INTERVIEW WITH BEN LEYBOVICH NOLAND ARARACAP
Also, I have a commercial lender who is obviously
but this is where a lot of people would have quit. I did
more creative than most. This relationship also
not quit, but this experience taught me that flipping is
took years to develop.
the most dangerous and work-intensive activity under
the umbrella of real estate investing and that it should
And finally, the deal was simply very good. The
be left to the pros…
lenders, having looked at the building, decided that
what it is and where it is located makes it safe
collateral, otherwise they simply wouldn’t have
What are some of the biggest mistakes you’ve
made or seen others make?
lent; and having looked at the numbers, they
obviously decided that there was plenty of cash
flow to float the debt service. Hint – not just any
Besides the one I just described?
building out of your local MLS will fit this bill.
Yes, were there others?
What was your toughest deal?
I made some decisions early on that I would not make
This one is easy.
At the outset of my career,
before I knew anything, I got myself into a flip
which ended up costing more than a year in a
again, like buying a little house that perhaps I wouldn’t
choose to buy again. But I am not sorry, because I
learned.
private university – can you say “school of hard
knocks?”
This house needed everything. The
scope was entirely too extensive for a beginner
which I was at that point. I bought the house for
$45,000, sold it for $110,000, and in the process
lost $20,000.
As to the biggest mistake I see others make is focusing
on the money too much and on the knowledge too
little. The question “how can I buy real estate if I have
no money?” has become a proverb.
And yet, my
experience has been that success is a function of
knowledge, and knowledge takes time and effort.
I financed myself out of trouble and subsequently
was able to wrap this debt into another property,
However, with the right kind of knowledge, access to
money is not an insurmountable problem. So – study,
study, study!