All Forum Posts by: Ben Stout

 As much as I hate all the extra fees and compliance, I happily pay it each year. If you've ever had a claim denied by an insurance company (and you will if you do this long enough at scale), you appreciate every layer of protection you can get... and don't want to rely only on your insurance to help when your net worth is at stake. 

Keep in mind that rentals less than 6 months in duration require sales tax to be paid. Even if you don't charge it, you're still on the hook for it and this is a common mistake. 

P.S. Don't join the reserves unless you want someone having complete control of your life for $200 a month. That's like the worst option contract ever... especially considering they can send you right back to Afghanistan at 10% the pay. By the time your tiny retirement starts paying out you'll be long since retired from real estate anyway.

2000-2006 Active Duty, 2010-2015 Saudi, Iraq, Afghanistan, West Africa 

I'll go ahead and +1 Pensacola with a few caveats. I'm sure people here are smart enough to realize that we're only getting so many hits now by Pensacola people because most of us have keyword alerts turned on and it was mentioned early in the thread... it's not got even CLOSE to the inventory of ATL or a larger city. 

When I first started investing here, you could throw money at REOs in good neighborhoods and get great caps all day long. Nowadays, the market has DEFINITELY come up... a LOT. Just look at inventories. There are somewhere around 3,000 homes for sale on the MLS in the general area... during the crash there were around 10,000. Foreclosures only represent around 6% of the market last I checked while new construction was at 18%. It's not the same market it was. This requires new strategies and new tactics.

Here's something no one has talked about that I'd like to touch on: FINANCING. When I first started buying here, no one would loan me money as an investor. Now I can get it all day long. Banks don't want to touch loans that are less than $50k principal, which means you were stalled out at a $63k MINIMUM purchase price. But wouldn't you know, rents came way up, home prices also came up, and the lending spigot has turned back on. You can now get cheap money a lot easier and a better rent. Sure, there's more competition, this is true. Would you rather have to go all cash on a $50k home worth $75k or get financing for the same home at 75% LVT at $75k with a $100k ARV? (answers will vary)

I would tell the OP to follow the jobs. Look for places that still have decent valuations, learn to REALLY analyze deals ( I MEAN REALLY analyze them), and look at places where there are jobs that aren't going anywhere... these obviously drive your rents. There are tons of great markets in the US.

Hello All, 
Are these meetings still going on? I'd love to meet up with some Pensacola area folks. 

I understand what some people are saying about old school type guys not having much of an internet presence. 

Do a permit search on your city's website and run his name and business name through and see how many permits he's pulled in the past year.

@Lisa Phillips The most fortunate/unfortunate part of all of this for me has been that all my sub30k have doubled in value. I either have to sell them now and find new places for the  money, or keep renting them. I'll probably keep renting them out, but it's nice to think back to 2010 when I was getting amazing $25k houses that people on here were saying were terrible investments. I quit my job in August thanks to these properties. Most have now paid for themselves. 

@Andrey Y. Very true. My mistake. 

Thanks for the insight, everyone. I'm going to check and see if there's a paper trail. Another thing that I think it's important to remember is that although on the surface it may appear to just be a $70k house, many people on Bigger Pockets buy multiple homes in this price range per year and also need someone to list and sell them at some point. Others need management as well... so while it may look like a smallish deal, and it is, there is often much more business/commission/referral money involved than a simple one-off transaction. 

@Joel Owens

 Thank you for your thoughts. I was in contact for sure and check my email many times each day. In our digital world, my being out of the country should not have come into play. I do understand that these situations can become very complicated and that's why I try to work with the best people I can find. I try not to micromanage and let each party do their respective job.