All Forum Posts by: Alec Davis

I appreciate the responses & I have enjoyed connecting with those who commented on this! 

I am planning to go in person to Topeka soon and will be meeting up with people in direct correlation with my plans for rental purchasing. 

I will need some contacts for property management, contractors & handymen.  The rentals I will be looking to purchase will more than likely have some work needed and I will obviously need on going maintenance as time goes on.  I am searching and calling some now, but if there are any recommendations it would be much appreciated! If you are a PM or contractor in the area I'm happy to speak with you as well!

If you are a new/experienced investor and are also interested in Topeka, feel free to send me a message and I would be happy to keep you updated on my progress in this new area!

Hello.  I am a California based investor looking into out of state markets to purchase rentals.

I've never invested out of state before, but I want to start growing my net worth and really getting into rental investing.  All My investments thus far have been fix & flips in California.  I came across some areas in Kansas I liked including Topeka and I was looking for some more insight from some property managers or investors in the area about the rental market if possible. 

The housing market is priced relatively low, room for investments around town.  I've seen some real beat up homes and some really nice looking ones, all are priced well from what I can see.  Rents for 3 or 4 beds can be around $800 and $1000 per month depending on the property of course which makes rent to mortgage ratio pretty solid.  Topeka seems to have a good population density...

Are there any rental investors or maybe some agents in Topeka who would be willing to give some advice on the rental market out there?  Any positives or negatives would be welcomed.  Also if there are any insights on having a good property management out there who understands how to work with an out of state owner.  As I mentioned before, I have never invested out of state before so I am just trying to gather some good info before taking any action.  Some of these deals would  need rehabbing prior to putting a renter in there, I'd be interested in chatting with someone about some good companies / contractors...

Thanks in advance!

-Alec

Investment Info:

Single-family residence fix & flip investment in La Habra.

Purchase price: $240,000
Sale price: $295,000

A 1 bedroom 1 bathroom condo in La Habra.
For the most part it was a total gut job. Kitchen, bathroom (excluding bathtub), carpet & popcorn ceiling all had to go. For this investment, I decided to do most of the work ourselves (My Dad and I) for the experience. Shower tile, floor tile, splash, cabinets, paint we did ourselves while the laminate flooring, ceiling re texture, counter install were hired out. Did cheap minimal staging from IKEA, listed it myself, title in binder, etc.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

I honestly wanted to invest so badly for quite some time. I had the knowledge, money to invest, mindset and people to get advice from but just wasn't pulling the trigger. I had a friend and former client one day tell me "Alec, hurry up and buy something". ( I should say, this person is a real estate investor as well ). I mentioned how expensive homes are, he mentioned investing in condos. It just clicked.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

MLS. Searched for condos in what I was able to afford and stumbled across this beauty.
I negotiated the deal by accepting no commission for granting a lower price (totally worth it, commission would've been less than the discount I got. )

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional financing, surprisingly.

How did you add value to the deal?

Total rehab! Hard surface flooring, modern colors & feel, good materials.

What was the outcome?

Positive. The investment was profitable.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Tons. Understanding how to properly outsource, how to deal with buyers (this was my first purchase, flip & listing).

Investment Info:

Single-family residence fix & flip investment in La Habra.

Purchase price: $240,000
Sale price: $295,000

My first flip! A 1 bedroom 1 bathroom condo in La Habra. Never bought real estate previously, but have a huge passion for getting started. I got my Realtors license, studied up for years & spoke with investors I met. (I own a pool repair business so I talk to a lot of people. )
For the most part it was a total gut job. Kitchen, bathroom (excluding bathtub), carpet & popcorn ceiling all had to go. For this investment, I decided to do most of the work ourselves (My Dad and I) for the experience. Shower tile, floor tile, splash, cabinets, paint we did ourselves while the laminate flooring, ceiling re texture, counter install were hired out. Saved tons of money on a few other things like not paying a listing agent fee, title in binder, etc. We still sold for a profit, but what we learned in return was worth so much more.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

I honestly wanted to invest so badly for quite some time. I had the knowledge, money to invest, mindset and people to get advice from but just wasn't pulling the trigger. I had a friend and former client one day tell me "Alec, hurry up and buy something". ( I should say, this person is a real estate investor as well ). I mentioned how expensive homes are, he mentioned investing in condos. It just clicked.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

MLS. Searched for condos in what I was able to afford and stumbled across this beauty.
I negotiated the deal by accepting no commission for granting a lower price (totally worth it, commission would've been less than the discount I got. )

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional financing, surprisingly.

How did you add value to the deal?

Total rehab! Hard surface flooring, modern colors & feel, good materials.

What was the outcome?

Positive. The investment was profitable.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Tons. Understanding how to properly outsource, how to deal with buyers (this was my first purchase, flip & listing).

 Weiler,

When you say you moved in.  Does that mean you lived here for a while before selling?  Did you do the work yourself?  Also, how long did it take?

Thanks!!

 I am looking through blogs right now and I see what you mean!  Many of my questions will be answered in these blogs.  Thank you!

 Rita,

I'm glad to hear from local people just beginning in this field as we are!  Let's make sure to stay in contact here on bigger pockets, I'd love to see any advancement on your guys part, as well as share any info we can for you in return.  As of right now, we are total beginners!

 We will look into that!  Thank you for the info!

Martin,

I appreciate your reply.

Right now we are awaiting our literature to arrive in the mail. I'm sure after we have had time to spool through those as well as looking through here we will have more questions. But our first question would be what do you think would be a good first step for us to get acquainted with this industry, and take us one step closer to a wholesale deal? We have had some people tell us to get our real estate licenses, and possibly work for a real estate company to gain experience. Others said not to bother with a license and volunteer with an investor. Others said to read online and well figure it out on our own.

As of right now, I am reading the free online book offered from bigger pockets. This book may answer this question, but any opinions from experienced people can always be a great help in finding our way.

Would it be best for our first client to be more of a 'pre-hab' wholesale, since we wouldn't have to estimate quite so many repairs? Or can our first wholesale experience be a home that doesn't need repairs, but is just a good deal? Or is your opinion to not start in wholesale at all?

We've just had quite a few opinions on where to start, and not sure what would be best for us. Right now we have done a lot of research, but I think we could just use a point in the right direction for us to move forward. What is your opinion?  

Anyone else willing to chime in is appreciated as well!

Hello!

I am a 23 Year old business owner who is exited and yearning to lean how to be a Real Estate Investor.  My Fiance and I live in Whittier and are tired of working all the time for what we are achieving.   I have clients in my field (Swimming Pool Repair/Maintenance) who are investors in different aspects of Real Estate. They are smart, wealthy people who have lots of time on their hands to spend with their family.  We want to have this kind of time with each other! I've talked with them enough to realize that I need to look more into this. 

My Fiance and I have been online looking through forums and blogs, we've been to a seminar (Good info, but giant sales pitch!) Were in the process of obtaining a couple consultants or 'mentors' and we are currently looking to go to a REI club meeting.

We are serious about wanting to have a career in Real Estate Investing and want to utilize this tool as well as the plethora of other tools online to hopefully start something sooner than later!  We hope to start in Wholesale,  in order to gain capitol for moving into having 'passive' income through rental properties for a better life and retirement.  Once we have more info and are comfortable with our abilities in estimating repairs from wholesaling, we wish to move onto Rehabbing. 

We understand core basics from our research and the 3 day 8 hour a day seminar...  But we would like to see here what our next step may be, and the next after that.

Any experienced people in Wholesale who can help answer some our beginner questions would be greatly appreciated.