Rental Property Investor · Central Texas · Member since 2014 · 31 posts · 5 votes
I'm diving into a crash course in real estate investment so please forgive me as I learn the lingo.
My current situation is that I plan to acquire a residential property in my town of residence or in the neighboring town. That being said, I don't want to reinvent the wheel and blindly search when so many of you have already had the successful experience of acquiring your rental properties - so I would greatly appreciate hearing your suggestions on how to find residential (hold to rent) properties.
Next topic to tie into this is what makes a better investment rental property: single or duplex? (No, we will not live in one side of a duplex, both sides will be rented.)
I'm sitting in front of my computer, full cup of Peet's Italian Roast in hand, eagerly waiting to learn! Thanks ya'll!
Welcome to BP. Thanks for being open to learning new knowledge. To find good investments properties there are few ways, each has its relation to time vs. how good the deal would be.
1) Do your own marketing to loo for distress sellers- Best deal, takes up a lot of your time
2) Buy from Wholesaler - OK deal, ok time. But you have to be good in determining ARV and rehab cost. This is highest risk as many wholesaler will overestimate ARV and underestimate Rehab cost. Not recommended for newbies.
3) Get a agent and buy from MLS - Worst deal, lowest use of your time.
As for Single vs. Duplexes.
Single - Best if you want to get rid of it quickly/easily. Many owner occupants wants to buy it.
Duplex - More cash flow, hard to get rid of. The only other buyers is a investor who always wants a good deal as well. Not many of them. higher Days on Market.
Hello and welcome to the site. I am sure you will learn a lot while you are here and make some great connections. I would recommend checking out both The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Real Estate Investing and listening to The BiggerPockets Podcast. I checked them both out and found them to be helpful to those of us that are new. I would also recommend setting up your Keyword Alerts and begin to connect with some fellow members.
Investor · Valparaiso, FL · Member since 2014 · 374 posts · 76 votes
12y
@Alis B. I only own SFR's but many on the site will tell you multi family are the way to go. One reason is one loan can cover potentially several units, generating more rent/income. You could try to connect with some wholesalers in your area or even try realtor dot com. (not sure if I am allowed to post a link) as well as craigslist. There are also numerous strategies on how to locate owners of vacant properties, bandit signs (if they are legal in your area) yellow letter campaigns, etc. One of the craigslist methods is to call houses for rent and see if the owner would be willing to sell. You could even try calling local property management companies and ask them if they know of any owners that may want to sell.
I think there are a million different ways to find your property. Hope this helps.
Rental Property Investor · Central Texas · Member since 2014 · 31 posts · 5 votes
12y
Thank you Paul - I am reading the online book (full of great info) and researching property data in our area. One of the many things I'm doing is looking at local rentals and getting an average of the listed rental $/ sq foot for our area.
I have not used craigslist info yet. I'll also call prop management companies. i have a few acquaintances in that dept so I I'll reach out to them.
Investor · Valparaiso, FL · Member since 2014 · 374 posts · 76 votes
12y
@Alis B. one other resource people use is rentometer to determine rents in specific areas. There is another one available but I am having trouble recalling the name of that site at the moment.
Rental Property Investor · Central Texas · Member since 2014 · 31 posts · 5 votes
12y
Thank you Paul! I took your mention of looking at Craigslist and viola I found a superb home in a great rental location. Three days on the market. Priced in low 50/sqft range when other homes are mid 70-80s/sq ft. I immed called my realtor friend to help collect data and set up appt and she was told it just went under contract. It's VA owned. My realtor agreed it would make a great investment if rest panned out (no damages, etc).
All that to say THANK YOU. I'm glad to know that I'm on the right track with my research.
Rental Property Investor · Central Texas · Member since 2014 · 31 posts · 5 votes
12y
Thank you Brandon - I'm blazing through the Ultimate Beginners Guide.
Since initially posting, I am choosing to use a realtor for at least this initial first purchase, I have my lender lined up, and have the insurance company alerted. Now on to study up rental contracts, advertising to rental prospects, and how to best screening them.
Investor · Valparaiso, FL · Member since 2014 · 374 posts · 76 votes
12y
@Alis B. if you go to the resources tab then to the file place there are a couple of worksheets that may help you determine if the numbers work for you or not. Let me know if you need some help locating them.
Hanford, CA · Member since 2013 · 5k+ posts · 1k+ votes
12y
Welcome to Biggerpocket!
This is a great place to grow and learn. My husband and I are buy and hold investors. We got started young through buying personal property and gutting it. We than rented it out when we left. We started out with "sweat equity" and now focus on 80% brain equity and 20% sweat equity.Our brain equity is dealing with short sales, foreclosures and other more "gruelly" transactions. I love the UGLY properties that mustly need a good cleaning for my sweat equity.
We invest for the long term as our goals are for early retirement in our early 40's. Therefore we look for properties that will provide long term cash flow. We invest in class A properties as both work full time and they are easier to manage. While they have smaller "profit margins" are expenses have been significantly lower.
Definitly check out the blogs,podcast and forums. Another great source of information is individual blogs found in peoples signatures. My blog/website is about long distance self management, landlording, investing in class A investments, investing in a transient lifestyle, etc.
Welcome again, and I look forward to seeing you around.
Welcome to BP. Thanks for being open to learning new knowledge. To find good investments properties there are few ways, each has its relation to time vs. how good the deal would be.
1) Do your own marketing to loo for distress sellers- Best deal, takes up a lot of your time
2) Buy from Wholesaler - OK deal, ok time. But you have to be good in determining ARV and rehab cost. This is highest risk as many wholesaler will overestimate ARV and underestimate Rehab cost. Not recommended for newbies.
3) Get a agent and buy from MLS - Worst deal, lowest use of your time.
As for Single vs. Duplexes.
Single - Best if you want to get rid of it quickly/easily. Many owner occupants wants to buy it.
Duplex - More cash flow, hard to get rid of. The only other buyers is a investor who always wants a good deal as well. Not many of them. higher Days on Market.