All Forum Posts by: Daniel Bakalo

Good Afternoon Bigger Pockets,

We've have been alerted to a possible sale of a trailer park in our area and we are interested in buying it.  The current owners are distant family members and when the current owner passed away the wife has been taking care of it and seems to be growing old with the task.  None of the children seem to want anything to do with it.  A Grandchild of the family sees my brother and i from time to time and told us there is a possibly of them selling it.  The thing is up until now weve only bought single family houses with cash and have one loan on an industrial piece of property.  All were pretty easy to come up with an idea on whether or not they would work as investments.  Not so much with a trailer park it seems.  We would like to get a head start on trying to put a value on it that way if they do come to us we can have a tad bit of the leg work done and able to move fast if the opportunity presents itself.

Really the only thing we know right now is the park has 16 trailers in it.  All the trailers are owner by the family and not by the tenants.  Its on 4 lots totaling 8 acres.  In conversation we were told gross rent was at or above 100k a year.   But the going rate for 2 bed here is $800 and closer to $1000 for 3 beds.  So rent increase could be made.  

What are some options to finance a property like this.  The biggest issue we seem to find is how to get something financed so we end up pay cash for everything which isn't allowing us to grow as fast as we like.  We all have great income and great credit scores.

Bjorn Ahlblad thanks for your reply. I would not even know where to begin with questions to ask city officials. I am glad you also think the property sounds promising. At the time we only have 2 SFR rentals so a purchase of a large piece of Industrial property was a bit of a leap for us. The phase 1 environments survey had us sweating only to pass with flying colors. We had a cash offer for double what we paid 2 weeks after closing were both interested in something long term for the property unless an offer more in line with what industrial acreage goes for comes around. Timber wouldn't be an issue for us. There isn't much marketable timber on the property and we would gladly offset what ever there is with a long term lease. I tried a google search on it a few months back but really got lost in it all.

Good morning Bigger Pockets,  

My brother and i are still fumbling through our Real Estate investment journey hoping to finally quit our day jobs and just do REI full time. We still have a long way to go but eventually we'll be able to leave the oilfield and 90 hour work weeks just to focus on something we have more passion about.

We recently purchased what we feel like is our best deal yet but would like the input of a more experienced investor for there opinion.  We bought a large parcel of land that a in previous times was the largest employer in our town.  It was a chicken processing plant for a large chicken farm. The actual plant has since been torn down but the company used the 3 houses on the property as offices and the large 8,000+ sq ft shop for truck maintenance.  

In order to cover the mortgage payment we moved a tenant into the Truck shop fairly quick after closing along with another local company who is harvesting sod off the fields. The Shop rent will bring in $1500 a month until March of 2022 at which point it increases to $2500 a month until 2026.  We gave the tenant a discounted first year rent in exchange for updating the building and making minor repairs.  The Sod fields pay us $9200 a year ($766 a month) along with half of all the profits from the sale of Hay cut off the property while sod isn't being harvested.   While that will only pay out once a year after the it could result in up to another $15000 a year on a big year.  Without the hay profit counted and at the current rents of $1500 + $766 the property cash flows about $300 a month after expenses.  The Truck shop lease isn't a triple net but he is to cover all repairs and maintenance on the building.  We pay the property taxes.  The property still has 2 houses and one apartment on site that once rented could bring in $1300, $1100, and $700 a month.  Those houses will require work to get rent ready though so we haven't done much with them due to funds and lack of time off of work.  We estimate about $50k on the high side to get all 3 properties updated and rent ready.  We've typically been cash buyers up until the purchase of this property so we have no experience on funding repairs like this unless its out of our own pocket.  

I said all that to ask this.  What do some more experienced investors think would be the best use or exit of the property?  We would love to see a large company move in and use the land to its potential and make the local once again one of the largest employers in the town.  Its our home town so its something were partial to.  The property has 3 phase power throughout the entire property.  I would have to reverify but a 6" gas line is ran to the location and i one point the processing plant was the largest user of natural gas for our town.  Entry into the property has turning lanes along with frontage on Us Hwy 90.  Its 6 miles from Interstate 10 with no truck restrictions.  There is no rail spur on the property but the property fronts a rail line and has the ability to have a Rail Spur installed.   Would i make more sense to pursue a Commercial/Industrial development on this land or just use what's in place and be happy with it. The houses are Grandfathered in and can be used as dwellings but no other Residential house can be built without rezoning the property.  Which we feel a lot of the value in the property is due to its zoning.  

How would one go about pursuing companies how many be interested in a ground lease.  The properties as stated in the title is located in the Florida panhandle (30 miles for beautiful Beaches) which could be a good tax benefit to many companies along with no state income tax to the work force.  Along with i feel like would be strong support from the local government to see a major employer move in. 

