All Forum Posts by: Bryan Clement

In Maine an easy fix would be to roto- till up the upper two - three inches of soil and seed it. If you do it yourself, that gets you out of the project at 60-70 dollars average, depending upon how large the yard is. Might be worth it to keep good, clean, well paying tenants happy. 

I think this depends a lot on our economic standing as a whole. Right now, leveraging to the hilt might not make much sense given the generally overvalued nature of real estate at the current market levels. After the crash of 08-09? I wasn't in real estate then but I would've leveraged everything I had and the neighbors' dog to buy all of the cheap deals at those low interest rates. 

I invest in Maine and it's a great place to invest. It's probably the most downturn proof state in the USA due to the nature of its population. Being the oldest state in the union, Maine has a ton of personal savings so it's economy can ride out downturns easily. Just look at how it did in 2008 and 09 compared to the rest of the nation! Half the drop in prices, and was quicker to recover.

 So Apple gives you $1.46 per share per year and the share price is $208.87. At that rate it would take you 143 years to make you your money back in full. You can buy my house at $99,000 and make $700 per month if the house is free and clear. At that rate, it would take you only 11 and 3/4 years to make your money back. The cash flow is much better in real estate. 

The house has to be livable but that doesn't necessarily mean there's no room to add value. My single family I bought with a government insured loan had a 2X4 ladder to the second floor (no other stairs) limited counter space, no dishwasher, old stove, only a stand up shower, and bad flooring. It's hard to renovate I a single family while living there but more possible with a duplex triplex, etc. Now I can update it even though it was livable before. Getting something livable doesn't necessarily mean perfect. 

The biggest one is CASH FLOW! What other investment lets you buy it, cash flow enough so that you can pull 100% of your money out and repeat? Definitely not Stocks or Bonds. In fact, you cannot leverage stocks or bonds based on cash flow alone because the cash flow of those investments suck! 

Thanks Katie! I will look more in depth at my local area for sure! Would contacting hospitals be a good way to get in touch with renting to traveling nurses? I hadn't thought of that before! 

Hello Biggerpockets, 

I'm ready to rent my house out and I am wondering whether I should rent my house out as furnished or unfurnished? I'm moving cross country so I can leave the furnishings in the house but I don't want to be liable to fix the furnishings if the tenant breaks them. Is there a way around that? 

I have very little experience with this whatsoever so I'm just regurgitating info I've heard from others, I've heard the best plan is to keep contributing until you have a stable REI company, and then you can roll the funds into a self-directed IRA that you can use to fund some deals.