All Forum Posts by: Chris Winslow

@Kimothy Bynum- it's been great. Especially for the amount of benefits that come from it, it's been smooth and pretty low work. Lots of learning too!

@Kanstas Sell - I think it would depend on your experience level and what you ultimately want to get into but it would be awesome to get a house hack or live in flip going first with a small portion of that to get into something for a low down payment and get your feet wet.

Then I'd look into something that needs a light rehab that you could buy at a discount and force some appreciation by fixing it up and then refinance as much money as possible back out. That could work with single or multi units but depends on price point and work needed. Good luck!

That's awesome that you are looking for ideas here, that alone goes a long way! Construction is a great background because it'll give you an idea of rehab costs which will be extremely important when working with investors as @Dustin Allen mentioned. I also second what he mentioned about being a local market expert, and that is probably #1 as a realtor. 

When I was looking for a realtor here is what I looked for mainly:

- if they had experience investing and were also investing in the current market conditions (also what type of investing?)

- how many deals they do and what types (locations, building types)

- what types of clients they serve (other investors hopefully)

- do they have time to support me fully and what would be the best methods of contact

- ask questions to find out what they are good at and what their unique skillset is

- market knowledge: which areas are hot, which might see appreciation, where do people house hack, where do people flip, etc

- if they had contacts for contractors, lenders, attorneys, other investors, etc (rockstars know rockstars)

Good luck!

Hi Conor- That's awesome that you are thinking of getting started, definitely do it!! As I am sure you have heard, house hacking is an amazing way to start and I would highly recommend it. 

Here's what else I would do though:

- Get some background knowledge on real estate topics and strategies (BP is great, books, podcasts etc). Learn what successful people are doing and how they are doing it. Do this so you can talk about real estate with others and so you'll understand the basics when they talk to you. Definitely read this too as a start: https://www.biggerpockets.com/guides/ultimate-real-estate-investing-guide/introduction

- Narrow down your focus on where you want to start (location, building type) and what strategy you want to learn (ex house-hacking), probably best to pick one thing at a time to really dive into and get good at versus trying to learn every strategy in-depth at the same time. Really focus on learning everything you can about that one thing/area.

- Make connections- investors, lenders, realtors, contractors, wholesalers, etc. You will hear people say “Rockstars know rockstars” and it is very true. Meetups or other real estate events are a good place to meet people as well as on BiggerPockets. These people can also help you determine which areas and types of deals would make sense for your situation. If you get set up with a couple of good connections then everything in the process will be smooth from selecting an area and strategy up to closing on your first deal.

- Once you have your criteria and you know what you are looking for, analyze deals every day until you can immediately spot a deal when you see one (and when you do jump on it immediately, there is no time for waiting around on today's market)

- Keep taking daily consistent action and always showing up and that will get you to where you eventually want to go.

 Good luck!

It would be good to be comfortable with the lender and make sure they seem legit, local banks are great and can even be preferred but it just depends what all you are looking for, establishing a relationship with a local bank may also help with funding later down the line. I was recently asking around about a HELOC and asked questions about: max LTV that they offer, max credit line available, interest rates, payment terms (interest only vs principal + interest and timeline of credit line for draw and payback period), annual fees, how they will value the property, closing costs, early termination fees (should not really be an issue either way), and do they offer on only primary or something similar on investment property as well. Good Luck!

Hi Braeden- that's amazing, house hacking is one of the best ways you can get started! That is currently what I am doing as well. 

My recommendation is since you'll be living there make sure you can at least tolerate the area so you enjoy life while living there, still try to get a good deal but it's worth remembering that you are reducing or eliminating your rent payment too. Definitely narrow down potential areas and types of building you are looking for. Finally find some smart people to work with and talk to (other investors, realtor, lender) and see what they are doing and recommending.

I would connect with @John Warren first he is an amazing realtor and investor in the area that's the team I use.

Feel free to reach out anytime if you need anything from me too!

Hi @christopher hunter, connect with @john warren for investments in the Chicago area, awesome realtor and investor

Wow congrats on the success so far, 20 with a house hack is amazing! 

1) I have small multifamily properties so my experience and strategy is a bit different but if I were in this situation and living in the house, once the bills come out I would divide them evenly and charge everyone that amount vs charging a utility fee but would consider a utility fee in the future once I had a solid average of expenses. With my properties that have separate units, if they are separately metered then the tenant sets them up and pays for them, if the buildings are not separately meteredthen I absorb the cost but may factor that into the base rent by slightly increasing.

2) Great question here, I am still working through the best one for me to use, I use apartments.com but it takes about a week for payments to come through so it's a bit laggy (for example: tenant pays on the 5th, you get the payment in on the 12th but the payment fails, now you are behind). That being said it's free and I feel it's fine to start here first for free. Some people use Zelle which is nice because it's free and quick but isn't really ideal for rent collection. I've also heard of people using Avail and Innago which are designed for rent collection but I have not had experience using them yet but they'd be worth checking out.

3) For this question I think since you'd be living there, try to screen for people you could see getting along with and living alongside first and foremost. After that, I do think that's a good idea to niche down and get a similar group of people to live together that may have some commonalities. So from that side, it's good but you'll have to make sure that there are enough of that niche of people in the area to make sure you aren't limiting your market too much. Tenant screening is a funnel and you want to make sure you are giving yourself enough good options for the future. And definitely do be mindful of the discrimination laws.


 

@Dan S.- did you end up looking into little village? Thoughts?

@Kate Glassman

Definitely by asking around and referrals from other investors would be number 1.

Assuming that nobody you know has worked with them then ask them about their basic loan terms and types of loans they offer. Definitely ask about the types of clients they typically work with and what they do for them.

Make sure that you have a base knowledge and understanding of some of the things that you would be looking for in a lender so you can ask them those types of questions and see how they answer. After feeling them out on the phone, it should give you a pretty good idea of they seem legit, I also helps to talk to a few other lenders if there are other ones offering the products that you need. Good luck!