All Forum Posts by: Damon D.

Yeah, unfortunately mine does not allow.AirBnB, otherwise I would be all over that! 

These days Ybor is considered pretty desirable, for singles and couples anyway. I bought the property in 2005 so the interest rate was a little over 5%. You can look up the building, it's The Quarter at Ybor.  https://g.co/kgs/q7ica3

Thank you all for the great comments. That confirms my prejudice. I'm going to get out from under this thing. Now the question is where can I find properties at the right value? :)

Additional info: I pay 950 a month for mortgage.

Hi team,

I'm early in my journey and need some objective advice from some other folks. I currently have a mortgage on a condo in Tampa, FL. I'm trying to decide if I should go ahead and pay it off, making it into a soft asset with active renters in place, or just sell it and use the money elsewhere for a different investment. I could use some outside eyes on this. Here are the general qualities of the property:

• Property is in Tampa, FL, specifically Ybor City, the latin quarter. 
• Walking distance from great restaurants and nightlife.
• Condo property is nice, has a swimming pool, big gym, covered parking spot.
• Condo is from 2005 but has had no major updates since then, so it's "ok quality" but has no great upgrades in place, is builder quality
• I owe about 100k on the mortgage
• HOA fees are about 300 per month.
• Property Management Fee of about 150 per month. 
• Renter pays about 900 per month.
• Had some major fixes last year that ate all my profit (tune of 6k of fixes, hopefully one time)
• If I sell it, I can probably get 125k-130k max since it has no upgrades. After fees, maybe I'd make 20k on that. 

My options:

I have enough cash to just pay off the mortgage and make this a positive investment. OR, I can sell it. If I sell it, I'd probably use the profit towards another property. And I do have 100k in the bank "extra" that I can use for this without risking anything. 

So should I pay 100k into this, own it fully, and make cash flow of 450 a month (let's say 300 if I save 150 for random expenses etc), or sell it and use that 100k + the 20k or so from profit to find another property.

ALL OPINIONS WELCOME. 

Hi all. So I know this question has been asked in various forums in various ways before, but here are some particular details:

I am getting my real estate license fairly soon, currently working my way through the classes. Candidly, I am getting the license to help me learn about real estate for personal investing purposes. I -might- consider making this a career, but the job category I am in today pays extremely well, and I have no plans to leave what I am doing now. However, I'd like to get my hands dirty and do some part time real estate agenting as a side hustle. 

I know that real estate agents have to be available pretty much at a moment's notice when a client requires them, so when I say "part time" I don't mean limiting my time availability so much as limiting the number of clients I would take. I'm thinking one per fiscal quarter, so no more than 4 a year. While engaged with a client, I would, of course, make myself fully available and give them my focused attention, and I would certainly work hard for them. Accepting that some clients wouldn't want a person who is "part time" etc (and I agree that's a fine argument) what are the chances of finding a broker who would be ok working with me in this capacity?

Thank you in advance for your thoughts. 

-D

Hi all,

I'm fishing through the many many files in the file place. Anyone know which of the many rental property spreadsheet files available most closely match the Bigger Pockets rental property estimator form? (or let me know which one you think is the best! ) Many thanks!

-Damon

Still very new to the game, but I'm starting to look around for multifamily / small apartment properties. I'm not advanced enough yet to try to cobble together a deal with other investors (at least, I don't think I am) so I am of course doing backwards math here, saying "well, I can invest X amount of dollar, so that means I should be looking for roughly (X)5 priced properties considering a 20% down payment." 

Is this really the wrong way to think? My instinct is that this is the actual, logical way to go about doing the early math: figure out what you can afford and try to find the best deal within that range.

Am I doing it wrong? 

Hi all, thanks for the positive replies. The condo was down in Ybor City (Tampa's latin quarter). Actually a great location, great building, was just at the top of the bubble. I purchased it as a residence, not as an investment, but once I moved to MA it became a bit of an albatross. Luckily, I've always had the cash fluidity to cover the difference, but I'd like to turn the ship around. 

Hi all, 

Currently living in Metrowest Boston, MA. Looking to get into real estate investing in the hopes of building a reliable source of passive income for my family. Eager to learn how to evaluate deals and where how to find good properties. Especially interested in multi-family properties that can generate reliable cash flow. I've already saved up enough capital to potentially fund a down payment on a first property, just looking for the right one. I am interested in investing either in my own neck of the woods (Metrowest Boston) or some of the pre-tipping point growth areas in other states (Orlando FL, etc). Already own a condo in Tampa from top of the 2006 bubble which is slightly under break even, and I am eager to not repeat that mistake. 

Eager to learn and get started.