All Forum Posts by: Alexander M Stanton

@Lior Rozhansky hey Lior thanks for the suggestion!! I definitely need to prioritize going to more meetups!! Hopefully I’ll see you at one sometime 😁

@Anthoney Hanks thanks Anthony I appreciate it! I would love to hear how you handle your own real estate business- as I’m so new I’m finding it hard to manage my time well!!

Hi folks! I am a new agent in Boston and would love some advice! Where do those of you who are serious about finding deals like to hang out? What kind of events do you look for? What are your priorities when looking at properties? In Boston it's really really hard to find something that fits the "1% rule" so what makes a property enticing to you?

I personally love the market out in Worcester because you can still find pretty good deals (although prices are soaring by the second) even with what's listed on the MLS.

Any favorite meetups? I'd love to hear from folks in the area about what they're doing to meet people and what they're looking to accomplish.

As far as my personal goals, here is my personal vision for those who care!

I hope to create a property management company with 80-200 units under management, buy and hold a personal portfolio of small multifamily properties, and generate approximately 10k per month in cash flow with each business so that I can focus on educating young people in money management, philanthropic action to benefit the communities around Boston and Worcester, and have an abundant life with the ability to spend ample time with my family. Along the road, I hope to help hundreds of other investors to do the same thing and enable as many people as possible to create wealth through real estate.

My goal for 2020 is to help 25+ people buy an investment or first home and eliminate their rent payments so they can begin to see their net worth truly grow.

I would love to hear from anyone and everyone who has similar goals or whose path looks anything like mine, and talk about what you think is the most important thing to get there!

@Andrew Taylor

With 120k+ of equity it sounds like you’re still doing really well!

I would think about creative rental strategies such as month-to-month via AirBnB/VRBO and ask yourself whether there are other platforms you can advertise on. Could you offer to rent it furnished? What amenities is it near to attract a specific subset of renters?

If that’s a high price listing in your area and you’d rather sell then you probably need to drop it more. What’s your minimum acceptable offer? Sounds like you need to creep down towards that a little more.

ALSO- are you working with a good realtor? I’ve heard time and again that that’s critical. Evaluate your options and consider switching. See who has the most robust website and is actually making the most sales in your area.

 Hi Lien!

Thank you - I'm currently working as a personal trainer and I'm studying for my real estate salesperson's license. I'm quite certain that I don't want to manage properties long run, but short term i.e. the next few years I want to build a wealth of knowledge about the actual rehab and management process so that as I build my own portfolio I know what to look for in partners/employees.

As soon as I get my license I plan to cut back my training hours significantly to put more energy into assisting with P&S and rentals. I would guess within the next month - I'm almost done with the coursework but plan to study a lot more before taking the exam.

Hey BP folks in Eastern/Central Massachusetts!

I'm a new investor looking to develop my skills managing properties; every element from rehab/project management to property management. I'm studying for my real estate license and have some savings to make the transition to 100% focus on real estate.

If you need an extra pair of hands on the ground I'm happy to negotiate any sort of arrangement, be it equity or salary whatever works better for your numbers.

I've got a truck, no shortage of tools, and I'm strong and hardworking.

I've probably got the money to buy a property now but I don't have the confidence to make the leap quite yet so I'm hoping to work for someone who has more of the knowledge and I'll prove invaluable while I absorb what I need to know to make my first investment.

I would love to hear opinions from anyone, and talk to anyone in the Boston or Worcester areas who would like to meet.

@Mark Miles

I think your reaction is totally reasonable. The ONLY person in this situation who is actually going to look out for your own best interests is you. If the seller wants you buying their house the inspection must be complete, and they should pay for it. This May mean you lose the deal but I would rather lose a shady deal than buy a house only to find out several rooms are in utter disrepair.

Is this a fixer-upper or something you hope to do light rehab and immediately rent out?

Hey all,

My partner and I are looking at buying our first investment property (a three-family) in Worcester and trying to estimate CapEx for repairs.

The house we are leaning towards is pretty solid- we see around a 7-8% cap rate with the in-place rents and it is fully tenanted.

However it needs extensive repairs on the siding around the back side of the house, as well as some general cleanup of the backyard/driveway.

It’s clear the current owner has not cared to take good care of the property as there are several minor repairs needed inside the second unit in addition to a big pile of trash in the back yard, plywood in place of siding in one section of the house, and several boarded up windows and doorways that appear to be remnants of a section of the house that was removed - likely a previous back porch setup for each of the three floors.

There also appears to be asbestos underneath the wood siding - I’m not sure if this indicates we might need to remove ALL the siding and asbestos and redo the entire exterior or not.

I haven’t measured the exterior yet but will be doing so this week, I’m just wondering if anyone has advice on what to expect or how to ensure we don’t get screwed by contractors if we do move forward with this property.

Would you recommend making a lower offer on the property citing our own estimates on the repair costs, or offer more with the contingency that we may reduce our offer based on inspectors report and contractors estimates?

And, should we be trying to perfect the exterior or just call it “good enough” as the current owner clearly has?

@NIcholas Hamel

That’s awesome. If you have the ability, maybe consider renting out a room in your home on Air b&b or as a monthly rental - also gives you the flexibility to get rid of people easier.

I recently read a blog post here on BP by a guy who had set up a curtain and was sleeping in the living room while renting out his original bedroom.

I’m not saying go that far, but you can definitely make some extra cash being creative.

@Shawn Ziegaus

Until you know how much it should cost for different repairs and how much time and energy actually goes into managing a property, it will be very easy for them to take advantage of you. They’re not all as honest as you might like, and it’s on you to understand them well enough to find a good one. Experienced investors tend to recommend that you start out self managing so you know what you’re dealing with.