All Forum Posts by: Brandon Turner

Hey Jhansi B. - I've heard good things about Tennessee, Texas, and I like Minnesota (and of course Grays Harbor County, in Washington state - my home). However, a lot of it depends on what kind of investment you want to buy. For example, commercial might be better in one area, flipping in another, buy n' hold in another, multifamilies in another.

What area are you most interested in?

I also see a lot of good potential in the south - Florida, Arizona, New Mexico because of all the baby boomers getting ready to retire and get away from the snow up north. I don't have a lot of facts to back that up - just my observations :)

Hey Uuri Koh! Welcome to BP! I learned most of what I know from BiggerPockets and actually have been in the same "hard to get financing" situation as you many times. In fact, just this week I applied for a refinance on my own home and the bank is actually confident it will go through (despite being self employed as well.) So, my suggestion would be to go to multiple different banks. Find one that will do what you need!

Good luck and keep in touch!

Welcome Viktoria Szilasi!

Multifamily properties are my bread and butter and a great way to invest! Not only is BP a great place to learn, its also a great place to share what you already know. With properties already, you probably know quite a bit you can add to our community! Looking forward to it!

I really like accent walls. I don't use them all the time - but tenants seem to really like it.

Additionally, replacing "brass" door knobs with something more modern makes a HUGE difference in my units. Sometimes its just the little stuff that makes a huge difference!

I agree with J Scott but I'll add- if there are a lot of properties for sale around that 30k mark that are already fixed - it might be difficult to talk someone into buying something for more expensive AND that requires work. But those seem like great cashflow numbers. Well done!

And also, investors might be able to get the rehab done for a lot less than you are planning since they often have crews or employees or are just really efficient.

Congrats Hendrix on getting your first property! Here are my thoughts:

1.) If they have a lease with the old owner, that still applies. If not,

2.) Leases are best drawn up from an attorney, but you can get one from Staples, a million different websites, or a local Landlord Association.

3.) I am not a fan of "discounts" for on time rent. Some landlords are, but in my opinion I'd rather just call it a "Late Fee." My reasoning is twofold:

a.) You would have to advertise the higher price later in the future when you re-rent the place. So, lets say you want to get $500 from rent and that is the average rent for the area. You'd have to advertise $550 and then tell them that there is a $50 discount for paying on time. You probably wouldn't get that written in a newspaper ad and tenants will skip over that part on a Craigslist ad. So really, you are forced to advertise your place for $550 when really its only $500. That might not seem like a lot - but tenants DO shop around and you could lose a TON of possibly great prospects because of it.

b.) I think punishment works better than positive reinforcement for tenants. :) Personal opinion.

Good luck and keep in touch!

Hey Stepon (and Ed!) Congrats, this sounds awesome! Would you be willing to share some of your strategies for finding deals? Are you using direct mail, door knocking, etc? And are you selling to retail buyers or other investors? People love hearing success stories! Thanks!

Hey Jesse! I'm assuming you are referring to using a lease option to gain control of a property and then re-renting or selling to another. Correct?

I'd say the most important thing is to read so many books on lease-options that your eyes begin bleeding (okay, maybe not - but seriously -read a lot).

Secondly, I'd say to make sure you give yourself a long time before the option is due. For example, if you can do a ten-year lease option on a property (unlikely) then you can subsequently do a one year lease-option to your tenant-buyer like 10 times.

Third - Make sure you collect as large of an unfront fee as possible, but-

Four- Don't take advantage of people. Most lease options don't ever exercise their right to buy. So know that, and don't take advantage.

That's all I got! Hope it helps! Keep in touch!

Hey Brian! My first thought is that since it's been sitting on the market for almost a year - unless there is some terrific reason you really want this property - Low Ball like crazy. Like $50,000 (obviously I don't know the property - but banks, especially at this time of the year, are in a hurry to get loans off their books. You can always offer more.)

Since it's a buy-and-hold, you probably don't need to worry too much about the number of for sale signs - except to gain confidence to low ball them. Too many "for rent" signs might be indicative of a problem, but since you want to live there it's probably not a huge deal either.

I also didn't see Taxes in your analysis. That might add a lot too.

Anyways, let us know what you decide to do!

J Scott Did you write in Jimmy McMillan also!?

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_McMillan)

:)