All Forum Posts by: Marc C.

If you don't live there, why would you pick an overpriced market like Portland or Seattle? If you consider cities you can reach in a 2-hr flight from LA, you come up with places like Phoenix, Tucson, Albuquerque...where the cap rates are higher. 

Remember, in all of these markets, the top apartment brokers (you find them on Loopnet) are all saturated with buyers, so getting them to pay attention to you (esp. if you are from out of state) is difficult. 

I find a great many sellers' financials aren't helpful. Unless a COMMERCIAL broker is involved, I usually get very little info from the sellers or the agent. I just make my offers based on what I know/can research about expenses and rents and go from there. The Seller almost always has tax returns, but I find them not very useful. 

I agree with the previous poster: The sooner you can move up into >5 units, the better....UNLESS you want to use FHA/Fannie/Freddie financing (low down payment), or unless you want to live in one of the units. I always recommend 8-15 units, with self-management, as the best place to start. Commercial financing is easier in a lot of respects than residential...the cash flow of the building is what matters, not so much the income of the borrower.

I do direct mail to 30-100-space parks and get good results. They aren't getting many letters.

Whats the bet cash flow on the NNN property? They are usually in the 5-6% range, vs. 10℅ for MF.

The Fundrise eREIT is paying me 11% with no hassles. The Crowdfunding sites have plenty of deals paying 8℅ preferred returns. 

Petr: Stick to your mission. You are a buy and hold guy seeking cash flow. How about an 8-plex with space to build 3 more units? Price is "Santa Fe high", but I think we can get a lender to show it's not financeable at that price, but maybe there's a way. How about a 16-plex with 6 empty units? Needs total rehab, then jack the rents Santa Fe high. Working a 5-plex near DeVargas Mall, too. All off-market. Let's get some coffee.

Thanks, Rudolf!

Rural is always harder, but we need more details: Value, rent, etc.

Welcome, Zach!

Have you attended NMREIA, ACRE or any of the other Meetup groups? Type "real estate" into Meetup.com and you'll find we have several groups you might find nteresting. Hope to see you there!

Marc Coan

Hey, thanks for the modeling, Ted! You convinced me. I guess it's just awfully hard for private money to compete with 4.25% money available from the banks. If it didn't have that prepayment penalty, you could just pay as much principal with each interest payment as you wanted...a lot when you're cash rich, none when you are cash poor. That flexibility would be nice. But the 8% still is just wasted money.