All Forum Posts by: Carl Dean

I know every single one of these people closely and have been in the business for some time. The only questions you need to ask is "how many deals have your students done this year?"  Thats it. Many of these people have podcasts, books and whatever else they can do to "grow" their presence.. Brad has none of that and is strictly a mentor.  I have been to his events and met many of his students and they all praise his program.  I just saw something on FB saying that his students purchased over 500M in apartments in 2018 alone... That to me sounds like a proven winner. I don't know any other programs with students doing that kind of volume. 

MF deals are not easy to do and take a team of people with experience, PM in place, Net worth of the loan amount, hard money up front 100k+ and many other things. I have been in the real estate investment business my entire adult life and struggle to get a MF deal done. I like Rod's podcast a lot but don't know anything about his program at all. What I do know is that I was very skeptical of Brads program at first and though the same as many skeptical people here "I can better use the money" ..."I can find my own investors and guarantor"... I can find and underwrite my own deal... At the end of the day I have attended several of Brads weekend events (because I live in Dallas) and honestly... The guy is genuine in his approach and really does help people get across the goal line. I have met and spoke to several people that have joined Brads group and purchased and sold several deals because of it. No joke, these people are for real making a lot of money and I have not heard a single person who purchased the program complain or say it wasn't worth it (trust me I asked).  At this point, I have to say that Brad really does do well in this space and his program is absolutely worth it if you are serious about breaking through to the next level and doing a MF deal. Again, I love Rods show... but after inspecting his program from the outside looking in over the years I must say that it does work. He wont let you join if you cant afford it but if you can (and you're serious about MF investing) than it's worth it. The 2 day event and bus tour really tells it all, he pulls up the hood and shows real examples and you meet real students. I would recommend checking it out, its worth the $195 or whatever it is hands down. (I am a run on sentence kind so forgive the grammar) 

@JR M. I can definitely assist there. I tried to send you a request on here but not sure if it went through. Feel free to email me and I can speak further about opportunities. 

You will want to know what other items could fall under "other income" i.e. pet deposits, trash, utility bill backs etc. Then look at the price per sq ft. and compare that to comparable properties (call and shop them). Typically there should be room to increase the rents or bill back some of the utilities to increase the cash flow. Look up the different RUBBS programs and Green Programs that can lower your expenses and potentially save you some basis points on your loan. As a rule of thumb, every dollar you add in cash flow will = X in value. Example: if you are buying an 8 cap product, for every 1$ in increase you will divide that by .08 (or 8%) and that is how much value you have potentially added to your property. If you would like some more assistance and great info I recommend Ken McElroy's book "The Advanced Guide to Real Estate Investing" or a podcast called "Old Capital Podcast", I have found a lot of value in both. Feel free to reach out with any additional questions via email, I don't check this as much as I would like to but I always love to help a beginning investor. 

Best of luck!

@Andrew Johnson Looks like you have had enough of the horror stories so I will just say.... NO don't do it or you will eventually regret it tremendously. They are NEVER what they appear and way to risky. I have lost a lot in my life rolling the dice on C class assets. 

@Vincent Chen,

I agree with both @Tamiel Kenney and @David Thompson here. As someone who sold over 100 turnkey rentals in DFW last year I can tell you that your best bet is to join a group of well connected syndicators that have the inside scoop on these deals. They can be found but I highly doubt someone from another state that is not already heavily invested in the market would be able to get their hands on them. The good deals never hit market. 

People have had some negative things to say about south Dallas here but that has been my bread and butter in the DFW market and I have had the best experience of my investing career there and areas of Tarrant county. Newer brick homes, cashflow well, and appreciate like crazy. I have report after report showing higher appreciating values over some of the North Dallas suburbs (where I live), and it is because of those assets that we won an award for the best turnkey provider last year. I just had to add this piece in here because I think so many peoples opinions are based on very little actual experience in the market and a bias towards where they have had personal success. When its SFR, North Dallas is a great flip market, South Dallas is a great buy and hold rental market (getting slim... but still good). Multifamily value add.. I would look at areas of Fort Worth and also north of 635 and near the Richardson area.

I think there are some good multifamily plays here that would interest you but again, most would be through syndicating larger complexes with a good group of people. I can say that the return and structure of some of the syndication deals that I have been shown over the last year are both conservative and attractive. Would be happy to help connect you or send you market info if you would like. 

@Angela A. Have you looked into converting to a solo401k? This is what many of my clients do in order to save some money on taxes etc. Also, there is a way to leverage those funds with non recourse financing offering 60% LTV.

As for the 1% rule... Most of the content written about this is outdated. Yes there are several markets in the US where you can hit the 1% rule with B class stock. In Texas however, those days are long gone. I will say that I still have assets that perform very well in TX, offering a 6.5-7.7% Net ROI, which I think is great in an appreciating market like this. B class assets have never really worked for me in TX, the taxes just don't make sense for B class assets. The sweet spot in TX is currently 135k - 220k for good cashflow and appreciation.

I would be happy to discuss in further detail and send you some information if you would like. Please send me a private message if you wish. 

@Angela A.  I am not 50 but I have several clients that started near that age. Most of these clients did start by using their retirement funds in self directed accounts (happy to refer a company if need be). 

My advice would be to invest in turnkey assets from a reputable company with a good BBB rating. If you have the option to use your retirement funds that would be a great use of your retirement vs. the stock market. 

Stay in safe markets with good growth (TX is in my opinion the best for this). 

Invest in turnkey (rental properties with tenants in place already so there is no work for you to do). 

Avoid high returns that seem to good to be true and low end rentals. This will have to much risk for someone close to retirement. 

Don't invest in assets that will be negatively geared (mortgage more than rent). 

If you need help or any introductions to good turnkey providers I am happy to help. 

@Caleb Heimsoth I appreciate you agreeing with my point. I personally have had the worst luck in Ohio for several reasons. I will say that at the time I was purchasing assets around the 55-75k range. I have learned many lessons the hard way and C class assets are always going to be just that. I also do some KC assets myself but I will be honest when I say I prefer the STL assets over the KC ones. I am playing devils advocate against myself here but the STL props tend to be small brick ranches (low turnover cost) and have low crime and low taxes... important ingredients to a good B class recipe. Of the 300+ assets we turned last year, more than 150 of them were in STL. We even got Fortune Builders to enter into the market with us (big deal for that group, they are very thorough and cautious, and for good reason to protect their reputation). 

My main point was, if you only have 60k and want a good investing experience... start with turnkey and deal with the experienced groups. Otherwise you could loose that 60k quick and cause yourself a lot of headache. The upside to that is, you would learn some valuable lessons as many of us have, but I will be the first to tell you that for what it cost me in the long run, I wish I would have had a mentor helping me avoid those mistakes and not being bias to keep me buying their product. 

Use google, research the companies, read the reviews and the testimonials. Look for BBB accreditation and pay attention to how long they have been in business under the same name. 

I would honestly look at turnkey on conventional loans and get out of that market. Live where you want but invest where it makes sense. I would look at solid B markets with low taxes and smaller brick homes. Rents over $800, purchases around 85-100k. Markets like St. Louis, Michigan, Memphis, or maybe Jacksonville. There are good turnkey providers in every market but typically there are 1-2 who are the best performing and they are not hard to find. If you need further guidance, feel free to reach out.