All Forum Posts by: Daniel Miller

@Patrick Reilley I completely disagree with Bryan L. 

If you buy the property right, multi-family is always the way to go. It offsets any vacancies. I believe this is very important. If you buy a SFH and lose two months rent...it will hurt. If one tenant moves out of a fourplex you can make it work. You will still be collecting 75% of your income.

Also, multi-families for the most part are strictly valued by their income potential. SFHs not so much. It's a different clientele. SFH appreciation is nearly impossible to predict and should not be taken for grant it. MF appreciation is much more predictable. If the economy takes a dip you can always add nice features or amenities to a MF property to differentiate yourself and your property from other competing landlords and apartment communities.

For me, MF properties take the emotion out of the purchase. I am a numbers guy and while I do LOVE real estate and I love the properties I currently own, I purchase on numbers first, location second, and building type third (I live in Florida concrete block is MUCH more enviable when termites are your state's bug). My first purchase was a 5 plex and while I ate it in 2014 (major renovations, updates, and turnover) 9 months later I am living in a 1,000 sq foot house and the 4 plex is collecting $2400. I could rent the house out for $1,000 conservatively. So, my initial investment of $140,000 plus the $30,000 I put into the property takes me to $170,000. It could generate $3400 a month. I am at the 2% rule AND three of the four apartments are new. It all depends on the deal but MF investing to me is the way to go.

I would offer $45,000. Banks might set that price and try to dictate the sale process but ultimately the strongest offer will take the property. 

It really depends on your end goal. If you want to be in the fix and flip business I would go with the first option and try flipping a foreclosure. 

You said you are in the property management business so I am going to assume that your core competency is dealing with rentals. If it was me (we are four years apart) I would buy a $500,000 income producing asset, more specifically an apartment building. As long as there aren't any balloon payments on your financing by the time your 53 (at which point a hypothetical 30 year mortgage would be paid off) this investment will probably have doubled in value and you will own it all free and clear. This is the strategy that  I am employing right now. I have purchased two properties (a 5 unit and a 7 unit). I am fixing them up and in couple years I will open a portfolio loan across these two properties and buy a third apartment complex and keep the ball rolling.

Congratulations on being 23 and having those kind of options! Learning and Investing at a young age is very important. It gets you into the game and starts the wealth building process. I focus on apartment buildings if you come across anything I'll gladly take a look at it for you. PM me with any questions. You should be super excited. Less than 1% of people have the opportunity and financial wherewithal to invest in a $500,000 property at the age of 23.

That's interesting. A friend of mine had a situation like that. The other person "owned" a driveway yet my friend's property was permitted use, not the property that owned it AND paid taxes on it. He purchased the driveway because the other person really didn't have any leverage.

If it was me, I would try to meet the other owner and get a feel for him before I made an offer. Is there a legal easement? If so, which kind of easement is it? Some easements do not transfer with ownership and others do. If some sort of easement was in place I would not be concerned. If not the situation is a little different to me. My $0.02..

Good for you! That was a solid offer. I know people like that. They have something dilapidated and will go to the grave with it.

Ouch. It's all in the fine print.

I am a multi-family investor and thus will speak in terms of mult-family investing. 

Be careful with university area. Oddly enough, some of the areas within a couple miles of the campus are dilapidated and/or drug-ridden. Anywhere along Nebraska Ave is rough to the East of the campus. Seminole Heights is supposed to be on the upswing. South Tampa is always growing but is really difficult to get started in (most expensive part of Tampa).

I know Pinellas County. Good luck man. It's tough out there and most places are trading at very compressed cap rates. Downtown is growing but it's expensive. There are pockets you can invest in but Pinellas County is really active with out of state investors. Interest rates have been so low for so long that I believe the prices are high in Pinellas County. I believe that an market adjustment is due at some point. Since 2011 everything has literally doubled in value. That statement holds strong among all property classes (except for NNN leased properties).

No chance. I wouldn't partner with anyone whom I know that is actively lying to another individual, that I am aware of. If he is lying to his wife, why wouldn't he lie to his business partner?

@Richard D. My thoughts exactly. I believe they kept sending letters in hope that they would get a response from me about the old loan. Dirty trick.

@Wayne Brooks Where did that come from? Did you read this thread? If you look further back in the posts this was already discussed and was the first piece of information I learned about tax deed sales. This information was implied at this point in the discussion...but thanks for trying to help I guess.

The bank has no right to the $310,000. They had the opportunity to purchase at the tax deed sale. They did not purchase and thus lost their claim. They can "pretend" to have the claim. They send me letters on a weekly basis telling me I can refinance the $310,000 I owe. I think they are just fishing. Or they are so damn big they do not realize what they are doing.