Newbie from New Mexico looking for mentor

[Petr Anisimov]

Hello everybody, 

I am from Santa Fe, New Mexico and just starting my journey to financial independence and need help wrapping my head around the real estate investing. If there is someone interested in showing me the ropes then I will try to make worth their while.

I am a scientist working in the field of quantum optics and atomic coherence and like working with numbers. I have just got married and it changed my prospective on personal finances. I cannot live from paycheck to paycheck anymore and need to build my asset column.

I tried trading stocks and was able to get some decent return over the past 9 months but I have realized that it is not sustainable with my schedule in a long run and I have to pay taxes on any gains.

I have therefore decided to join BP community and learn from you guys about real estate buying, renting and taxes. Looking forward to being a part of your wonderful community.

[Marc C.]

Hi, Petr: Are you driving to Los Alamos every day? Just curious, as we have another investor who drives from Albuquerque to LA every day! Talk about time to listen to podcasts! 

I have a hard time making the "numbers" work for properties in Santa Fe when compared to Albuquerque. On the other hand, there is insane rental demand in Santa Fe; occupancy is over 97%. 

I tried all summer in 2015 to find a rental house (foreclosures) that would "pencil" in Santa Fe. Finally gave up and went with Albuquerque and bought 3 rentals. I could never get 2 of them rented. I was looking for 1% per month in rent, with a $400/mo/house cash flow; both of which turned out to be unrealistic in ABQ for the $140,000-$170,000 4BR properties I bought. (I thought 4BR might be a niche for attracting Section 8 tenants, but the Housing Authority wouldn't authorize over $1325 for one of my properties, which I recently sold for $155,000. By the time I paid a property manager, the cash flow wasn't worth it. So I tried selling it on a lease w/option, but found people couldn't qualify...if they could, it was cheaper to buy.) For ABQ, if you want 1% a month, I NOW think the correct niche is 3BR properties priced under $110,000 that rent for $1000-$1100. They're out there, but the neighborhoods aren't great, and the cash flow is too low for the trouble, in my opinion. But one has to be affordable to the quality of tenants that are available. And people in ABQ are POOR compared to Santa Fe...most folks earn $10-12/hr. 

From there, I've turned my attention to multifamily properties, where my experience lies: Better overall returns, lots of upside, more cash flow, but more work all around. I took on two young "mentees" to handle much of the workload and because I love teaching (flight instructor for 30 years). 

There are few multifamily properties in Santa Fe, but tons in Albq. Working a deal for a 24-unit right now. We'll be looking for investors if you want to joint-venture and learn how we do things. Projected returns will average 15%/year over a 5-year hold. 

Lesson learned: I should have stuck with multifamily from the beginning. I used to own a 20-unit building and I was an apartment broker for several years, so multifamily comes naturally. But it's gotten so overpriced that buying on-market deals just don't meet my financial goals right now...so we're concentrating on finding off-market deals. 

Podcasts: BP (excellent) is just one, but search (exactly) for the following: 

• Apartment Building Investing with Michael Blank Podcast (weekly)
• Best Real Estate Investing Advice Ever with Joe Fairless (daily; Excellent)
• The Lifetime Cash Flow Through Real Estate Investing Podcast (1-2x/week)
• Old Capital Real Estate Investing Podcast (weekly; focused on apartments. Excellent.)
• Real Estate Investing For Cash Flow Hosted by Kevin Bupp (weekly; EXCELLENT)
• Rental Income Podcast With Dan Lane (weekly; off until Sept.)
• Rental Property Owner & Real Estate Investor Podcast

Sent you an email. Let's get together when you can.