Representing Boston MA

[Vincent Cholewa]

Profit seekers, I want to take the time to introduce myself to this vast community. I am an investor by profession but a novice when it comes to real estate. I am looking to expand my portfolio and explore new investment opportunities. Anyone else located here in Boston?

[Joel Owens]

Hi Vincent,

I am in GA but my wife is from Chelmsford MA. We visited there last year and went to Boston to see everything. I had never been up there.

What type of real estate investing are you trying to do?? Single home rentals, commercial, multifamily??

[Shaun Reilly]

Hi Vincent, welcome to BP.

This is a great place to learn. Make sure to listen to all the BP podcasts, read the articles on the main blog and be active in these forums to learn a ton very quickly about any topic in real estate you want to know more about.

This is also a great place to meet people that can be assets to your business. Lots of great connections all over but we also have a very strong and active contingent here in MA on here so make sure to find them (Set up some keyword alerts to find out about local topics) and get connected.

[Tiffany Plovie]

@Vincent Cholewa 

   Which areas are you looking to invest in, and what kind of deals? If you have a good idea of what it is that you are looking for and the kind of service you are willing to provide, perhaps putting together an ad and placing it on the Marketplace section of the site might not be a bad idea. That being said, I know people are always looking for money! ;)

Welcome to BP!

Tiffany

[Alex T.]

@Vincent Cholewa Welcome to the forums, where in Boston are you located? There are several meetup groups here that I would really recommend, Black Diamond (Waltham/Worcester) is very informative and a lot of experienced investors tend to attend it, I've made a few connections that way. Boston Wealth Builders is another good one typically done in Dorchester/Boston, and presents topics that are useful to beginner investors (incorporation, finding the right lawyer, etc.). Both can be found on meetup.com.

[Paul Timmins]

@Vincent Cholewa 

Welcome. Some great resources here on BP. 

Check out the Start Here page http://www.biggerpockets.com/starthere

Check out BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginner's Guide - A fantastic free book that walks through many of the key topics of real estate investing.

Check out the free BiggerPockets Podcast - A weekly podcast with interviews and a ton of great advice. And you get the benefit of having over 70 past ones to catch up on.

Two Great reads, I bought both J. Scott The Book on Flipping Houses,The Book on Estimating ReHab Costshttp://www.biggerpockets.com/flippingbook

Locate and attend 3 different local REIA club meetings great place to meet people gather resources and info. Here you will meet wholesalers who provide deals and all the cash buyers (rehabbers) you will need. There are good meetings south of Boston, Rockland, Taunton, Plymouth and Cape Cod.

You might consider Niche or Specialized Housing like student housing. Rents can be 2-4 times more. Remember you don't have to own a property to control it.

Download BP’s newest book here some good due diligence in Chapter 10. Real Estate Rewind Starting over

http://www.biggerpockets.com/files/user/brandonatbp/file/real-estate-rewind-a-biggerpockets-community-book

Good luck

Paul

[Vincent Cholewa]

Thank you all for the responses. As of now, I am in the nascent stage of planning but I am leaning towards rental income using a NOI/cap rate approach to derive my values.

Joel - I think a single family rental would be the best place to start but I welcome all ideas.

Tiffany - I'm afraid I cannot answer your questions for I am not at that stage yet. I am still relatively new to Boston (NY before) and because of this, I dont feel my knowledge on the surrounding areas are as informed as I would like.

Alex - I am located in Fenway but I'd be willing to travel any where in the surrounding area.

Paul - thank you for the insight, this gives me ample information to begin.

Grazie everyone!

[Brian Ortins]

Welcome to BP!

[Aaron Montague]

@Vincent Cholewa 

Welcome to BP!

There is a meetup at the Sea a Dog brewpub in Woburn on Wednesday. It starts at 630pm. If you have cash, you'll have no trouble attracting attention :) 

SFH are rough in MA. Rents don't come up nearly high enough to justify the combination of inflated prices and REALLY high taxes. I encourage you to look, but I would wager that you'll find 3-4 unit buildings and larger complexes to be more your style in and around Boston.

