All Forum Posts by: Andrew Freed

@Trey Prince Feel free to reach out. One of my goals is to increase financial literacy worldwide so I find it satisfying to mentor and help others on their journey. 

@Micah Haworth - Congrats on getting started. House hacking a 4-plex is a fantastic way to start your investing journey. I myself have about 8 units, a demanding W2 job and I self manage. The eventual goal is to hire a property manager down the road, however I personally think you will gain a lot of value from self managing for at least the first 6 months to year. I have gained a strong sense of what it means to be a landlord and how to provide solid customer service to my tenants through self management. At the end of the day, the tenants are you customers and if you make it a point to provide the best experience for your customers, they will treat your place right, pay on time, and be easy to deal with. Is my goal to hire a property manager down the road, absolutely. But when you are starting out your journey, the knowledge you will gain should give you a strong foundation to be an even better landlord in the future. Just my two cents. 

@Benjamin Hoisington I unfortunately am not familiar with real estate agents in the Springfield area. You can always search bigger pockets for investor focused agents which might be a great starting point.

In addition, myself and @Sabrina Sanchez host a monthly RE meetup in the Worcester area. This might be a great place to network with other investors and find a solid agent. We also provide food and have a ton of super experienced guest speakers present. We also will post an event on BP in the next few weeks. Feel free to come on by and network. 

@Trey Prince - Hey Trey, glad to see you building your portfolio. I currently have 8 units, most of which are in Western Mass. Additionally, I purchased my last 3 deals via a HELOC so I am very familiar with leveraging property to buy more property. If you want to jump on a quick call, I am happy to offer guidance in any way I can.

In addition, myself and @Sabrina Sanchez host a monthly meetup in the Worcester area referred to as "Pints and Properties". We have free food and host a ton of super experienced guests speakers. It's a great place to network with other investors. Our next meetup is on 10/27 @ the Hangover pub. Feel free to reach out for more details.

@Tony Clark - Great question and I myself am dealing with the same dilemma, having a 3 unit building way below market rents (I closed on the property in August 2021). The strategy I plan on utilizing once I get through the Winter season is to send a rental increase package explaining why a rent increase is needed, showing comps of current market rents (for instance, using rentometer), and offering a few different options such as a year lease at a reasonable price, a 6 month lease at a higher price, and a month to month at a slightly higher cost. These rents should be somewhere in the middle of market rents and their current rents so the increase isn't unobtainable for your current tenants. DM me and I am happy to send an example of a rental increase package. 

@Adam Venditti - Have you considered utilizing a HELOC or cash out refinance to fund your 1930 rehab while keeping the townhouse. It seems you want to access the underlying equity, but you can do that without selling. For instance, I opened up a HELOC on my primary and used it to buy my next 3 deals as well as utilize it as a reserve fund for repairs or upgrades. Interests rates are super low. But if you feel interest rates are on the rise, you can always lock in the interest rate with a 30 year fixed and take some cash out. Lastly, a 1031 is a great tool, but it does kick the tax liability down the road and might force you into purchasing a subpar deal. In any event, if you do a 1031, get the new purchase locked in before you sell you 1031 the property so you can avoid a stressful closing.

@Max Langlois - smart play. I did exactly that and am now up to 7 units - 6 of which are in the Worcester area. I’m happy to connect and share my experiences and knowledge.

In addition, myself and another investor host a real estate meetup every month in Worcester @ the hangover pub. Pints and Properties. We normally have a few guest speakers, food and a ton of smart investors to network with. Dm me if you’re interested, we welcome all investors from new to super experienced.

@Parag D. It is normal procedure to get an offer accepted and then start the inspection phase. Definitely have some sort of contingency in there so you can back out of the deal if the numbers don't align after you do your due diligence. Remember, your financial projects can look fantastic, but if unknown issues arise during the inspection phase which make the properties numbers not work anymore, it is completely fine to walk away. I have done this multiple times. I'd rather lose an inspection fee of $600 bucks than move forward with a property that is going to be a money pit.

@Moustafa Ahmed - Great ideas, I love the idea of creating an index geographically of good vs. bad areas to invest in based on data. Perhaps BP can create some sort of index taking into population growth, variety of employers, poverty rate, etc and allow you to easily search cities / towns based on this index.

@Rushi Bhalani - I would love to see Biggerpockets set up a more formal mastermind program. I know you offered a mastermind group with the intention journal but from my experience, there was not enough buy-in from the participants to get the group going consistently. Imagine Tinder (or pick any dating website if you are biased) for real estate investors with the goal of connecting investors into successful mastermind groups. I think it'll really bring some investors to the next level. As we all know, you are the average of the 5 people you associate yourself with. Maybe offer a facilitator type service initially for a fee. There are a million ways to market and create a profitable price structure with this program.