All Forum Posts by: Aaron Humerickhouse

Every podcast I listen to and every successful person that I read a blog of states "know the area you're investing in".  My question would be, what all is there to know?

- Crime rates

- Property Evaluations and Grades

- Future City Plans

- Schools

- Jobs

- Growth

Thank you for the responses.

@Derek Kirkwood, you're absolutely right.  Thank you for calling that out.

@James W., I didn't even think about the difference between owner occupied and non-owner occupied mortgage rates.

@Jordan Moorhead, I appreciate the offer.  I'm still working on internalizing some of this, when I'm ready I may reach out.

I found a piece of property to practice on, now granted this is the listed value on Zillow so I understand it may not be a realistic property to practice on, but the numbers should flow pretty similarly.  I'm looking at buying and holding.  This is one that wouldn't require a lot of rehab work upon entry, I've allowed for $4000 to spruce it up a bit.  The property is a 3 bed, 2 bath in a region that rents for $1400 based on Rentometer.

Have I included everything I need to in order to properly evaluate this property?  I've allowed for 12% of the rental income for property management, 10% for repair values, 1 month of rental income for vacancy, and $182.75 for Cap Ex based on this blog post.

With a negative cash flow of $5,575 and an upfront cash payment of $50,550 I'd be looking at a -11% cash on cash.

Thanks for the welcomes.  Looking forward to getting started.

I've recently decided to start my time in Real Estate Investment.  I plan on moving in less than a year to the Greenville, SC area.  I plan on getting into residential multi-family and grow into commercial multi-family.  Currently I am listening to the Bigger Pockets podcast, reading questions on the forum, and reading books.  

I know I need to get practice in evaluating properties, but it's hard to do a property evaluation just making up what it my cost to repair and to add value.  I know I need to learn about property management, at least enough to be able to hire someone to do it (as I like my job and want to continue to do it).  I know I need to learn some of the accounting, tax, and legal aspects to it, again, at least enough to know who to hire.

I guess my question is, I've got several months before it makes sense to start taking action.  In the meantime, what should I be doing to prep my self for this journey?

I'm in the same boat. I bought my house almost 5 years ago, then it would have followed the 1% rule (in a big city market), however now it would be .68%. My house was built in 1956, so it's an older property that will require more work soon. As I am the current owner, I know that my HVAC and hot water heater are aging and will need to be replaced soon, so my CapEx is too high in the short term. For me, it's an easy decision to sell my house and use the proceeds to invest in better cash flowing properties.

I'm interested in House Hacking and Buy and Hold.  Ideally I can find a 4 unit apartment (buy or build based on the numbers) to start.  I've helped my dad on some flips, but I'm definitely not ready to walk away from my job and don't want to take 5 months of mortgage payments to flip a house.

Hello all,

I'm Aaron Humerickhouse, I'm a Software Engineer by trade currently in Minnesota.  My wife and I are planning to move to Upstate South Carolina in about year and I thought that this would be a good time to start working with Real Estate Investments.  I currently own a home that I got a lot of equity based on the market behaviors and some renovations that I would use to start my venture.  I'm a whole 5 days into the learning process and know I've got a lot to learn before this happens.  That's why I'm here, I'm looking to learn.