All Forum Posts by: Benjamin Seibert

Welcome Brandon! From the sounds of it you have a solid plan. It is always good to constantly revisit your 1,3, and 5 year plans and make sure you're on track or make necessary adjustments to get back on track. $18k-$30k can be plenty to get started in real estate (depending on what market you're in and how you use it). If I were you, I would take 6-12 months and learn as much as I could about real estate investing. There are plenty of book recommendations floating around bigger pockets (the millionaire real estate investor, bigger pockets books, etc...) . Also, staying active in the forums and listening to the podcasts are other good ways to soak up knowledge. After taking the 6-12 months to learn about real estate investing I would refine my investing parameters... for example, do you want to invest in single family homes? Do you want to flip houses? etc.... there are many different routes you can go down. Once you've revised your parameters then it could be helpful to find other people who are pursuing the path you want to follow and network with them. Finally, after you've learned what you could and refined your investing criteria, it's time to jump into investing. You may be able to find someone to partner with (where you could bring less capital) or it may be time to purchase your own unit.

There are plenty of other people who may suggest different things but this is just a steady path to learn. gain confidence, and eventually make the jump into investing. Hope this helps!

Welcome Charles! I'm not personally familiar with Cleveland but the multi-family house hack while fix and renting is a good strategy. I'm currently using the BRRRR strategy with my properties (since I am still trying to build momentum as well). This method definitely helps to "keep the ball rolling" as you can pull out the money you put into a deal. It takes a couple extra calculations at the beginning and can sometimes be hard to estimate an appraisal amount but as long as your close you will at least be able to get most of your money out of a deal.

Good luck with getting started in real estate investing!

Depending on if your realtor has investment experience or not I get his opinion on how much the renovation will run as well (my realtor general has a good idea). I also just confirm how much the rents are in the area and look for any issues with the property (roof/water leaks, foundation issues, etc...) and try to get a feel for the age of some of the major cap ex expenses (roof, HVAC, water heater, etc...). If you're really interested in a property after visiting it yourself, it may be good to have a contractor do a quick run though to see what he/she thinks and how much/if any the repair costs will be. They may also notice any issues with the property they happen to see.

I am from the Hagerstown, MD area and was looking at a few potential investment properties in Cumberland. I was wondering if anyone was directly familiar with these areas and had any helpful information they could share or spare a few minutes to chat with me concerning these areas.

Thank you very much!

I am from the Hagerstown, MD area and was looking at a few potential investment properties in Waynesboro, Greencastle and Chambersburg. I was wondering if anyone was directly familiar with these areas and had any helpful information they could share or spare a few minutes to chat with me concerning these areas.

Thank you very much!

Each city/county will have their own regulations regarding this. For example, where I live they require the parcel to be at least 10,000 SF. I would call your local planning and zoning office and ask about this to make sure the property is properly zoned and fits the initial criteria for multifamily. Then, I would ask to make sure the area aligns with the county/city's strategic plan. Sometimes areas wont allow you to build a multifamily unit if it does not align with their plan.

I'm sure there are more tips than just this but I would definitely just start with calling up the planning and zoning office. They can give you the initial information you'll need to start analyzing properties.

Welcome John! There is definitely plenty of knowledge to be absorbed on BiggerPockets! I interned as a land surveyor for a summer & winter. I loved it! The only downside was pounding 100's of stakes for a large construction stakeout and surveying in the snow in -10 degree wind chill weather.

Good luck with finding your first deal and progressing in real estate!

@Jedd Braunwarth this was only for submetering electric. In my area tenants are usually only responsible for electric and the owner pays W/S/T.

@Joshua McMillen some other methods to find properties are as follows:

1) Marketing - direct mail marketing, marketing over social media, flyers, posters, etc...

2) Networking - get connections with wholesalers or other investors in your area. They could potentially bring you a deal.

3) Real Estate Agent with a Network - having a real estate agent with connections in the investing realm could bring you off market deals. Also the agent could bring you deals before they take them to the market, if they know you will close on it.

There are probably some other strategies I'm forgetting but these are the first ones that pop into my head. Hope this helps!

I can only speak for a current deal I am looking at but I received a quote of $5k to submeter a SFH into a duplex. I would think that in a 30-unit there would be a greater economy of scale and would cost less per unit to submeter, but I'm not 100% sure. Hopefully others can chime in on this with more information.