All Forum Posts by: Ali Nichols

There are opportunities to be had. Personally focused on small multi-family in the midwest and southeast. 

Are you going to get back into flipping in a big way in 2024? 

Hey Mooney - I think you're thinking about all this in the right way. It's a similar fork in the road I experienced trying to understand how the heck this scales & turns into a mini-empire. 

A few things...

Stabilization --- I generally assume that expenses are going to be out of whack the first 18 months of initial ownership. That is partly because things are missed on the inspection, tenants are settling in, major expenses need to be paid, etc. Generally, once you settle in, things get more predictable and stable. And hopefully you get tenants that stay for quite a long time and get used to the home in every way. 

Scale --- There is a reason why wall street came into the SFR space but in order to do so, they needed to scale markets quickly. Margins on lower cost homes, lower vintage homes, tougher areas, etc. have smaller margins. So scale is important. Another reason why places like invitation homes error towards newer homes when they can.

Time --- the 2010's were historic in terms of property appreciation and rent growth. Who knows what the next 10 years has in store but no matter what, you gotta let time do it's thing. 

Love that you are starting your daughter early :) Welcome to BP and best of luck! If you ever want to chat small multi-family strategies, let's connect!

While it is something that surely has its issues, I can think of a lot of metros that could really use more opportunities for densification.  

This is incredible. If you don't mind me asking, where the heck do you live that the zoning was favorable to this? San Diego!?

What about scaling and building up a portfolio of small multi-families in the midwest?

It all comes down to preference and risk tolerance...

However, what I would say is that the controversial term of gentrification is pretty obvious when it is at play. There are times with developers bet on an area and it takes years, if ever to 'gentrify"..I can think of a few examples where brand new sports stadiums were placed in 'up and coming areas' but it hasn't caught on yet. 

So to your question, if these 'infill' development projects are alongside developments in zoning, commercial (i.e. new restaurants), infrastructure, etc. then it is a good bet to get in early-ish. 

I personally think betting on sprawl is more risky than betting on core metro. Because people still like living in cities. Generally.

While a generalization, I find it much easier to house hack in states with lower property taxes (i.e. Colorado, Alabama, South Carolina, Arkansas, Tennessee)... I name those because there are some pretty special places to live with access to nature in all of those states. 

Of course it comes down to preference, but if you are going to house hack and uproot your life, picking a place with a quality of life that excites you should be high on the list of considerations.

I wish I had the forward looking wherewithal to get into investing at age 22! I think, as mentioned above a small SFH value add is a solid play. Or a small multi-family (what our team specializes in) is very possible in the midwest.

I would just be cognizant of not exhausting your savings because while cash flow can be found, there are ongoing costs associated with investment properties and you don't want one major maintenance issue to wipe you out!