All Forum Posts by: Drew McCluskey

Not that Zillow is known for it's accuracy, but I've found across the board that they multiply the listing price by 0.004180... every time all over the country that I've tested. So a quick general rule of thumb if you want to analyze it like Zillow does, you can multiply the listing price by 0.0042 as an easy to remember number. :P 

Example: House in Cleveland listed for $209,000 would have an annual insurance cost of ~$877. Personally I would probably just multiple by 0.005 if you're gonna use this as I feel like Zillow always estimates low.

But I personally use instant Steadily Insurance estimates inside BrightInvestor - those do vary their estimate by location, unit count, stories, year built, etc.

I haven't signed up, but I've met a couple people who have and they were glowing about it being super helpful and an engaging community. I think a lot of times you get what you give - I've been a part of a couple during times where I really just wasn't spending time interacting, making posts, doing the assigned tasks, attending all the calls, etc.

From what I can tell, all the material and tools you need for investing out of state are provided and I have heard multiple success stories from it within it's first year being live. I don't know anything beyond that though regarding the quality of how it's conveyed. 

@David Sajous Feel free to DM me to talk more about this! I’d love to help get you started in the right direction. It’s a really exciting journey, and the people in BiggerPockets are some of the nicest and most helpful people I’ve ever met.

@David Sajous depends if you house hack with FHA loan or do a conventional loan. There's other options too. Try to have the down payment (that varies based on loan type) and closing costs saved up plus 6 months of what the mortgage/tax/insurance payment will be. So for a 100K house bought at 20% down payment, save around 23K for the loan and closing costs, plus around an extra 3K for six months payments. So save around 26K. For a house hack the down payment number should be much less, around 3.5K-5K on a 100K house.

@Jayquan Ortiz start with podcasts, webinars, local networking events if possible, and LOTS of reading. Fall in love with the learning process, and then when you know enough don’t get paralyzed - go for a deal when you recognize it and the numbers work well. Analyze a lot of deals.

Then network like crazy, let everyone know you’re trying to get into real estate and don’t know much about it, and that you want to learn anything you can. Watch out for people who just trash talk real estate though - they generally aren’t millionaires.

Books to read:

How to Invest in Real Estate - Dorkin and Turner

The House Hacking Strategy - Curelop

Investing in Real Estate with No and Low money down - Turner

The Book on Flipping Houses - Scott

These were some of my starter books and they got me hooked on reading. Read a book a week to progress quickly. Audible is a great tool.

Good luck!

Hi Nick, 

The first question I would ask is are you currently renting anyhow? If so, then almost surely the house-hackings strategy would be better than what you're doing currently. This is the most secure method of investing for you right now, even if you are worried about a recession. If you are looking for renting and holding the property long-term, then I wouldn't worry too much about a recession. Offer something unique with your rental if you have to, but it's just 1-3 people you're trying to get to rent from you out of all of Chicago, you're not going to have near the problems like someone trying to keep 500+ renters in Chicago during a recession. Plus, its house hacking - you can afford to rent for cheaper than your competition most of the time. You have value in the market.

I'm not super experienced yet, so this is just my two cents. Best of luck!

Welcome to the exciting world! I definitely would encourage you to continue talking and networking. I would also recommend looking at going to the Best Ever Conference in February (Colorado) to network in person and learn a lot! The Bigger Pockets conference should be announced in the next couple of months as well, and I would highly recommend going to that. Networking in person is a whole different experience and really boosted my journey. Also, look into local meetups. You'll want to surround yourself with people further along than yourself in real estate and have daily conversations about it if possible. 

Also, I'm from Missouri as well based in Rolla. Not very close to Kansas City, but potentially may connect with you at a meetup at some point

That’s so awesome! I’m gonna have to start looking for hoarders in my city... 

@Thaddeus Goodgame make sure you get your listing on market. On Zillow it says it isn’t for sale, same with Redfin, Homes.com, and Realtor.com. That kills your visibility. Also you should get some more photos up. I can’t tell how nice the house is by just seeing the outside. Your descriptions are great, but change it to a for sale status and add some pictures.

I’ll be there! Can’t wait to meet so many investors. Hardly anyone my around my age investing in my town.