All Forum Posts by: Diana Tran

Hi! I'm interested in investing in both multi-family homes and single family homes in Columbus. I'm currently establishing some contacts in Columbus right now, such as agents/brokers/etc but seriously looking for local partners who would be interested in building a portfolio together over there. I'm a newbie to this but have spent the last 2 years learning A LOT about real estate investment in the U.S. and Europe, secured one property, so far working on the 2nd. 

@Stephen Dispensa It was quite overwhelming when my broker first told me how much the property tax will jump once I purchase vs what it is now. But what you're saying all makes sense to me. This part is where strategy kicks in.

We spoke to our broker and also been caught up on the news. But it seems that property taxes will increase extraordinarily high next year and coupling that with expensive home owners insurance. All while, the interest rates are still high.

How do you work with this or workaround this matter?

Also, besides Tampa or Florida as a whole, where else seems to be good cities in invest in?

@Tom Shallcross Thank you so much! I'll check it out

@Crystal Smith Wow thank you, your response is very thorough and helpful indeed. When you first started, did you have a mentor/business advisor that help guide you through your journey? What helped you with decision making? We know how to run numbers and do as much research, but when it's in the scheme of things and dealing with real people, negotiating...it's high pressure and gets overwhelming especially since we're new to this world.

@Crystal Smith Thank you for your thorough response. Can you elaborate a bit more on this part "Another part of our strategy is to invest with someone at a local level. which meant we became local through our partner...."?

Making sure I understand correctly on this other part. It sounds like first you meet your team in-person to create a relationship with them then you work with realtors to find property you would eventually put an offer in (unseen) then once you're under contract that's when you get the remaining team to check everything. At what point do you travel there? Is it when the inspection/records/finances are all in a good place...giving it a final look before closing?

Also, how do you find reliable realtors to work with? We worked with a few realtors and all were good in their own way however, there were some gaps. For example, the first realtor viewed the property for us but missed out major damages until I flew in myself and saw the property. The 2nd realtor doesn't have any investment background, didn't have advice on best rental property and the 3rd couldn't find any properties while the 1st realtor found plenty that matched our criteria. With that being said, we had a challenging time finding a realtor who specializes in investment and can be more detailed/open with us.

About the pre-inspection, we'll have to factor in the cost. But it's a bit less than full inspection. This was a suggestion by another investor. I guess this would another layer of protection before committing to a contract that will cost more money. I get what you're saying about timing though.

I was wondering what is everyone's set up.

We have the basic things set up such as having a LLC, realtor, and a broker. We went under contract twice but we haven't bought anything yet. Plan is to start with a multifamily house, or a single family with an in-law suite in the back. The challenges we run into is trusting the realtor and the realtor's inspector to fully disclose all the problems with the property...to basically be our eyes and ears. We noticed there were some major problems not brought to our attention until towards the end of the contract where we were under pressure to make a decision.

Since this is all done remotely, how did you set up a reliable system or team to be your eyes and ears from start (property search) to finish (to closing on a deal) and who are they? OR do you actually take a trip to visit all properties then decide? 

We're thinking we'll need a buyer's agent, a lawyer in Tampa, and a inspector to do pre-inspections before we ever decide to put in an offer. What are your thoughts? 

Ideally, we'd like to buy multiple properties this year and do minor cosmetic work if needed but since we're all remote, we can't do any flips. So strategy is buy, rent out rent it out, and sell 3-5 years down the line.

@Account ClosedWe were able to get home owner insurance quotes on the house. It's in Tampa. But the house doesn't have any permits on record...the only one that we'll get is from the seller replacing the roof.

@Henry Clark Thank you Henry! Since I'm a first time home buyer, I don't anything about repairs and how it works. I also dont have a team of people yet to help me besides my realtor. I think @Bruce Woodruff has a point about potentially hiring an inspector with a construction background to check the repair work. I'm open to hearing any ideas!