All Forum Posts by: Christian Beyer

@Jeff Carpenter hey Jeff- did you end up working with them?

@Ikaika Farmer

Start by saving 10-20% of what you earn. Advantageously buy real estate. Hold your investment funds and extra cash in VTSAX. Be patient and steadfast!

@Anthony N. Gonzalez

Anthony- welcome! You’ve made the first step by getting involved with BP so you’re off to a good start.

I went to Penn State, but no longer live in the area. I’d be happy to provide some advice as we invest in greater Philadelphia, but I’d like to follow along with investor meet ups or deals that come up in State College. Keep in touch!

Christian

Greetings BP!

My brother and I have a portfolio of properties in the Philadelphia suburb of Phoenixville, and we just found out that we will have an intern for the summer! Our goal is to set him up with room and board and then put him to work hunting for his own dinner. We felt that paying him for deals that he identified would be the best reward for his services, and he may end up doing some door knocking and driving for dollars.

If any of you have experience with new, eager, yet inexperienced intern projects I would love to hear about them! We want to help provide him with an education as well as point him in the direction to add value this summer. What do you guys think would be the best training program for a newbie? Thanks in advance for your help!

Christian

@Aleksey F.

Great idea! You can definitely get more rent for that space with an additional bedroom. Don’t forget to look and see if you need to pull permits for adding walls. We recently ran into an issue whereby adding walls drew enough outside attention that our project got shut down and an engineer had to be brought in to provide drawings for the space (cost us $5K) even after the walls were already up!

Best of luck!

@Kory Quitter

Good for you Kory by not letting the bank stop you from getting that first investment property! That creativity and attitude will take you far.

No reason a refinance wouldn’t be the best course, provided the value continues to increase. If you want the property 100% in your name that would be the best time to do it, as there are title transfer fees that would apply to simply rewrite the mortgage in your name at a later date.

@Aleksandra Schultz

Great question. We have had a good experience by putting in a slightly higher than average finish in improving our turnover.

When doing a full renovation there are only marginal differences in cost between cutting a new laminate counter top and cutting the lowest level granite one (difference of a few hundred dollars for a small kitchen) and 1) gives you an advantage against the competition and 2) tends to be longer lasting. There are also great hardwood lookalike laminate floor panels that are super durable and give an above average look.

You don’t need to be the best finish in town as there are certainly diminishing returns, but being better than average is a major advantage.

@Nick Loukas

Get your own lawyer. Your interests and the interests of the seller are not aligned and sharing legal resources will create a conflict of interest. Not hard- just make sure you search around and read reviews about services.

@Nick Loukas well done identifying the deal! Depends on your financing options (definitely run the deal through the BP Calculator) but it seems like it could be a good option for you. I'd agree with the posts above that getting a title company involved and insist on title insurance prior to closing. This could save you losing the property at a later date. I'd also recommend a lawyer look over the docs, will cost $1000 but will be worth it in the long run to make sure you aren't getting hosed.

If you go to closing I'd recommend posting a follow up thread once you have things up and running. Do you plan to manage yourself or get a property manager? I would be interested in hearing your experience with this.

@William Kwong

Great lessons. I would add- not only are the “dude” and “bro” contractors not your friend. That is a red flag for a bad contractor who lacks professionalism.