All Forum Posts by: Donna Yu

@Donna Yu
I put around 12k down on my first rental which was a single-family rental rented out via section 8 here in Columbus OH. It depends on what location you are looking to invest in and what the strategy is

@Donna Yu you'll get a LOT of recommendations with that question!

In alphabetical order: Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, Indianapolis, St Louis, Texas and more.

Before deciding you should do some research and learn about property Classes.

Most investors naively assume all properties & tenants are the same and mistakenly only focus on best rent-to-price ratios.

The reality is that lower Property Classes also mean lower Tenant Classes and corresponding bigger challenges!

As an example, what do you expect a tenant credit score to be?
-The correct answer is, it depends on the Class of the property.

BTW: there is no industry standard for Property & Tenant Classes, so the definitions are fluid depending on the location and investor opinion.

We're in the Detroit market and if you'd like to know more about it, please PM us.

Hey @Donna Yu!

You obviously know real estate and are a successful realtor, so you are in a great position to start focusing on your real investing goals. You have plenty of money to start and most likely have plenty of RE knowledge to rely on as well. 

My first recommendation is to have a relatively clear idea of what your goals are. You already mentioned you want more passive long-term investments, and possibly in a more landlord friendly state. Further clarification would be how much cash flow are you wanting? How long are you hoping it will take to get there?  How leveraged or conservative are you interested in being? Do you need/want the monthly income soon or are you willing to work toward a greater income later and leverage off future appreciation? Are you going to focus on sfr's, 2-4 units, 4+ apartment projects, industrial, commercial, etc?

These are not meant to be a comprehensive list of questions, but just a start to tickle the brain. You may have answers to some of these questions already, but it is a good exercise to have some clarity on those goals, then you can forge the path to get there. 
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As to your other questions: 
My first very successful deal was through a family member contact that knew of an investor that was selling one of their local rentals. And, I should've held on to that one. A good piece of advice is to hold on to all your good stuff and transfer any marginal or questionable stuff into better stuff. 

My best deal was from the mls. I just recognized a great deal and potential when only a few others could see it. 

I've had out of state rentals since 1997, and started by following others that had already done all the research and ground work - there was no reason to reinvent the wheel. Where to start depends on your goals, etc. If you want to maximize cash flow that would dictate where to look, if you want more appreciation potential, that would direct you to other areas, etc.