All Forum Posts by: Alyssa Holbrook

There is such a difference in energy shift from "I am finding a deal" to "I am CREATING a deal." When you are looking at deals that are currently on the MLS, you are looking for a deal that pencils. If you want to CREATE a deal, you are looking for properties on the MLS that have upside -- where you can build on the extra land, increase the cashflow by furnishing the property or adding amenities like a washer and dryer etc, add units etc.

Notice how it feels to sink into "I am CREATING deals" 

How do you show up differently when you think this way? 

2. Costar is the best for finding multifamily properties, though CREXI is free and also great. Also, Loopnet has some multifamily properties. As far as the property itself being good for house hacking you'll want to look at your returns. 

6. Due Diligence -
Ask for the leases and rent rolls for the property. 

Create a plan for how you will increase the income and decrease the expenses. 

House hacking - I would recommend putting 5% down on a conventional loan (rather than 3.5% on an FHA loan) if you have the cash because the mortgage insurance can fall off once you're at 20% LTV. Most of the time you need to call the bank and request for the mortgage insurance to be removed (and often an appraisal is needed to do so).

What are your next 5 action steps that will move you from learning/analysis to purchasing? 

What does the contract with the property manager say about deposits? 

Deposits are required to be kept in a different account and untouched (in most states).

This is his responsibility as a property manager to pay you back your tenants deposit. 

I would try working it out with him first. Then, if you speak to a local attorney, they can write a letter for you.

What are you making it mean if you enforced the contract (or set up a buyout clause and worked with them) and they are a non-profit? 

First, this is an opportunity for you to slow down. 

You have been manually adding all the transactions -- you will save time if you create a system. Way to go for slowing down to speed up.

Believe that you know your business better than any other course, youtube video or book.

Set aside a time to create your system and think through what will work best for you. You have so many amazing options here for software -- I think it's just about making the choice. This could be easy and fun! 

How do you go about deciding where to invest: 

You say you are feeling overwhelmed. 

Overwhelm comes from our thinking, not how many decisions there are to make. 

What thoughts are creating the overwhelm?

What would you need to think to feel clarity and in control while beginning investing? 

To answer the question "What factors would you look at to determine where to invest?" These are some that I look at:

1. I would look at overall cap rates of the area - (to calculate cap rates, you divide the total Net Operating Income by the total purchase price) certain areas tend to have higher returns than others. 

2. I would also look at job and population growth.

3. Ask yourself if you think people will continue to move here? Are there new companies coming in? Is the city doing any revitalization? Is this a desirable place for people to live?

4. Next, can you go just outside of a growing city? This is called investing in "emerging markets" where you can force appreciation (i.e. make the property worth more without actually repairing or remodeling it) just by the property's location. 

5. You can also consider crime (https://www.city-data.com/crime/ - a good resource) 

6. I like to consider taxes as some states have high taxes (google property taxes by state - I pasted this into a google doc here https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cypNu8pisG6tscbMUMgg...)

7. Consider vacancy rates as that can eat away at your profit.

8. Also consider how landlord friendly the state is (https://realwealth.com/learn/landlord-friendly-states/)

To not get lost in overwhelm, give yourself an amount of time to research each of these areas and begin with your 4 above. Looking at cap rates will narrow it down a LOT.