All Forum Posts by: Henry Clark

Check out your infrastructure costs:

1.  Sewer/water/fire hydrants

2.  Storm sewer. Storm retention pond needs.

3.  Setbacks

4.  Electrical hookups

5.  Footing, road requirements, and parking requirements.

1.  Do a 10% down with an SBA loan.  Get 20 to 25 year terms with current interest around 2.??%.

2.  I would not use any cash. Have the bank collateralize one of the houses for the 10% ($45k).

3. If there is another Covid government funding, you may get the 6 month free on the SBA side of the P/I.

4.  Find a bank that does Storage or Apartment buildings.

5..  Evaluate any improvements or expansions you want to do now and incorporate them into the loan.  Ask the bank you want a construction loan with interest only to make these happen.  Prior to rolling into the SBA loan.  That way you don't have to foot the repairs or expansions.

6. If you haven't closed yet, talk with your Tax person.  Do an Asset purchase versus buying the business.  Break out the roads, security, lighting, signs, etc.  Possibly do a non compete agreement with the owner.  Basically move as much away from Land and building as possible, so you can get a year one write off.  Carry forward loss if you can't use it this year.

See our Self service youtube on the website below.  Try to get away from an onsite manager.  You will still need someone to help you manage locally.  

Operations:

a.  Insurance- call Ponderosa insurance, part of Uhaul.  They have storage specific coverage.  Unless you already have insurance.  $450k coverage will probably cost around $1,500.  Over insure, its really cheap  $600k coverage will be around $1,700.  You want to cover clean up costs also and lost rent.

b.  Get on Sparefoot for advertising.

c.  If manual move to internet and web based storage software.  We use Web selfstorage with Uhaul for $44.95 per month.  Can see anywhere in the world.  Check out Storedge, I am not recommending them, but one of our local competitors used them, and got ranked real high and fast on Google. They have an SEO part of their business.

d.  Security- get web connection so you can see your operations and get notifications.  Example:  Anyone opens the door with the code, I get a text.  If someone breaks in, I get a phone call.  Have your security person check out Uniview systems.  They have motion sensors which you can dial up or down for size.  They have line sensors if you break a plane.  These events are color coded on the timeline to help you find activity.  Have them tie you in, so you can look at the cameras either on your cell or computer.

e.  Get a battery and surge protector unit for your computer and nvr system.

Good luck, great investment.

Thanks @Anthony Burns; for adding different perspective than just my set of eyes.  Went to Punta Gorda down in the South/East, but reminded me of my home state of Louisiana, mud and shell.  Probably off the coast is better.  I will check it out. 

Folks if you note the picture above, it shows you a good trick to do, if you end up buying beach front and want more beach.  Note which way the natural tide runs along the beach and then put a wall or structure in the water running out into the ocean a ways.  It will fill in with sand on the down side and make you a permanent beach.

I've discussed Why? Where? When?   Now I will talk about our journey and what we were looking for.  So this post will narrow down to our experience and interests.

Once my wife decided she was not interested at this moment making a large investment for the Beachfront property, I started looking for our inland property.  Won't go through my background, but wanted both a great place, great deal, business opportunity and a value proposition for the future.

Since we only want to be Snow birds during January thru April for 2 to 3 weeks at a time, we were not looking for a hands on proposition.

I'm more leaning towards nature and not Tourism.

Looked at buying/building a house.  Different businesses, more as a hobby.  Decided whatever we do, don't make money on the local Belizeans since they don't have enough money.

Understanding the dynamics that the Dollar is King going in.  That there will not be enough Buyers when we sell, looked at the following types of investments.  Also you must have a Caretaker, otherwise your things or business will get stolen.

a.  Teak Tree plantation- We ended up doing a Teak Tree plantation.  Planted 10,000 trees on 28 acres.  This is a 25 year investment.  Good thing about Teak trees, is no one will want to steal them until about year 20.  Also the market is India and China, thus not a local market.  Most of the work is in years 1 thru 5 with weeding and trimming. Logging, then cutting into lumber or squares.  Living in Louisiana and my dad once being a logger, I can do all of these, along with cheap local help.

b.  Goats- I don't like spreading myself thin, but I have raised goats before.  No one in Belize likes to eat goat.  Under the British regime they learned to eat Sheep.  Which is strange to me, since all Spanish cultures like goat.  Thus the market would be the US.  A good thing about Goats and Belize is all of the unowned or unmanaged forest and brush.  Goats prefer this to grass and don't get as many worms as on grass.  Cheap labor to herd and manage.  Biggest issue is meeting USDA standards and certification.  Otherwise will be fresher and cheaper than imports from Australia.

