All Forum Posts by: Brad Jacobson

@Jaycob Walker all three of the books I mentioned are available in Audible.  I've listened to Set For Life four or five times now.  It's incredible.  

Good luck!

Hey Logan,

@Russell Brazil's answer was perfect and since he's an agent in D.C. I would immediately look to him as an agent to help represent you!  Having the right agent is mega important when looking for an effective house hack.

Also, consider adding the "nomad" strategy to your plan in which you buy a house this year, house hack it, save all the extra money, and buy another in 12 months or whenever you can afford it.  If you can do this effectively and repeatedly, especially while you're young, it'll set you up for life!  The house hack and nomad strategy got my investing train moving and they are my favorite strategies to date.

Good luck! 

Hey Jaycob, I think you're headed in the perfect direction!  I would start with a few books that I think would be perfect for your situation:

1. BP Set For Life

2. BP House Hacking

3. BP Long Distance Real Estate Investing

Funny they're all Bigger Pockets books but these three have all had a HUGE impact on my early investing days.  Set For Life helped me be frugal and create a career in real estate.  I've house hacked twice and done extremely well with it.  I own a few properties out of state but I'm yet to do David Greene's long distance flip but his book did prove useful to the flipping I've done locally!

Good luck!

I personally don't like having pets in my rentals but the debate always defaults back to the numbers game.  I've settled on $100/month per pet increase to the rent. This is higher than most but hopefully not offensively high!

That way, I believe it scares away most pets but when pets come along with the tenants, it cashflows enough that I don't mind the repairs or remediation needed at the turn or lease expiration.  

In my experience, I've found finding private investors easy if I just followed the basics to building a Realtor business.  I'm a member of three REIAs, local Rotary Club, local church, local Chamber of Commerce, etc.  Once you're out in the community and known as a serious real estate person, you'll quickly find that these investors find you.  

Good luck!

@Bud Gaffney which is your favorite of the three and why?

Hey Fellow BP Fans,

I recently acquired another pair of properties in my neighborhood and want to improve my land lording.  I'm searching for a good app to help run tenant applications and maybe do rent as well?  I'd prefer an affordable option but could be persuaded to do something more expensive if the value is there.  

There are quite a few options and I'd like to ask those who self manage, which is your favorite land lording software and why?  

Thanks in advance!

Every time I try to say "asbestos" the spelling flashes across my mind and I decide to mispronounce it.  Then clients or contractors have to ask me again how many houses I've sold or flipped.  Stupid word

As a 19 year-old, I'd strongly recommend looking at house-hacking locally before investing out of state.  My first few properties were all acquired with 3-5% down since I purchased as an owner-occupant.  

After I had a few under my belt, I started ganging a lot of equity and was able to to some equity moves that made me a strong buyer. I then started flipping locally and buying cash flowing properties in Memphis and Jacksonville.  

I think I would have really struggled to make out of state investing profitable had I not had some hands on experience with local properties and flips.  Please consider house-hacking if you haven't done that yet!

Good luck!

I like to put myself in the seller's shoes.  He or she received an offer from you for a certain amount and takes his or her property off market by accepting your offer.  Then he or she has to take a $30,000 price reduction after expecting to receive what was offered.  That's very frustrating for a seller because they either have to go back on market now after having lost a few weeks or sell the property for considerably less than planned.

As I buyer, I'd like to sympathize with their frustration and speak openly about how you expected the property to be in a certain condition when you walked through it but then were disappointed to later find things you did not notice up front.  Own the misses on the initial walkthroughs and see if they'll be willing to work further with you.  If not, it'd be best to walk quickly and allow them to get back on market and save yourself from getting into any trouble with disputed earnest money.

Good luck!