All Forum Posts by: Danny Kaminsky

@Jason Malabute

I've been around the triangle my whole life, I'm not an agent but I'd like to think I know the area pretty well. I'll give you the best summary of the Triangle I can:

1. Chapel Hill Chapel Hill is probably the simplest of the 3 "Triangle" cities to explain. Homes are expensive compared to rent, property taxes are high, and most people keep their homes in great shape. No bad zip codes in Chapel Hill at all, maybe 1 or 2 class C apartment buildings, but everything is mostly the same (Class A/A-/B+ SFH). Great schools also, which reduce the market volatility

2. Raleigh Southeast Raleigh has long been the "bad part" of the city. It sounds like you have already found this. Raleigh is certainly picked over by the big cash buyers (as far as I can tell). Dawn Brenengen is the biggest Raleigh expert on BP, if you want Raleigh, I'd talk to her. Suburbs east of the city might be your best bet there. You could also look west of the Triangle proper, to Hillsborough or Mebane. I own a rental in Mebane that has gone well so far.

3. Durham Be careful. 20 years ago 90% of Durham was a warzone, but it has become much safer and favorable for investors. Unless you are in the city, it can still be difficult to distinguish the "up-and-coming" streets from the "do-not-touch" streets, and they are often right next to each other. Lots of Tech moving into Durham, so there will be some people who make themselves very wealthy investing in Durham for the next 10 years, but I would definitely recommend a savvy agent on the ground. I am not one, but happy to recommend mine if you PM.

Hope this helps!

@Richard Weinberg

Thank you for clarifying, you are certainly right here. I would never suggest someone just throw their money at a deal, that is a great way to lose it all. My point was just that if you REALLY know your numbers, and prove it by making excellent investments with your own capital, most people will be able to find partners that can help them scale with capital but don't want to invest themselves.

Great advice, this is definitely a "measure twice, cut once" business!

I am not an expert whatsoever, but you should contact your attorney about this. I know Dodd-Frank has some stuff about lease options, and you might be in danger there.

Hey Austen,

I had (and still have) much the same concern about traditional financing. My totally unqualified advice is to still do it though, and then when you run out of capital, if you can find good deals you will find the money. If you prove that you can make money as a landlord, there are probably plenty of people in your circle who would do a deal with you because they want to invest but don't know how. As for picking a niche, just choose one you like and put the blinders on for everything else. It does not matter what your target criteria are (within reason), just know them and stick to them so you can be an expert in that market. 

I'm also a new-ish investor and would love to chat, feel free to send me a message. I've been around the Triangle my whole life.

Danny

Hey BP community,

I just sent out a few thousand letters to absentee owners for the first time, and got my first angry call. Apparently I used the guy’s wife’s name and he was unhappy about that, threatening to “come for my ***”. He didn’t give me his name, but should I try to figure out who he is and take them off my list? And how should I handle this kind of call in the future?

Thanks for the help!

Danny

Hi Phuong, #2 might be possible but will be tricky in Chapel Hill. There are a few reasons I think Chapel Hill is a tough town to invest in: 1) Elite public schools make it compelling for homebuyers 2) Many high-paid workers in healthcare, tech, and education have pushed up home prices 3) A recently (~4 years ago) lifted moratorium on building apartments has allowed a huge acceleration in building, so MFH supply is skyrocketing now, but not SFH. However, there are still good deals here or there, most require creativity though. 27517 is one of the highest-growth zip codes in the Triangle for the next 10 years (considered the "path-of-progress" to the West by many), so if you can find something there that works, it will appreciate.

"Help! I don’t have enough money to buy real estate!”

For 90% of real estate investors, it’s a thought that follows “I want to invest in real estate” when we get started. But why does this one road block set back so many people? I am a case study for this question. I bought my first property a little bit less than a year ago with $23k down, and I have much more than that in the bank now, but I still have had trouble pulling the trigger again. Why? Because I feel safe having the cash in the bank. Because I think buying another property would be risky. Because the people around me are still wary of “that real estate thing”. But in reality, the bank guarantees you will lose money at the inflation rate, and real estate will usually yield a solid return in the long run even with some mistakes. Tell me which of those is more risky.

The bottom line: A lack of money isn’t stopping the typical beginning investor, just as it isn’t stopping me. Inertia is what actually stands in our way. Without a substantial force pushing us, we won’t move forward in real estate. We’ll stand on the sideline for years, saying we want to retire early, and maybe picking up a property or two along the way but never diving in. If you’re in the same shoes, I can’t offer you advice, but I can offer some camaraderie. I have faith that those of us who push through will make it out the other side glad we did.

Hey Milwaukee,

I am an out-of-state investor looking to get started in the Milwaukee metro area with small multifamilies. I think it is a really strong metro area, happy to share my analysis of the city if you want to share your email. I have connected with an agent and we identified one neighborhood in particular, but I'm interested to hear from the group as to what your experiences are with cash flowing small multis in the city, and what neighborhoods might make sense for this. I'm looking for a lower-crime class "B" or "C" area. Thanks in advance!

Danny

Excited to meet the group!

Hey all,

I'm relatively new to real estate (only one property), but I'm incredibly passionate about it. I also enjoy my day job, but certainly don't have the same passion for software that I do for real estate. I'm in a great position because my company does real estate consulting and I understand real estate better than most at the company, but sometimes it is hard to see the value in developing my tech skills when I see myself investing long-term. Also for some context: I will see some of the upside in an acquisition, which could happen in the next few years, so my work on innovating there will likely have a much greater short-term payout than real estate. Should I continue to work extra hours at my day job, or spend that extra energy learning real estate? Any thoughts would be much appreciated!

Danny