All Forum Posts by: Cosmo Lee

@JC Wu Thank you so much for this post and your story, I read it all.  I found the site after reading about an article on Millennials' real estate investing habits.   The site is pretty sleek and savvy and I started looking at the properties.  I saw one property that caught my eye.  The numbers looked pretty strong. Because of BiggerPockets, I've learned to be very diligent and use multiple sources for research on real estate. However, much like you and some of the other users have posted, the price was lower on Zillow by a significant amount and the property hasn't been sold for a while. Because of this, I went straight here to see reviews for Roofstock and sure enough I found your post along with some others.

Thanks for the responses,

Aaron, will definitely check out the math.

Jaron, no I personally haven't visited the property but hired an inspector.  The agreement has the standard contingencies.  I will reach out to the prop manager soon.  Thanks!

Hello everyone,

I'm in the closing stages of acquiring my first investment property!  I just want to ask what my next steps are.  I feel I have a good action plan, but wanted to check with more experienced investors just in case I'm missing anything.  

Here's the situation:

Title work has been done.

Out of state investor, buying the prop in Indiana.

Buying from a wholesaler

Financed the deal with a local portfolio lender where I'm buying from.

Appraisal is being done today

Inspection next week.  

Have referral for prop manager but haven't contacted yet.

Close expected 1st-2nd week of July.

I think my next steps is to contact an insurance company to get my property insured.  At what point do I send the rest of the money to finalize the purchase, is it after inspection? Anything else I need to do and/or set up and look out for?  Otherwise I think it'll be a smooth transaction.  If you need additional details please let me know.

Hello everyone.  I'm looking for a local to correspond with as I'm in Southern California.  I'm very interested in the Fort Wayne area, but since I can't be there, I'm hoping I can find a local that can discuss with me the areas to avoid and areas to invest in Fort Wayne.  Please PM me if you would like to volunteer and I will provide you with my email address. I will be very grateful.  

Hi James,

Saw this thread and am very interested on where you are investing.  Would appreciate any info.  I'll be following this thread closely, thanks for starting it!

Hi Bill, Thanks for the response.  I'll make sure to look for that post and for the advice!

Hi everyone,

I've been around this site for almost 2 years now and I feel ready to make a purchase.  Before I do however, I am wondering if someone can answer a few questions for me, it would be greatly appreciated.  

1)  Once I've identified a property, what's the process for financing?  As in, do I need to talk to a lender first before I make an offer on the property? Or do I make an offer first then get the financing?  

2) Does this process in question 1 change whether or not if it's a SFR or a commercial property?

3)  I'll be investing out of state and I know property management is key, what type of questions should i ask the property management company?  What specific red flags should I look out for?

I'm sure I'll have more questions as I continue/explore this.  Thanks in advance for those who answer and of course any advice/insights/personal experience stories are welcome.  

@Michael Facchini Thanks, I may take you up on your offer if I feel I find a property I'm ready to make an offer on!  To answer everyone's question.  I'm looking at multiple locations but mainly in Cleveland, Indianapolis and San Antonio.  I'm just mainly looking for a rule of thumb when calculating expenses.  Of course each market will be different.

Thanks for the advice and links everyone!

Hi All,  

I've been around for a while now and I'm taking action steps in getting my first investment property. I created my own rental property calculator in a spreadsheet which is roughly based on the calculator on the site. When entering the expenses, I'm wondering if I'm being too conservative and thus it is skewing my numbers to show that a property won't be as great. For example, for insurance, maintenance & repairs reserve, utilities, and PM, i generally assign 10% of the monthly rent to these. I also do a 1 month vacancy reserve every year too. Property taxes I usually try to calculate myself, but I found that my calculation is too high most of the time than the figure that is given by the seller. When exploring the marketplace, I find my expense assumptions to be significantly higher than the seller's are posting when they post their ROI/CF figures. So I'm thinking a good estimate is probably between what they're giving and what I'm using. What percentages/figures do you use when analyzing a rental property?

Thanks in advance!