Wyoming Buy and Hold

[Luke Burgess]

Hey guys

First time posting here and new to this site. 

Here is what I am working on and I would love your thoughts. 

I have been talking with an investor who owns 20+ houses and he is getting tired of being a landlord. I have started talking about buying some or all of his properties.  He would finance the deal possibly with no money down.  All houses are rented and many have long term renters. The rental market here is strong.  If you could do a deal on 20+ houses with no money down, would you?  This seems like a good deal to me but what am I missing.  

[Bill S.]

@Luke Burgess 1st Welcome. I have roots in Laramie so I am familiar with the area.

Anyway, generally no money down, owner financing opportunities mean that you are a big fat slow guppy swimming with a shark. Now I'm not sure how many real sharks there are in Laramie but all it takes is one to take you for a ride. 

Things to look for are 

1) Over priced properties.

2) Deferred maintenance (really just a variation of item 1 above)

3) Inflated interest rates (another variation of item 1 above).

What experience do you have renting property? How would you maintain those properties. 20 units is a significant part time job if they have been maintained. If they haven't been kept up you might need a whole crew. 

What kind of reserves do you have? 

Finally, why is this guy wanting to sell? Why is this guy willing to sell to someone with not much experience? Why does this guy not just sell them via a local agent? Maybe you don't need to ask him these questions but I would definitely want to know the answer.