BP Newbie from Washington, DC

[John Graham]

Hey everyone, 

I have been coming onto BP for over a month now and the resources here are fantastic! I have 2 rental properties in Philadelphia over the last couple years. Both with strong cash flow surplus and at good capitalization rates. 

My eyes were opened to the real estate market due my regular job which is corporate finance (sell side IB) that has had a focus on equity and debt raises for a variety of commercial real estate subsectors depending on where we are on the economic cycle. Naturally my securities license restricts me a lot with what I can do within the industry (i.e. No solicitation of client/investor funds, etc).

My absolute guilty pleasure is searching around on Zillow, Auction.com, etc. Looking to acquire a few more rentals over the next couple years. I can't tell you how much I want to pull the trigger on one of the larger commercial properties auctions I have seen on Auction.com. I have read the site about their feelings regarding the site but I have viewed about 30 auctions over the last 3 months just to learn and watch (as a lot of posters on here have suggested to familiar myself with the process). I recognize that distressed properties are not going to get the industry average cap rates but the discount I have observed are amazing.

I am excited to learn and also give back when I can!