All Forum Posts by: Marcus Auerbach

@Account Closed talk to @Matt Maurice / REIS. He is growing and has the right approach.

Yes, a license is required to show and negotiate.

I work and invest mostly in the area between Milwaukee Co ( far North and North West) and Ozaukee-Washington-Waukesha Counties - in a nutshell the cashflow is pretty much the same as the higher property prices outside of Milwaukee are being off-set with lower taxes, so PITI is about the same. Appreciation however has been a lot better outside Milwaukee Co.

I agree with Michael Henry, if you play with small chips you can only make small profits. A lot of new investors are drawn to discount properties, because they seem low risk (because of low price) and strong cash flow. It's actually a counter initutive, the risk goes up as the price goes down. Also, your mortgage principal pay down is smaller and your appreciation potential may be less, both in $% and $$. In a nutshell: buy the highest priced proprty that still shows good cash flow - that's the sweet spot for the long term investor.

Hi @Eddie Shah proximity is definitley an issue - I have reduced my farm area to 15 minutes around either my home or my office. If you have to go outside Chicago you should stay within driving distance and you need someone local, like @Michael Henry - he also has a background as a PM and GC and knows his way around in Milwaukee.

@Michael Henry - very intereesting conversation, I enjoyed it very much! It amazes me how many angles there are to real estate and you have a lot of experience in many areas I don't. You are definitley the go to guy for finding a duplex in Milwaukee city and you have the PM and GC experience to guide and coach people on how to trun a property around. Thanks for sharing! Stay in touch!

@Chris Bruni welcome to BP! How we grow up has a huge impact on our lives. It defines what is normal for us and where we see boundaries and limits for our lives. It may take years of hard work for an adult to shift those mindsets and boundaries we inherit from our childhood, and many will never attempt to push the envelop and remain within for the rest of their lives. For a lot of young investors I work with buying their first deal is a huge leap of faith and very scary. I know it was for me! I very much enjoy working with your son as an agent and I noticed his un-impressed and confident approach to buying real estate - I just did't understand where that came from: now it makes sense. I think he will be doing very well. Again, welcome to BP!

@Ryan Kraft the question is which of these concerns have the potential to pull the rug out from underneeth Joe and Jill homebuyer? When I read through the Florida posts here I find it a little concerning that builders have ramped up so much that it's hard to sell a 5 year old home - that sounds like they are headed for oversupply. But that would be a local and not a national issue. Wage growth is the biggest concern I think. But I hear from friends in my previous industry that it has become very hard to hire and they are offering higher salaries and sign on bonuses on a middle mangement level. Let's hope this is going to become a trend, because higher wages across all income brackets will not only provide fuel for the builders, but also reset the rent to income ratios, cause some healthy inflation and errode mortgage balances (on my rental properties) and after all national debt. I am spending a lot of time rethinking and adjusting my strategy these days - what I have been doing very successfull for the last 8 years is comming to an end it's time to adjust to a new normal. 

@David Faulkner yes, that's the HQ, these are national statistics. KW economists are actually really concerned about what they call the next market shift. Excluding major subprime mortgage crisis markets are always cyclical - peaks follow troughs and so on. We are in a strong sellers market and it's hard to say if we are in stage 3 or 4 - which is the peak before the downturn. Personally I am a little bit more optimistic, because the demand is not going to disappear over night and the inventory shortage will take years to correct. As long as nothing major happens on a political or global economical level the current market state should remain for a while.  

@Account Closed have you thought about moving? Seriousley. People move for jobs all the time. I have been BRRRing since 2010 and I could not have done it remotley - without being on the jobs all the time - at least once a day. I used to buy 30 minutes away from my house, now I focus on areas no more than 15 minutes from where I live and work. The idea of running a serious rehab across state lines seems insane to me. @Shawn Ackerman - respect, I don't know how you do it! I work with several out of State investors and investing can be done, but you want to try to keep it passive. Especially if you happen to have a job as well - not to mention and a life. Also keep in mind, you are probably planning on more than one property - maybe 5, 10, 50? - to run it like a business. it does not pay to have one or two. You need scale. That also means that you multiply the issues which are already amplified by the distance. Did I mention moving yet?