All Forum Posts by: Brian G.

@Cody Breunig dont get too caught up with the license. There are many ways you can get good at this. Learn a market, the inventory and what motivates buyers and sellers. Look at everything logically and ask yourself why transactions are taking place. There are many ways to start. One option: contracting. Where is the money going. Kitchens? Floors? Why is that? Find ways to get good at it. Earn and accumulate. Buy your own units. Make them more appealing than your competitors. Keep buying more properties. When the time is right, trade your properties for better ones. Increase your cash flow. Learn cash flow and why it matters. Build your team. Be the best in town. Expand beyond your area. Think big! There is your start...

 LOL...

 Jonathan thanks for everything that you do. My 2 cents. 

Do as others advised. Dont stop there. Look at real rental levels and the actual transactions/closings at the county level for your type of asset. How transactions looks like will give you a superior hedge when talking to other investors, realtors, contractors and of course - the wife. There is nothing like preparation. Im sure you can relate from your armed services experience. These transactions are going to start talking to you. Why? They are real and the actual pulse of your market. If you master this, you will be at another level. If you use a combination of lecture and real evaluations from your market you become succesful and credible to others. My wife is now more open to REI goals and oh boy is she aggresive. Not yet living in a duplex with tenants but can keep me very honest going forward with "the numbers". 😅

All the best to you...

Opps auto posted without finishing typing. Anyways, talk to people. Talk to people. Talk to people. Failure rate for agents is through the roof down here. The only ones that survive are master networkers. Skin like a Rhino and are walking talking real estate stats, know must contracts upside down and are a textbook when it comes to inspections, permits, building codes, farming, etc! All the best

 I have to go with @Devon Garbus on this one. Hands down South Florida is super intense. Tal

@Joshua Feit man I feel your pain but please lets get back on our feet. We all been there. I own rentals in four Florida counties and Puerto Rico. Looking at your scenario and I am confused with your statement "I haven't lost any money, but I haven't made any either"...

Without the details, it will be hard to point the areas of concern but here are my observations:

1. The calculators aren't always right...  Hmmm. My question will be what was entered into the calculator. Because if I am feeding actual figures into it, I should be getting actual (or close to reality) estimates. Remember garbage-in = garbage-out. So from rent levels, to property prices, to repair expenses, to debt service, to what competitors are offering, to tenant underwriting, everything has to be 1. verifiable and 2. from credible sources, tax records, inspections and/or professional opinions. Any slight deviation from this and your calculator will be worthless.

2. Finding reliable contractors has been ridiculous.  Well, this could be a tricky one. I also had my disappointments but this is what I know. I am the inquisitive type so I always ask a ton of questions. Sometimes I know the answers sometimes I don't. But this face-to-face interaction enables me to detect if the individual is full of #$%t!. And from your post it seems that you knew how to do the job yourself. Did you put him on the spot with some keen tough questions specific to each job? Did you show up at the job site to evaluate his progress twice a day? Once a day? If not, oops sorry but this reflects more on you rather than your contractor. Shame, shame...

3. Vacancies are expensive...  Hmmm again. Vacancies are expensive if I allow it.  There will always be vacancies but for no more than one month. Sometimes I can drive this down to just a weekend. This is what I know. When a tenant decides not to extent their lease, this triggers a mandatory inspection. I go in there and in 15 minutes I have a good idea of possible repairs. I keep my tenant engage and talk to them every week until vacate date. For them is clear how they could be impacted if the place is not returned the same way they found it. 3-days before their move out date I show up with my checkbook ready to return their deposit. 9-10 times they leave the place in good shape. I write them a check and return their deposit on the spot! You must stay on top of it. I always show my units before the place is vacant. In regards, to renovations I am not touching a counter unless my competitors dictates it. I open and evaluate all active rentals that are competing with me. They don't renovate. I don't renovate. Why should I? Unless, of course, I can see where increasing my rent will compensate my cash flow position. That's a different story and it must be verifiable.    

So, sometimes things doesn't go our way. For the sake of our pledge to financial freedom please be relentless. Without struggle there is absolutely no progress. Don't ever feel discouraged. Don't do this to me now! 😄 And to your calculator, continue adding your paper losses (depreciation, etc.) and the aggregate equity your tenants are funding with their monthly payments.   

All the best...

Question: Say you want to compare duplex units. All similar construction with comparable concrete walls and shingle roofs. All are equivalent in size. All are located in B class inland areas. All units are as originally built and nothing has been replaced or improved (including HVAC). The only thing that varies is the year built. What reserve % would you estimate for CAPEX on the structures considering the following year built ranges?

From 1960 to 1970?

From 1970 to 1980?

From 1980 to 1990?

Or am I over thinking it?

Well I have an iPhone and tried the IOS app but decided to move back to web mobile. It is better and easier to navigate, attend alerts, spelling and follow threads. Still painful to include pictures when working a project uploading pics, calculations tables and @ tagging others. Agreed that probably must users are accessing BP from mobile thus the need for a better/robust app. 

@Account Closed thanks for the link. Impressive the amount of funds raised off US soil where some marginal deals could actually be considered heavens for international private money - "wow, this is cheap". And for locals banks in South Florida limiting their exposure in the commercial real estate space, well I guess some are closer than others when structuring international deals. There will always be deals, heaven seekers and private money. Maybe is not all about the property, but also with what fits international profiles, how to think alike and engage with them. Another interesting reading... https://www.bisnow.com/miami/news/commercial-real-...

Ha... :-) great reading and it makes complete sense. I am starting to pick a tone from other  individuals here in BP that drive and desire to conquer a market only answers part of the acclaimed question "What do you really want?". Its amazing how well some of them have built their RE empires surrounded by systems to reduce their participation. Take for example Podcast #133 with Jason Cohen towards the end around 57 minutes. Josh asked Jason "So how do you build a successful business?" to what Jason replied "Keep errors to a minimum because you will make a lot of them. If you make a mistake, create a system to where you can't make that mistake again". Now this is coming from a guy that amassed $50M worth of real estate in one decade. So if you were to ask me today "Brian what do really want?". I want to do what I am doing now with systems and methods in place that allows me to: 1. spend more time with family 2. reduce errors/risks and 3. stay competitive in the market.

Great learning today from your story... Too bad I could only vote once. All the best