All Forum Posts by: Brook Rieman

Hi there, we are in the Bloomington, IN area but I have a brother-in-law who is also into REI who invests your area. I'll see if I can put you in contact. Shoot me a pm with your phone number if you'd like to connect with him.

@Ben Stoodley thank you so much for that thoughtful answer. Appreciate it!

I am looking to get into buying flip properties at sheriff’s sales but I need cash to do that. I have found several friends potentially interested in providing private money loans but I’m wondering what you use as loan collateral in this kind of case. If I were purchasing a property directly, they could have a lien on the property being purchased but what about in a case like this where you have to have the private money in hand BEFORE buying the property? 

Edit to add- would it be wise to have them put a lien on my other rental properties which I already own? 

Ah I see. A small condo is a good idea. I own one that we Airbnb. Just make sure you check with the HOA prior to purchase to make sure they allow short term rentals. Do not rely on seeing other Airbnbs in the area, they might not be legal and you don't want to take a chance of being **** down. Also call the local planning/zoning officials to make sure there are not ordinances against Airbnb. When doing to financial calculations, be sure to account for everything you need to outfit your space down to silverware, curtains, every single item you will need. Best of luck!

Hi Azaria, I'm not sure I'm fully understanding your question. Do you mean you want to get into Airbnb but aren't sure if it will do well enough to pay the rent? I wouldn't start STR unless you have the funds to pay the rent on your own if it doesn't make money. I would personally only Airbnb something I own. Renting a property to Airbnb can be very risky, as others have said.

To be honest those stains would freak me out, too. I would suggest you switch to all white bedding and white duvet covers which are removed and beached between guests. Stains are still a battle but it’s super important in my opinion. As for the guest, I would have done the same, offered a refund. I would honestly probably refund their entire stay in this case. 

Also, my husband and I would be happy to chat with you sometime about Btown. 

Hi Jim! We are in Bloomington, too. We have a nice little investing meetup group in town you should check out. I’ll message you with more info. 

The building is a very short walk from our house. We really didn’t have any expectation of being able to afford it but decided to go look at it, mainly for fun. We had the sellers agent show it to us and he let slide that NOBODY was calling about it. He kept pestering with emails asking me to make an offer and finally, mostly to get h in to leave me alone, I said “The most I could offer for that place would be $25k. He said “Ill take that to my seller!”. Turns out it was owned by a widow who’s kids were fighting over the properties so she was willing to practically give it away to shut them up. This experience definitely thought us not to by shy about lowballing. We’ve thrown out some crazy offers, but what have you got to lose? Might get lucky!