c.  Ducks- Same as goats.  Both Ducks and eggs would be marketed in the US.  Same US standards issues.

d. Self Storage- actually a good demand for Expats coming and going.  Almost non-existent competition.  But not interested.

e.  Rental House Development- Expats or Locals.  I have found a great contractor and his family.  Have partnered with him to buy one lot, and starting a second lot.  I have explained to him, what sounds crazy.  Money is easy and plentiful (they are poor relative to US), but local, trustworthy contractors are rare.  He owns the upper hand.  Explained to him, I'll do the financing and he will maintain the construction and rental.  He is used to paying himself day wages, but I have explained he needs to own the properties and rent, to get the value of his efforts.  Develop two different house and business models.  Local- build to around $40,000 and rent at $250 to $350.  Expat- build around $100,000 and do long term rental for $1,000.  Key is not the rental market, which is in great demand; but the cost and building side.  Since he is local, he can find the deals and make them.  For the same lot, he can get for $3,000; it would cost me $30,000.  He also controls the Building costs and timing.  Trust- has to be built.  Thus we have started small.  I bought him a portable cement mixer for $2,500 to use on my house since he would have to rent for $150 per day.  He will pay me back $1,800 which he will earn either renting it out, which he has, or charging his other clients.  Same deal with tamper, scaffolds, power washer, lawn mower.  Working out good so far.

f.  Tilapia farming- just for fun.

g.  Another market, just because my brother and I stayed at one are Tiny Houses.  A good portion of the tourists are from Europe and these folks tend to vacation different than US tourists.  They tend to do Hostels, and spend more money on Travel versus lodging.  Most of us are always trying to do bigger and better, but there is a solid market for less.

So we looked at about 30 properties and some existing Teak plantations.  I started to put a couple of options together.

1.  Buy an existing Teak plantation on the cheap.  Found one great deal, but it is too far off the beaten track.  Wouldn't get any enjoyment living there.  Expat moving home.  But would pay itself off in 5 years.

2.  Bare ground.  Always look for a property that has been on the market for a while and where its an expat who has gone home.  They are ready to sell and have finally gotten past, there are not that many buyers.

3.  Look for ground that will grow in value, because it is special.  Either Electricity and water coming your way.  Near Rivers or has streams on it.  Existing trees.  Good location relative to services.

 4.  The median age for Belizeans is around 25 years.  US Baby boomers are on the move.  Both of these factors will create a market in Belize.

5.  Near towns or entertainment.

The property we ended up buying had been on the market for 15 years.  Price was cut in half.  Has the Belize River on the front property line and Iguana creek on the other property line.  The other sides are pasture.  Great location between San Ignacio/Santa Elena and Belmopan.  Two miles away from Spanish Lookout, which is the industrial  and main supply town for the country. 

Glad to help.  My son is 19 and in college.  Would gladly have him swap with your position any day of the week.

In 1 year I won't be on this forum; working on a different life style change and investment overseas in Belize. Once you build up about $50,000 to $100,000 cash; track me down if your still interested in REI. I mainly do Self Storage. Keep our https address below. You can read my posts, but will be glad to guide you if you go down that track. Can be anywhere in the US.

Start small and Make Your Big Mistakes Early.  

"If" you will be stationed state side again, recommend you buy an RV or Trailer and park on base for $45 per month parking.  Take your housing allowance and pay as much as possible down on the Unit.  If large enough, house hack it with another soldier.

Lets say you buy it for $15,000 and sell it for $12,000 2 years later.  You lost money?  No, you made money on your housing allowance, just paid yourself.  Keep doing this at each post as long as it fits your lifestyle.  Who do you sell to?  The next incoming soldier and they get a great deal.  My Brother and Sister in law did this and racked up $50,000 equity moving station to station.

Could do a house, but a lot more risks and costs.  What ever fits your risk reward.

Probably doesn't fit Kuwait, but as mentioned above you could also Apartment hack if large enough.

Buy an RV or Trailer and park on post rental space.  Take your housing allowance and pay down on the RV or Trailer; sell it when you move and keep starting over.  Even if you buy it for $15,000 and sell it for $12,000;  you made money from the housing allowance.  My brother and Sister in law did this and it worked well with that part of his military career.  You can also House Hack and if big enough rent out to another soldier.  And sell to another soldier and pass on the idea.

