All Forum Posts by: David Barnett

@Nathan Christensen I'm a huge fan of West Seventh (I own two duplexes in West Seventh).  My opinion on West Seventh and the east side of West 7th close to downtown (Banfil, Goodrich and Goodhue) aren't as nice as the other side of the street.  As you get closer to the airport down West Seventh, there are some nicer pockets.  The other area that I like and seems like a good area is the Riverview area in West Saint Paul.  I wouldn't invest in anything East of Cesar Chavez, and I really like the area West of S. Robert Street (Winifred, Robie, Stevens, etc.).  There are some really nice pockets just over the river from downtown Saint Paul.  

@Tim Swierczek Great to see that you are pivoting to do coffee over Zoom instead of in person.  

@Mamadou Ngom I would do some thinking about long term plans, especially if you are looking to buy in Minneapolis.  Others on the forum disagree with me, and I'm not as keen on Minneapolis with the direction the city council is going (making it a bit more difficult in my opinion to be a landlord in Minneapolis).  Good luck!

On top of what others said (checking the by-laws), do you have a good relationship with the other unit owners?  If you are having the contractor there anyways and they are open to it, what about converting the whole building and each unit to in-unit laundry (especially if you are on the top floor)?  In unit laundry adds a ton of value to a condo and since the association is a small association, you'll likely all get a better deal if the piping is done for all units at once.

This is a great thread, and great post @Matt Jones!  I agree with Shiloh on multiple sources of income.  Diversification is key, especially when it comes to income (active, portfolio and passive).  

The things that I have learned thus far is that my W2 job can be done 100% virtually.  It has been an interesting mental shift and has opened up my mind to new possibilities.  The second thing that has been reinforced during this period is that it is good to have extra cash laying around to be able to procure needs (for example, I'm from a state that is heavier on the restrictions).  The extra cash has made it possible for me to go online and source needs (groceries, pantry staples, etc.) without having to worry about the cost.  Sure, I don't like spending extra, and I'm in a position where it doesn't hurt my overall finances.  Having means to be able to weather this storm has further cemented the need for me to become financially free.  Last and not least, I had a little extra money that I could throw into the stock market on a hunch.  I believe that Delta's stock is the best run of the big legacy domestic carriers. I don't believe the US Government will allow them to fail, and their stock price is extremely depressed due to all of the COVID-19 related travel cancellations.  I believe they are a longer term play and will rebound in the years to come.

@Michael Lewis I'm from the Boston area and invest out of state, too.  Welcome to Bigger Pockets.  I've run into this issues with my portfolio from a few banks, too.  By any chance, are you talking to local/regional banks?  You might have to keep on calling around or bite the bullet and talk to a commercial real estate broker.  I'm assuming you are talking to the commercial lending part of the bank/lending institution?  Have you offered to open up a deposit account with them and transfer over rent to their bank?  Final suggestion, does Buffalo have a tax assessor website that has details on the transactions?  If so, I'd be looking at who loaned the buyer the money to buy the deal and call them up.  You'll likely see the same lenders over and over again and might be a good place to call.

I'm not trying to be a jerk, and he's just spamming threads with this same copy and paste solicitation.  Not a great way to try to find a broker, especially with the sensational language that looks like it came out of an MBA program.  We're talking about going against tradition, providing value to clients and doing something that is industry changing.  Sounds pretty empty and hollow to me...

@Logan LeCompte Welcome to the forums. One of the properties that I purchased in Saint Paul (duplex) was almost a BRRRR. I would say it is a little different than a traditional BRRRR, as I didn't pay cash for the property and I wasn't able to pull out all of my cash on the delayed refinance. However, the property was rough around the edges, I dumped quite a bit of money into it to fix it up, placed tenants and then refinanced it about 18-24 months later. This particular deal was found off market from a wholesaler, and most of my deals have been off-market.

@Puja Shah

I will address one of your questions. I've invested almost exclusively in duplexes after my first condo purchase in Uptown. In general, townhouses and condos have less work due to HOA's. Any property where you are responsible for interior and exterior are going to have more work associated with them. With the additional work, the return should be higher. Condos and townhouses (in general), don't require as much work and the return will be lower.

My focus is generally on a neighborhood or two on the Saint Paul side that I know fairly well.  I'm not a real fan of Minneapolis, especially with the new proposals that are in the works (my opinion).  I use a full service brokerage, property management and maintenance company in Saint Paul.  I believe most if not all of the agents have investments themselves.  Please shoot me a message if you'd like an intro.

Russell, what do you think about the current COVID-19, the lockdown in MA and the possibility of universities not holding in person classes for the Fall (such as BU)?  I think there is a possibility that the hotness of the Boston rental market will suffer if there aren't in-person classes in the Fall.  Sure Boston has other industries, and college kids make a huge segment of the rental population in the city (and Cambridge, Somerville, Medford, Watertown, etc.).  If there is a huge demand decline, I could see it bleeding into other parts of the city or the Metro.  For this reason, I would be cautious about Boston until the major universities make a decision about their in-person classes for the Fall.  Interesting to hear your thoughts

 Not trying to hijack this thread, and if you want to build wealth in real estate, turnkey isn't the best way.  Turnkey is a good model for really busy professionals or those who are high W2 wage earners that want a property on autopilot.

@Ivan Widman I've used Boehm Heating and Cooling with good success.  They are cost effective and the furnace that they replaced has hadn't any issues since install.