All Forum Posts by: Collin Lee Johnson

Hey everyone, I have been doing deal analyses with the help of BP for a little bit now, always saving the reports, tweaking and researching and messing with them to see what seems reasonable, but it dawned on me that as much as this is useful for me, it is also a detriment to not be sharing this and learning from people both in my area and from the community. As a result, I have decided to begin posting the analyses that I do on a daily basis get feedback from the community to better my understanding and expedite my growth, and who knows maybe make a friend or two on the way. So one shameless plug, if you are in the Minnesota area, southern, around the twin cities, or more specifically near mankato, check out the Mankato MN Area REI meetup group on facebook to meet more of the great people in Mankato MN. Anyway enough of that....

Here's the link, to give 'er a gander

House Number / Address: 265 Weaver Street, Mankato MN 56001

Description: 265 Weaver St, Mankato, MN 56001 is a single family home built in 1906. This property was last sold for $40,000 in 1998 and currently has an estimated value of $185,000.

According to the Mankato public records, the property at 265 Weaver St, Mankato, MN 56001 has approximately 1,667 square feet, 3 beds and 1 bath with a lot size of 7,314 square feet. Nearby schools include Rosa Parks Elementary School, Mankato East Jr. School and Mankato East Senior High School.

How are the numbers run:

• How much down 3%
• Interest 3.076%
• PMI? $90/month
• Taxes, High, low, etc: $1,800/ yr
• What makes it work, (not) feasible:

Location: South of the heart of Mankato, more suburban sprawl, tucked in that area off the university, I honestly have never been by it as far as I know. I think it’s on top of the hill in that region.

Marks in its’ favor, New siding, 2011. More quiet area, lower taxes, not too far away from a university (it’s a college town for goodness sake)

Marks against it bit removed from the nightlife scene of Mankato, but as has been mentioned in my previous posts this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it just affects some of the market that has a large influence on this town. Can’t really see inside so that slows down things and makes it harder to judge, but looking at the outside that AC likely needs a face lift, which leads me to believe there are other minor things inside wrong with it

• Potential repairs
• 1 AC
• 2 other minor things, potentially cleaning the exterior based off pics
• 3

Thoughts: I like the place, and it actually doesn’t cashflow super duper uber negative in terms of lowering my rent. Granted it isn’t as good as or -5 but I haven’t found those places yet, and may need to refine my analysis, which is why I post these ha, but I digress Overall it’s in a great neighborhood which works to its favor and detriment and the property is nicely placed within that neighborhood to attract likely quite tenants.

Obviously most, if not all of you won't be from Mankato, or potentially Minnesota, but if you have the time to spare to give me some feedback, I am all ears and open arms. Looking forward to the chats, thanks everyone!

Yeah I agree that it's a bit convoluted but hey, just seemed like a good thing to get a bit of info on, so thank you for the reply @Brad Hammon, @ Ashish Acharya. I definitely appreicate it. My particular market doesn't seem to cash flow particularly well (from a newb perspective anyway) so anything I can do to get some money in my coffers is welcomed. Anyway, thanks again guys!

Alright guys so here's a hypothetical (and it is an actual hypothetical right now as I haven't gotten a raise yet); let's say that someone is currently making below the income limits for a housing program and will be for a little bit (most likely), while they are within this limit they are saving up to buy a property. Within the time frame to save for this property, and the time to buy the company gives them a raise pushing them out of eligibility for income limits with their state housing program. Would it be possible for this person to allocate that additional income from the raise to an LLC or other company that they own so as to appear as though they are below the income limits for that state?

Additionally say this person was wanting to take a part time job, could it be arranged for that additional employer to pay a company or LLC set up by this person and have those payments be reflective as income to the company, not the person who owns it, while still having those funds accessible to the person who owns the company?

Something tells me the answer to all of this is a big fat NOPE, but hey, you never know, any thoughts are welcome, thanks gang!

