All Forum Posts by: Dominic Jones

@Dominic Jones just wanted to say hello neighbor, I grew up in Hershey, PA!

 Silver Spring is a pretty large area and has both appreciation, and some limited cash flow plays. Bethesda is one of the most expensive areas in the metro region. 

@Scott Trench ; @James Wise ; @Melissa Gittens
Thanks for the warm welcome! I'm excited.

@Bill Kenny
Great advice about building a knowledgeable team and mail marketing. I'm trying to network and meet as many like-minded people as possible. Any suggestions for other forums, meetups or events I should look into? 

@Russell Brazil @Dominic Jones 
Great advice, thanks! I agree about DC proper being a primarily value appreciation location. Theoretically, seem risky to bet on appreciation and little cash flow, but then again the strength of the DC market has remained unchanged for ~20 years if not longer, experiencing little volatility. I appreciate your advice about Prince George's and Frederick -- have heard that from others as well. 

Hello All, 

We are an early 30's childless (except for two fur babies) married couple who recently moved to Tucson from New York City. We are new to investing, and trying to soak up as much information as possible. Feeling pretty overwhelmed at the moment but trying to stay upbeat. We fell into a dismal financial situation in NYC (medical bills, costly immigration fees, snowballing living expenses...) and decided to move to Tucson where the cost and pace of living is more manageable. After much thought and many tears, we decided to declare bankruptcy to discharge $60K in debt. While I feel like a huge failure for conceding to bankruptcy (we  worked so hard to always pay every single bill on time without fail and maintained 711 credit score until filing) the stress of the rat race was affecting our sanity and health. 

SO NOW.... I'm afraid that having declared bankruptcy leaves us very little options in the arena of real estate investing. 

We have $8K cash, and $30K in an IRA that I rolled over from 401K when I left my employer in NYC. So we don't have a lot.

Caveat to the bankruptcy: Only I am actually filing bankruptcy. My husband is not filing, however all debts will be discharged in both our names since they were incurred since we married. We still expect his credit to be decimated though.

My husband also has 1/3 ownership with his father & brother in a multi family building in London worth at least $1M, with a $400K mortgage which is more than covered by tenant rents. His grandfather owns a few other properties in London that are positive cash flow from tenant rents, and a $1M+ house that is owned outright as primary residence. His family is open to investing/helping us here.

Where do we start???

Or have we closed all avenues since declaring bankruptcy? (for the next 7 years at least).

My husband is currently working a sales management job (that he absolutely hates) with a $40K salary, and I am currently not working yet here in Tucson (though receiving $425 weekly in unemployment from NYC). We have exactly enough money to cover our monthly bills. Both of us are looking for jobs here we don't totally hate and will allow us to save at least something to put towards investing. (We left $80K jobs each in NYC so this is humble pie for us, however living expenses are much less here). We are renting a 1 bedroom for $765 (versus $2100 in NYC).

Just not sure what avenue to pursue now to maximize what (little) we do have and get kickstarted on the right path in real estate. ANY advice very much welcomed! 😊

Welcome to BP @Lidia B..  DC is primarily a market that investors are looking for appreciation. However if you are interested more in cash flow, some of the places to look are Prince George's County, Frederick MD, or further north closer to Baltimore. Just keep in mind the idea that cash flow properties in this area will have a lower chance of appreciation.  Like everything in life and investing there is always a tradeoff.  Also when the cash flow gets too high in markets like Baltimore or Hagerstown, then you may need to do a risk premium analysis to understand if that increase cash flow is worth the increase in risk.

I live and have invested in San Jose, Ca. I have a number of properties (SFHs, duplexes, condos, and a commercial property) here which have appreciated nicely and now cash flow well after many years. I also have a SFH in Bakersfield which has not appreciated and is under water on paper-but does cash flow for me so I just keep hanging on. My goal was to add a property to my portfolio every other year, which I have been able to do.

Investing for appreciation has always been my strategy due to where I live. I didn't really need the cash flow due to my occupation and didn't mind a break even or slight negative in order to achieve the appreciation. I have been doing this for a long time, in one way or another since I am a construction contractor.

I still don't need cash flow to live on, but since it takes so much money to jump into another property here, and I think the market here is closer to the top than the bottom, I am looking at other areas. Also, I am reconsidering my strategy going forward.

I have been checking out Indianapolis, Texas, Cleveland, Kansas City among others. There are pros and cons to going out of state.  Turnkey investing may solve much of the cons. But, it seems like by buying a turnkey, you run a good chance of buying a property at retail market price or higher, which means it may not appreciate for a long time, and unloading it could be painful.

I have about 150k saved up to invest at the moment and am looking for a good balance of CoC return and equity appreciation.

I would not plan to live off of cash flow from my investments for 10 or more years. So, what areas do you see that have good appreciation mixed with decent cash flows?

Are turnkey investments a good solution?

Would you recommend turnkey multi family, 4 plex or more?

Should I cash out refi some property here to leverage into another bigger deal?

I'm sort of stuck...

 Solid advice. I mostly have been looking for meetups because real estate people are more face-to-face types. I'll give Facebook groups a try.