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** Old comments are below this from years past

From the lens Austin Davis - A review of his Commercial Real Estate Program.

  • barbara May 15, 2012 @ 1:31 am | delete
    We did our first deal with Austins team in 2009. We only got one done in 2009, but have gone with partners through his program in 2010 and 2011 and are now doing them on our own as we are in a better financial spot to be able to do them without partners now. The turn time on deals is slower than we would like, but in commercial real estate every one moves slow and deals tend to always move slower as things have come up along the way unexpected from appraisals, title, seller's, lender delays and partner delays, but we have been able to learn a lot along the way that has also made it easier for us. Our first deal was a big step for us and even now we still are learning a lot as each deal has been very different than the one before it. The part of the city and the different types of tenants we have taken us time to learn how to best plan to improve our property income. We are mastermind members and have found the ability to have his team on hand for questions to be of value, although there are more members now and the turn time is slower than it used to be, but Austin has kept the price the same as promised and having the team on hand for questions has helped on many occassions when we didn't know what to do in unique situations on deals. We paid $1,000 for the program and pay $199 a month for the mastermind group.
  • lina Apr 1, 2012 @ 7:27 pm | delete
    Began to work with the team with Austin 9 months ago and have been a member of his mastermind group for 8 months now. I partnered up with a investors through his group on my first apartment building as I did not have the cash for the purchase costs up front. From my share of the 35% my monthly income will be around $3100, with some months lower and some higher, due to the changes in the property's expenses. Before starting with commercial property through Austin's program I was doing single family homes and did them for 9 years. While the commercial side is much different, there are both positives and negatives to it compared to residential. The negatives are that there are fewer deals locally and that means fewer sellers/owners to work with. The property owners I work with no in commercial are also vastly different than those I was dealing with in residential. I was used to dealing with very flaky property owners in residential investing and a less advanced or knowledgeable average investor / owner. The property owners in commercial are for the most part very on top of things and return my calls and do not require much baby sitting to move the deal along. I also like that I do not have to give a personal guarantee on my commercial deals now and that is less risk to me for which I do really like. I think the biggest difference is the passive income in commercial property is much larger per deal than in residential and I don't do anything with the management. We are using a CPA firm in Atlanta to do the books and accounting and they have setup our cashflow shares to be done with direct deposit each month which I really like. I also like that the rental income is spread over a lot of tenants now so if one is let go at work or has a financial hardship it does not mean I have late rent for 100% of that property, but only from that unit. The program over all is not a complicated one and while at first it was very confusing and I did not understand much of anything, over time I began to learn more and Austin's team has walked me through each step along the way. Now looking back, it is a rather smart and large scale basic program. I mean in that there are not weeks of material to go through and it takes only hours to go through the information to get started. I also like that as a member now I do not have to think through every thing on my own, but I send in what I have gathered on my deals for a review and it's a great way to have my deals reviewed and setup when I was not sure how to do it. I've learned the basics now and need assistance less, but still appreciate it and the confidence I have gained through the process. I had spent a great deal on other programs before this, but with all I had learned, I still felt frozen and unsure of what to do. I like that when I ask for help with Austin's team they go step by step and keep it very simple. So it made it easier for me to move slowly to get started and helped me to get over my fears without going in over my head with a higher level of risk than I was comfortable with to start out.
  • gary Mar 5, 2012 @ 3:16 pm | delete
    got started about a year ago. was all very new to me starting out. have done smaller rental homes before but never any thing commercial. took a few months to get the system down between working and family commitments but slowly got it down pretty well. we found a apartment building here and worked with austins team on reviewing it and then made our offer to the seller. we applied for a partner in his partner program as we were a bit short on cash for the deal. our partner and us worked up a contract and we bought it in november of last year. finally just got the changes and upgrades on carpet all done on the property and now have our management lady we put in the office to watch over it all and run it for us. our share of the monthly cashflow is just over $3100. not enough to make us rich or retire on, but has really helped with being able to get a lot of things done we have wanted to do for a long time. best part is my wife will be able to take time off work this summer for a summer vacation now as we won't be needing her weekly check at the dinner like we have for a while now. we also joined the amg group for help on doing deals each month. pretty reasonably priced and has been a real helpful service to have for our deals.
  • shawn Feb 29, 2012 @ 4:57 pm | delete
    austins team is easy to work with. you have to find a deal that fits what they are looking for and can do (but you have to work up deals when ever you are getting other peoples money for them anyways) and he doesn't charge high prices for his program either. most of the other gurus have had to lower their prices to compete now too.
  • Craig Feb 2, 2012 @ 2:05 pm | delete
