REVTRAC’s Ryan McFarland Explains the Science of Successful Investing
When it comes to flipping properties, Ryan McFarland of the Real Estate Veterans Training Academy (REVTRAC), has the process down to a science. REVTRAC was founded by Chris Bedgood, star of A&E’s “Flipping San Diego” and provides training to real estate investors on how to find hot deals and sell them quickly without extensive marketing or talking to buyers. During a breakout session at Think Realty’s San Diego Group Event on Feb. 18, 2017, McFarland spent most of his time explaining Bedgood’s simple, scalable system for investing in real estate, but he also took some time to talk about good goals and best personal practices for keeping a real estate business thriving.
“Don’t forget to celebrate your wins,” McFarland advised. He noted that many people turn to real estate to escape their more conventional jobs because those jobs are not enjoyable. “In real estate, if you start out celebrating your wins, your subconscious will then equate the hard work with fun,” he said.
He also recommended modeling successful people and companies and being willing to dedicate some time and effort to building a good team and support system for your real estate investing business. “Your goal should be to fire yourself a lot,” he said, adding that a real estate business that relies completely on one person is not a business but a very demanding job.
McFarland covered the bare bones of Bedgood’s real estate investing system as well, answering questions from the audience as he went and providing bits of insider insight about REVTRAC’s own property portfolio in the process.
“One market that we think is great for buy-and-hold properties is Atlanta,” McFarland revealed while explaining the first step of the system, locating distressed sellers. Bedgood recommends working with investor-friendly professionals like real estate agents, attorneys, bankers and lenders to get leads on sellers rather than the more traditional “door-knocking” many real estate educators endorse.
“Once you have the property in your sights, analyze comparable properties and get an idea about how much your repairs are going to cost so you know before you go in exactly how much you’re willing to offer,” McFarland said. “Only after you’ve done that homework should you move to lock in the deal.”
Locking in the deal can be the tough part, McFarland said, but not because the negotiation process should be grueling. “It’s actually the legal documents that most investors need but do not have,” he warned. “When I buy a property, who am I looking to protect? Me! When I sell a property, who am I looking to protect? Me!” he explained, emphasizing the importance of “ironclad contracts to protect yourself as an investor.”
Once the deal is locked in, it’s simply a matter of finding a buyer and then repeating the process, he concluded, noting that Bedgood’s system teaches investors how to easily reach out to professional buyers lists and hedge funds in a simple, non-intimidating manner. “A lot of our students actually end up doing reverse wholesaling,” he said, “where you find an investor like a hedge fund first, then go find the deals you know they’ll buy.”
About the Author
Carole VanSickle Ellis is the host of Real Estate Investing Today, a daily nine-minute investing podcast, and the editor of the Bryan Ellis Investing Letter. Contact her at editor@bryanellis.com or visit www.selfdirectedinvestor.org.
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