and you'll find plenty of them! Same with the 80,000 ones.

You can buy a nice, 2500-3000 sq ft home, in a nice neighborhood for about $80,000 where I live. Of course you'll pay a bit higher right now because of the real estate "craze" with all these low interest rates, but once the low-interest rate boom starts going away, they'll all start going back down.