Getting started. Here are my Goals, feedback welcome.

[Joel Bowen]

Ok so I am sitting after just finishing up a podcast with J. Scott where he talks about setting goals and getting them on paper. He says that it doesn’t have to be formal but just jotted down for my own reasons. He says that after you write down your goals there will be parts missing that will help you fill in the gaps of the knowledge you need to learn. I will try to write down my notes and if I am forgetting something that is pivotal please let me know.

Housing Strategy

Main goal – Buy and hold Multi Family 4 plex with in 1 year from May 15th

Purchase a second 4 plex with in the 3rd year

Purchase a 3rd 4 plex in the 3rd year.

If I am able to get $100 cash flow from each door I can have passive income of $1200.

I plan to purchase the 1st house with an FHA loan where I will owner occupy it for the 1st year. If there are additional rooms in the unit I am staying I will rent those for additional revenue.

The second/third house will be yet to be determined on how I can finance them. Possibly a 1031 if I do a good job on the 1st multifamily unit.

Each unit I will use the 50% rule along with crunching numbers on the Bigger Pockets calculator to ensure that I will have at least a true cash flow of $100/door, to make sure that my numbers work. No purchases will be made emotionally. I plan to post the calculations before my first purchase to get investors approval (at least until I get the hang of it after my first purchase).

I will also have at least 6 months expenses saved up for each unit as a backup before purchase.

Where to find Properties

My mom has a Real Estate License so I will be looking to her to help me view the MLS. Craigslist will be a possibility but as I understand not the best place to look. I will start in these places and expand if I am finding it hard to find the perfect property for my first owner occupied.

Renting the units

Tenants will be thoroughly screened through a number of methods I found on bigger pockets to minimalize bad tenants.

Marketing for tenants will include places like craigslist, A big sign that says “For Rent”, and postlets? Zillow and hotpads

Applications with consist of a fee. Tenants will be prescreened over the phone. Then I will give tenants the address so they can check out the property. If they like it I can set up an appointment to show them the inside. A deposit equal to one month’s rent along with rent and the lease agreement signed will be due before tenant is handed keys.

Exit strategy

As of now my goal is to buy and hold rental property for retirement. I don’t currently have an exit plan. I do understand how important it is to have an exit plan because I have another business I opened that I neglected having an exit plan (mostly out of ignorance) but it has cost me a lot of time and headache because a plan was not in place.

I guess for an exit strategy I am a little baffled how it should look. If you are interested in having rental properties to hold long term for retirement what would be some factors that would possibly sway my original plan and how would other exit strategies work for this type of investing.

Final Thoughts

If you have any suggestions on how to go about structuring a better system please let me know. I know that I am missing a ton of stuff, I hope someone can help point out the missing areas so that I can go and research them and learn as much as I can about those areas. 

Thanks in advance everyone.

[Skyler Smith]

this is a great start! I like your plan and your goals seem well defined. 

One small detail on the tenant move in, I would make sure that they get all the utilities in their name before they get a key. It can get frustrating and messy, and you lose a lot of your leverage after they've moved in. 

Craigslist is good for finding out of the box deals. Many wholesalers use it, also agents and FSBO's who don't want to pay a selling (buyer's) agent. Another useful tool on Craigslist is to search for keywords like "owc" or "owner will carry" which is a creative financing option for your second and third properties that are going to be harder to finance with a bank.

One way to look at your exit plan while you're this early in to it is to focus on what your end game is. If you are investing for cash flow in retirement, you should focus less on cash flow today, and more on building equity that will grow. As your investing career progresses, plan to reposition your portfolio from highly appreciating assets (especially assets where you control forced appreciation) to strong cash flowing assets. Repositioning your portfolio every 10 years or so will maximize the return on your equity and will give you exponentially more cash flow in retirement. A property kicking off killer cash flow now may not be your best investment 40 years from now. I'm excited about your plan, I hope it works out well for you! Good luck!