Buying a house for only 2 to 3 year stations is way more risk than the potential reward is worth; net of any sales commissions and taxes.

Just keep buying a bigger RV or trailer with each move.

3 November 2020, 05:03 PM Retaining wall finished up. All our fences and walls usually are about 1 foot off the property line. The first picture looks like it is coming across the straight fence line, which it is. About 10 foot to the right of the wall out of the picture is our corner boundary and the property line runs along the back of the cars facing the fence. They have an easement for this land. Both the apartment and our land used to be owned by the same person.

The second picture is to help support the land for the pad to the right of it. Has dirt on it, so hard to see. Same pad in both wall pictures. This is a 15 foot wide pad. Originally I was going to do a 20. But we have to plant between the wall and the building so I shrunk the width down. I won't plant the shrubs on top of the wall till spring, so the building erectors don't have to step around it. I did go ahead and put grass seed down and grass mat. Really to late in the year, here for seeding, but put it down anyways. Should sprout in the spring.

All of the retaining walls combined equaled about 2,000 square feet. Ended up being $36,000. Cleaned the edges of the property up on the two pictures below. And the real long wall pushed the hill back to we could add about 28 more units. Will be close penciling out to revenue, but makes the property look a lot cleaner.

Also put a "Dry" wash area to drain water from behind our building and next to apartment complex. Otherwise water would back up into part of the apartment. Used a skid steer to dig the ditch out. Then put extra silt fence material I had down to prevent soil erosion. Then put rip rap in it to slow the water down and to hold the fabric in place. Again this is to get water around the apartment building to the right which our property line is only about 4 feet off their building corner.

Learn something everyday.  The pad below is 40 foot wide.  To give it a smooth surface they are running a "float" over it.  Made a comment about using the Bull float, and they said no, this is a "Fresno" float.  Guess the Bull float is used to level the concrete a little better than the power screed they use.  Then they use the Fresno float to give it a better finish.  Two people pushing and pulling.  The person on the far side to pick it up and move it to the side.

Electricians are working around everyone.  Plumber and Concrete.  They really laid a lot of underground line out this day.  They will have to come back when the other trades are further along.  Decided we would run two underground cables.  Since the site is so long, one cable will handle the near buildings and the larger cable will handle the farthest 1/3 of the buildings.  This is due to the distance and losing voltage over that far.

Step 1:  Looks like your living or active in both Seattle and NYC.  Please validate for the above so we can be more specific in our help.  These two markets narrow your options down with $100k cash; but not totally.  Totally different market and not my field; but I was discussing Downtown Chicago with a BP member from Chicago, the older Cylindrical buildings.  My wife's company was possibly going to relocate her for 5 years there so we looked there.  $180k to $220k; 1/1 or 2/1 condos.  Or rent for around $2,100.  I thought that was high from living in the countryside, but for the city, I thought it was great.  Point, is there are options everywhere.

Step 2:  I take it as $100k cash on hand.  Determine your most likely funding source and the degree to which you want to invest. Based on that decision will determine your equity position and potential funding amount.  Example:  SBA loan at 10% collateral, $100k would be $1mm project with a $900k loan; Traditional 25% collateral with $80k cash would be $320k project with $240k loan.  Do this step to help narrow down your search, other wise you will be looking at deals that don't fit and wasting energy.

Step 3:  Recommend you never invest all of your cash on hand since you might have a future deal come up; you can always pay down; your retro costs may be higher than you thought; tenant revenue stream may not be as steady as planned.  Especially first time out.

Step 4:  Invest local to start with.  You don't have a team.  You don't have a list of types of people or resources needed.  You need to be able to learn close by, so that later it is easier on you and your distant team member to communicate.

Step 5: Define success on your first time out. Your hesitant to pull the trigger, part of that is potential failure. Lets say you lose $25,000 on your first investment. To me that is not a loss. You will have learned a lot during that project. At some point you have to stop reading and get exposed and dirty; to learn to the next level. What does losing $25,000 mean to you? Do you go bankrupt; downsize your house; downsize your car; not go on vacation for 5 years; no college fund for your kids; etc. Once you identify to yourself, your not going to lose the full $100k; then you will be more willing to start your REI path.

Step 6:  "Start small and Make your Big Mistakes Early".

Supply the following info:

1.  City you are in or very familiar with.

2.  How much can you invest or your total loan amount.

3.  Define both failure and success; so the above can improve the options they propose.

4.  What is your investment interest?  AirBNB; hands off investment; House Hacking; etc.

5. Your REI background. Have you bought a house before or had one built?

Good luck.