All Forum Posts by: David Gates

@Kaitlyn Bjerk, I’m starting out too. I’ve had to deal with a similar question too. As a new investor should I buy a rehab or “turnkey” property?

To answer this question, I’m spending a ton of time reading and re-reading my business plan.

Having gone through the process of answering and actually writing down exact plans has helped.

For instance if I rehab, who are my contractors? How do estimate the time to turn it. Having a solid written plan has help to set in my mind the direction to this question.

Love the advice from the experienced investors here in Bigger Pockets.

Take care

Welcome, @Courtney Wright, I'm new to this thing as well, I've READ and LISTENDED to the Ultimate Beginners book from Bigger Pockets, It is a good starting place.

I'm begging on this journey too, so welcome. Anxious to see where other newbies end up. take care

Thanks for the warm welcome. After reading the Ultimate Beginner's guide, I'm realizing how unprepared I am, so I'll be working on the business plan first. I've been asked by others, how can they help? so I need to figure out what direction I'm going take.

Any advise on narrowing down investing criteria or strategies would be helpful. Early advise seems to focus on starting small and learning the ropes. I've also seen other investors hit that "so called" home run on their first deal. 

Is it worth waiting it out or really get the first smaller property done first? IDK just my thoughts for now. 

thanks, 

Greetings,

I'm a new to Bigger Pockets, thanks for reading my post. I'm located in the far northwestern suburbs of Chicago. I've held rentals in the past but when the market turned in 2008, lost those properties as hadn't bought them low enough weather the financial storm.

Fast forward to today, I'm excited to study and read all the available information on Bigger Pockets.

I'm starting in my own area for my investing. I'm also looking to connect with local investors for networking and brainstorming.

Take care,

David

@Bill Gulley, Love the mission statement you wrote up in this thread. I'd love to use a modified version of this for my new real estate investing business plan. Have you seen other samples or templates of business plans specifically written for real estate investors?

@Matt Kelty, I'm a newbie and searching for my first deal too. Running the numbers is something I'm struggling with too. As I was researching rents, I did come across the website rentometer which I believe, @Lisa Maldonado and @Joaquin Camarasa mentioned. 

I'd like to expand on this for what its worth. In my area, I see a range for the amount of rents to charge. So here is my thinking, If I see three, four or five different rates, my thought was to take the average of all the rates I found.

For instance, for research and analyzing a deal, if I see one property rent for $900, one for $1,000, one for $1050 and one for $975. Then I'd add this all up for a total of $3925, then I'd divide this by 4 for an average of $981.25.

I'm curious if others have used this average staggery and if this a viable line of thinking when analyzing realistic rents for calculation purposes.

Thoughts? comments? point me in the right direction>>>> :)

I've read through this thread and another tread about Great Mission Statements. Here is what I think is confusing to newbie's such as myself.

Since I've just signed up and register for BP, one of the suggestions is to read the Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Real Estate Investing. So when a newbie wants to get started they read this book.

Chapter 4 recommends creating your business plan. So naturally I sat down and started to do this. But what a first time investor does not know is how to even create a business plan.

If I'm so new, without having a business background, then a new member with quickly get discouraged by having to create this business plan. I have no idea what my investing staggery is going to be or where to even start. 

But BP suggest starting with a book that includes task and learning that seeming are premature. It appears most investors don't even have a business plan or haven't even thought of this until after years of investing.

With that I've started my business plan with the realization that it will change over time. As I started my plan I created a word document from a template. A word template will have much different layout and criteria than what Real Estate Investors need.

Maybe I haven't come across it yet, but does someone have a Real Estate Investor Business Plan Template as an example that a newbie could review or model when getting started?

Reading examples online with just a general search for Business plans reveals so many different business plans for businesses NOT related to Real Estate Investors.

My apologies if I haven't come across this year here on BP. Thank you,