If that's to far fetched would it be best just to find a way to get the capital to improve the remaining houses on the property and rent them out as residential units and be happy with what we can get?

Does anyone have any information on Cell Tower leases?  The property has the highest elevation of most of the surrounding land and has plenty of room for a Cell tower. 

I'm sure I'm leaving out tons of information and would love this to turn into a discussing with me answering any left out information that could lead us to gathering valuable information or contacts.  We feel we made a great purchase but now kind of overwhelmed with what may be the best use of the property.  I hope we can get lots of experts chiming in and help with this journey were taking.  Forgot to add that the population of the closest town is 6,000+ with strong growth every year.

Thanks everyone.

We recently bought a 185 acres of industrial land in the panhandle of fl. It has a few houses on the property along with a 8700 sq ft truck workshop. We've got a mechanic wanting to rent the workshop but need to get liability insurance before allowing him to move into the building and work on some updates he would like to do.  Do we have anyone here who could suggest a company to try out for insurance.  We've talked to a few companies already but it seems no one covers this type of property.   I need help finding some bad.   

Loved to read yalls progression.  Nice to see people succeeding in Real estate investing.  Especially someone from my neck of the woods in the Panhandle.  As a matter of fact my brother and I bought one of your wholesale properties back in October.

Oh without a doubt that house will be rehabbed and rented out. My brother and I actually discussed that last week and thought its foolish for us not to. So I guess I could say that would be step one. Now to come up with a game plan for the rest of them or our available cash.

@Shea Spinelli Im well.  Thanks for asking. I figured that would be the first question asked.  Thank you for your response.  They are sitting vacant simply for the fact of not knowing if they should be tackled first or using our money to find something that could produce rent right away.  Everything my brother and I have done so far has been without the use of any loans what so ever so rehabbing them while in our current mindset would be to do it with cash on hand.  With that being said we also have reservations about depleting to much of our savings.  The more and more ive read on here I was surprised by how many people suggest using loans to build your portfolio vs doing what ever we could without taking on debt.  My brother and I both have less than 70K in debt each.  That's including everything we have financed.  We just wanted to hear the advice of people with way more experience than use before we do put money into anything. With so many options and directions we could go at this stage I just figured it'd be best to call in the experts before we did anything else.  

80k in cash savings

70k in Roth 401k

High 700 Credit Score

Low 6 figure a year job

House #1 56k invested, (Value 100k) No mortgage.  Currently rents for $825 a  month.

House #2 26k Invested, Needs 45k Rehab, ARV 120k, No mortgage. Could rent $875 to 950 a month.

House #3 10k Invested, Needs 25-30k Rehab, ARV 70k, No Mortgage. Could rent $650 to 750 a month.

House #4 40k Invested, Needs 5k Rehab. ARV 60k, Has mortgage at roughly $500 a month. 10k balance remaining. Could rent for $600 to 700 a month.

Vacent Lot #1 6k Invested,  Utilities in place, We cleared the lot.  8k in value.

Good morning everyone,

I figured i would start with numbers so i could hopefully catch someone attention.  This may be a long winded post and I apologize.  I must say I really enjoy this website.  When it comes to websites and forums that are out there to help people, it seems none are as helpful and professional as Bigger pockets.  Every post I read is always filled with helpful courteous advice.  With that being said im hoping to give a little background on myself and maybe get some directions from the professionals.

Im currently a Senior Superintendent for an oil field service company.  It was the most exciting job you could ever imagine when I got into it.  Now that Im a few months away from turning 30 im being driven more and more internally to find something I could do with my time that would allow me to work from a home base.  My job is 100% travel dependent so I may only spend 20 to 30 days a year at home.  Id love to increase those numbers and I believe real estate could do it.  I have read a few books on real estate and believe I could put my talents to work in this business. While im not against passive income from real estate id much rather make it a full time 100% devoted business.  There's something about providing quality rentals to folks.  Id love to start cleaning up neighborhoods house by house if I could.  There are few things more rewarding as looking at before and after pics of a house that has been brought back to life. 

Hopefully I still have your attention.  My goal would to be able to quit my current job in 5 years to work solely on building a real estate company.  Not only would that allow me to be home more but hopefully at some point I could provide jobs to others.  The biggest thing I don't like about my job is how the employees are treated to id love to be able to have some of my own and work hard providing them with a place they'd enjoy to work. 

