All Forum Posts by: Bobby Valcin

@Jerryll Noorden Thanks for chiming in. It sounds like what you are basically saying is I should be making leads come to me (marketing) , and not speculating on ‘leads’ that may not be actual leads.

I think I got it. As a matter of facts, all of the posts here are making me reorient my thinking a bit. I started looking into some marketing options over the last couple of days.

I appreciate all of your time and feedback.

@Patricia Steiner You are correct. Taking action is key.

Let me give some background. I did a BRRRR recently on a property that went over budget a bit so the "Repeat" part of the BRRRR will have to wait a bit. I decided to start looking into wholesaling as a way to build some additional capital and also find my own deals to use to partner with some local investors.

I’m trying to figure out a good starting place, hence my original question. Taking action is not what I’m struggling with at the moment. In the interest of time, I would just prefer not to throw a bunch of stuff against the wall to see what sticks.

Has Thumbtack generates business for you?

@Patricia Steiner I would have never thought to use Thumbtack. I will explore that. It could be that driving for dollars is the exception and not the rule, but it seems that many people have had success, hence the creation of things like the deal machine app. Some wholesalers are paying people to drive around to find properties that need TLC, which seems to result in good leads. I do not say all of this to doubt you necessarily. It just seems to be effective for many.

Would you say that seeing a property that looks distressed from the exterior is not a good lead potentially?

Is driving for dollars, knocking on doors and posting letters on doors the most efficient and cost effective way to generate good leads?

@Tracy R. Thanks for chiming in. I hope things work out well for you. Have you heard about anything in relation to what I mentioned about the limitations on a basement rental?

I have recently been looking into properties in Marietta, GA. My family and I are considering relocating to that area. If we do end up going that route, I was thinking it might be a good idea to rent out the basement and live in the main house (house hack).

I did some Google searching to see what a basement might rent for in that area, however, I was having a hard time finding any listed anywhere. I found this odd, so I decided to call Cobb County and they advised that a basement can only be rented by one adult with some kind of square footage per person limitation, and I could not wall off the basement door. The tenant would have to have “access” to the upstairs area. I’m not sure it that means that I can’t restrict their access to upstairs or that I just had to have a door there.

When I asked the rep why there weren't any basements for rent on the MLS he couldn't really give me an answer.

This was a bit of a let down hearing all of this, since there don’t seem to be many duplexes or front houses with in-law suites that would serve the same purpose.

Is there something I’m missing? Has anyone ever dealt with basement rentals in that area?

@Louis Porter Jr. Thanks for the encouragement. I need that.

@Tyler Gibson About 12k, plus the 20k in closing costs. I’m not sure if you would count that in your calculations.

@Tyler Gibson Good questions. I refinanced at 75% of the ARV (145k), which was a little over $108k. I'm getting $1400 in rent. In a sense, the numbers the wholesaler game me were only off by a few thousand, however, I also didn't necessarily have to rehab the property to the extent that I did. Going above and beyond also resulted in the ARV being 15k higher than theirs, and the rents being $200 more than their estimate as well. I ended up adding an extra bedroom.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Leesburg.

Purchase price: $59,900

My first BRRRR!

This is a 3/2 that was converted into a 4/2. It was purchased through a hard money lender for $59,900 with a rehab budgeted at $41,000. I had to put 10% down on the total amount, plus the closing costs and lender fees. About 20k total.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

I generally like to invest in properties that need a total gut job. There is something about the process of remodeling a home that I really enjoy.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

I found this deal through a wholesaler. The deal had recently been reduced by 10k, which made it the right price point for me.

How did you finance this deal?

I used a hard money lender and paid 10% down on the purchase and rehab.

How did you add value to the deal?

I added an extra bedroom.

What was the outcome?

I didn't end up pulling out the amount invested during the refinancing like I planned, however, I did end up cash-flowing well.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

I need to be more thorough with my due diligence. The original contractor was definitely the most challenging part of this. I ended up paying them an extra 10k, and they took way too long to complete the roof replacement.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Lima One Capital, Movement Mortgage