Need some help please

[Eitan Dadda]

Im new to real estate investing and I would love to start doing the BRRRR method. I read articles and saw some guides online how the method work but no one is showing how to search for the property.

So my questions are:

1. How can I find a market to invest in?

2. How to search for a property? should I buy a house that's need a full rehab? or a partial rehab?

3. How can I check if the neighborhood  is any good?

4. If I live out of the state how can I find a good real estate agent? a reliable contractor?

If I forgot something I would love someone to add and answer please. 

thanks in advance. 

[Alex Gunnerson]

Hi @Eitan Dadda , welcome to the REI world!

1. How can I find a market to invest in?

This is going to depend largely on WHY you are investing. Coastal Cities tend to be better for appreciation but often require more $$$ money to get started. Other areas are better for cash-flow (Midwest - Cleveland, Cincinnati, Indy, Kansas City, Columbus etc) and require less $$$ to get started. Of course we all want both appreciation AND cashflow, and some cities will provide a little of both, but I'd pick which metric is most important to you and use that to help you make your decision.

Ok you've narrowed it down to cashflow or appreciation, now which city? Do your research, but there is no right answer, eventually you will have to pick a market and go with it.

2. How to search for a property? should I buy a house that's need a full rehab? or a partial rehab?

After you find your market, find a good investor friendly agent that can help you find your property. BiggerPockets is a great place to find agents who can help.

3. How can I check if the neighborhood is any good?

Lean on your agent here. They will be experts in whatever city you decide on and should be able to help you out. You can also just do some googling and read forum posts about your market, chances are somebody has created some type of guide that can at least give you a starting point for which areas to avoid.

4. If I live out of the state how can I find a good real estate agent? a reliable contractor?

BiggerPockets! Don't just reach out to one agent. Interview at least 3 and come ready with good questions. Picking the right agent will not only help you find your first property, but potentially your first 5, 10, 20 etc... If you are investing locally I would highly recommend attending meetups, there will be plenty of agents there that you can connect with.

You are asking great questions. Continue asking questions and learning. Just know that there will come a point where you will have to jump in before you feel completely ready, before every question is answered and that is ok. You will never have all the answers and you will learn 10x more by buying your first property. I hope this was helpful, and best of luck on your investing journey!

[Alex Gunnerson]

Hi @Eitan Dadda , welcome to the REI world!

1. How can I find a market to invest in?

This is going to depend largely on WHY you are investing. Coastal Cities tend to be better for appreciation but often require more $$$ money to get started. Other areas are better for cash-flow (Midwest - Cleveland, Cincinnati, Indy, Kansas City, Columbus etc) and require less $$$ to get started. Of course we all want both appreciation AND cashflow, and some cities will provide a little of both, but I'd pick which metric is most important to you and use that to help you make your decision.

Ok you've narrowed it down to cashflow or appreciation, now which city? Do your research, but there is no right answer, eventually you will have to pick a market and go with it.

2. How to search for a property? should I buy a house that's need a full rehab? or a partial rehab?

After you find your market, find a good investor friendly agent that can help you find your property. BiggerPockets is a great place to find agents who can help.

3. How can I check if the neighborhood is any good?

Lean on your agent here. They will be experts in whatever city you decide on and should be able to help you out. You can also just do some googling and read forum posts about your market, chances are somebody has created some type of guide that can at least give you a starting point for which areas to avoid.

4. If I live out of the state how can I find a good real estate agent? a reliable contractor?

BiggerPockets! Don't just reach out to one agent. Interview at least 3 and come ready with good questions. Picking the right agent will not only help you find your first property, but potentially your first 5, 10, 20 etc... If you are investing locally I would highly recommend attending meetups, there will be plenty of agents there that you can connect with.

You are asking great questions. Continue asking questions and learning. Just know that there will come a point where you will have to jump in before you feel completely ready, before every question is answered and that is ok. You will never have all the answers and you will learn 10x more by buying your first property. I hope this was helpful, and best of luck on your investing journey!

[Sam McCormack]

@Alex Gunnerson

Truth!

[Harrison Chow]

Quote from @Eitan Dadda:

Im new to real estate investing and I would love to start doing the BRRRR method. I read articles and saw some guides online how the method work but no one is showing how to search for the property.

So my questions are:

1. How can I find a market to invest in?

2. How to search for a property? should I buy a house that's need a full rehab? or a partial rehab?

3. How can I check if the neighborhood  is any good?

4. If I live out of the state how can I find a good real estate agent? a reliable contractor?

If I forgot something I would love someone to add and answer please. 

thanks in advance. 

Hey Eltan! Welcome to BP!

In identifying a market for investment, I think the first point to consider is your budget. Would your budget allow you to invest locally or would you need to look out of state? Next would be to determine what you're looking for in an investment: appreciation, cash flow or a mix of both.