    I started out trying to do a deal on my own with prefunding but it took longer than I wanted to wait, and I had a deal setup so I ended up going with the partner program. It is cheaper and faster to go with his partner program. That's my only point of advice, go with his partner program. Also, they say they won't do some properties, but if it is a private owner and you can set it up so it does cashflow, even if it needs some work, ask again for how to do it and if there is any other way. My deal I partnered up on was like that, it wasn't doable at first, but then I asked if there was any other options, and they helped me set it up differently.
  • Maria Feb 1, 2012 @ 11:41 am | delete
    Austin does not teach it in his program, but his staff gave me some tips on how to get more deals in creating my own scout program. Basically what I did was place ads in classifieds and got other motivated investors to find deals for me, they sent them to me on the cashflow deal form, and then I sent them to Austin's team and they reviewed them, and returned them with how to structure the deal and then I sent that to my scout, and then they got the seller to sign a LOI for it, and then the scout brought the LOI back to me and I sent it to Austin's team and applied for the partner program. I paid my scouts 10% of the cashflow, and I offered after the first deal to let them get in as a partner on the next one with me. So I was able to stop spending money on up front broker fees using the partner program with Austin, and instead of only being able to do about 2 deals a week on my own, I have now been able to with 17 scouts working for me, get in about 12 deals a week and I am not doing the work to find the deals, I am just taking the deals my scouts bring me, and then sending them to Austin's team. It is much better for my schedule (I work full time at a hospital and make good money, but my schedule is not good and I don't like where I work, so this is my plan to build a residual income and quit to stay home with my kids.). The only thing is that you do not want to give Austin's system to your scouts, I had 2 that I told, and they stopped sending me deals, I suspect they have gone direct to Austin's team now to by pass me. But, to be fair Austin's team did tell me not to give them away to my scouts as they have no way to sort through where their students come from and can not police them. I also did not have my scouts sign any kind of agreement that they can not go direct to my sources for deals, which was also my mistake. I have learned now better of how to do it. It is a learning experience, and you are bound to make mistakes along the way, but the important thing is to stay positive and do not let mistakes and things that go wrong get you mad or down and depressed. You also do not want to develop a bad reputation as someone who is hard to work with or who causes problems. I had several bad experiences before this and made the mistake of saying things I should not have and it got around to a investor I tried to work with last year. He would not work with me because of what he had heard from a bad experience with another bank, while I did have a right in how I felt, the way I handled it was not professional, and because of that bank's relationship with a high profile investor I talked to, I lost that possible relationship to do deals. Long story, but what I have learned is things will go wrong, and you have to adjust to them, be patient and don't give up or quit. Doing your first deal is the hardest, but it gets much easier after that.
  • Manish Jan 31, 2012 @ 10:58 pm | delete
    Austins Program is not bad.. But I have had a very bad experience with the funding source they tell us to use.. The funding partner provides you with funding for closing and down payment.. For this they require payment of $2500.. I have not seen that money back nor the funding from the company... A SCAM for now I belive
  • Maria Feb 1, 2012 @ 11:27 am | delete
    Before I found Austin's program I lost a ton of money on brokers on lender costs. $4200 on the first bank that declined my deal, $2900 on the second, $5100 on the 3rd. Austin suggested a couple I could try that his member's had used, but I decided to go with his partner program instead as I decided I would rather give up part ownership instead of going it all alone and paying a broker to do it for me on my own. I don't know how Austin's suggested brokers would have worked, but my partner I was hooked up said that in this market it is tricky and even solid good brokers who work on deals with past deals under their belt are having hard times with lenders in this market as guidelines are changing weekly. Don't give up though, keep at it and push for your dreams. It took me 3 years to get my first property and going with a partner on it proved to be the way that worked for me. I tried doing it on my own for 3 years, and finally decided it was better to get a partner than try to do it on my own anymore.
  • Misty Jan 30, 2012 @ 12:53 pm | delete
    i found out about his from his youtube video. i really could use a partner for doing deals. gonna check it out later this week. thanks for the info
  • Derek Jan 26, 2012 @ 12:45 am | delete
    I have been a member for just over a year now. I have only scouted on deals so far though as I don't want to partner with anyone. The money from scouting has been good and I have been able to quit my job to work on setting up deals full time with the residual income for a year on deals. It did take me a while to get the hang of setting up commercial deals as it was unlike anything I had ever done with flipping small houses.
  • Sam Jan 18, 2012 @ 1:55 pm | delete
    Thanks for the lens and building it. This is how I found his program in reading your lens and it has been helpful.
  • Camel Jan 17, 2012 @ 11:29 pm | delete
    Also sorry to hear about the lens - will you also rebuild the Mastermind Group lens?
  • Sam Jan 18, 2012 @ 1:53 pm | delete
    ya it is still at http://www.squidoo.com/austindavis
  • Jamell Jan 17, 2012 @ 10:53 pm | delete
    I would like to find other AMG members in the DC, Maryland, and VA to form a commercial real estate acquisition group using Austin's program. I think multiple people working together using his resources could be very powerful as 2 or more heads are always better than one. If you are interested please be an AMG member and Facebook me.
  • Mark Jan 16, 2012 @ 4:55 pm | delete
    Sorry to hear about your lens. Thanks for keeping it going.

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sixfiguremonths

Commercial Real Estate is a interest of mine so I have made this lens.

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