All Forum Posts by: Benjamin Seibert

I believe it depends on the condition of the unit and whether remediation is necessary.

I believe it depends on the state. I would recommend just getting a residential agent if you're purchased residential and commercial if you're purchasing commercial. The respective agents will be more familiar with their markets: e.g. local cap rates (commercial), purchase prices, etc... The two different sectors can be very different within one area market.

@Marietta Miller congrats on the deal. Keep us updated with how it turns out

@Bryan Hernandez I was in your shoes a few years ago. Here are the steps I'd recommend:

1) Keep learning. Read more books, use the BP site and learn how to analyze properties and what a good and bad property looks like.

2) Define your purchase criteria (turn key, BRRR, what markets, etc...)

3) Look at your finances (can do this early on) and see where you would like to be. Pay off debt first, save a safety fund and then save some money for investing - some books will say you can invest with 0$ but you'll likely need some money to invest beforehand.

4) Build a team. Get a solid team in your desired market (lender, agent, contractor, insurance agent, PM, etc...)

5) Start investing

The big thing is to keep learning but make sure youre taking actionable steps along the way to make sure you're progressing towards purchasing a property. It's better to take time, learn, solidify your finances and purchase a GOOD rental property. Than rushing into it and buying a BAD rental property and running into finance problems and big headaches of investing.

Goodluck on your investing journey!

Never hurts to get a quote from an agent on what this would sell for. If it is a good number then it may not be a bad idea to sell.

It is extremely important to have a really solid team when investing out of state and it sounds like you ran into a bad PM. Make sure you always interview multiple PMs and compare them. If you can make the trip and meet your team in person, that's even better. Good luck with the property, I know COVID has been tough on many people - including owners.

@Cameron Rafford I would honestly recommend to sit tight, continue to learn, and build your wealth. Learn from your current property and keep reading books, studying, and building a team to get ready for future investing. You can purchase properties with relatively low funds (I started with $40k but you can even start lower if you find a lender who lends on rehab and BRRR it). The market is hot and it is important to take that step, iron out your criteria, learn, build your team, and then act. Good luck furthering your journey, you're on a great path with house hacking!

I've had both good and bad experiences (like all tenants). For me, they seem to be just like any other B-/C+ tenant in my area so I use Section 8. It all really comes down to the tenant and screening them. There are great people on Section 8 and there are horrible tenants on Section 8. Screening is the key.

@John Garcia congrats on the successful deal! Looks great!

@Ben Leybovich @Brian Burke syndication is definitely a top that is a little less covered than other investing realms and am having trouble finding a couple of answers. If you don't mind I have some syndication questions:

- Is there any way to structure deals under that threshold with normal financing to only require one guarantor? My partners and I have been working on setting up deals so that only one person would be required to guarantee the loan. Most lenders want anyone over 25% equity in the LLC to sign (our designated guarantor, who is a GP, has less than 25% so it creates an issue). We are trying to get out of having our investors to sign/guarantee but want them to receive distributions, not just loan us money.

- With non-recourse being common above $1million. Is there any way to structure deals under that threshold with normal financing to not require a guarantor? We worked with a lawyer to set up a Class A & B shares approach such that class A has all voting power and could guarantee the loan (the parent LLC of the GPs has class A votes) and class B receives minor say in voting and receives distributions (each investor gets class B shares). We haven't had much positive feedback from lenders on this as most haven't dealt with loans on this level and just prefer a person to guarantee.

Thank you in advance for any help!

@Bill Kenny I can second Bill Kenny's advice. The pandemic has been tough on some people but from what I've seen vacancy is very low and there are less payment delinquencies than more urban areas. The market is very hot right and can be tough sledding to get traction in the market. Make sure you set a plan and stick to it - don't get caught up in chasing a property just to purchase something, due to FOMO. Bill and his business partner Mike run a REIA in Martinsburg and they cover the Hagerstown market as well, you should check it out.