All Forum Posts by: Drew Clements

@Morgan Scharman, be sure to go to the Northern Utah luncheon that SLREIA.com puts on. I believe it's this Wednesday in Roy. There are typically a number of flippers that attend. Good luck!

Hi @Colten Lemmons, if you're looking to meet local investors, be sure to come to a SLREIA meeting if you can. They also put on some luncheons that are good (I mean content and people... food's up to you). They sometimes update the details on their site - slreia.com

Hey @Nate Julian, thanks for the shout-out. I don't know what it is for sure, but seems that when I put up a long post, it takes a long while to get responses (if ever). Social media has destroyed our attention spans apparently.... so you may want to ask your specific questions one at a time in shorter posts. That's worked for me. Anyway...

For cost of acquisition, typically you'll include inspections, appraisal (maybe), title search, title insurance, closing costs & points, and anything else that you want to call a cost of acquisition - say marketing costs to find the deal, etc. To get good ballpark figures on these, visit a title company and ask questions. Many will print out out some examples.

Mortgage rates - yep, just call and talk to people. The first call will be an education and you'll get the lingo down, then the next couple calls will be more informative.

For your last item, operating expenses, yes ... everything can be estimated, but some are definitely harder than others. Repairs can be the hardest. For insurance and utilities, make calls or visits to insurance agents or see where you can get with the electric company, etc. A property management company can be really helpful here as well. Coming back to repairs, just remember that rental repairs and flip repairs are two very different finish levels, so plan according to your objective. There are some great books on estimating too, I have one that I could lone you if you like... but a lot if it comes down to material and labor costs... which are always local/regional... so there's no "one true estimate" source. Also, it's not an operating cost, but be sure to factor in capital expenses. Estimating these is a matter of evaluating the remaining useful live of your mechanical systems and dividing the cost of a new one by that number (in years or months)... e.g. How much does a new water heater cost? If the current one likely has 5 years left in it, what is the amount per year/month that I need to put away, so that in 5 years, I can buy a new one without having to find the money somewheres else?.... because at the end of the day, you want to go into a property knowing that it's going to produce a return (surprises and all), rather than just give you surprises :)

Hope that helps!

Welcome to the Cache Vally corner of BP @Samuel Dennis! As far as local investors that are on BP go, I think you've met everyone in this thread :)

There's more in the area, of course, so definitely come to the NUREIA meeting. The SLREIA meetings are really good as well if you don't mind the travel time.

Looking forward to seeing you around!

Hey @Bob Hinrichs, that's the trend I've been seeing as well. Vumber seems to work well enough, but CallRail is the performance choice. My Podio guy strongly recommends CallRail as well.... hmmm.... makes the decision easy enough. CallRail it is!

Hi @Ronald Keene, I have the same question as @Bob Hinrichs - why CallRail over Vumber? I'm setting up my call service on Podio and was leaning towards Vumber - but decided to get some thoughts from users first and found this thread.

Hi @Jeremy Robinson,

Welcome to BP! Since you're looking to use a VA loan, I assume that what you're looking for is a "house hacking" opportunity on a small multi (duplex to 4-plex) where you can live in one unit and rent the rest out.

You're still going to have to find a deal so that you can cash flow and multifamily is a market with less inventory than single family (obviously)... so it may take some time. Be patient and get your financing ducks in a row so that when you do come across a deal, you can jump on it.

To find that deal, you'll find lots of techniques detailed out here on BP. Here are some that I'd recommend: Go to all the area investor meetups - There's the SLREIA, NUREIA, UVREIA, etc. meetings... and searching around online you'll probably find more. Deals are often brought to these meetings. You can also get on buyers lists for Wholesalers, just specify what you want and know your numbers before you sign anything :) You should also call all of the "For Rent" signs and classifieds you see in yards, KSL and Craigslist. Just say that you're interested in buying the place and ask if they're interested in selling.

Anyway, take some action and don't give up. Good luck!

aloha @Fred Baker!

Welcome to BP! We have a growing investor community up here. We meet third the Wednesday of each month - Northern Utah Real Estate Investors Association. Details at NUREIA.org hope you can make it to our meetings! (Free, BTW)

Where are you at in your investing journey? Let me know if I can be of any help!

Hi @Linsey K., I found bigger pockets by way of an old post that Mr. Money Mustache did as well! At the time, I was living in Lafayette CO - about 30 min from MMM's town. I don't necessarily agree with him on how to buy real estate, though. From what I remember, his approach was to buy at a modest discount and force appreciation with pure sweat equity. I've done this once, but have since learned that such effort is best spent in simply finding better deals!

Good luck to you in your journey! Be sure you join us at the Layton Lunch (put on by SLREIA)... would be fun to meet. I also attend the NUREIA meetings in Logan (schedule at NUREIA.org)

@Logan Jones, I did all of my coursework online with Stringham Schools. It's really nice to be able to crank through stuff on your own schedule and not have to travel for classes. Overall, I'd say they were a good choice, but I also have no basis for comparison. I did ask around before signing up with them and they were one of the top recommendations, though. Their classes, are really good for the most part, but I'd say about 25% of their content was simply outdated, especially when it came to forms. Fundamentals are the same, but anything having to do with fees, timelines, etc. were off. I felt well prepared for the state exam with just the course and the text book (part of the package) and passed on my first sitting. If you consider yourself a strong student with good study habits, though, you'll probably be fine with any course... passing the state exam wasn't rocket surgery :)