All Forum Posts by: Che Chiu Wong

 Agree with Darren in going to the stores to find good contractors.  

Especially if you can find a good guy, always looks for ways (ie. do it savvily) to ask for referrals.  Good people tend to cluster together.

Also, I like to give a new hire for small job to test things out.  Aside from workmanship, more importantly, the goal is to test whether a new worker's work ethic and professionalism.  

It's easy to find a person who knows how to tile , it is much more difficult to find a person who you can trust.

@Zev Bannett At the beginning, you should definitely consider investing near your neighborhood.  Where is yours? (can't depict from your description)

@Bram SpieroThere are quite a bit in NJ.  First, parts of Milwaukee are kind of suburb (one of my good friend lives nearby there).  But if we are talking about lower-income, relatively high cashflow neighborhoods, there are a few.  Newark / Oranges / South Jersey / parts of Jersey City comes to mind.  

@Ray 

@Ray Jimenez

Would it be possible that:

1) it was a shortsale, and 

2) the listing agent was trying to sell the house for 10k (probably trying to sell to an investor for cheap), and

3) the original lending bank wants more so the bank never approves the sale, and hence the listing never went to fruition and expired?

@Matthew SwisshelmBest of luck Matthew!  Manage your property (propertIES in the future) well and you will be fine.

 Hi Kim, I would have a comment on one of the "Pro" points which you have highlighted.  If the numbers don't work (for you), make sure the numbers work for the person who you refer to.  You want to make sure for EVERY deal that run through you, the end client thinks it is a good deal.  Reputation is much much more important than 1 single deal's earning.

In general, it is certainly easier to get comp data if you are a licensed realtor.  If you can afford it and if there is no way that you have cooperating realtors, you should strongly consider to get licensed just for this reason alone (I was, even though I have realtor friends, it's just easier!)

@Calvin Gittens

Your suggestion is certainly possible.  Do you trust the numbers?

One of the most important elements in real estate investing is understanding the value of the properties. Unless you are super familiar with the area and the houses' worth, already, I would strongly suggest to run your own comps. Find a way to get MLS (e.g. get a license, ask your realtor friend for MLS temporarily). You can even run some basic comps using Zillow (not as good of course, but it is at least some good practices)

By the way, once you become super familiar in a particular area, you should be able to run "mental comps". That is, if you know the address, the material information (e.g. bedroom / bathroom count, year built), and the estimated repair cost, you should be able to do rough comps in your head, without pulling MLS data!

But that will only come when you have done so many comps prior!

Understanding the value of your investments is the key to this business.

@Matthew Swisshelm

Congrats on your planning, does sound like a good plan.

To summarize, looks like you are doing a back-to-back VA loan house hacking (so no money down) correct?

Two things I will suggest:

1) Since you will be doing 100% financing, your debt servicing will be relatively high.  Run your numbers to make sure they are cashflow positive. (Be conservative on estimating expenses.  If uncertain, account for more expenses than you think to avoid surprises down the road.)

2) Ask around (start with various loan officers / mortgage specialist / mortgage broker) to see how far you away the two houses need to be in order to comply the VA requirement. (e.g. does it need to be in a different town?)

Good luck! 

To further @Steve Babiak's point, if a prospective tenant dares to give you a bad check during application, you know that his/her rent checks in the future will bounce in the future (ie. bad tenant).

Least recent to most recent:

1) Zillow (can you imagine?)

2) MLS

3) Same agent from #2 

4) Friend (also in Real Estate) passed it over, which is from wholesaler

5) An agent who I met before, but then sealed a deal during a Happy Hour =)

 In my area, around 8% cap rate (conservative expense assumptions).  That translates to around 200-250 dollars per door.

As to "why", to a large extent, this is governed by the market.  I am buying the best deals I can buy in the area which I choose to invest in.  I chose my city (Jersey City) because houses cashflow properly here as-is with great potential for thr city transformation, which is already happening in certain sections, thanks to its proximity to New York Manhattan.