Newbie in Hatton, North Dakota

[Account Closed]

Hi all,

My name is Mike and I am a soon-to-be landlord in Hatton, ND. I never seriously considered becoming a landlord until about a month ago; my neighbors had to move about 5 years ago and have been renting their house since then. After three less-than-ideal tenants in a row, they decided to sell the place. (They now live about 300 miles away) They offered it to me for a VERY good price.  

My wife and I decided to buy it for two reasons...in order of importance;  #1. To have control over who are neighbors are, and #2. as an investment opportunity.

We are in the process of getting the funding lined up right now, and I have been trying to soak in as much as a can about landlording for a few weeks now.  I look forward to learning a lot at this site.  I did a very little bit of looking around before signing up and this looks like a treasure trove of knowledge.

I have a few specific questions right now that I will try and find answers to in the forums.  If I can't for some reason, I will be sure to post.

[Paul Timmins]

@Account Closed

Welcome. Fill in the foundation below.

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 100 past ones to catch up on.

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 rehabbers (cash buyers).

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

Consider checking out HUD homes for small multi's owner occupied gets first crack.

You might consider hiring a property manager for your first go to IREM.org search for ARM certified property managers. Call 5 ask them what parts of the city they like/dislike and why. Ask them what they see expenses running per category per unit. What do they see them selling for per unit, what is the market occupancy rate. What are the market rents? Ask them if they know anything coming up for sale. Great way to pick up some good info and possibly a deal.

You can also search NARPM.org for the RMP (Residential Management Professional) and MPM (Master Property Manager) certified.

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