All Forum Posts by: Cory Mccarthy

@Daniel Elijah Richardson,  So BP, being the awesome site that they are and listening well to the community at large, they just added a networking tab under Community above.  Fairly new feature so I don't see anything for Michigan yet, but I would keep an eye on it.  Other than that, go to Meetup dot com and search for real estate.  Lots of meetings there and vast majority of them are free.  I know of several in Troy, one in Ann Arbor and I help host one in Howell for Livingston county.  Good luck!

Brandon Boase how sure are you that you are still underwater? With as hot as the market has been recently, many folks who bought in 08 are realizing that they are no longer under water. I don't know canton specifically, but many parts of Michigan have fully recovered. You may wish to do some research on Redfin or realtor.com or else have an appraisal done. You may be surprised if you haven't done this in the last year or two. If you have and are sure you are still underwater, continue to monitor and pay down debt so when the day comes that you can get out from under it, you are ready to take advantage of the opportunity. The market is appreciating pretty well in many parts of Michigan so that day may come sooner than you think.

Thanks @Sarah Lorenz, that's helpful information.  I do own a lake home in Fenton, but it is my primary and not really considering renting that out, but was thinking that perhaps a Brighton area home might work if I could find one in that area.  Interesting  concept, I will keep it in mind and start checking out the sites you mentioned above.  Thanks for the information and ideas.

@Justin Hamel, sorry didn't mean to hijack your conversation, but I think the conversation does help illustrate that there are all sorts of ways to make money in REI and you never know where you are going to find a niche. Best of Luck to you in the future.

@Emily B., just wanted to let you know that I did reach out to Bill.  He was AWESOME!  Saved me a ton of money and was just all around great to deal with.  Will never use anyone else for any HVAC work in lansing.  Thanks for the great recommendation Emily, I owe you one.  Let me know how I can repay your kindness.

@Sarah Lorenz, yes, sorry that was a little ambiguous now that I read my post again.  I saw that figure about $4K a weekend for a big game day and that really caught my eye.  What kind of specifics can you share about rentals on football weekends?

@Sarah Lorenz, that is very interesting, how far away from AA are they willing to travel for a lakefront home like that?  Not something I will execute on immediately, but that is definitely something to keep in mind for the future.  Have any examples of folks doing this already today?  I would love to research this a little further.

Congrats Tim.  Loved seeing the house a week or two ago and cant wait to see your progress.  I am following as well.  I will reach out from time to time when I am over in your neck of the woods.  Next time maybe we will reverse things and I will show you the place I own over there.  Kill it Tim!  I look forward to seeing what you do in the years to come.

@Katherine Earle can't possibly encourage and applaud you enough.  Think you have a great plan and need to stay very committed regardless of the nay sayers.  I also agree that Michigan is a great place to start.  It has all the components to make this a very dynamic market for years to come and believe once you get here, you will do awesome.  Feel free to reach out if you end up anywhere close to Fenton and/or find I can help in any way.  Best of luck to you!!@Douglass Benson

@Douglass Benson

@Douglass Benson, couldn't help but comment on the post above. You call 81 units strong just slowly trying to make a run at REI??? I think I would define that very differently and it would likely start with the words, "Very successfully executing a well developed and laid out plan that.... (Finish as you wish). Wow, great start, keep it up!!

@Justin Hamel a lot of that depends on your specific situation and what you are trying to accomplish, but all of the above will work, some just may work better than others depending on your specific situation.  Do you own a home already or are you currently renting.  If renting, I would look hard at Duplexes or Mutli's and do the house hack thing to start.  If you already have a home, then something else might work better for you.  You mentioned above about doing AirBnB.  Lakefront could be great for that as well.  I just recently talked with a realtor who is renting out a lakefront property on a weekly basis, and finding a great deal of success doing that, much as they do in strong tourist areas such as the west coast of Michigan, but is doing it right there in Brighton somewhere. Surprised me, but she said they were covering a years worth of mortgage payments and then some just over the summer, so clearly she was getting premium prices for them and was able to fill it regularly.  I am sure she was also renting during the winter somehow as well to get even more out of the property.  Single family I think will do well in Livingston as well as I see homes there consistently renting for more than $1/Sq. Ft. and then some.  Livingston is growing steadily and there is extremely high demand there right now and lots of new business coming in, which will drive even more demand.  The real trick is buying it right.  As long as you do that, you will be fine in just about any strategy, but buying right is not really very easy.  But I don't think buying right is necessarily easy anywhere.  Requires a thorough knowledge of the area, a keen sense of the differences from one neighborhood to the next, from one house style to the next, etc.  I have been studying the markets around me for months and have been putting in offers regularly and have yet to get one accepted just simply because of how hot the market is right now and the very low levels of inventory available.  But after studying for that long, it is now much easier to spot a potential bargain and estimate rehab costs, so soon one of these will hit.  Just stay focused, remain committed and don't let anyone or anything get you discouraged.  As a serial entrepreneur, I am quite sure you already know that.  let me know if I can help any other way and best of luck to you on your new 

@Emilio Basa, not a quick fix, but could potentially provide some relief from high interest rates.  If your credit is good, can you get another credit card?  If so and you can get one that has one of those introductory interest rates of zero for say 18 months or so, get that card, transfer your balances to that card.  While it is at that low intro rate, you will pay down much quicker and after 18 months or whatever the low interest introductory term is, if you have a zero balance on the one you currently have, perhaps they will send you balance transfer checks for a similar low rate etc.  Then just keep flipping the balance back and forth until paid down.  I have done this and it does work, but you have to have good credit and you have to be able to get high enough credit limits that you hopefully don't max out the second card as well.  Just another option to consider if all else fails.  Good luck to you!