All Forum Posts by: Aaron Hollingshead

Hi Ezra, 

I don't have a specific place to recommend but recently, I found a bank that has been amazing to partner with in my market in New Mexico.  What I discovered after hearing 'No' a number of times was that the smaller the bank the better.  Mine has only 3 branches, guns and antlers on the walls, they serve coffee when I come in and they know me by name.  They are so small that the VP who I work with is also the tech guy, the pr guy and more.  So I'd say, find all the banks in town, find which is locally owned and walk in to set up a meeting.  Also, see if your realtor can recommend somebody.  Good luck!  

I ALWAYS put in quartz or granite (people don't seem to care or know the difference).  I do this at a price point of only 105-120k for the homes I sell.  I know that it's certainly more than others are doing but my last two homes sold in 12 hours and one before it hit market, so I feel like stuff like that is money well spent.  

I got a really cheap guy from my realtor.  I'd call a realtor who does investments and ask him or her who they know AND how much they should charge.  Call the installer and say so and so recommended you.  By doing this, I found a great guy I've used time and again. 

Good luck!  

@Chris Lucero, I live out of state but I'm in Roswell the next week.  Feel free to PM me if you'd like to get together to talk about my strategy and what you're hoping to do.  It's a great market for me and I'd be happy to grab a coffee one day.  Sounds like you have some resources to get started for sure! 

I’m going to be putting an offer on a country home today with 6 acres just a mile or two out of a small city. There is a detached barn and lots of space. What are some ways of generating income in addition to renting out the residence in a house like this?

Thanks to everybody for the feedback!  @Vinay H. you're right!  It was a cash deal...I was in for 96k of my own money.  With my other projects I have put in closer to 60-80k out of pocket and netted 15-30k, which is why I'm disappointed with this spread.  That said, I didn't do any of the work myself.  I work another job, in fact I actually did the whole project from Spain without ever having seen the property (that's another story!).  So all in all, I can't complain...the issue I have is mostly that I feel like I should have known better...and I intend to be smarter moving forward!  

To be more specific, here were some of the issues that I was hard on myself for.  

1. I was wishy washy about whether I'd flip it or turn it to a rental.  

2. I decided late in the renovation to replace the roof.

3. I tried doing some plumbing work without a licensed plumber and got dinged by the city...

@Nik S. my area is the same...This house sold before it hit market, and my last one sold within 24 hours...that's in a market where the average time on market is more than 90 days!  So, I always feel confident that the work will sell the house quick, but sometimes worry about the appraisal.  This time, our appraisal just squeaked out above the offer price.  

I'm already onto my next project and I think that some of the lessons from this place will help me moving forward! 

So, I just closed on the sale of my 4th flip house in the last 2 years and I made 5000 dollars.  I was thinking it would be a quick 10-20k profit and after it was all said and done, I find myself reflecting on a few mistakes made along the way!  

First...I was so eager to get my cash working for me, I settled for a good...but not great deal.  I thought was that it would be quick and straight forward with a small margin so why not go for it.  

I now realize that I made two mistakes with this investment.  First, I undervalued the opportunity cost.  I sat by and watched a couple of better deals pass by without any cash in hand because of the money I had wrapped up in this deal.  Second, I think that I lost sight of my goals.  Only making 5,000 dollars feels like a defeat but it made me realize that I need to develop a laser focus on what I hope to accomplish.  Basically, this made me realize that I need to define my goals a bit more clearly...anybody else felt like a failure after making 5k?  I regularly hear that you WILL lose money on a deal in this business if you stick with it long enough...I hope to avoid that!  

I'm a millennial (at least I think I am) and I saw an add this morning for a mostly ugly (though admittedly somewhat modern-looking) house where the listing's first line read, Millennial's Dream House!  I got a good chuckle out of it and looked at the photos out of curiosity - definitely not my dream house.   

I started thinking about how ridiculous that phrase was.  I thought it was tantamount to starting a listing like this...Old person's dream place.  No stairs, pink & yellow tile, shag carpet, floral wall paper padded toilet seats.  If you're about to die, you're gonna want to do it here! 

Okay, so admittedly that's not the WORST I've seen, but If found it amusing.  What's the worst, craziest, weirdest line you've seen in a listing? 

So we got the houses!  The asking price was 36,600 for a 1200 ft 3/1 and an 800 ft 2/1.  We offered 45k and they ended up accepting.  I think we'll need to put in about 35k of renovations but the two should yield 900 and 600 respectively in rents so I'm stoked!  I think it should appraise at around 130 pretty easily after all of the renovations.  Thanks for the tips and reassurance.  

@Gordon Forbes, I'd say that you look at the assets you currently hold and decide the percentage you would like to have in each.  Lets say for instance that you want to have 50% real estate exposure, 25% stock, 15% bonds and 10% in precious metals for example.  You simply look at your current allocation and sell/buy what you need to in order to get those percentages to where you want them to be.  That way, you don't have to worry too much about the market but can keep the focus on allocation instead.  

What I do with my investments is try to have 40% US Index Funds, 30% International Index Funds, 30% Bonds.  For my house flips and rentals, I use 1/3rd of the profits to go back to those aforementioned stocks/bonds, 1/3rd for future real estate ventures and 1/3rd as discretionary/emergency cash...it works for me and takes the guess work out of what I do.  

I haven't found that to be true about the lending concern.  They might, however, require some time to pass with a stable renter (perhaps a few months) before counting that as income for you.  Something to be aware of but not something I think would prevent you from getting another place.