All Forum Posts by: Levi Gale

Everything Motivated said about Maricopa is correct. I would like to add that Maricopa is still one of the top growing areas in the County; however it’s a far cry from the boom days. A far far far cry. IMO appreciation is possible, but I don’t think I would risk it over there. As for cash flow you can get that all over the Phoenix metro area, and even the west valley. For better tenants I would say Tempe, Chandler, and west Mesa.

Nick, I have a question about Peoria for you. I and am working on my first flip there, and I know your feelings on the west valley I believe you said avoid the area between the 17, i10, and the 101. Obviously flips are rather thin, and I’ll post how it goes probably in the next month. But the question is what do you think about the area for long term holds?

[The original question asked what to do for "more income" so in my opinion, flipping provides more income than buy and hold, but also is a full time job. Flipping provides more income right off the bat too. With $1M, you could easily make $500k a year (and when I see easy, the job is not easy, but with those funds and the right education/abilities, it would not be hard to make that or more). I typically double my money on flips every year, so in my case, i would be making $1M per year with such funds of my own.]

Hey Will,
I hope this isn’t too personal of a question, but those are great returns. I’m curious how many flips do you average per year to get that kind of a return?

I like Bills post and agree if your buyers are close by you do not need a website. But I want to throw out an observation I made following one of my fellow BP members. The member is not a wholesaler but does wholesale some leads that do not fit his criteria. The member is Danny Johnson, and I follow his blog which breaks down the source of his leads, and gives some info on their quality. From what I have seen on his site is that his we buy houses website pulls in the most leads. Now they may not be the best, but it does look like it pulls in the most on a weekly basis. Remember I have no experience in this; it is simply an observation.

Hey Felix,
Looking at your other post I see that you have some information about Phoenix. So I’m going to guess that the property you are talking about is in or around Phoenix. I am new to investing but have been studying the local market quite a bit lately, and Nick can correct me if I am wrong but in the “low income side of town†you will find many properties around that price. I will not tell you if it is a bad investment or not I’m not that experienced, however I would suggest you have a realtor pull comps for you, at the very least look at comps on the free online resources (zillow, trulia). And you seem to already know you need to get over there and look at the property so I won’t even bother suggesting it may be wrecked and require extensive rehabbing. I hope I have helped and if anyone else feels I may have given bad information please correct me.

Hello BP,

I have a question regarding flip strategies and taxes. I noticed some people set their minimum profit at 15k, some 20k, some 15%, and so on. What I’m a bit confused on is do you take taxes into consideration when you set your max purchase price? Is that 20k minimum before or after taxes?

Hey BP,
I’ve decided to try my first flip, and have had an offer accepted on the property. Its not a great deal, and will not net huge profits, but let me know what you think.

House- 51,000
Closing (est) – 1500
Rehab (est) – 8,000 will budget for 10,000
Utilities (est) -500
Total cost – 63,000

Several comps in the immediate area (good sign?) the lowest was 75,000 the highest was 102,000 average came out to 84,000 using the 6 best comps.

Sale price (est) – 84,000
Agent fees (est) – 4,000

Pre-tax profit – 17,000

I feel that I have been fairly conservative with the sale price, but I guess that will depend on how the rehab turns out. If I missed anything please correct me, and again its not the best deal and not big profits, but what do you think will it make a decent first flip?

Unfortunately I have not been to one of the clubs meetings, and am out of the area so will not be able to attend this one. If it’s not too much trouble for you would you post how helpful it was, the good, or the bad that came out of it?

Thank you all for the help the tips were very helpful. Matt that is a great idea my searches yielded tons of bank owned properties. I was able to pick through them and find some on the market, and with practice hopefully I’ll be able to locate them before they hit the market.
Here is another question hope someone can help. I’m assuming that many investors try to look into the future, maybe for a new highway, highway widening, or read about a major employer coming to town. If I am wrong on any of this please let me know, but if that is the case the population should be expected to rise. People will come to rent when the jobs are available, and eventually buy. Now should an investor buy when you hear the news, wait until construction is set to begin, or wait until construction is finished so you have possible long term renters or can do a lease option? I understand there are other factors to consider like what is the current inventory, but hopefully I can get some feedback on this.

I recently stumbled upon AZREIA so you can look into that if you are still looking to meet other investors. I believe they have a meeting coming up very soon; you should be able to find out more info on their website. I’m not trying to plug for the association but I thought it might help you a bit. I'm new to investing in AZ as well, and wish you luck on making your first deal.

Hi everybody,
I am 24, work overseas, call Arizona home, and am relatively new to investing. I have made two deals so far (buy and hold REI’s), but I know I jumped into the game without proper planning, and research. With that being said I would like to get some tips from real investors, and feel fortunate to have found a site with some activity.

I want to find the most efficient ways to research property info and status. What are some good ways to find out if it is owner occupied, owner out of state, and why is it for sale? Trying to get started while out of the country has proven difficult so if anyone here has experience with distance investing and can spare some advice it would be great. However my experience has taught me that I
need a good team, but how big should I be before I employ real property managers? How important is a business plan, should I of made one before I started, after I grow, or “what are you waiting for get it done�

The past few years I have invested in local tax lien certificates, and am looking forward to the upcoming auction. So if anyone here is experienced in Arizona’s tax lien process, or wants to share some info or ideas let me know. And if there are any new investors in Arizona that want to share goals, track progress, or bounce ideas off one another shoot a message to me. I have so many questions but will leave it at that for now, I thank you for taking the time to read this, and welcome any and all advice.