All Forum Posts by: David Hanson

@Chandan Lodha This is one of my favorite topics. Mint.com is a great resource to get started. Setup all of your accounts and start categorizing your expenses. It will start to learn your habits and get easier and easier. Most banks and credit cards now have some of these features built in. I try to never have cash and only use credit. Many people are afraid of credit. This comes down to self control and when it comes to investing in real estate, smart credit is your best friend. The bank is willing to loan you money on a monthly basis for free and most even give you rewards on top of that. Cash back, air miles, points, etc. 5% off groceries, gas, restaurants, 2% cash back on everything, double or triple points on airlines and travel. I have 33 credit cards and each has a purpose. I don't carry them all around like George Kastanza but I do keep my everyday card, gas card, and restaurant card with me. I have all of them attached to http://bit.ly/ACORNZZ. I use acorns for investing my spare change off of every transaction. It rounds all your purchases up to the nearest dollar amount and then invests that money in stocks and real estate on your behalf. Also when making large purchases you can use cash back websites. My favorite is http://bit.ly/TopCashbacks. You basically go to any site and add your items to the cart then before checking out sign into your cash back website and search the store your buying from. Then click cash back it will redirect you to the site and just check out. They act as an affiliate middle man and pay you a percentage of your total purchase back. So for example. You shop on amazon and spend $100. Use your amazon store card and get 5% cash back and use cash back website for an additional 3% back and you just saved $8 just for using your tools. You can also stack these with coupons for more discounts and you can purchase gift cards at a discount and then really stack it up. I used to do retail arbitrage and I could save tons of money this way. You can save around 55% at kohls.com all year if you know the correct steps. So be smart and selective and dramatically cut down on your monthly spending is the first step. Get all of your roommates to make a house budget on google drive then share it amongst everyone. Maybe even volunteer to be the one who purchases all house consumables and then have them pay you a reimbursement based on normal value + tax and then use the strategy I just mentioned to save around 10% on trash bags, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, etc. now your making money and you get to choose what your buying. Let me know if you have any questions. I love this stuff

I am new here and tried to search this topic, but just found 600+ pages of people asking for certain Area recommendations. That is all well and good, but I want to know how to interview them myself. I live in the Chattanooga area and if someone recommends someone who is great that is awesome and I would love to interview them. 

I currently don't own any rental property in the area yet, but I'm selling a 5 unit in Maryland in a couple weeks and I want to get started locally. I have managed my own rentals for the past 8 years and it was a great learning experience, but going forward I want highest and best use of time. I want to acquire and grow quickly so if I can put the processes in place right out of the gate, scaling should be easier. 

I am looking for a management company who will be proactive and schedule painters and contractors prior to a tenant moving out. I want someone who will line up new renters so we never have more than a 30 day vacancy EVER. I am looking for someone that will care about my properties as I do and not just collect rent each month. I would like to have zero tolerance policies and keep me in the loop with possible issues. Someone to handle all of the maintenance requests and have a Rolodex of great contractors and handymans to make small repairs when needed. I don't know what a good manager costs. What is normal for their services? What is a deal? Individual or company? Should I get a multi unit discount and how much?

Is there a write up that anyone knows of or a recording or a blog posts of what a great interview should sound like. Even a questionnaire template that I could email to someone to get a good background vetting before we meet face to face.

Thank you everyone for any input you may have on this matter. 

@Jim D. creative loan strategy is smart for little money in and great return with no PMI. Although moving often is a pain it can be done if you want it bad enough.

@William Allen

Please give me some more details on the REIA meet ups or where I can find out details. Thanks everyone

@Richard Elvin

hey Jimmy I would like to meet up when you have some time to discuss financial options. 

Thanks 

Originally posted by @Jimmy Moncrief:

@david 

@David Hanson - welcome to BP - Chattanooga is a great town and Ooltewah is a hot area!  

Let me know when you want to connect!

I would love to meet up and talk about financial options! Thanks

Good day everyone, I just found this podcast while fumbling around on YouTube.com. My name is David Hanson and I just moved to Chattanooga TN in August of 2016. I used to work for USDA as a telecommunications specialist in Washington DC. I moved down here to the south for the people. I love southern hospitality and the better quality of life. Expecting our first baby in September this year. When I first moved here I had just left my Government job and had been running a side online retail business, selling on eBay and Amazon for the past 4 years. It was fun and I enjoyed up, but highest and best use of time persuaded me to shift gears. I loved real estate so much more and I could see the potential to make more money with minimal effort was huge. I closed my online empire at the end of 2016 and got my Real Estate license in TN and GA. I joined the #1 team in town and took on a mentorship by the team's top agent. Now I am out on my own and really want to start investing locally in some rental units. I am liquidating my 5 unit in Maryland to free up some cash and get rid of the long distance headache. I look forward to networking and connecting with all of the great knowledge here.  Thank you for having me! Feel free to reach out if you are local and I would love to meet up and talk.