New & Looking to Get in Phoenix, Arizona

[Caleb Augustyn]

Hey guys! Just wanted to introduce myself. I’m a college student in the Phoenix, Arizona area, and I’m fairly new to the BiggerPockets community. I started listening to the BiggerPockets podcast about 8 months ago and I’ve become obsessed with it. I have recently been reading books on real estate and thinking this is something I want to do for the rest of my life. If anyone has any tips, tricks, or advice and is willing to reach out, I would love to hear what you have to say. I’m ready to learn and more than willing to help out where I can!

[George Mevawala]

@Caleb Augustyn glad to hear about the spark you have to learn about real estate Caleb, you are getting started at the perfect age! My name is George and I am an Investor/ Realtor in the Phoenix/ Scottsdale market that has over a dozen investment properties now and also manages a fleet of over 25+ STR properties. More than happy to connect and answer any questions you may have! I graduated from Arizona State University back in 2010, and it has been quite a wild ride this decade getting my feet wet in real estate.

I started in commercial real estate but ventured into residential a few years ago when I started buying some value add opportunities that brought in stable cash flow and realized my heart was in helping people find the perfect residential property for them. If I was to give some advice, it would be to educate yourself as much as possible on here with all the different investment strategies, the different financing options, and also do not be afraid to reach out to people or post back on posts you find interesting. There are no dumb questions ever, and the entire BP community respects every eager person that is interested to further their knowledge in real estate investing.

I tend to invest in "value add" properties, which are properties that you walk into that may at first glance look like they filmed a horror movie in, but have A+ locations that I can budget a remodel ( new floors, cabinets, granite countertops, paint, showers, etc..). Then be sitting on instant equity once the remodel is complete and the house is appraised. The difference gained is known as  "equity" and I tend to feel good of sitting on a bare mimimum of 30k once the project is complete. This is my strategy and is fairly simple, but has helped me obtain several homeruns over the year, and also works in both down and up markets.

The ability to pull this off means you are going to have to identify the right properties that are currently under market value and come in aggresive with the purchase price. In Phoenix, the market has gone up quite a bit in the last several years, but we are still a very healthy housing market with low property taxes and over 250 people a day moving here. Lots of growth and job opportunities in the valley. More than happy to answer any questions you have!

Best,

George Mevawala