All Forum Posts by: Dave Poeppelmeier

Dower rights, in my understanding, were originally created in the 1800's to prevent a farmer's sons from kicking Mom out of the house when Dad died. That may be overly simplified, but it is what it is. Although antiquated, it does protect a spouse from selling a property out from under them, so it's likely not going anywhere. 

I'll inject a little humor here Antonio that this is the equivalent of the girl at a college party proclaiming "I'm so drunk!" 

In all seriousness, I agree with many other posts in that it's great to have that much capital to work with, but you need to figure out how much work you want to put into this and what your goals for your business are. If you have a good thing going in Accounting and don't want to "work" as much, then go into syndication or become a private lender.  If you want to get your hands dirty, then I would look at some commercial deals for bigger properties in growth areas for the appreciation or in Midwest cities for the cash flow. Then really drill down on that topic and learn as much as you can about it. There's going to be dozens of people that would happily be your "mentor", but use the head on your shoulders and you'll see who's out to help you and who's out for a commission. Best of luck to you!

Hi Alexi, I have loans on my student rentals both conventional and commercial, and nobody had a problem with students. Each lender writes their own rules as to what risks they're willing to take on. I would contact local lenders in Tallahassee to find out who will finance student housing in that area. 

Hi Emily, welcome to BP! Ohio is a great place to look at properties. You can find properties under $150k very easily, but it depends on what you're looking for. Cash flow vs appreciation? Single Family vs Multifamily? Class of neighborhoods? Most of the major cities you can find Property Managers to handle any aspect of your investing goals: The 3 C's of Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati, as well as the mid-size cities of Dayton, Toledo, and Akron. Your money will generally stretch farther in Dayton/Toledo/Akron, but Columbus is by far the fastest growing city in Ohio with great appreciation plays, and Cleveland/Cincinnati are also solid. I'm in Toledo, let me know if you have any questions about this market. Good luck!

I agree with @Will Gaston 1000%. Everyone on one lease, groups that know each other already, don't do any matchmaking. It only ends in drama... 

The "who's" in your case I feel are other investors in the Student Housing market in your area. The biggest things you have to find out are 1. When is the leasing season for the next school year? Fall? Spring? All the time? 2. What EXACTLY is considered Student Housing in your area? You will find that the areas where you can charge a premium rent for Student Housing can be very specific. Where I have my Student Rentals, 9 minutes away is like being in another time zone, it won't work. 

Otherwise, student will treat a unit the way it is given to them. If you give them a unit that's in good condition, clean, and updated, they will generally take care of it. If you give them a beat up party house, they'll treat it as such. You want to get parent co-signers, so if they do break something and don't pay for it, Mom and Dad are going to find out about it. Go ahead and do a background check just to make sure you don't have someone coming in with conduct or drug offenses on their record. Otherwise, it's not as crazy as you think. Good luck!

Hire. It. Out. My wife and I were at 7 properties, and we are absolutely NOT accountants. They day we hired a good bookkeeper is the day our business took off to the next level since I could work on my W2 job and look for deals, do rehabs, etc instead of slamming my head into a brick wall trying to master double entry bookkeeping and having our accountant yell at us for not having it 100% balanced. Side note: don't have an accountant like that, there's plenty that will help you instead of expect you to be an accountant as well. 

@Alexander McNichols, that's fantastic that you were able to shadow someone like that at your age! It's also great that you have this interest in Real Estate now. Most of us in RE didn't get involved immediately, and we wish we were working on this at 17 years old!

From someone who took the non-traditional path to being an investor and Realtor (I was a Physical Therapist for 20 years), my questions to you are:

1. What part of RE interests you the most? Property Management? Realtor? Broker? Investor? 

2. What are your goals? Own lots of properties and do the bread and butter live off passive income happily ever after? Own a brokerage? Own a PM company? Being a Rockstar Realtor throwing dollar bills out of your Lambo in the Short North? 

Of course you can do most of these concurrently, and you have plenty of time to figure it out. Here's the kicker: you don't have to go to college to do any of this. Now, don't get me wrong, college is one of the most fun times of your life coming from the guy that does Student Housing. If your parents are helping you with college, then absolutely, go for it. But, it's not required. You can take some online finance classes and accomplish the same goals that going to college would do. Experience trumps book smarts in this field I feel. 

Going back to your original post, what should you do the next few months? I would agree with @Dan Nelson and be an assistant to a Realtor or work in an office of a Brokerage or Title Company if they'll hire a 17 year old. Heck, even volunteer if you don't need the money. Just stay around the industry, and you'll be light years ahead of us who had to completely rewire our brains to get where we are. Best of luck to you!!!

I wouldn't see any. Just make sure that you're doing the same application and screening process for everyone, keep all applications and correspondence, etc. If the professors are willing to pay the student housing rate, even better because they'll likely be there for years as opposed to groups of students that are there for a few years tops. 

It depends on what you want: cash flow or appreciation. As this housing market turns, there could be some good buys if you're looking for appreciation down the road in Orlando.  But, if you can find cash-flowing rentals in Charleston in C class and above areas, your money will definitely go farther. I know everyone on BP screams "invest in growing areas!!!" but there's a price tag associated with that, as I'm sure you're familiar with in Ogden. If you are comfortable in Charleston, and have local contacts still to run questions about different neighborhoods by, maybe start there to get comfortable, then expand to the growing markets and enter the fray there. Just make sure that Charleston has some good things going for it (any revitalization efforts, new employers in the area, etc) and isn't completely stagnant. I would get with some local property managers and agents who are investors themselves and see what they're saying about the area.