All Forum Posts by: David Wicks

IUL and whole life hucksters are everywhere!

Plenty of good analysis out there why this usually is not a good idea.  Want to diversify? open a vanguard account and buy low fee mutual funds.

I echo the HELOC strategy. It's the one I'm going to take and have been approved and should close in less than 30 days. Read up on them so you fully understand it though!

Thank you, Zachary and Scott.  I appreciate your feedback on my plan.  So, how do we get these houses in decent shape at a price that makes all the business math work out?

Anyone got an example of a recent investment and what the upfront costs were?

Hello, everyone.

New prospective real estate investor here. I'm mostly researching at this point and plan on investing in about a year, if this works for me. I've been looking into buy and hold types of investments with the goal of building a portfolio of SFR properties in the $120k to $180k range. I have cash flow freeing up soon and I am almost debt free.

So, I'll keep doing more of the same stock investment or diversify into an area that I've always been interested in, Real Estate.  My Grandmother was a Real Estate agent, so I grew up with that around me and have a lot of respect for people in this field.

The model I've been putting together (I'm an IT guy in the trading industry) has me screening houses with the goal of purchasing at ~70% of market value (leveraged), renting for 1% or greater and expecting a 45-55% expense ratio.  

IRR and 10% discount NPV seems pretty strong with these criteria. But I question the reality of actually being able to find properties that cheap especially with my limited contacts. So, I guess that would be my first questions... What have been your experiences acquiring and renting at those levels?

I have some contacts (or my wife does anyway) in the construction industry and I can probably use those connections to find a core group of contacts in this space.  I guess I'll need a contractor, handyman, real estate agent, a property management firm and a lawyer of some sort. I know someone in the tile industry, so there is that...  Not sure who else I should have in my circle!

Anyway, seams like I'm trying to line out what I do know when I really don't know anything yet.  So, I'll just say "hello" and start listening!