Best of everything to you in Real Estate.

[Brandon Turner]

Hey @Vincent Cholewa welcome to the site! It's great to have you here. Feel free to ask any questions in the forums. Seeya around!

[Ann Bellamy]

Vincent, the best ways to meet BPers from Massachusetts is to do two things:

Set up your keywords to include Boston, MA, Massachusetts and any other areas you are interested.  You will receive emails with notifications of threads with those words in it.  That's house I found this thread. 

Second, go to the local events.  You'll find many local investors that are also on BP.  @Justin Silverio's meetup is in Woburn Thurs as Aaron mentioned, and lots of BPer's go to that.  Alex mentioned our Black Diamond group, and Black Diamond, we promote BP, and I promote Black Diamond on BP, so as a result, we get lots of BP people too, in fact more and more every month.  URL in my signature.  

You'll find many good groups in MA. You will likely have trouble finding SFR's to cash flow in Boston, however. Spend some time reading on BP and researching your local market before you take the plunge.

[Justin Silverio]

Vincent - Welcome to BP. As others have mentioned, take advantage of all the resources  that BP has to offer as well as attending some local events. You're welcome to attend the event that I'm hosting this Wed in Woburn. You can find the details to the event here - https://beta.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/1...

[Mike Hurney]

@Vincent Cholewa Welcome. I agree with @Aaron Montague my SF rentals are the worst. For Cashflow and Types of Tenants.

The Fenway in Boston, Massachusetts, talk about high density and big bucks, you better be ready to treavel;-)

PS Interesting picture but you look a little gray!

[Paul Timmins]

@Vincent Cholewa

The Fenway area is solid gold for student housing and medical housing.

Paul

[Robert Adams]

I am a Broker from Vegas but I am in MA right now for a buyer closing and to finalize my RI broker license. I am a licensed RE broker in NV, MA and soon to be RI. Please reach out if I can help with anything. Welcome to BP!

[Dave Visaya]

Hey @Vincent Cholewa welcome to BiggerPockets! It’s great to have you and please feel free to jump in the community here - there are certainly great people around here!

Learn how to use BiggerPockets to grow your business by reading this quick guide: http://www.biggerpockets.com/biz

See you around!

[Douglas Quattrochi]

Massachusetts is a tough place for rentals. Make sure you know what you're doing with security deposits. (Utilities are straightforward for single families, otherwise I'd say watch out for those, too.)

[Robert Adams]

Originally posted by @Douglas Quattrochi:

Massachusetts is a tough place for rentals. Make sure you know what you're doing with security deposits. (Utilities are straightforward for single families, otherwise I'd say watch out for those, too.)

 I agree with this. There are a lot of other markets that will get you better returns and that have more landlord friendly laws, such as Vegas (my other market). Don't be afraid to go outside of your local area if the deal/returns are better. If you do decide to go outside your local area have a good support team to help manage the property etc. i work with a lot of investors from all over the country as well as overseas. The entire process can be handle remotely should you choose to. It all depends on your comfort level. Feel free to reach out to discuss anytime. Best of luck!

[Paul Sorgi]

Welcome to Boston and to BP!  You have come to the right place and I look forward to meeting you at a local event or two.

[Dmitriy Fomichenko]

Welcome to BP community @Vincent Cholewa  It is a great place to meet new friends and learn about various aspects of real estate and more. 

If you wish to tag someone in the conversation on the forum, type @ followed by their name and then select that person below. He or she will be notified of being tagged so that the conversation will continue.

I am a real estate investor from Southern California, my personal strategy is buy and hold for single family homes. I also invest in trust deeds.

Wishing you the best! 

[Ali Boone]

I'm not in Boston but welcome to BP anyway!

[Clary C.]

Welcome!!