New Member 7/31/21 - Rental homes, and/or commercial

[Mel Park]

Greetings and Salutations everyone.....

My name is Mel Parekh, I currently live in suburban Philly, though most of my business life was in Northern Virginia, along with a few rental units I own. For 20_+ years I had a rather nice run vis a vis owning businesses and being profitable. However, in the last 2 years or so -- things got rough. Partially my fault, partially market forces and changes. So I'm 46, and technically I retired 5 months ago. Retirement calculators say I'm ok....but that is of course, assuming my nest-egg is handled properly. In them back of my mind, I am toying with buying yet another business, and I really want to have my "mini empire"" back -- but it's cash intensive, and would take 70% of my net-worth risked, and ROI wouldn't be that great- not to mention I'm back to 60-70 hour weeks, plus having lots of employees (I came to dread that towards the end). While things change - and one can't plan multi-decades, my plan is still formulating but part of the plan is around 30% of nest-egg invested in real estate, fairly passive real estate. I own 2 rental units in VA for 8 years, and white not spectacular - the return are respectable, and my *sole* activity is telling my property manager to "fix it, keep the people happy".

The next investment - can be a commercial net-leased property.  I see these Taco Bells, Wendys, etc.... and it seems right up my alley in that - I feel it's a safe bet and steady money.  BUT -- I'm apprehensive because it's putting so many eggs in *one* basket.  So enter residential homes. While there's not a set quota, and *if* I don't go the net-leased route, I'm thinking of buying 3-5 units depending on prices. Immediate goals are to decide WHICH market to zero in on and buy all the units there.  And as I visit the area, stay there, drive around for a few weeks to get a flavor, I'd like to meet and develop a relationship with an agent well-versed in these type of deals, AND a property manager that is happy to handle a small-fry with just 3-5 units. Areas I'm considering:  Metro Raleigh, Metro, Atlanta.   But also, some interest in areas that aren't totally on fire, but growing strong -  think Indianapolis, or Dublin Ohio. So I'd seek out those discussions here, along with conversations on net-leased properties or even small commercial stuff like dentists and doctor offices.  Thanks for reading, and questions, comments, insults, all are welcome :)