All Forum Posts by: Brad Crumpton

Thanks Mark and thank the rest of you for the responses. Very, very helpful. Making a lowball offer tomorrow on a place tomorrow that's on MLS, but has been on the market for over 3 months. Hoping it works out - not gonna lose any sleep if it doesn't. Generally speaking, I'm a cheapskate and don't have any trouble waiting til the right deal comes along to make a move. I'm an engineer, so I don't have an issue getting emotionally attached to things. But I do like this house - it's close to my wife's work and in a location that's short on rentals and the type of renters are usually young families or teachers who take care of the place. Good schools, safe area right down the road from fire department and police department in a safe city. Seems like a good fit if we can get into it for the right price. Only problem is it's a 2/1, so that will limit things a bit. But for long-termers like us, I think it's a good, safe option.

Almost everyone here has mentioned a wholesaler.  How do you get in contact with these people and what do they do?  

I have a church friend who is a realtor and we'll be using her.  She's been incredibly patient trying to help us out, but I feel like I'm abusing the relationship.  But I'm not really even considering trying to find a different realtor - the one I know is really good at her job and treats us fantastic, so we're sticking with her.

Also heard about cold calling...how do you even go about getting lists of phone numbers for that sort of thing?  County tax database?

Since I'm local, I definitely have a good idea of what neighborhoods/areas are best, at least in Royse City and Greenville. 

I haven't even considered getting into MFR. Figured SFR was the easiest way to get started.

As for wholesalers, I don't even really understand what a wholesaler is or how to get in contact with one. Need to keep reading the beginners guide and get more info on the non-MLS side of things.

Thanks for the reply.  One of our church friends is a realtor, so I've picked her brain a good bit, but I hate to bug her every day or two with a new question.  But she does work with investors, so I've got a good point of contact there.  I have another buddy at work who has a handful of properties in greenville, but he's really only into the low-end market and bought them all when they were dirt cheap a few years ago.  Finding anything low-end at an attractive price right now is extremely difficult.  I've been looking for a year and found less than a half dozen decent options, and all were under contract within hours.  

I plan to keep enough cash reserves to deal with vacancies/repairs/etc.  Not sure what the right amount is, but around $10k maybe, at least for the time when I only have 1, 2, or maybe 3 properties.  

My buddy who has the properties in GV says his main goal is to buy places so cheap that he can refi and get his down payment back immediately, so he's basically adding properties with nothing down up front (after the refi).  Deals like that is really what I'm trying to find as well, but I have no idea how to go about locating stuff like that?  

New guy here - 34 years old and I've been working as a Mechanical Engineer for 12 years. Plan to continue for another 20-ish. Just now starting to learn about REI and have been trying for a year or so to just look around and learn. I live just east of Dallas on I-30 and I'd like to keep rentals in that area (Rockwall. Royse City, Greenville). Just found this forum and I'm reading the beginners guide.

Mine & my wife's goals are to build up around 8-12 (potentially up to 15 or so) rental properties that would provide good passive income when we retire.  Not trying to become mulit-millionaires or anything like that.  Just need them paid off within 20 years

Long story short - I have 3 primary questions:

1 - How do you go about analyzing cash flow on properties with prices so high right now? For pretty much anything, we'd be putting 20% down and financing the rest over 15 years. If you look on MLS, there is very little that shows you could get any positive cash flow (much less something really enticing)? Or I'm just wondering if I'd be better off waiting for the market to come down before buying in at all?

2 - How do you decide what market to get into?  Low-end stuff can usually show a little cash flow, but it's higher risk.  Mid-level units ($100k-$175k) are really tough to show any cash flow on, but renters are out there in this price range I think.  

3 - How are some folks finding deals? One listing that showed up on facebook last week was for a house for $37k in Greenville that they had bought for $19k the month before. Not even sure how to find out about wholesale/auction/etc. type options that provide entry options that would be much more profitable than what shows up on MLS.

Appreciate all the help in advance.  Thanks!