All Forum Posts by: Ben Headrick

I'm brand new to this world of real estate investing. I've spent the last few months trying to absorb as much information as possible from the BiggerPockets podcasts and the forums. I've heard several podcast guests mention how valuable their local REIA has been to their growth and success, especially starting out. I decided to give the KnoxREIA monthly meeting a shot, so a good friend and I signed up and I wanted to share my thoughts.

I'm not typically a "social person", so I didn't think I would get much networking value from the meeting. Boy, was I wrong. Initially, I met several people with, like myself, little to no experience with real estate investing. Then, I started to meet people with more experience that were willing to share their story about investing in the Knoxville area. I have so many questions starting with "Who do I talk to about--fill in the blank?" I now have a pocket full of business cards to answer those questions, or at least point me in the direction to someone who can.

I thought Sessions Court Judge Chuck Cerny and his panel of attorneys were wonderful. The panel discussion became informal pretty quickly, but I still found it valuable. People were asking real questions about real scenarios that I would have never thought to consider. The room discussed fair housing situations regarding tenants with disabilities, the allowance of pets that are considered service or companion animals, the typical eviction process, the importance of a well drafted lease versus a generic lease found through a google search, and other topics.

I especially want to thank Knox REIA president, Victor Jernigan for personally seeking us out in the parking lot and talking for a moment. I didn't get to meet everyone there, so if you were there, introduce yourself in this thread. I hope to be a regular attendee of the meetings and would like to be able to say hello to more people at future meetings. If you are on the fence about going to that first meeting, I highly recommend it. It is worth that first-time guest fee to see what it's really about.

Great thread! Thanks for sharing your numbers with us Chris Eaker . So many times a property has caught my eye, but I talk myself out of it because it's so far off of the 2% rule. I'm starting to come off of it a little more seeing as how I haven't found anything near 2%. Personally, I have even been considering a new property seeing as how a lot of the repair expenses wouldn't come into the picture for several years.

Nice JJ Neerman ! I'm in Knoxville as well. I'd like to hear more about how things played out with this property. Were the rehab expenses what you expected? Do you still have the property?

I used Home Federal to financed my primary residence in 2010. They told me up front that they would most likely be selling my loan to someone else and they did immediately after closing. They sold it to US Bank, which hasn't been any trouble. I even did a no closing cost refinance with US Bank since then. Just a heads up, you may want to ask Home Federal if they've been keeping these types of loans lately, because you may be dealing with someone else when it's all said and done. Congrats on the contract!

Welcome @Joe Allen. I am in Knoxville as well and a new member to bigger pockets. I hope to build some relationships with other members located in the Knoxville area.

Welcome to Knoxville, @Jordan McCoy! I'm also fairly new to BP, but so far I couldn't be happier with all the information I've gathered from the podcasts and forums as I look for my first deal.

Brandon Sprinkle Hello Brandon. I'm also a fairly new member from Knoxville, TN.

Thanks everybody! I'm very interested in hearing about services in the area that people are using. How did you find your properties? Real estate agent? Wholesaler? Broker? What experience with local property managers do you guys have?

Thanks Dustin! I'll definitely look into it.

Hello all!

I discovered bigger pockets from a YouTube video, which led to another video, which lead to another, which lead to me binge listening to the podcasts on iTunes. 

I've been in the stock market for a while and would like to move some of that money into investment properties. For now, I love listening to the podcasts and soaking up the information and I hope to buy my first rental property within the next year or so.