All Forum Posts by: Austin Plough

Hello Spencer,

Your story is very admirable – I applaud you for sharing!

As someone just embarking on the real estate investing journey, reading through this post gave me shivers.

Several years ago, a mentor of mine told me that his career began with “learning”, then transitioned into “earning”, and in the later stages, “returning”. While these may all blend together over time, bouncing back and forth, I interpreted the final stage as giving back to the community. From what I could tell, this was incredibly fulfilling for him. How neat that you now have this opportunity!

Quote from @Juan Delgado:

I have not figured out how to get that 20% to get the wheels turning.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Hi there, Juan! It will be very exciting once those wheels are turning. To support in getting the 20%, find ways to be aggressive in your savings plan. Money not spent could be money saved. One way to cut costs in your monthly budget could be by eliminating memberships, subscriptions, etc. While generally small costs, these do add up. Good luck!

Hi there, James!

Stumbling upon this post now and am curious. Were you able to glean anything from responders in this effort? Maybe you direct my attention to the article? 

We are nearing the one year mark as first-timers, still have yet to get further than looking inside homes. 

Thanks, much!

Quote from @Alexander L Gulledge:

What I really feel I'm missing is a mentor who has RE investment experience. Someone I can bounce ideas off of and get guidance from. 

Hey Alex, 
Nice to meet you!
Sounds like you have a solid game plan in place. I would say, be open to refining as you learn!
I too have wondered about connecting with a mentor in this space and what those who are more experienced would suggest for getting started specifically in the market which I live. My wife & I are in a small mountain town here in Colorado. For the past few months, I have poked around locally in search of meet-ups, but no luck. 
Feel free to share any pointers you gain regarding this in your journey!

Hi there, Artney!

Dave Meyer shared an informative video today [How to Find Your Perfect First Rental Property (The “Buy Box”)], outlining helpful structure for you to add clarity for your deal. Courtesy of the video, criteria to consider include Deal Type, Management Plan, Business Plan, Financing, Asset Class, Ownership Structure, Property Class, Location, Purchase Price, Rehab Costs, Risk Target, and ROE Targets.

Hope you find this resource helpful. Good luck!

Hello Bigger Pockets Community!

I originally posted this in Deal Analysis, thought to share here as well.

I need your help for tips and tricks to assess a fixer upper.

How do you determine the value of a home when considering the amount of work required?

What criteria must be met to move forward with an opportunity?

My wife & I recently looked at a Garfield County house built in 1960 with 4 beds, 2 baths, and is 2,174 sqft. It has a basement that could serve as rental space. The 0.3-acre lot has loads of potential.

Our first impression? The house will require a lot of love, no doubt needing more than paint and new flooring. Not being well-versed in electrical, heating, plumbing, etc., I struggle to estimate the costs needed to rehab.

When speaking with the realtor, I guess it is not common to have a home appraised before it is listed. For $640K I am thinking it will fly off the market, but who knows.

Thanks much, all!

Austin

Hello Bigger Pockets Community!

I need your help for tips and tricks to assess a fixer upper.

How do you determine the value of a home when considering the amount of work required?

What criteria must be met to move forward with an opportunity?

My wife & I recently looked at a Garfield County house built in 1960 with 4 beds, 2 baths, and is 2,174 sqft. It has a basement that could serve as rental space. The 0.3-acre lot has loads of potential!

Our first impression? The house will require a lot of love, no doubt needing more than paint and new flooring. Not being well-versed in electrical, heating, plumbing, etc., I struggle to estimate the costs needed to rehab.

When speaking with the realtor, I guess it is not common to have a home appraised before it is listed. For $640K I am thinking it will fly off the market, but who knows.

Thanks much, all!

Austin

In my first post, I shared my excitement in getting involved in the Bigger Pockets Community and asked a couple of questions about resources and networking.

I thought to follow that up with a second post, being specific about how my wife & I are setting our sights on our first home where we intend to house hack. Copying those details here, that is a single-family fixer-upper having a basement (or similar) in Garfield County (CO) with a listing price of $400,000 to $600,000. With our down payment savings piling up, we hope to position ourselves to buy in mid to late 2024 with 20% down (or close to it). In the July 4th episode of the Bigger Pockets podcast, listeners were encouraged to identify Profitability (among other criteria for a deal) – this presents some challenges, as I am unsure about assessing a realistic cash flow in a house hack for our area.

Hello Kevin!

Thank you for sharing these tips – this is great for the newbies!

For us getting going, there is so much information out there to comb through and absorb. I find it a bit overwhelming at times.

I would be curious to learn more about your transition from selling insurance to doing real estate full time. How can a person really know when the right time is to make the leap from the security of a steady job?

Secondly, I liked how you encouraged people to share their dreams and goals. I have often thought to speak my future into existence. How to do this? Well, this starts with me telling those people in my corner where it is I want to go or what it is I want to be doing (both near term and long term).

Thanks again for the pointers!

Austin

Hello Jaxen!

Sounds like you have a good plan in place – way to go!

As you are working through engineering school, you are positioning yourself to start your career with a handsome salary out of the gate. My encouragement to you is to not allow your lifestyle to change too much upon graduation. Keep your monthly expenses low, get out of debt (if any at all), and keep dreaming!

Good luck out there. I think you are heading in the right direction!

Austin