All Forum Posts by: Casey Helmick

I think "analysis paralysis" is the number one hurdle that most beginning investors have (fail) to get over.  Real Estate is very expensive compared to the typical costs most people deal with in their lives.  That makes it scary.

And it is tricky trying to give advice about this.  I mean, I don't want to encourage you to do something stupid!  ;)  At the same time, I do want to encourage you to trust in your own common sense.  I can (and I think many others here can), from personal experience, pretty much guarantee you that your first investment will have all sorts of negatives that you didn't know about.  Accept that.  And then move forward anyway.  You will learn a lot.  And your 2nd investment will be better, but you'll still learn ($$$) even more, making your 3rd investment better still, etc.  I like to think of this not inexpensive process as a different way of paying tuition for the education I need.  ;)

One nice thing about real estate is that it actually is pretty versatile.  Maybe you buy a house to flip, but can't find a buyer, so you turn it into a rental.  Real Estate has intrinsic value, and there is (almost) always away you can turn it into profit.  So you have more flexibility on an investment than you likely realize.

Learn as much as you can.  Seek advice.  Make the best decision you can.  And then pull the trigger.

I honestly appreciate all the motivation and decisiveness.  The idea of having to go into debt, especially in this magnitude, is daunting.  I find myself on a rollercoaster of emotions, constantly oscillating between terrified and equally excited.

I'm just finishing Millionaire Real Estate Investor, it's a great book! I also really liked The Weekend Millionaire's Secrets to Investing in Real Estate. I've spent the last several months reading as many books as I can in my spare time and listening to as many podcasts as possible in my daily commute. I find recurring themes and strategies that come up over and over, gaining the knowledge from multiple sources has helped to narrow my focus and weed out the strategies that don't seem to fit me and my plan and also has helped me to discern what information seems to be bogus. I also have started talking to industry professionals such as my mortgage lender at the credit union, an RE investor that I work with in my "day job", and a RE Agent I'm an acquainted with. My plan is to acquire as much knowledge as possible and complete my written business plan with a timeline for achievements. I'm a few weeks from completing a studio apartment I'm building in my primary residence and I have a tenant ready for an Aug 1st move in date. I'm starting with this house hack and then I'll follow my plan that I want to implement as soon as this first project is complete.

Steps I'm taking...

1. Acquire as much knowledge as possible (Books/Podcasts/Interviewing Industry Professionals and Investors)

2. Writing up a formalized Business/Investment plan (Who, what, when, where, why, how)

3. Begin Marketing by letting people know what I intend to do and when. Making and handing out business cards, etc.

4. Implement and follow my plan and timeline. (Adjust or Pivot as necessary as I move forward, nothing is static.)

There is a heap of information out there, devour as much as possible from as many sources as possible! Good luck in your upcoming endeavors!

Hey Casey! From what I can tell, I am currently where you want to be at the end of next year (we are on the verge of buying our second property!). I highly encourage you to keep reading all the comments from the seasoned investors and wanted to share my advice from the past year of learning, planning, and practicing for launching our business. 

Background: My husband and I have been preparing to buy our second property for a year now. We bought our first property (a duplex) about 2 and a half years ago. It wasn't a risky first-time buy, but it made us realize we needed to #1 Save #2 Learn #3 Plan. 

Looking back: In the past 3 months I have been doing home renovations along with contacting accountants, commercial lenders, private lenders, hard money lenders, property managers, real estate agents, and other business owners. I have learned more in the past 3 months than I did in a year of reading books, listening to podcasts and planning. I don't want to dismiss the saving, learning and planning stage but I do want to encourage you to get hungry to start. You might need to save less than you think. Or you may be able to start with house hacking a duplex similar to what we did starting out- even if you are still in school! You are already strides ahead by being active in a REI network like BiggerPockets.

Take away: You can still be active in real estate investing without buying. Join a REI group, take on a home projects for family or friends, watch the market in your area, tour other apartments or houses for fun. The more you are active the faster you learn and the more people get to know your face!

@Casey Helmick Read "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" for mindset education and motivation. Read "Millionaire Real Estate Investor" by Gary Keller (owner/founder of Keller-Williams Realty). These two books kept me motivated and furthered my education in RE investing. 

Personally, I told myself that I just wanted to be in the game. I wanted to understand every aspect of real estate and know it well. My first deal was a small 2 bed 1 bath single family home, and I liquidated my IRA to pay for the down payment. I'm really glad I took the leap of faith because that property has cash-flowed well and helped me acquire other properties.

I picked one thing to focus on and took action. That's all you can do when you're first starting out. If you overthink things and try to avoid EVERY issue you'll never get started. Pick something that you see yourself doing and run with it. Best of luck to you!

@Casey Helmick

That’s cool, what city ?

And gotcha, you could start by flipping houses, but that’s fairly risky and it’s quite a challenge in our current environment to buy low enough to make the numbers work.

I would highly recommend house hacking as it’s a great first step into RE. It’s easier to manage tenants as you’re right there living next to them and eliminating your housing expense drastically increases your savings rate which makes deal #2 come much quicker!

Here in CO Springs there’s a huge demand for room rentals and I know Denver is the same way which also makes house hacking work really well.

Have you considered that option ?

 With so many different ways to invest in RE, it can be hard to narrow one strategy down and focus on it. House hacking tends to be one of the easier ways to get started but you have to start with your personal situation & goals. 

What are you trying to get out of RE? What sort of financial position are you in personally? What skills do you already have?

Answers to these questions will allow us to give far more useful advice!

-Dan

@Casey Helmick welcome.  Do you have any more specific questions?  And can you explain what you mean by 'demographic influences'?  Do you own or rent your primary? Is there a specific market you're looking at?  Are there any strategies or niches you're interested in?

I started "investing" when I moved out of a condo - my first primary - and kept it as a rental.  It doesn't cash flow - I break even every month - but I kept it because ( 1 ) it's in an 'A' neighborhood, ( 2 ) it's appreciating in value, and ( 3 ) I don't have any reason to sell it.  I then purchased 2 more mediocre deals.  Then I discovered BiggerPockets.

I suppose I’d be most interested in avenues that are more low risk for now.  I just graduated college, and I am working on putting back a decent safety net (large enough to have both a good amount of savings and a down payment). My girlfriend works for an attorney, and I work with National Home Builders and Custom Home Design-Build firms...so it might make the most sense for me to begin with flipping since I have contacts.  I’m genuinely just tying to figure out what’s the best way to begin this journey without putting anything on a credit card.  I also listened to Karen Rittenhouse in episode 2 of the podcast, and I loved the idea of taking over someone’s lease (I’m honest and hard-working enough to take the burden/opportunity seriously).  I would like to take over a lease, renovate, and either rent or sell, depending.  Demographic influences refer to things in your area that affect the market, such as, the ever prevalent covid in large cities.  Another example: I am in CO, and all the skiing towns are extremely expensive and seasonally demanded.  I currently rent since I may have to move to DC or NYC in 2022.  I would be totally fine breaking even; it sounds like you’re paying off two mortgages without losing money and that’s a great place to start!