All Forum Posts by: Benjamin Aaker

Welcome. I'm hoping to close on my first multifamily, in Sioux Falls, in September. Lots of big apartment buildings going up around here but the smaller multifamilies seem to be doing well. I got my start in single families and I recommend starting there.

Just think about why anyone runs the credit check:  You want to know whether they will pay the rent. Obviously the credit check won't tell you this, so you need to get as much information together and make a case by case decision.

Since you are considering purchasing the property, I recommend getting the information from the landlord. The landlord may have already done a credit check on them. You might request this as a contingency in your purchase offer. You definitely should request the rent roll. BP has a forum for multifamily and I'd suggest looking there for tips. I'm just starting in multifamily but it would be strange for me to suddenly ask all the inherited tenants to do a credit check. The checking should be done on the due diligence end when you are negotiating with the seller.

Good luck!

I would recommend waiting until you have more of a plan for your business. I made cards once with my home phone number, then decided I didn't want to give that out to everybody and had to remake the cards. The networking will be based on your personal interaction with others at your meetups. If you find someone you can make a deal with, you won't need a card. Just get out there and meet people! Good luck.

Congratulations on the multifamily contract. I made an offer on a MFR two days ago. @Kelly Byrd I'm curious, what kind of due diligence are you doing?

I think flips are a good way to get started. In our area it is difficult to find one that doesn't have major work needed. You will likely need to pay for materials so financing becomes an issue even though you want to do the labor. Sounds like you have a tenant now, but you might consider selling the one you rehabbed and moving that capitol to a house hack duplex. @Kaleb Carsten would like to go to the meetup. Where can I find details?

Hi Shannon,

I purchased a house in Brandon that was far too trashed for a conventional loan. I was able to get a credit line secured by some land I have. When I made the repairs I converted it to a conventional loan. If you want the information of the bank, feel free to PM me.

Hi Melissa, 

Welcome to BiggerPockets. I'm glad to see another person from Sioux Falls here. There is a lot of real estate investing going on in the area, but it seems people are not very interested in talking about it.  Sad, because we could learn a lot from each other. Pete Krentz was trying to get a group together, but I'm not sure where he is at with that. You may want to look him up on BP.

I'm just starting myself, currently living in a house that my wife and I rehabbed and plan to sell. I'm looking for the next deal and would be glad to talk with you privately if you have any ideas.

-Benjamin

Hey Nate, have you considered becoming an agent?  I'm looking into online courses.  I agree with the posts stating that the agent input is valuable but it seems like you could recoup some of the costs at least on the buyer's side.  Every home I've ever bought I've found myself.  While I used an agent who surely did a lot of work with the offers/counter offers, I wonder how much could be saved by learning those things and DIYing it. I'd love to hear from the agents and investors out there in this area although BP has more posts than one could read about this topic.

@Hugh Ayles Thanks for the comment. I'm talking about personal purposes rather than tax purposes.  I want to get an idea of the costs for the next flip.  As @Alexander Felice stated, the contractor is a lot more efficient than me (even if I'd like to believe otherwise), and I don't want to do this much work on flips in the future.  I get a lot of satisfaction knowing the job was done well, by me, but it will not be economically feasible beyond 2-3 flips per year.  I really appreciate all of your expert advice.  I'll ask my wife to read these excellent posts and will give you an update with her comments.  This should be fun...

Thanks for all the great advice.  @Account Closed I'm not sure what labor vs materials goes for in this area.  That is a very good question.  My books have information about the bills but not the materials cost.  What is the ratio in your part of the country, or is there a standard amount that BP recommends?