All Forum Posts by: Brandon Hicks

@Terry Lao

Your decision to cut costs and save money is a fine path. I went the no money/low money down route and saved time...not money. I went from 4 units to 64 units in right at 5 years. I’ve taken the last couple of years to focus on the portfolio and pay down debt. Now I’m about to embark on the ULTIMATE no money down investing strategy....syndication.

To each their own but there is a huge advantage to leveraging/scaling up early on. The compound effect it will have on my net worth should be pretty phenomenal over the next 30-40 years.

@Jeremy Blackman

The “amp” is some sort of glitch on bigger pockets with some users. I’ve noticed that James Wise’s posts are the same. I just read all those spots as “and” because that is what it’s supposed to be.

@Michael Batts

So did the officer end up having a house to sell you or know of one?

@Eric Healy

1031 into another opportunity

@Bryce Allen

The PITI is $2500....from what I'm reading...Market rent is around $1900-2000. So by the time you factor in all the true expenses of holding and operating this property it may be over $3k a month. So even getting market rent you're down $12k a year out of pocket. Some years will be better and some could be worse. Suppose you own it for 20 years and FEED it $240,000 over that time period.

Do you REALLY think you couldn’t beat the return elsewhere? I sure as hell can. 

@Patrick Fraire Sell it. Seriously...we’re close to the top of the market. Want a condo like that to hold as a rental forever? Sell this one and buy one like it prices dip down.

@Chris Grenzig When I read the original post I immediately thought of a recent podcast episode (can’t recall the actual show but it wasn’t BP) where there were two women that were doing this with multiple syndicators. They were given a piece of the GP to help raise money. I believe...that because they are involved with the GP they aren’t required to be licensed

@Bo S.

I hit 63 units in mid-2016, bought one house in January 2017 to make it 64. Sold that house to a friend to help get him started in January 2018. I’ve not bought anything since then. I’m currently focusing on paying debt down while the market is high.

I was able to do a big refi where I combined 8 land contracts (26 total units) into one new bank loan last summer. So I’m down to just a few remaining land contracts. 

Im to the point where I really don’t want anything else that I have to manage myself so I believe my next move will be syndication. To help with that transition, im attending @Ben Leybovich’s Arizona syndication workshop in January.  

@Christina Tkacs For starters I’d call around immediately to find a cheaper plumber. Camera and line snaking costs me $175 and $185 respectively I believe....snaking might be $195. Ya get idea though. Have the tank pumped...make the PM ask the questions they’re hesitant to AND send a reminder letter about what to flush and not flush. You can word it tactfully as to not place blame. The backflow valve may be a worthy investment and should be able to be installed for well under $2500-3k depending on what type of contractor you I use. My handyman actually does all these types of projects for me since I’m in an area that doesn’t require a licensed professional. I just rent him a mini excavator for the day and let him have at it. Either way make sure you hire someone that is actually skilled enough to repair it properly.

@Justin Petrides I own and self manage 63 units. I’ve rented to several friends and some distant family member without any real issues. That said, if I could do it over again, I’d have everything with property management so this wouldn’t even be a decision I’d have to make.