Hey guys this is just a reminder that we will be having our meeting at the usual time, 7:00 pm – 8:30pm CST in a couple weeks, I will announce the topics later this week so we can all read up on them and have something to talk about. As always those topics are just to fill the ‘lull’ in conversations and to avoid any awkward silences, if you have anything that you think is valuable to real estate investing feel free to jump in with that! We love to hear crazy stories, gory details and sound advice, so if that sounds like something you have to offer, or are interested in, make sure to join in and chat everyone up!

If you don’t like this platform we are available on a couple others, so if that’s how you get your info, by all means go to:

https://www.meetup.com/mankato-mn-area-rei-meetup

(Meetup.com page)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/231331065160993

(facebook page)

Hey guys, I was wondering what you  used to generate lists of buyers for potential properties. I hear a lot of people going after 'niche' lists with things like absent landlords, probate, or foreclosure, and as I start to wade into these waters a bit more I am wondering where, and how, people generate these lists. I feel like I can check out things like a county assessors or bank auctions and the like but I'm just wondering what kind of lists you guys go after and how you generate them, do you use the assets I mentioned, or do you use something like list source, or something else? Please let me know what you guys think, thank you!

@Michael Plante, that's pretty solid advice I kind of figured someone would say something to the tune of 'it's kind of an art form' haha and it makes perfect sense, nothing is ever static or straightforward with real estate and it is definitely good to get the full picture and do your research when making these decisions, so thank you!

Hey everyone, new to the area relatively, and this space as well and was wondering what thoughts you all had when it comes to rehabbing older properties. In my market many of the properties are pre war construction with plenty hovering around turn of the century, that said many of them have unfinished basements and a lot of original things such as walls and floors. My question then as someone who is getting into this space is would it make sense to try and rehab or remodel these things to get them into the modern age, or are they best left untouched. Obviously there is cost incurred when undertaking a rehab and you have to weigh that against your returns, as a buy and hold investor in a college town (Mankato) it seems to make sense to me to rehab this or at least get it up to snuff and let it appreciate so that I could take more out later, but at what point do you draw the line.

What common things do you like to renovate or fix up, and when do you call it quits.

Looking forward to reading the responses, thanks!

Alright guys so here is one that has probabaly been covered before but, I've been mass posting to my investor groups and asking friends to get as much feedback as possible, so, my aunt of 63 years has had damage to her house accrue from the derecho in the mid west. She gets a contractor, dude sucks, still after seven months hasn't finished her roof and siding as of today. So as part of this long drawn out process the contract has another guy doing a different part of the house start butting horns with him. Dude Jack's up his price by about 16k with almost no notice, and my aunt said she won't pay that, it's absurd. So the contractor places a lien against her home.

What recourse would a homeowner have against a mechanics lien placed by a contractor who gave little notice in raising his prices by such a substantial amount. This would be for Iowa, specifically jasper county. I've been posting a lot to get other eyes on it but I plan to research myself, I'm thinking she could counter lein against his property for failure to complete work, but I haven't seen the contract which of course is a crucial step 1a. In any event if any of you guys have any thoughts, please please please do not hesitate to reach out. Thanks!

Hey Grant, glad to see there are some other people around my age in the area, I'm 23, just graduated college from Iowa State in Mechanical Engineering. I see this post is nearly three years old, but hey, I'm moving to Mankato and it never hurts to meet some new people!

Hey everyone, this post is really aimed only at those in the Mankato, Southern Minnesota area. I put together a facebook group as I saw that there wasn't actually an REI gathering place for those of us from Southern Minnesota, so I wanted to do my part. It's pretty empty right now as it's brand new, but I'm hoping it will fill up and be a hub for those of us in the area to network and talk to one another about the area and how it's changing, what to expect, and just make some friends along the way. Anyway, the name of the group is Mankato MN Area REI Meetup, which right now would be virtual, but hey even so it's there. So if you have a facebook, feel free to join in, looking forward to meeting more of the people from the area, thanks!