All Forum Posts by: Blake Catanzano

I use Topco for my formica installs. Not sure if they do granite but I went in the back of their shop and just picked scrap pieces.  Got a great deal.

@Justin Foster Thanks for the reply Justin.  I feel as though Oklahoma City is an amazing marketplace.  80-120K gets you in very decent neighborhoods without having to worry about buying an older home that requires major updating...IE: plumbing, electrical etc.  My experiences dealing with city inspectors has also been great where as my step-dad in Arizona says it's a totally different world.  

And while the local economy is driven by the energy sector which is down there are a lot of Air Force / aviation related jobs.  My job selling roofs allows me the unique experience of visiting a lot of having interactions with homeowners so I get an interesting feel of demographics and income.  From my experiences oil and energy is a pretty low fraction.  Additionally, the 1980's yielded an oil bust that taught the previous generation a big lesson and hopefully that has been passed down to the current one.

My plan is to stick with starter homes so hopefully I can do as much as possible to insulate myself from a real bad bust if it happens.

@David Thompson Great post.  I really appreciate the information!!! That insight has certainly changed my perspective. That is an area where I really need to educate myself.  Additionally I need to find a professional CPA / adviser.  Where would you suggest locally I start looking?  For banking I use a small regional bank.  How do you guys go about selecting the bank to start forming a relationship with.  What questions should I ask my current banker and what answers am I looking for? I want to make all the right decisions early but this is an area i'm pretty lost!

I appreciate the links! I may be selling myself short but prior to getting loans or jumping to commercial properties I feel like I would be most comfortable starting out with SFH's and paying cash. From a flip perspective once I feel like okay I know how to make money with this I'll feel good about leveraging. From the rental perspective I want to do cash also and hold those long term. I figure if I can average buying 2-3, do the necessary remodel work (ceramic wood-look floors, white semi-g-gloss walls..basically renter-proof the house) and hold it long term that in 10-15 years I'll be paid off and have great cash flow to retire on.

My amateur thoughts are and keep in mind this is my limited guess on the oklahoma marketplace is:

buy house 60-80K. invest 0-15K remodeling and simplifying the home. Limiting carpet and building materials that will degrade / be tore up quickly.  

Collect 800-1200 a month on each house.  If I can do 2-3 of these a year in 10-15 years i'll be set.  

let me know your thoughts! I want to develop a good mindset and theory early on so I can be comfortable with my plan and follow through!

best regards

Leslie, believe it or not my accountant sucks! That's something I really need to work on as my current guy that i have used all of my adult life is a retired guy from a big 4 who is more or less an H&R block.  What I feel like i need is someone who can give me specific advise / planning but i dont want someone who has a financial interest other than their set fee's.  Basically with the guy I have now i just bring my 1099's, my deductions and boom theres my number.  No real planning done.  

I am single with no children.  My girlfriend does live with me and has for over a year. I wonder if i can claim her?

That's a bit off topic but as far as starting out...This year or before next spring (storm season for us roofers) I would like to at minimum do one flip and purchase one rental that will be in my long term portfolio.  

Where do I start? Just log on MLS and see what looks good? I'm paying cash is an auction best? Oklahoma isn't exactly the most attractive location in the US so I doubt i'll have nearly the competition you guys in Dallas or California have. So I guess from both the first real flip / long term rental perspective how should I start?

PS thank you all for the responses I look forward to reciprocating in any way possible!

Hey guys, my name is Blake Catanzano and I live / invest in Oklahoma City.  I've been browsing the forums for months and am now ready to get myself involved with this awesome community! I wanted to share with you guys my financial position and some of my goals so I can then ask you guys how you suggest I proceed.

First of all I turned 27 years old this June and live in Moore Oklahoma.  From a financial perspective I have zero debt.  The house I live in is approximately $220K and paid off.  I have a new truck which is also paid off. I work as a roofing salesman and earn 200-300K per year. Once my remaining commissions come in this year I will be at around $315K cash in the bank.  I do have some large projects in the pipeline which could increase that number by another 100K or so but its safe to say low 300's and I will have a tax bill of about 50K this year so ultimately it is very safe to say I am liquid for 250K right now that I'm ready to invest.

Due to my job I have access to subcontractors of all trades... roofing, tile, granite, flooring, paint etc at pretty much cost (day rates of the actual laborers).  

I have flipped two houses in the past.  Both were homes i purchased with cash after the tornadoes in 2013 and one i sold for a 49K profit and the other one i live in which is worth well over 100K more than I have in it.

My brother is currently working on getting his real estate license so we have access to the MLS and can write our own bids. I had him get started on this due to suggestions by this community saying having your own license is the way to go. He is currently working a hail storm in Dallas and will be back in Oklahoma by the end of October. Due to a family tragedy I had to end working that hailstorm early and head back home. However he is there wrapping up his jobs & my jobs so we won't be ready to start flipping for about 60-75 days.

These are my goals / long term / short term situation. I have earned over 200K for the last 4 years as a roofing salesman. I work in an area where there are a lot of hail storms and I also chase storms so from an earning perspective I am able to go hard for about 4-6 months and make my money. For the rest of the year I have a ton of free time. I am 1099'd and have several LLC's which I have taxed as an S corp. I do a lot of write offs through this and one thing im curious about is how i can structure house / flipping & rentals in my business.

I plan on continuing to work in the industry i am in due to the flexibility and earning potential... on good years i will very likely be able to earn north of 350-400K and still have 4-6 months I can dedicate to REI.

***What I would like to do***

I would like to be able to retire in the next 15 or so years on a mountain of rentals.  I have paid cash for things my whole life and never finance.  I do have credit but for the last 3-4 years I have always paid cash and used a debit card.  I did take out a 3 secured CD's to keep my credit revolving and increase my score in case I wanted to leverage. 

For the immediate I would like to get started flipping homes once my brother finish's his real estate license and gets back to Oklahoma. I would also like to start building myself a rental portfolio.  The house I live in is paid off and fully remodeled so I am comfortable staying here for the next 10+ years.  I have the dream truck I want and don't have the desire to spend on a vehicle.  So essentially I would like to funnel all of my cash + future cash towards building a rental portfolio and flipping homes during the downtime at work (storm season starts around march and typically ends by November).

What do you guys think? Sorry if this post seems scattered my idea was just to lay my situation out on the table and see what the brilliant REI minds of this community think!

Best regards,

Blake