All Forum Posts by: Darson Grantham

Hey Jonathon, I’m Darson Grantham, an investor-networked realtor in DSM. i host meetups, and pretty active in the Des Moines Investing market. 

What specific types of investing are you considering? Or how can I help?

Happy to speak on these items about Des Moines! Just let me know!

@Dylan Villano In my experience you wont know what a good deal is until you watch the market for 6 months OR get all the market data from the last 6 months and evaluate that.

I've seen folks consider many different kinds of properties good investments, so there is not one size fits all answer to that.  

Some investors want a-b class and dont expect cashflow in Des Moines Iowa (were I live and invest) and others want c class properties that cashflow day one and the owner can improve rents and cashflow even more but it takes a lot of work and typically 6 mo - 1 year of bad numbers to get it turned around. 

Good luck!

Monthly Real Estate Investor Meetup

Presented by Darson Grantham and Ryan Wikstrom

Join us at the NEW Westown Tap, on the 2nd Tuesday of each month to hear guest speakers on various real estate topics as well as the opportunity to network with like minded individuals.Hope to see you there!

Agenda:
5:30-6:00 - Network
6:00-6:15 - Local Market update by Darson Grantham
6:15-6:45 - Short Term Rental Owner Panel
6:45-7:00 - Q&A
7:00-8:00 - Networking for attendees

Guest Panel:
Matt Krueger - Retired early managing his own properties
Matt Young - Co-Owner Green MT - Manages STR's inside of their Portfolio
Cole Chesnut - President of Des Moines STR
Sarah Pell - STR Arbitrage Specialist

Hey Zach, I work with a lot of investors that live outside of Iowa but love the investing market in Des Moines.

Cash flow is kind of a loaded question, depedning on how you are calculating.  With a conversion multifamily I've seen a few that are selling around 230-250 that have total rents of around 2400-2500.  THey are in C neighborhoods and C properties.

If you are looking for A or B properties, there is little cashflow but super stable.  The Des Moines median sale prices have gone up 5-9% YOY depending on the neighborhood.

Currently the state of Iowa does not allow a city to forbid STR or MTR. BUT if the property is part of an association, it is possible that they will forbid STRs. That is part of DD we'd do on the front end looking for property for you. WE also own and manage a STR company that helps owners maximize their profits and make it to the top of the top list in Des Moines STR.

Selfishly, I'd argue I work with dozens of investors every year and just last year in 2024 I helped 20 bigger pocket members buy or sell properties in Des Moines!

I also run the local investor facebook group for investors, and host real estate investor meetups weekly and monthly if you ever come back and want to network with local investors!

I have pre-vetted Bankers, handyman, and property managers to share also!

Good luck on your search!

@Kenneth Taylor yes your contractor background can be an amazing link to optimizing real estate investing as you likely already know! 

I appreciate the tag Ryan! We hold a monthly meetup and also a weekly meetup locally here in Des Moines.

2nd Tuesday is the monthly event at a local restaurant.

Weekly on Friday mornings is the other at a local coffee shop.

Both are great events that if you pour in, you'll be poured into!

 Love this... "Ohio or Iowa is enough". Well if you need Iowa let me know! 62% of my units sold in 2023 were investor deals (and I had 50+ transactions). I don't agree with the sentiment that Iowa is boring, but it sure is stable. 

Unfortunately I don't know anyone personally down there, but send me a message and I'll reach out to two of my clients that I know have properties down in Chariton to see if maybe they know someone. 

From my experience that small-town investing is very localized.  I've owned 8 units (two buildings) in SE Iowa and there was no good option for management and I had to develop my Rolodex of venders and people to help me with the properties.  I set up systems so that it was mostly operational virtually, but did have the occasional vendor job that needed hired out. 

The tenants didn't mind because I was a better landlord virtually than most landlords that were in town (small towns have many landlords with bad reps and bad properties).

Good luck, sorry I couldn't be more help!

Hi Lucas,

I hate doing this but when you say rural Des Moines area, what do you mean, specifically how far away from downtown Des Moines and if out of the city, what direction?

Congrats on posting here to gather advice from all walks of life! Its how I started in 2018 and starting convos with other investors be it in person or online is KEY to learning IMO.  Below I'll answer your qestiosn, the best I can!  If you want to know the lay of the land in the Des Moines area let me know!  I help a lot of folks from BP get started in the Des Moines Metro.

First - Does anyone have experience in these locations, or have other suggestions for us to consider?  - Yes I have experience in Des Moines, both as an investor and an investor-friendly agent.  (I host multiple meetups for investors throughout the city)

Second - Should we begin with single family homes, or try multi-family to start? How much should we invest in the first property or, alternatively, how much should we keep in reserves for purchasing other properties? if you are set on MTR, I'd say evaluate both types an learn the returns and pros and cons of each.  MTR rents will be different at a SFH vs Duplex vs 10 plex.   You have the funds it sounds like to do any of them here in Des Moines, so then it just comes down to which attributes to you prefer about each type of property. 

Third - if y'all are, or know of any investor-friendly agents in these locations that are open to talking with us, we'd love to get a conversation going. - As i said above, happy to talk!