In searching for properties, connect with investor friendly RE agents in the area to gain insight into the local market and find potential deals. They would also be able to help in identifying profitable neighborhoods to invest in.

If considering out of state investing, BiggerPockets is an awesome place to search for contacts. Referrals, online directories and social media could help too.

Hope this helps! And let me know if you'd be interested in the Midwest, specifically Ohio. I focus my investments in the Columbus area and have a network of property managers, general contractors, lenders etc. that I highly recommend. All the best on your investing journey!

[Jimmy Lieu]

Quote from @Alex Gunnerson:

Hi @Eitan Dadda , welcome to the REI world!

1. How can I find a market to invest in?

This is going to depend largely on WHY you are investing. Coastal Cities tend to be better for appreciation but often require more $$$ money to get started. Other areas are better for cash-flow (Midwest - Cleveland, Cincinnati, Indy, Kansas City, Columbus etc) and require less $$$ to get started. Of course we all want both appreciation AND cashflow, and some cities will provide a little of both, but I'd pick which metric is most important to you and use that to help you make your decision.

Ok you've narrowed it down to cashflow or appreciation, now which city? Do your research, but there is no right answer, eventually you will have to pick a market and go with it.

2. How to search for a property? should I buy a house that's need a full rehab? or a partial rehab?

After you find your market, find a good investor friendly agent that can help you find your property. BiggerPockets is a great place to find agents who can help.

3. How can I check if the neighborhood is any good?

Lean on your agent here. They will be experts in whatever city you decide on and should be able to help you out. You can also just do some googling and read forum posts about your market, chances are somebody has created some type of guide that can at least give you a starting point for which areas to avoid.

4. If I live out of the state how can I find a good real estate agent? a reliable contractor?

BiggerPockets! Don't just reach out to one agent. Interview at least 3 and come ready with good questions. Picking the right agent will not only help you find your first property, but potentially your first 5, 10, 20 etc... If you are investing locally I would highly recommend attending meetups, there will be plenty of agents there that you can connect with.

You are asking great questions. Continue asking questions and learning. Just know that there will come a point where you will have to jump in before you feel completely ready, before every question is answered and that is ok. You will never have all the answers and you will learn 10x more by buying your first property. I hope this was helpful, and best of luck on your investing journey!

Great answer, definitely recommend the Columbus Ohio market for sure! The appreciation and cash flow is awesome here! The rent to price ratio hasn't gone completely crazy and it's a great place to live (coming from a 24 year old as well!). Tons of 1% deals that will bring you positive cash flow. On top of that, Intel, Honda, Nationwide, Amazon are all bringing even more jobs here to Columbus so there's tons of catalysts for job and population growth for the next upcoming years. I'm a local investor and agent here so always more than happy to answer any questions you have about Columbus!

[Jennifer Dixon]

Hi Eitan! 

Welcome to the life changing world of Real Estate Investment! Congrats on taking the first step on your journey!

Ok- so I may be a bit "weird" in some of my responses, but I'm comfortable with my weirdness, so bear with me. :)

1. How can I find a market to invest in? Personally, I like to stay closer to home for single family investments --opting to be passive in multifamily investments out of town only. - as an agent, I represent a LOT of out of town investors. This is a huge honor but also a huge responsibility on my part to make sure they are in good rental areas, neighborhoods, etc. Personally, I only invest in SF properties where I can physically get them. When i first started, I was doing the house hacking method, then my husband and I would do flips/brrrs in places were we could regularly drive by. to date, I have only invested passively in deals that I can't physically observe/participate in - but I'm a bit of a control freak in this regard.

If you decide to invest in an area where you don't live- obviously pay attention to what these other folks said about location, sunbelt, etc. I think it's super important to look at housing and rent trends in the area, areas with more favorable landlord laws, etc. Finally, and probably it goes without saying, interview your agent. You're putting a BUNCH of trust in this person to help you find the right deal, so talk to people and make sure you jive. More than likely, you'll be working together for years, so you want to do your homework on the front end, so you don't have to redo it later. I'd also make sure that agent had a good network of folks to help you do the work. 

Shameless plug here - BUT - if you're looking to do something in Chattanooga, TN, hit me up, I can help point you in the right direction. :) 

2. How to search for a property? should I buy a house that's need a full rehab? or a partial rehab? Zillow and realtor.com are good options, I'd also get on some drip campaigns of the realtors you interviewed and text/call them regularly. They should do the same for you. As a newbie, I'd focus on quicker turn arounds vs full rehabs -it does depend on your budget and risk tolerance bec quicker turns will usually mean more coop. (cash out of pocket) When you have done a few, definitely don't forget wholesale deals. Those are typically really good for brrr method -esp as you get comfortable with hardmoney to conventional refinance. (if you have questions you can dm me!)

