Real Estate Newbie / Professional Hockey Player

[Michael Kapla]

I have recently gotten hooked on Real Estate and came across Bigger Pockets. For the past few months I have been watching videos, reading books, and listening to podcasts to learn and educate myself. Right now I play professional hockey, but I want to build a RE portfolio that I can transition to after hockey.

My focus is still on my playing career right now so I haven’t figured out my long-term RE goals, but my first plan is to house hack a duplex/triplex this summer to get me started. I live in Minneapolis in the off-season (May - August) so this is where I would like to buy. I will be back May 1st and leave around  late July early August.

If anyone has any advice, ideas, or would like to meet up for a coffee let me know! Thanks!

[Anna Laud]

@Michael Kapla

Hi Michael! 

It seems like you're on the right path to thinking ahead, beginning with your education about REI overall and then thinking ahead to the future beyond professional hockey - even if the exact outline of how many properties you desire to have some day in your portfolio is yet to be defined.

I would also say relationships are your best tool/resource in getting started AND the continuation of your overall REI success (i.e. even the wrong property at the wrong location, and the wrong price/time, can with the right PM and tenants become the right deal- people/relationships making the difference!)

This is going to be lengthy, but should give you a tighter outline of 'steps' (offered in the spirit of plan it out with in season/off season as you can) to help and at minimum give you ideas of what to keep educating yourself on/ who to start talking to (get pull the trigger ready for off season in other words) (both fix & flip as well as buy & hold)

1. Determine your financing (may not apply as much to you personally as a professional athlete, but still should be addressed) That should probably be your first step in knowing how much you can, do or will have to work with. This could be the ideal time to begin thinking beyond one deal and evaluate the (possible) leg up in a quicker start (than most) to creating income ascension and generational wealth - ergo 'one property this year, five next year' projections. 

2. Decide if setting up an LLC is right for you- many people acquire properties with an LLC, in using the corporate veil of protection they offer (tax and liability purposes) This can be done online easily, a lot of folks choose Delaware as the State of origin. Probably even a BETTER idea for you as a public figure to look into an LLC before acquisition tbh.

3. Once you've established funding and any legal set up, the next step would be choosing location. This is going to depend on the goals you're trying to reach (i.e. it may not be as financially lucrative to invest in certain parts of Minneapolis as others)- so, where suits your needs best ( purchase price point mixed with ARV and in larger cities like Indy for example, it's little burb by little burb/ street by street specific)

4. After you've determined exact location(s), it's making connections that will come into play later on - talking with agents, contractors, etc- just asking them questions and seeing you feel like you're getting the best read on who to work with, and ideally have long term relationships with for future projects as well.

This may also include title companies & conversations there as even these relationships will prove useful in the future- knowing who works best with investors/investor experience/fees

5. Determine how you're going to acquire properties- by means of wholesaler or agents, or both. That's pretty individually specific and where your relationships come into play (i.e. you may have some great conversations with a contractor who happens to also wholesale and find deals that way, or you may talk with an agent that has off market deals or simply uses the MLS. You may feel better being a newbie using an agent. Your conversations may want to include home inspectors and just getting an idea of what their 4 and 5 point inspections look like.

6. When looking at deals, and keeping their ARV in mind before making an offer, are they hitting your all in mark- (all in, totally invested at ideally 60%, but usually never more than 70% {exceptions on super high end ARV's class A areas can apply to more})

7. Either using yourself if experienced at all in rehab work, your agent's opinion, your contractors estimates on rehab or a combination method get a rough idea of rehab costs (this is most always an estimate, as time and costs go over more often than not)

8. Once you've determined a deal does in fact meet your all in mark (purchase, closing, rehab, holding, etc) it's onto offering (assuming you're bypassing sheriff's auctions/foreclosures) which is going to be either a cash to close deal (using a wholesaler, paying cash) or if financing offering through agent (after submitting location, comps, rehab estimates to someone like a hard money lender for funds)

9. Rehab takes place and this is where it's crucial to keep on top of things and make sure deadlines are being met, as well as budget (too often, first time flippers get excited about design ideas seen on the likes of HGTV, and go way over budget on levels of finish higher than necessary, killing their bottom line)

10. The re-list (a great place to use your agent from purchase if you were pleased with their services offered, plus most investors would not attempt to FSBO.

If buy and hold is more your M.O., while you’re looking into areas, comps will include average area rents- are you looking at under 1% monthly rental yield or closer to 2% and what does that look like as far as these areas go? (A, B, C, or D Class? Then pros and cons to either, basically weighing out the benefit of quality tenants vs lower monthly rental yield as ‘security in ease of renting’ and minimal property damage {can most often} comes at a price.

Hope that helps some in who to begin talking to (and steps to thin about planning now) - (CliffsNotes summary; make friends in all walks of real estate life lol )