All Forum Posts by: Chris LumLee

On one hand, you could use that to your advantage. Perhaps the seller may become more motivated to sell and you can get a better deal. Like @Lauren C. said, others may have had a different strategy. This is the point your research comes into play...are the numbers good? Is the location good? Etc. And then you can go from there. Cheers!

I would've focused my goal on investing in real estate. Before buying the rental I have now, I saved a little bit here and there for a purchase and then saved some more in my brokerage account. If you want to get into real estate, go for the gusto and put your efforts all in.

Hi,

I've been considering buying a rental property in Lansing and wanted to see if anyone knew about the rental market there to help me. I'm trying to find out if the average turnaround time to get a place rented out is a relatively long while. I'm specifically looking at Waverly but am also open to considering nearby areas.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

@Jonatan Nir I hate to do this to you but "it depends". It'll really depend on your comfort level. I made a mistake when I bought my out of State rental property by blowing all my cash on the purchase that I didn't consider CapEx. So I'm trying to save at least $1,000 as a cushion. In your case since it's a multi and you have big money in it, I would say at least 10%-20% of the income. But again, it generally comes down to what makes you comfortable.

Hi,

By my calculations- and I'm sure you might want to re-check these figures just in case, here are the numbers I've come up with:

ROI = 16%. (Income [$118,320] / Investment Basis [$737,000])

Cash-on-Cash Return = 6.36%. (Cash flow [$46,858] / Investment Basis [$737,000])  

CAP Rate = 7.13%. (NOI [$46,858] / Property Price [$657,000])

Looks like you're analyzing based on annual expenses versus monthly. That's fine also depending if you want an annual projection or a monthly projection. Just for planning purposes I would recommend adding an additional "expense" in there for general CapEx just in case.

Hi,

I've got my eye on Memphis, TN (Whitehaven) for my next rental property. I'm looking at Zillow for listings and a lot of houses looks really nice so I wanted to get feedback from anyone in the BP universe to see if anyone knows of which neighborhoods I should stay away from? I'm also hoping to learn what successes anyone here has had in Memphis?

THANKS!

Congratulations! Very inspiring.

@Harrison Painter

My biggest mistake was not planning thoroughly. This led to me spending pretty much all my cash just to execute the purchase and then I had to save money for things such as CapEx. So definitely going forward I know to keep a little in the tank...if not for anything just for peace of mind.

Agreed. I imagine it being like other socialist countries- the DPRK comes to mind. I'd want to sit back and wait at least another decade before I think about Cuba. It is VERY exotic in theory, though.

Thanks for the responses. To clarify, I'm looking at taking the HELOC on the Detroit home- it's completely paid off. I haven't talked to any lenders (aside from the one I cited in my original post) because I'm still planning this out and trying to set aside some more money.