3. How can I check if the neighborhood is any good? - a very non-scientific way to check - and a friend of my suggested this to me, which i love is - Check and see how close the property is to a Target, or Publix - some sort of higher end type of chain. Typically those are in nicer areas.

4. If I live out of the state how can I find a good real estate agent? Ask around. Interview a lot, and go with your gut. You're ab to invest a lot of time, energy and money, not just into the property but the relationship, so make sure it's a good match. I'm sure you didn't marry the first person you met (if you did, that's amazing and congrats!) so take your time and get comfortable. a reliable contractor? --for my clients, I have a network of GCs and workers (I mostly represent out-of-town investors, so it's built into my business model). Shameless plug again! When you're interviewing agents, as if they like working with investors (1) and if they have any contacts in that area. These agents usually have very good working relationships with contractors so often times the agent and contractor go to the property together or at least communicate the whole time (at least it does in my business! 

[Steven Foster Wilson]

Quote from @Eitan Dadda:

Im new to real estate investing and I would love to start doing the BRRRR method. I read articles and saw some guides online how the method work but no one is showing how to search for the property.

So my questions are:

1. How can I find a market to invest in?

2. How to search for a property? should I buy a house that's need a full rehab? or a partial rehab?

3. How can I check if the neighborhood  is any good?

4. If I live out of the state how can I find a good real estate agent? a reliable contractor?

If I forgot something I would love someone to add and answer please. 

thanks in advance. 

 Hi Eitan, first of all, welcome to BiggerPockets!

Here's my feedback to your questions:

1. How can I find a market to invest in?
- This would generally depend on what you're after. Normally, I'd choose to invest in good the areas closer to where you live as you would find it more easier in managing your properties. If the affordability however is an issue, I'd choose to invest out of state but you've got to have a system in place and a reliable team to help you with your goals. You can find more information here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

2. How to search for a property? should I buy a house that's need a full rehab? or a partial rehab? - Start with something that will get you to learn on how to do things but not too much on those that eat up most of your time until you get used to how things work. This will depend on your network of realtors, contractors and PMs that will help you on your journey. Once you have a team in place, it'll be easy to figure out which type of strategy you'd go for

3. How can I check if the neighborhood is any good? - Find a market, an agent that knows the area well and do research on what will come up in those neighborhood in the next few years.

4. If I live out of the state how can I find a good real estate agent? a reliable contractor? - BiggerPockets is one of the many things you can use as a source to find real estate agents everywhere. Get to know how they work, what they can offer and see if their knowledge would best fit the role to achieve your goals. You'd rarely find a real estate agent without any connections to good contractors and PMs.

If out of state investing is one of the things you're considering, I'd look into Columbus for appreciation and Cleveland strictly for Cashflow. All the best!

[Simon Ashbaugh]

Quote from @Eitan Dadda:

Im new to real estate investing and I would love to start doing the BRRRR method. I read articles and saw some guides online how the method work but no one is showing how to search for the property.

So my questions are:

1. How can I find a market to invest in?

2. How to search for a property? should I buy a house that's need a full rehab? or a partial rehab?

3. How can I check if the neighborhood  is any good?

4. If I live out of the state how can I find a good real estate agent? a reliable contractor?

If I forgot something I would love someone to add and answer please. 

thanks in advance. 

 To identify a market look at what you can afford, what your long term goals are, and whether cashflow, appreciation, or a mix fits that goal best. Once you've identified a market, build your core 4 https://www.biggerpockets.com/... A good investor friendly agent should have connections to the other 3 people on the list. 

Id recommend looking at midwest markets right now. 

Columbus OH is the fastest growing metropolitan area in the midwest with decent cashflow, and appreciation 8% higher than the national average. Cleveland is incredible for cash flow, with around 60% of households occupied by renters. Happy to chat more in-depth on these markets if you shoot me a DM!

[Patrick Drury]

@Eitan Dadda  
1. How can I find a market to invest in? Look at markets with population growth and job opportunities. Columbus OH is a good place to start looking. 

2. How to search for a property? should I buy a house that needs a full rehab? or a partial rehab? Stick to turnkey or light cosmetic value add. 

3. How can I check if the neighborhood is any good? Work with an investor-friendly agent in the market that can provide feedback on places to invest in that market for what you're looking for. 

4. If I live out of the state how can I find a good real estate agent? a reliable contractor? You can find good agents in every market here on BP if you are looking to invest out of state. Your agent should be able to provide some recommendations on contractors. 

[Nicholas L.]

@Eitan Dadda

i'm going to be direct.

do you have sufficient funds to BRRRR?

it's an expensive method, and the costs often get understated on BP.