All Forum Posts by: Douglas Higa

Practice real estate law. You won't have to look very hard for a mentor.You will have a serious value add relationship 

This is a little off subject, but I wanted to share this with everyone. Here's a tip that got me on our first multifamily acquisition. Don't forget that the asset will be taxed according to the new purchase price. The financials we recieved during acquisition showed the lower tax fee of the old purchase price. The taxes went up and were adjusted according to the new purchase price right after closing in Ohio, so it threw our margins off because we didn't anticipate the increase. FYI Calculate your taxes on the purchase price in your proforma to win

Awesome brother! 

Hi Trina, keep on asking and talk to everyone you know and great things will come your way! Dont give up, you can do it! Try your local real estate investors association too

First cut out the one year living expense as part of the investment capital, You will do much better if your hungry and only live on your returns. Then cut out the give yourself a year and if you dont make it you'll go back to your job. With that exit strategy in mind you have already lost. Then cut out the idea of buying a house to live in if there isnt any return on it. Try a duplex or better yet a quad. Then find one thing in real estate you want to learn and stay with it until your fed. I would go to your friend and ask him to be your mentor for a 50/50 split until you feel comfident to do it on your own. The best way I learned was to just pull the trigger on a deal and start being creative with the solutions thatr you will have to come up with. Good luck my friend

I have had several bad experiences with PM's. If you want to become the property manager that everyone wants you have to treat the asset as if it was your own. Always be conscientious of operating costs. Have relationships with contractors that will charge you less so your markups don't look excessive. I would always see charges that were inflated. Always look for preventative measures that avoid catastrophe. Talk to us about your ideas to improve the assets to increase ROI. These are just a few ideas. It all boils down to this. If you owned the asset, what would you do to see it perform? The PM's main focus should be increasing the value of the asset. Once you accomplish this you wont need to search for properties to manage, they will come to you

Awesome Steve, I really like Ohio!

800 credit score is like a unicorn to investors(laugh) The only person I have ever known with one is my wife, and she never spends or keeps debt. Mine is like a rainbow from the leveraging and credit inquirys. I think we just dream of the day we dont even need it.

I always get copies of the tenants contracts during due diligence. Have you checked the hud for deposit credits toward purchase price. Always check the financials on college Apts too, sometimes the rents will vary Summer Fall, Winter, and Spring. Place ads everywhere, and check the backgrounds of your tenants criminal and credit. Dont lease in haste due to stress over debt service, and try to have their parents cosign as much as possible to shift liability. You will make it through this just fine and it will be one of those great learning experiences. The best things come out of situations like this. I learned the most creative ways to reduce operating costs from a similar situation

Thanks for the lesson! Your awesome for sharing.