All Forum Posts by: Brooks Gagnon

Hey Brian! Love that you are making moves so young. I'd be happy to connect and help answer any questions you have about getting started.

Hey everyone. Looking for some opinions. I have 2 duplexes and a 4 family. Owned them for 7-12 years, all cash flowing really well, and have 3-4x equity in each. I'm trying to decide if I should sell some/all/none. My wife wants to sell while the market is still great, but I'm also concerned that maybe inflation continues, and keeping them would be a good protection against that, not to mention the continued cash flow. And of course, I'm considering the tax consequences of selling, as I'm not sure a 1031 would be too useful with the current market conditions. I appreciate any and all thoughts. Thanks.

If you're struggling to find cash flowing properties, you might consider looking outside RI a bit. I'm in Eastern CT and prices/taxes are much more affordable and rents are still great with plenty of demand. It's a quiet area making management pretty relaxed. Let me know if you want me to send you some properties with cashflow potential out this way.

Hi Kevin. What exactly are you looking for help with?

I don't know your full financial situation, but it sounds like you may be better off getting another W-2 in a similar position to your old one. That way you will have more financing options when it comes time to buy your house hack (lenders often require 2 years of experience in your current work field). And getting your RE license is a great idea, but I wouldn't plan on getting your first check for the better part of a year if you haven't even begun the classes, and probably much longer before you could replace that W2 income. 

So my advice would be to get another similar job to what you had and stick it out while you build out the rest. Patience and hard work will get you wherever you want to get to.

Looking for some thoughts on buying a flip using your own cash, versus getting a hard money loan. What do you think are the advantages/disadvantages of both, and which would you likely prefer to use. Personally, I have always been a fan of using OPM (other people's money), but is it worth the added expense if you have plenty of cash to fund it yourself? Would love to know what everyone thinks!

 Dmitriy. Funny to run into you here, you setup our Solo for us last year. I hope you're doing well!

Hey Lou! Great to hear from some local people here on BP. I'm located in northeast CT and we are pretty active in the RI market as well. Would love to connect.

I agree with Ian. Be willing to expand your area beyond just the city, perhaps closer to CT where I am. You may even consider coming over the line into the Killingly, CT area. Although inventory is still very tight, prices are much more affordable, and like most places, we are getting record high rents. And it's only about a half drive from Providence.