My brother and I have a partnership.  We have set up and llc to do business through and we have slowly dabbled in real estate for the past few years.  But now we want to get serious.  He also holds the same position in the same company I do. Flipping and rentals are what were figuring what we need to focus on but we are open to anything.  We both have residential, commercial, and heavy industrial construction backgrounds.  Mine is solely focused on electrical, while his is carpentry, painting, and framing.  We also have a good friend who owns a concrete company that we could incorporate into our business if need be.  All in all there isn't much in a residential house we couldn't do ourselves if we had to.  I have only listed my savings and cash on hand.  My brother would also have similar savings both in cash and in his 401k.  The properties listed have been purchased by both of us.  At this point we are stuck.  Is it possiable to increase our portfolio enough to allow us to do this full time in 5 years.  Were not looking to kick back on a boat and retire in 5 years.  We want to make this our job.  We both average over 4000 hours worked each year.  We love to work and don't mind it one bit. But we both want to grow something for ourselves.  Something to call our own.  I have rehearsed this post over and over in my head all last week and I still cant explain the excitement we have at making this our serious journey.  

Pros, if yall were in our position what would be your next move.  Everyone had a start somewhere and just like I teach new hires in our industry to be safe and grow within the company its now time for me to reach out for help on how to start my next journey in life.  If there are in pros in the panhandle of Florida or anywhere in the south east for that matter I would love to buy you lunch and talk. I got into the oil industry because I felt like I would be surrounded by smart people which would allow me to grow mentally.  It did in a way but it just blows me away how many smart and creative people are on this site.  Its something I want to be apart of and 5 to 10 years down the road I would like to be the one helping out the next up and comer.  Any advice would be very helpful folks.  

Thank you for your reply. I'm kinda hoping everyone says all or nothing. It's hard giving up a good job but I feel I could make just as much flipping. We both search for houses daily. Are County auctions a good place to buy houses?  

Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen,

My name is Daniel and im here to hopefully find a person or numerous people who could provide some incite.  Ill try not to be long winded but what to try my best to decried my situation.  My brother and I are 33 and 27.  We currently have jobs which we don't really care for and they keep us away from our family for most of the year.  Only getting to return home during holidays for the most part.  While we are very grateful for the jobs and the income they provide after close to 5 years living that life its time for a change.  We want to be back home.  We both have a love of working with our hands and both love real estate.  After thinking long and hard on our situation and possible income achievable we feel real estate is the best bet for were we live.  Which is North West FL.  We are both currently Senior Construction Superintendents in the oil field.  Not much of a use for that in NW FL.  We both have a background in Residential Construction we me being an electrician and him being a carpenter.  Our goal is to flip and sell with the possibility of picking up rentals from time to time as money allows.  Its something we would find so enjoyable for us and feel it could be manageable in the NW Fl area but were willing to do anything in the South East for now.  Now we are not totally clueless to this as I have read a few books on it including J Scotts book.  Between he and I we currently have 4 houses, 25 acres of undeveloped land, and 3 improved city lots with sewer and water on it.  We have a llc set up for business.  We also have close to $200,000 in liquid cash.  One of the houses was purchased in foreclosure and its about a weeks worth of work away from being able to be listed and resold.  Ill have to get all the numbers on it but we will be in roughly for $55,000 and anticipate a resell for $100,000.  Now that I believe I got must of the pertinent information out of the way ill list what we need direction in and will appreciate any help yall can provide.  

> What is the best way to find good deals.  We don't need a lot.  If we could find 5 or so deals a year I think we could be ok.  We would grow from there.  Sure we'd love to be big players in the game and with our dedication it may happen but ultimately we just want to go home and make a decent living.

>  Is it smart buying houses out right or is it best to finance. Only thing we have that has a loan are two houses.  They are technically personal residents but were willing to do anything with them to get our company rolling and were purchased below market value.

>  We have been doing all our own work with the option to contract out anything we cant handle.  Although we are fairly decent at remodeling.  Is it best to find someone to do the work instead?  Our 2 year goal is to take lower paying jobs that are less demanding than our current 80 hour work weeks and use the extra time to get the ball rolling on real estate.  Then take that over full time.  We currently have 6 figure income which helps buying properties but allows us no time to do anything with them.  Do we have enough cash to take a lower paying job back home that allows time to manage our business or do we need to keep working our miserable jobs for more cash?

> Is staging a house that important for resell?  Does it help sell that much quicker and worth the trouble of doing it. 

I know I've forgot 100's of things I rehearsed in my mind to ask all yall so anything I missed please tell me.  Our biggest dilemma is finding properties to buy.  What's the best route to find these deals.  WE are both open to anything and everything.  Let us have it guys.  Every single persons input will be greatly appreciated.  Thank yall for reading this and please let me know if you need any more information.

Thanks,

Daniel